A Little piece of Paradise… College Hill, Ohio - SELFCRAFT

One of the landmark cases that led to the repeal of prohibition was the Tumey case decision of theSupreme Court in 1927. The case started in North College Hill when the mayor fined Mr. Tumey for thepossession of liquor. Mr. Tumey took the case to the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Taft ruledagainst the local justice system that allowed mayors and Justices of the Peace to obtain fines forconvictions but gained nothing if a defendant was found innocent.Many German, Hungarian and Italians homeowners were attracted to this area. Hard working, theyunderstood the value of thrift, and were pleased with the new cape cod and bungalow style homes, somepurchased as an ‘Honorbuilt’ kit from Sears and Roebuck. The inexpensive houses and large areas ofundeveloped land created the 1940-1950 building boom that doubled the number of available homes. Oneof the few modernistic style houses built in Hamilton County was constructed of concrete at 2033 WestGalbraith Road in 1940. Large apartment complexes currently present in North College Hill weren’t builtuntil the 1970’s.The current city hall was built in 1931, replacing a frame building which had been a hotel wherecattlemen stayed. The pens were located where the Junior High School stands. Some of the earlybusinesses were the Bising Dairy farm which was demolished for the building of St. Paul’s Church.Schild’s was a coal and building supply business. Starting in 1921 it carried cattle feed until 1942. ArchieKeen from Batavia had a early lumber yard. Keen’s lumber cart transported the buckets and ladders of thevolunteer fire department. Knollman had a hardware and lumber business. It started in an old barn whichwas demolished in 1908 for St. Margaret Mary Church then moved to Simpson Avenue about 1910. Abarrel store became Bittman’s and there was a rope factory on Pippin, south of Galbraith Road. JamesSeward owned gristmill that was operated by treadle power. Isaac Betts had forty acres which was latersubdivided and a street was named for him.When the 1940 census showed the North College Hill had a population exceeding 5,000, it officiallybecame a city on Feb. 9, 1941. Between the years of 1920-1940 the population rose 374%. The firstmayor of the new city was Ed Ahlers.Still growing, North College Hill annexed 20 acres in 1987. The Cross County highway wasoriginally proposed in 1948 as a link from the Mill Creek Valley to a Blue Ash airport. While the airportidea was dropped the need for a linking highway was retained, and recently completed.Charles Zimmermann’s Store, Hamilton Ave., College Hill270