Queensgate is one of the 52 neighborhoods of Cincinnati, Ohio. It sits in the valley of Downtown Cincinnati and is dominated by industrial and commercial warehouses. Cincinnati's nickname of "Porkopolis" started here with hog slaughtering in the early 19th century.[1]
History
editIn 2010, the population of Queensgate was only 142.[2] But as recently as 1958, the neighborhood, formerly part of West End and known as the "Lower West End" or the Kenyon-Barr neighborhood, had a population of 25,737, estimated at 5% of the city's total population.[3]
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, pursuant to the Metropolitan Master Plan of 1948, a City Plan for Cincinnati, and under the guise of slum clearance and urban renewal, the predominantly African-American neighborhood was razed to make way for the new Interstate 75 and a new industrial district known as Queensgate.[3][4][5][6] In 2023, the Cincinnati city council issued an apology for the decision to tear down Kenyon-Barr, describing the decision as "rooted in institutional racism."[7][8]
Prior to this demolition, the neighborhood was the subject of significant photographic documentation, and in 2017, many of these photographs were placed on public exhibition for the first time at the Cincinnati Museum Center.[9][8][10]
In early 2024, community leaders proposed reconnecting Queensgate to downtown Cincinnati through a reconstructed street grid, made possible by the larger project of constructing a new companion bridge for the Brent Spence Bridge. As of February 2024, discussions about this possibility were ongoing.[11] In late May 2024, the proposal was approved.[12]
Main sights
editQueensgate is home to Cincinnati Union Terminal.[1] From 1884 to 1970, the Cincinnati Reds played at three separate parks at the intersection of Findlay Street and Western Avenue in Queensgate—the last 57½ of those years at Crosley Field. The former site of home plate of Crosley Field has been painted in an alley.[13][14] Local Fox affiliate WXIX-TV (channel 19), owned by Gray Television, is based out of what was formerly the Harriet Beecher Stowe School, a majority-Black junior high school.
References
edit- ^ a b Holthaus, David. "An eco-industrial vision for Queensgate". Retrieved 2008-08-07.
- ^ "Queensgate Statistical neighborhood approximation". City of Cincinnati. p. 2. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- ^ a b Konermann, Alyssa (10 Feb 2017). "25,737 People Lived In Kenyon-Barr When The City Razed It To The Ground". Cincinnati Magazine. Retrieved 13 Apr 2024.
- ^ Gerhardt, Eric; Kuzydym, Stephanie; Lomax, John (5 May 2022). "The buried history of Cincinnati's West End, once known as Kenyon Barr". WKRC. Retrieved 13 Apr 2024.
- ^ Singer, Allen J. (2005). Stepping Out in Cincinnati: Queen City Entertainment 1900-1960. Arcadia Publishing. p. 100. ISBN 9780738534329. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
- ^ Miller, Zane L., and Bruce Tucker. Changing Plans for America's Inner Cities: Cincinnati's Over-The-Rhine and Twentieth-century Urbanism. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1998. Santa Barbara
- ^ Coolidge, Sharon; Horn, Dan (13 June 2023). "Cincinnati leaders to apologize for destruction of Black neighborhood in 1950s". Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved 13 Apr 2024.
- ^ a b Newberry, Patricia Gallagher (14 June 2023). "Kenyon-Barr photos retell Cincinnati story 'silenced for decades'". Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved 4 Jun 2024.
- ^ Copsey, Hillary (13 Nov 2017). "'Finding Kenyon-Barr' photo exhibit brings razed West End community back to life". WCPO. Retrieved 13 Apr 2024.
- ^ "PHOTOS: Kenyon-Barr, 1958-59, before the city removed it". Cincinnati Enquirer. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 13 Apr 2024.
- ^ Newberry, Patricia Gallagher (20 February 2024). "Ex-mayors want street grid with Brent Spence Bridge project. If built, what could come?". Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved 13 Apr 2024.
- ^ Newberry, Patricia Gallagher (31 May 2024). "Brent Spence Bridge project now includes hoped-for street grid to Queensgate". Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved 4 Jun 2024.
- ^ Dyer, Mike (29 May 2015). "Crosley Field: A chapter in our history". Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved 14 Apr 2024.
- ^ "Crosley Field through the years". Cincinnati Enquirer. 27 May 2015. Retrieved 14 Apr 2024.
39°6′N 84°32′W / 39.100°N 84.533°W
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