Cincinnati Times-Star; Aug 16, 1929; p. 24
Bald Knob, Picturesque Hill, Playground of Thousands, Is
Being Pulled Asunder
By Charles Ludwig
Picturesque playground of thousands, beautiful, romantic
Bald Knob, that thrusts its craggy head like a bleak promontory into the city’s
northwestern skyline, is being torn down! Its lovers’ lane has been destroyed –
men with scythes have cut down the charming sheltered bower. Workmen have laid
axes to the magnificent English elms and buckeyes. The breezy rendezvous on the
very summit – 800 feet above sea level – to which men in the old days lugged
kegs of beer for their parties and where the anti-slavery picnics were held
before the Civil War – will soon be no more.
The lovely hawthorns that bedecked the hillside with
their jolly red haw-apples have been laid low. The last apple and pear trees,
remains of a once famous orchard, will soon be felled. The Indian cave and the delightful,
cool spring on the hillside will be ripped up by the steam shovel. The baseball
diamond there will be torn asunder. The wild-flower gardens on the lovely
slopes, where many a girl picked bouquets; the outlook point, offering a great
panoramic view of the city, where mothers and their families held basket
picnics – all will be dumped into Millcreek to make a fill for the new union
depot.
Old Beer CellarsOnly two historic old beer cellars – that of the
Herancourt Company and of another brewery, built into the foot of the hill over
three-quarters of a century ago – will escape.
Rare Beauty of Scene
Beautiful indeed was this hill and its surroundings,
particularly in the old days when Millcreek flowed by in its pristine purity
and bathed the foot of the little mountainside with its sparkling, crystal-clear
water that abounded with fish.
It was to this hillside that the Cincinnati pioneer,
Emery Brown, removed from Mt. Auburn in the early history of the city, for he
deemed it the most beautiful spot in the county. It was along this hill that
the Orange family, noted in the pioneer annals of Cincinnati, built their fine
and quaint old mansion that housed a memorable collection of art, including
works of Joshua Reynolds!
It was on this hillside that the famous pioneer
horticulturalist, Ernst, an early president of the Ohio State Horticultural Society,
built his home and cultivated his noted orchards and gardens, the vestiges of
which still remain.
Climbing the Hill
The Times-Star scribe and photographer visited Bald Knob
Wednesday, and found the first group of men that started to clear away the
underbrush preparatory to tearing down the hill. Huge shovels and modern
machinery will be installed to remove the 6,000,000 cubic yards of earth into
Millcreek, where they will make a fill for the relocation of tracks in
connection with the new depot project.
A crowd of neighbors gathered and it was almost with
tears in their eyes that they saw their beloved hill with its trees being
ruthlessly attached to make way for “modern progress.” A number of men, with
their children, together with a crowd of boys who love the hill with the
devotion that youths give to their playground, formed a part and let the
Times-Star delegation to the top.
Trees of Great Beauty
It was like climbing a mountain while it lasted – for Bald
Knob has a steep-slope, and at the top presents a very jagged side. The path
began at the foot of the fill between two glorious elm trees – one of these trees
is no doubt among the finest specimens of its kind in the county. Through the
hawthorn bushes, filled with ripening red fruit, the path led up the hill. One
of the workmen had just killed a harmless snake near the path, and the boys
said there were many still rabbits, squirrels and many birds in the thicket.
Along the path were found many pears – they were the
booty of previous expeditions from the pear trees on the hill. All but the boys
were puffing hard when the top of Bald Knob was reached – and from the high
vantage point a beautiful new of the city was offered, a view looking miles to
the basin in the East, as well as toward the valley in the West.
Among the climbers were J. B. Neider, Harry Ismael, and
his little son Paul, Joe Staehling, August Brinkman, George Baxter, and Charles
Meyer and the boys, John Baumer, Ed Disken, Charles Tungeat, Bob Bunner and Russell
Wolfer. Some of the men told how they played on Bald Knob forty years ago, and
in the old days would carry kegs of beer to the top for a party. The little
boys said that life would no longer be the same after their Happy Hunting
Ground, the hill, was removed.
“Pancake Hill”
“There won’t be any fun left,” they sighed. They pointed
out their ballfield on the plateau half way up, to the rear, the site of the
Indian Cave, the old spring, the pasture where the old Herancourt brewery
horses were farmed out for a happy old age, and the places where the boys from
Goosetown, Brighton and Lick Run used to do battle for possession of Bald Knob.
The lads pointed out that there are really two Bald
Knobs, separated by the declivity, and that the name they always gave the Knob
was Pancake Hill. And there are two Pancakes – two bald, craggy hills, with
flat, pancake tops.
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| 1867 - Agreement to quarry stone to Lutterby (Lutterbei) & Herman |
Steep Cliffs
The lads pointed out the steepest cliffs and showed the
steps they had cut in the stone so as to negotiate the most difficult parts of
the climb. They showed where the old “Ludebei Quarry” used to be, half century
or more ago, and where they flew kites in the stiff wind at the summit. The
remains of the old vineyards were still visible. Below was Ernst street, named
after the famous Bald Knob horticulturalist of long ago. There too, was the old
home of Attorney Sanford Brown – a pioneer dwelling – in which four generations
of the Brown family lived. But the home, together with other property in the vicinity,
was sold in connection with the depot project.
At the top of the hill the lads pointed out where they
sometimes built playhouses and had the thrill of being “Indians.” Miss Harriet
Brown recalled how the late Mrs. H. C. Robinson told her that before the Civil
War the hill was the scene of the anti-slavery picnics. It was also related
that years ago two business men tried to remove part of the hill with cables
and buckets and that this accounted for the cut between the two Bald Knobs.
Many Memories
The Bald Knobs are among Cincinnati’s most outstanding
landmarks, and juts high into the skyline. They are located at Harrison and
State avenues, Brighton, and the knobs are immediately opposite the Harrison
avenue viaduct. They are visible from the City Hall windows and from any high vantage
point in the basin of the city and are south of the well-known Schuetzenbuckel
hill.
Many are the memories that will be aroused by the cutting
down of Bald Knob. A tear almost came to the eyes of Phil Pfalzgraff, Thursday
morning, as he saw what was happening at the hill he has passed so often, “Just
think, they were putting the ax to that magnificent elm tree as I passed this
morning,” he said.
