The Elliston Project holds over seven hundred recorded readings and lectures given under the auspices of the University of Cincinnati Department of English and Comparative Literature and the U.C. Libraries since 1951. Material includes readings and lectures on poetry by those who have served as George Elliston Poet in Residence, among whom are Robert Frost, Denise Levertov, Louise Glück, Thom Gunn, and C.D. Wright. Other major figures, including Czeslaw Milosz, Derek Walcott, Seamus Heaney, and Rita Dove, are also represented, as are many prose writers and a wide range of poets at various stages of their careers. Readings in this ongoing audio archive feature poets’ comments on their work; both complete performances and individual poems are accessible.

Learn More about the George Elliston Poetry Fund and Elliston Poets in Residence, and follow upcoming Events sponsored by the Elliston Poetry Fund.

The The Elliston Project: Poetry Readings and Lectures at the University of Cincinnati is available on the OhioLINK Digital Resource Commons (DRC). Materials in this collection are made available for non-commercial, educational use per the Creative Commons license.

Downtown Cincinnati at the turn of the 20^th century was a bustling business and commercial center, but with a dangerous mixture of pedestrians, horse-pulled wagons and carriages, street cars, and unseasoned automobile drivers. Add to this a mess of unpaved or cobblestoned streets, a lack of traffic laws, speed limits, and stop signs at intersections, with streetcar tracks criss-crossing lanes. It was a recipe for disaster.

On the left, deliveries to the Raschig School are unloaded from a horse-drawn wagon while, on the right, automobiles park along a drained Miami & Erie Canal, looking east down Canal Street as subway construction begins, April 20, 1920

Horses, pedestrians, and cars share the road alongside the Miami & Erie Canal at the Plum Street bend, looking south from 12th Street bridge, May 14, 1920

Street conditions at Race Street and Central Parkway in front of Star Union Baking Company & Puritan Chocolate Company, November 12, 1926

Street conditions on Central Parkway in front of the Kladwell Store, September 17, 1926

Automobile and streetcar traffic north along Vine Street from Central Parkway, Aug 16, 1921

In 1917, the citizens of Cincinnati approved a bond issue with the goal of alleviating the traffic issues of the day through the construction of a subway. The two main benefits of the subway were to alleviate the increasing volume of traffic in the downtown area, and to provide citizens with easier access into the downtown from the interurban trains that serviced the outlying areas.

Interurban railway lines heading south through Bond Hill into Cincinnati, July 8, 1924

Street car passenger loading at Carthage Pike, Miami & Erie Canal in foreground, July 9, 1924

Interurban lines were a convenient means of traveling from one outlying community to another, but they did not provide a direct route into downtown. Riders would have to change trains and then wait for street cars to make the trip into the business district. But by looping a subway line from the downtown through the outlying community served by the interurban, passengers could hop on the subway and ride directly into the downtown without having to make any additional changes. Traffic congestion issue solved!

Western end of subway through Norwood at Montgomery Pike underpass, running parallel with B&O Railroad, June 3, 1926

Underpass at Section Avenue in Norwood, June 3, 1926

Subway construction, Section 8, Reading Road overpass, October 15, 1924

But by 1926, all but the College Hill interurban lines were out of business, and automobile ownership had nearly doubled. In the downtown area, the majority of streets were paved with cobblestones or bricks, but even these were showing signs of wear and in need of repair. The street department also struggled to keep pace with housing construction in the suburban areas, as more and more Cincinnatians were moving to the suburbs, content with their new automobiles to accommodate their transportation needs. Asphalt and concrete paving slowly made its way into the suburban neighborhoods in the mid-1920s, replacing the rutted dirt roads that most residents had to maneuver with their new Model Ts. Granted, the street conditions in Cincinnati today aren’t terrific, but (and it takes a lot of me to say this) we are better off than the poor folks who had to bounce along the ruts in the images below!

Barr Street looking east, before street improvements, August 2, 1928 (left), and after street improvements, March 9, 1929 (right)

Arnsby Avenue, before street improvements, October, 1927 (left), and after street improvements, July, 1927 (right)

Attica Avenue, looking south from Swift Street, before improvements, March 3, 1927 (left) and after improvements, July 7, 1927 (right)

This project is funded by a grant for $60,669 through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the State Library of Ohio.

Construction of Riverfront Stadium begins, Eugene Ruehlmann is second from the right

We began our Monday in the Archives and Rare Books Library with the sad news that a dear friend of our library passed away over the weekend.  Former Cincinnati mayor and city councilman, Eugene Ruehlmann died on Saturday June 8 at the age of 88.  Since the Archives and Rare Books Library holds his papers, I had the pleasure of assisting Mr. Ruehlmann on several occasions.  For someone so accomplished, I always found Mr. Ruehlmann incredibly approachable, easy to talk to, and humble.  Our student workers especially enjoyed meeting and talking with him.  He will be greatly missed.

Eugene Ruehlmann, 1947, from The Cincinnatian Yearbook

Eugene Ruehlmann, the second youngest of John and Hattie Ruehlmann’s ten children, was born in 1925.  He grew up on Cincinnati’s West Side and attended Western Hills High School and graduated in 1943.  After high school, he joined the U.S. Marines and served in World War II.  He then entered the University of Cincinnati, where he was a successful and active student.  Ruehlmann was a member of Beta Theta Phi, ODK, and Sophos and was on the board of The Cincinnatian (yearbook) and was a member of the varsity football team.  He graduated with honors in 1948 with a degree in Political Science and received the McKibbin Medal from the College of Arts and Sciences.  Ruehlmann earned his law degree in 1950 from Harvard.

Mayor Ruehlmann at an Avondale Community Council Meeting, February 1968

Ruehlmann came home to Cincinnati and was a founder of the Strauss, Troy and Ruehlmann law firm.  He was first elected to Cincinnati City Council in 1959 and served for 12 years.  He was elected as mayor in 1967, and served in that position until 1971.  Ruehlmann’s work on City Council had lasting effects on the city.  He was involved in the negotiations that brought the Bengals to Cincinnati and the construction of Riverfront Stadium and the convention center.  Ruehlmann was also mayor when the June 1967 and April 1968 riots broke out in Avondale and he led efforts to investigate the riots and to help heal the city.  Ruehlmann reached out to Cincinnati’s African American and impoverished communities by attending community meetings and touring blighted neighborhoods.  His papers in the Archives and Rare Books Library document these efforts.

After completing his service on city council, Ruehlmann returned to practicing law as a partner at Vorys, Sater, Seymour, & Pease and served as chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party in the 1990s.  Ruehlman received a number of awards for his service to Cincinnati including a Great Living Cincinnatian Award from the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber in 1998, an Honorary Doctorate from the Union Institute and University in 2005, and an Honorary Doctor of Law from the University of Cincinnati in June of 2011.

Eugene Ruehlmann was also dedicated to his family.  Ruehlmann married Virginia Juergens, also a UC graduate.  They were married for 61 years before she passed away in 2008.  They had 8 children, 25 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.  In the Archives and Rare Books Library we will remember Eugene Ruehlmann fondly, not only for his hard work to improve our city, but also as a remarkable person.

For more information on Eugene Ruehlman, see obituaries from the Cincinnati Enquirer and WVXU.  A finding aid for his papers at the Archives and Rare Books Library is available on the OhioLINK Finding Aid Repository.  Another blog entry describing his papers is available on the UC Libraries Blog.

Bring your lunch and learn during these quick information sessions. Come to one session, a few, or them all! Seating is limited, so registration is recommended.

Schedule:

Thursday, June 13         iPad 101

Thursday, June 20         Excel Tips

Thursday, June 27         Free Screencasting Tools

View the complete Lunch & Learn schedule below. See descriptions and register online at http://webcentral.uc.edu/hslclass/

The story of abandoned subway stations and tracks hidden beneath busy city streets is not unique to Cincinnati. Other large cities, such as New York, London, and Paris have similarly mysterious and intriguing stories to tell. An article I recently read in The New York Times introduced me to this underground world of hidden subway ventilation shafts disguised by false building facades, with doors from which people occasionally exit, but never seem to enter. Some of these subterranean secrets are in use, while others have been abandoned like Cincinnati’s own subway stations beneath Central Parkway.

What’s fascinating is the effort made to disguise these facilities, to blend them in with the neighboring buildings. While it seems a logically aesthetic means of making the utilitarian more appealing, some have argued that the cities in which these structures are located are trying to hide a deep secret. For comparison, consider the Cincinnati subway – when the subway and Central Parkway were first being constructed, the ventilation chimneys and the entrances to the below-ground stations were nicely appointed with decorative stonework.

Ventilation shaft, looking north along Parkway from Liberty St., July 2, 1928

Close up of decorative stonework for ventilator railing, Central Parkway,
Nov. 19, 1928

East entrance to underpass near Brighton Bridge, Central Parkway,
Nov. 15, 1928

Today, metal doors in the sidewalks along Liberty Street and Central Parkway, and steel doors and grates enclosing the tunnel openings along I-75 near the Hopple Street Viaduct, are all that remain visible of the subway to give passers-by cause for speculation as to what lies beneath or behind these doors.

Source: Google Search (http://goo.gl/DPwiA)

But in New York, London, and Paris, clever preservation commissions and city transit leaders have provided a more pleasant disguise, leaving local residents completely unaware of what was behind the closed doors of 58 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn, 23 and 24 Leinster Terrace in Bayswater, London, or 145, Rue La Fayette in Paris. Personally I would rather see a well maintained Greek Revival or Edwardian building façade than an empty space in the middle of a historic streetscape with a large metal grate from which hot air is expelled. So I invite you to read along, view the images, and decide for yourselves!

 The article in The New York Times describes a Greek Revival townhouse nestled in the midst of a row of brownstones located on a quiet street in Brooklyn, NY. The townhouse at #58 Joralemon Street is well maintained despite the darkened windows through which no light ever shines. A peek through the crack in the front door reveals no one is home. In fact, it reveals this is not a home at all, but a large empty space with a concrete floor and“catwalks going back and forth this way and that, and somewhere down below the trains going by”, as quoted in the article by an area resident who was fortunate to be given a peek inside the “Shaft House”, the name by which those living in the neighborhood refer to the townhouse.

Source: Matt Green, Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/imjustwalkin/8036922592/)

The Shaft House is actually an emergency exit and ventilation fan plant for subway tracks 4 and 5 of the Interurban Rapid Transit Company and is maintained by New York City Transit. The townhouse was purchased by the city in 1908 to house the ventilation fans. Large steel louvered shutters, from which hot air and smoke would randomly pour out into the street, were fitted into the window cases. Behind the pleasant Greek Revival façade, the interior decorating consists of electrical panels, switches and behind a steel door, catwalks that cross over a nine-story drop to the subway tracks below.

Source: Heather Quinlan, Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/
heggieq/4519128092/in/set-72157623848942178

Source: Allison Meier, Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/
astrozombie/
6838892879/)

The restoration of the 1847 façade to its historical appointments is owed to the Landmarks Preservation Commission and a local community association. Both entities made recommendations to the city, who owns the property, to spruce up the aging façade which included the removal of the unsightly steel ventilation shutters. “Windows” were installed made of sheets of Lexan – a hard plastic resin that is used for such things as sports helmets and windshields – on which wooden mullions were placed to create panes. New ventilation shafts were installed to expel the air out through the roof. In addition to being more pleasant to look at, New York City Transit considers the quaint façade to be a security benefit, since the building now blends seamlessly in with the row of brownstones – a useful disguise in our post-9/11 world for what could be a potential target to those wishing to inflict harm on the city. The article even notes that neighbors occasionally spruce it up with flower boxes under the windows.

Other cities with false facades disguising subway ventilation systems or emergency exists include London and Paris, among others. In London’s Bayswater neighborhood, two townhouses located at #23 and 24 Leinster Terrace are simply a 5-foot thick façade, complete with windows, balconies and front doors, but with no back or roof to the buildings at all. The two townhouses were razed in the 1860s to gain access for construction of a subway tunnel that was to pass through Paddington and Bayswater.

Source: Urban Blog (http://goo.gl/FawjQ)

Once the tunnel was finished and covered over, the townhouses were not “completely” rebuilt. Only the facades were reconstructed, disguising the ventilation system for the steam-powered subway trains running through the tunnel below.

Source: Urban Blog (http://goo.gl/FawjQ)

In Paris, a Haussman style façade disguises a Metro ventilation system, nestled between buildings at 124 Rue La Fayette. Information regarding this structure may be found on several internet sites, such as Web Urbanist, all providing an aerial view for doubters, courtesy of Google Maps.

Source: Urban Blog (http://goo.gl/FawjQ)

Another hidden subway treasure in London is the now defunct mini-rail and stations that provided mail delivery service for the Royal Mail Rail between Paddington and Whitechapel. In service for some 85 years, it was closed in 2002 when it had become too costly to maintain.

Source: Silent UK (http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792)

The station and its closing were kept very hush-hush, with very few people aware of the postal services happening beneath them. The stations and train cars were simply left as they were, with mail cars still on tracks and phones still on desks.

Source: Silent UK (http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792)

Access points for the stations and tunnels are located either in functioning mail depots or are less aesthetically disguised than the Leinster vents, with concrete walls blocking entry. Savvy urban explorers from the blog Silent UK managed to gain access to the stations and provided images of the station that seems frozen in time, kind of like the feeling you get when waiting in line at the post office to mail Christmas packages, or tax returns.

Source: Silent UK (http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792)

Passenger cart possibly for transporting Royal Mail Rail workers to-and-from stations. Source: Richard Pope, Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/
memespring/311142664/in/set-72157594400450387)

Curious to know more about what subterranean treasures your city may hide behind false facades or gated metal doors that seem to lead to nowhere? Even those which are in plain view are worth investigating a little closer. Learn more about the city you live in, or a city you are interested in visiting. Research its history, and learn more about the stories which make it famous, and those which make it infamous, such as a subway that was never completed but which still exists beneath busy city streets. Keep your eyes and imagination open to the built environment around you. Who knows what you’ll discover!

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/nyregion/thecity/26shaf.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/01/29/the-fake-townhouses-hiding-mystery-underground-portals/

http://weburbanist.com/2013/04/29/buildings-that-dont-exist-fake-facades-hide-infrastructure/

http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792

http://www.messynessychic.com/2012/11/09/londons-subterranean-secret-the-forgotten-mail-train/

This project is funded by a grant for $60,669 through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the State Library of Ohio.