Fun facts Cincinnati

[BoydsOfSummer]

Until World War One, if both parties of a legal proceeding agreed to it, the trial would be held in German.
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Why did they stop then?

[redsmetz]

Quote:
Until World War One, if both parties of a legal proceeding agreed to it, the trial would be held in German.
__________________

Why did they stop then?

With the anti-German hysteria as the U.S. entered the war on the side of England and France, the German language fell into little use. Up until then, it was still taught in both the public and private parochial schools. Likewise, many German named streets were renamed to more patriotic names. I don't remember the German name, but Liberty Avenue would be one such example.

I always like to remind folks who complain about Spanish that German was spoken for decades after the first wave of folks from Germanic countries arrived here, with significant newspapers in German.

[Reds Nd2]

1935 First night baseball game played under lights.

No novelty, night baseball was first tried at Fort Wayne, Ind. in 1883. In 1909, the first night game ever played on a major-league field took place on the same field as last week's, between Elks from Cincinnati and Newport, Ky. Wrote Reporter Jack Ryder in the Cincinnati Enquirer: "If the attempt is a success it is likely that every ball park in the major leagues will be equipped with lighting apparatus." In 1927, it began to look as if Ryder's premature prophecy might eventually come true, when minor leagues began to experiment seriously with night baseball. Depression encouraged the idea. By last season, 70 minor-league clubs had installed floodlights, found that night crowds equaled those on Sunday afternoons. Major-league owners have been talking night baseball since 1932. Last winter Powel Crosley, who bought the Cincinnati Reds the year before out of his radio and refrigerator profits, got permission to have his team play seven night games, one against each of the other teams in the league. He spent $62,000 installing the 363 lights on eight giant towers above the grandstand which, when the President switched them on, poured more than 1,000,000 watts down on his field last week. To spectators who had no difficulty reading scoreboards, the most startling fact about the field was that, due to the arrangement of the lights, the players cast no shadows.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...883406,00.html

[Chip R]

WLW was the only radio station in the US that transmitted at 500,000 watts. It was truly the Nation's Station.

For $2 you can go up to the roof of Carew Tower and look upon the city.

Up until recently, Cincinnati used to have these odd streets where there were 3 lanes of traffic. Two one way and one the other way. They would switch depending on the time of day so if you were going towards downtown in the morning, the right two lanes would be used for that traffic and the other one would be used for traffic coming from downtown. And vice versa in the afternoon. Queen Ciy Ave and Hopple St. were streets that did that.

There used to be a canal where Central Parkway is now. That's how Over The Rhine got that name; from the German settlers in that area.

During one of the first night games in 1935, a woman named Kitty Burke (No relation to our Kitty Duran) walked out onto the field, grabbed a bat out of the hands of Reds player Babe Herman and took her place in the batter's box against Paul "Daffy" Dean of the St. Louis Cardinals. After a few aborted attempts to pitch to her, Dean threw an underhanded pitch and Burke grounded to 1st. She was the only woman ever to bat in the major leagues. After her at bat, fans in the stands were overheard praising Ms. Burke for not striking out.

[vaticanplum]

Up until recently, Cincinnati used to have these odd streets where there were 3 lanes of traffic. Two one way and one the other way. They would switch depending on the time of day so if you were going towards downtown in the morning, the right two lanes would be used for that traffic and the other one would be used for traffic coming from downtown. And vice versa in the afternoon. Queen Ciy Ave and Hopple St. were streets that did that.

I grew up by one of these (Beechmont Hill). Never occurred to me that it was weird in the slightest until I had friends from the Northeast visit me during college. They couldn't believe it, thought it was the most dangerous thing they had ever seen. I still see no problem with it as long as you're used to it...but I guess they did change it for a reason. though on Beechmont they made it a four-lane road and chopped out a bunch of trees to do it. It changed the whole landscape

That $2 carew tower thing is the kind of stuff I'm looking for. Things that I can take advantage of but wouldn't necessarily have known about. Cheers kids.

[SunDeck]

http://www.mercantilelibrary.com/
The museums and exhibits of UC. Also at UC, the jazz faculty at CCM seem to always have some series cooking. They do big band, five piece, you name it. Always a treat. And cheap.
The Rhein and Englander Doll Collections at the public library downtown. My wife worked on this collection for a while- she said there are some dolls in it that are worth thousands.
And speaking of the downtown library, the rare book collection there is outstanding. They always have items exhibited, too.

[chicoruiz]

1. I always heard that Leonard Slye, aka Roy Rogers, was born at the approximate location of second base at old Riverfront/Cinergy Field.

2. The German language newsapaper was still being published at least into the 1970s. I remember as a kid going to the home of a friend of my parents where the more elderly family members spoke German.

3. I remember hearing at one time that the subway tunnels were full of old army C-rations stored there by the Department of Civil Defense. You can have my share, thanks...

[Highlifeman21]

The problem with the Cincinnati subway is that they've not managed to do ANYTHING with it, and have wasted quite a lot of money and time fighting over it instead of doing something productive with it. At this point, above-ground public transportation (something the city does really need) is more viable than a subway, you're right. But the city is still forced to maintain the subway tunnels due to the water lines that run through them and the fact that they literally hold up Central Parkway, among other things. So they are still spending tax dollars to maintain them without making better use of them.

There's been talk of using them for transit, for public walkways, for shopping, for art galleries...a whole bunch of things that have never come to fruition, sometimes for legitimate reasons, sometimes just because people couldn't agree on anything. The city also paid dearly for the building of the tunnels themselves; the whole process was poorly engineered and when it rained and soil eroded, houses along the subway line trails literally began to crack at the foundation.

They voted down light rail a couple years back which would use existing railroad tracks b/c of some guy's AutoBody Garage in Deer Park. What a backwards thinking city.

[Roy Tucker]

And just a little trivia.
In the 70's there was a local band named Hopple Street Exit.

I saw them play a few times when home from college as "Trudi and the Hopple Street Exit". I think Trudi was from Dayton.

[Johnny Footstool]

Cincinnati is home of the decadent, quasi-misogynistic leerings of the band The Afghan Whigs.

Two classic albums (Congregation and the near-perfect Gentlemen) and a third that was very good (Black Love) made them a college radio fave in the mid-90's. Greg Dulli also provided the John Lennon-esque singing in the movie "Backbeat."

[Rychian]

I dont know if you can still do it, but....
I loved going to Union terminal and going to the back of the building, Youd have to ask how to get to it. There is a big observation deck overlooking the train yard. It is really cool to watch all the switches and the loadings... Well if your into that sort of thing. I remember it either being free or cheap.


Tom

[westofyou]

Two classic albums (Congregation and the near-perfect Gentlemen) and a third that was very good (Black Love) made them a college radio fave in the mid-90's.

Yet, Retarded from "Up in It" still rings in my head everyday.

And if you really want something hot check out there EP "Uptown Avondale"

[paintmered]

I dont know if you can still do it, but....
I loved going to Union terminal and going to the back of the building, Youd have to ask how to get to it. There is a big observation deck overlooking the train yard. It is really cool to watch all the switches and the loadings... Well if your into that sort of thing. I remember it either being free or cheap.


Tom

Yep, you can still go to the observation deck. I was there a few weeks ago and it was free.

[SunDeck]

Yep, you can still go to the observation deck. I was there a few weeks ago and it was free.

It's pretty cool, isn't it? I was there a few years ago and there were all the switches and controls, intact. And there were several poster sized photographs of the terminal. I am pretty sure there is a picture of my great grandfather there. He was a brakeman, lost an arm between the couplings (evidently, quite common), and was kept on at the yard after that. We only have a couple pictures of him, but the resemblance to the guy in that photo is pretty close.

[vaticanplum]

This may be common knowledge, but speaking of Union terminal, the beautiful murals in the entryway were commissioned by FDR's WPA.