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

On April 6, 1893 workmen soldering a gutter at the base of the mansard story accidentally started afire that spread to the dead air space between the ceiling and roof. The fire quickly engulfed the building.No one was injured but the main hospital building was gutted. As soon as possible, reconstruction startedand the new building incorporated many improvements.The Sanitarium offered the current psychiatric treatments and avoided ‘all quackish or meretriciouspretensions or practices’. By 1905 recoveries were up to 48% with an average census of over 90 patients.Always progressive, a telephone was installed in 1894. The following year there was an earthquake,necessitating many repairs. In 1911 a greenhouse was built for a patient population of 100. Consistentgrowth led to an addition onto the main hospital in 1913 and a nearby large residence adjacent to theproperty was purchased. Called the Rest Cottage it was limited to ‘nervous and nutritional disorders.’ TheOtte family from Northside owned the Sanitarium about this time. A major change in the landscapeoccurred in 1927 when the lake was drained following a drowning. Known for its treatments, it was saidthat several Hollywood stars came there.In 1956 the hospital was renamed for the late Dr. Emerson Arthur North, a pioneer in clinicalpsychiatry and Dean of the University of Cincinnati psychiatry department. Emerson North Hospitalspecialized in serving the needs of adults, adolescents, and children in providing treatment for psychiatric,behavioral, emotional and chemical dependency problems. Emerson North merged with the FranciscanHealth Care System, the old building torn down and a new one dedicated June 26, 1988. Changes in theway that health care was delivered and funded led to the selling of this building by the FranciscanHospital System to Phoenix International. It is now part of Children’s Hospital.North College HillThe first North College Hill school was located in Gard’s section at the southeast corner ofHamilton Avenue and Galbraith Road. Gershom Gard sold all of section 25 to his son Seth for $1/acre.Seth in turn sold 50 acres to Israel Brown in 1803. When the land was sold to Brown he leased this area tothe school district and sold them this property parcel in 1844. This remained the site for several laterschool buildings. Clovernook School was the last school on this property. It was in use until 1922 whenthe public school, 1731 Goodman Avenue, was built. It is in the classical revival style of architecture andlocated in the Sunshine subdivision - it now belongs to the Northside Baptist School.Peter Keen owned the forfeit of Section 31, the only forfeit in today’s North College Hill. In 1806 heleased this land to Moses McLaughlin who made improvements and planted an apple orchard. This landwas sold later to Oliver Spenser who built a large home dubbed Spenser’s Folly. Rev. D. Burnetpurchased this mansion, using it for the Hygeia Female Athenium, a girl’s college, 1839-1856. It wasclosed due to competition from College Hill’s Ohio Female College. The house was located across thestreet from the Wise farm, between Goodman and De Armand Avenues. The school set back fromHamilton Avenue on a low hill.Subscription Certificate81