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(1)
Soon after the close
of the American Revolution
six men became the owners
of what is today considered
Mount Washington. They
were soldiers of Virginia
and it this land was
part of the Virginia
Military District. Virginia's
surveyor, Richard Clough
Anderson, marked off
the limits of their
property. Anderson Township
and a Clough Creek are
indebted for to him
for their names. These
six men did not settle
on their property—they
sold it to others who
did the pioneering.
(2)
Indian troubles were
not yet over in this
region when the first
white men developed
a settlement near the
foot of today's Beechmont
Hill and by 1805 were
developing farms on
the top of the hill.
(3)
The first village to
develop was called McCormick's
settlement, and later
Salem. By 1805 Rev.
Francis McCormick had
founded the Salem Methodist
Episcopal Church and
his large family had
settled around present
Salem Road and Sutton
Avenue.
(4)
The next village to
develop was called Mount
Washington. Stephen
J. Sutton probably gave
the name. Sutton opened
his store at what is
now the corner of Beechmont
and Corbly in 1846 and
the village developed
around it. His boyhood
home was the little
log cabin his father
had built in 1804 and
which still stands at
1712 Longbourne.
(5)
A third village developed
around today's Birney
and Beechmont and it
was called Cedar Point.
Vincent Shinn, who owned
much property along
the narrow lane, gave
it the name Birney Lane
because he admired the
presidential aspirant
of 1840, James G. Birney.
(6)
The first post office
was established in 1830
at Salem. It was called
Mears Farm. It stood
at the corner of today's
Sutton and Mariwood
Lane. Stephen Sutton
managed to have it transferred
to his village and to
his merchandising establishment
when he opened it in
1846.
(7)
The first three churches
established were Methodist.
First was the Salem
M. E. in 1805, and in
1851 both the Mt. Washington
M. P. and the Mt. Washington
M. E. The former was
later abandoned, then
its place of worship
moved to Corbly near
Sutton. Several other
churches have used it
including the Lutherans.
In 1866 the Baptists
organized under Rev.
B. F. Harmon. He was
the father of Judson
Harmon, who became governor
of Ohio. The Harmon's
were residents of Mt.
Washington. This church
was abandoned before
the turn of the century.
Next, in 1892, came
the Roman Catholic Church
of the guardian Angels.
In 1912 the Presbyterians
organized. In 1927 the
Nazerene's and in 1929
the Church of Christ
organized. In 1951 to
churches organized –
the Faith Evangelical
and Reformed and the
Zion Lutheran. In 1953
the present Baptist
Church was organized.
(8)
From its conception
the village was never
without schools. As
early as 1836 there
was a school where the
Water Tower now stands.
In 1847 one was built
in the settlement at
the foot of Beechmont
hill. Salem had one
next door to the church,
it was preceded by a
log school. In the 1850’s
an Academy stood where
6110 Corbly is now.
(9)
In 1859 a part of the
Odd Fellows Hall was
used as a school. It
stood where an earlier
school had stood --where
the water tower now
stands. Mount Washington
was incorporated in
1867 and two years later
the Odd Fellows gave
the building to the
village. The public
school we made they
air until 1933 when
it moved into its present
building on Mears Avenue.
Sunnyside Seminary,
a boarding school for
girls, was organized
in 1872 and located
in the building, which
still stands at the
end of Wasigo Drive.
In 1892 the Roman Catholic
seminary, now named
St. Gregory, was established
and Guardian Angels
School followed two
years later. In 1914
St. Joseph Academy for
Girls was organized
and in 1951 it became
McNicholas High School.
(10)
On June 5th, 1911, most
of Mt. Washington was
annexed to Cincinnati
and almost every street
name had to be changed.
Some of the old names
still remain in corner
sidewalks, as at Cambridge
and Mears, where the
names Woodburn and Harms
appear.
(11)
Transportation to and
from Cincinnati was
always a problem. Stephen
Sutton, who, in 1847,
operated omnibus line
from Amelia through
Mt. Washington to the
Linwood Station of the
Little Miami Railroad,
now the Pennsylvania,
first solved it.
(12)
Next, in 1876, Henry
Brachman, who lived
on Beechmont near the
street that still bears
his name, organized
a steam narrow-gauge
railroad company. It
became the Cincinnati,
Georgetown and Portsmouth
Railroad and operated
from the East End to
Georgetown. In 1902
it became an electric
interurban line which
was abandoned in 1935.
The station, built in
1902, is used today
as the American Legion
Hall on Sutton Avenue.
(13)
In 1897, Nicholas Wolf,
another wealthy Village
resident, operated an
omnibus line from Cedar
Point to Linwood. John
Widman drove the four
horses and the coach
and finally became the
owner of the line. He
had to give it up when,
in 1903, the Interurban
Railway and Terminal
Company began operating
streetcars from Cincinnati
to Bethel through Mt.
Washington. Even before
this interurban folded
in 1918 a bus line was
being operated from
Cedar Point to Cincinnati.
Buses and private cars
have linked the two
places ever since.
(14)
One of the earliest
industries in the village
was the brickyard operated
by A. A. Rebold near
Corbly and Oxford. He
made the bricks that
built many of the early
public buildings and
residences. George Strasser
made carriages, wagons,
plows and other farm
implements. W. E. Dunham
had a thriving print
shop where the old Kroger
store stood until the
present one was built
on the corner of Beechmont
and Corbly in 1999.
(15)
A. A. Colter canned
the thousands of bushels
of tomatoes and other
farm products at his
cannery on Plaza and
Beechmont. Later the
Frugal Electric Range
Company used the building.
(16)
The first bridge across
the Miami near Beechmont
was built in 1836, a
half mile below the
present one,
where the old road forded
this stream. It was
replaced in 1875 by
a beautiful suspension
bridge just above the
present one.
This in turn was replaced
after the 1913 flood
by the one abandoned
in 1954.
(17)
A tollhouse and gate
stood near the foot
of Beechmont hill, also
another stood at the
foot of Salem and Kellogg
– and still another
stood at Salem and Sutton.
These roads then were
privately owned.
(18)
There were no less than
two town pumps before
city water was supplied.
One was located at Plymouth
and Oxford and the other
at Beechmont and Roxbury
near LeClere's grocery
store.
(19)
Bucket brigades were
the first form of fire
protection and the volunteer
firemen came running
at the sound of a bell,
that stood opposite
LeClere's grocery store.
Later, horse-drawn equipment
was bought. One piece
is still preserved by
the Ohio Mechanics Institute.
(20)
Beautiful Stanbery Park
contains over 30 acres
of ground. It had been
the property of Brigadier
Sanford B. Stanbery,
whose widow sold it
to the city for less
than it had cost to
build the beautiful
residence which stands
in the park. The park
was dedicated in 1940.
(21)
The water tower was
built soon after the
public school moved
away from Campus and
Beechmont in 1933. It
is now a landmark that
can be seen from miles
around.
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