Round Robin Photo Challenge...My Hometown

I'd like to thank Marie of Photographs and Memories for bringing memories to the front of my brain. Our assignment is simple...to show off our hometowns. Cincinnati isn't my hometown (that would be Huntington, WV) but Cincinnati is where we live at the moment. You just never know when it might be time to pack it all up and move on to another adventure. We do have many, many interesting sites to see and places to go. Here are just a few of our favorites.

There are so many places to visit in the "Big City". So as soon as I knew that this challenge was I was on it. Mark had the day off so as soon as Sarah was dropped off at school and Michael boarded the school bus, we were off and literally running.

I have decided with this challenge I might as well capitalize on all the teachable moments and learn something about the city in which I live. So if you read on, you will learn more than I am sure you ever wanted to know about my hometown, Cincinnati, Ohio. If you just want to look at the pictures...that's okay too.

The official name for this bridge is the Newport Southbank Bridge. It stretches 2,670 feet over the Ohio River connecting Newport, Kentucky to Cincinnati. It is the longest pedestrian-only bridge in the United States that connects two states. The bridge first opened on April 1, 1872, under the name Newport and Cincinnati Bridge, and was Cincinnati's first railroad bridge spanning the Ohio River. Over the course of the next 35 years, the bridge would be retrofitted to accommodate streetcar, pedestrian and automobile traffic.
In 1904, the bridge was renamed the L&N (Louisville and Nashville) Railroad Bridge, and this name remained until the bridge was rehabilitated and re-opened as a pedestrian-only bridge in May 2003.The bridge was closed to railroad traffic in 1987, and later closed to automobile traffic in October 2001 after years of neglect and deterioration.On April 17, 2001, the L&N Railroad Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.In late 2001, the city of Newport, Kentucky, and Southbank Partners, an economic development group, used $4 million in state funds to restore the bridge. When it was time to decide on what color to paint it, a variety of options were explored. Computer-generated images of the bridge were shown to participants in more than a dozen focus groups, all of whom picked the color purple as a top choice. It was soon coined the "Purple People Bridge" by area residents.The bridge provides convenient access to the "Newport on the Levee" development in Newport, Kentucky, as well as downtown Cincinnati.In 2006, it became possible for the public to cross the bridge via its superstructure wearing appropriate safety gear. There are similar bridge climb experiences in Australia and New Zealand.Citing lack of funds and low attendance, the Purple People Bridge Climb closed on May 23, 2007.

The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge is a twin span steel arch bridge that crossing the yet again, the Ohio River, only at the other end of Cincinnati. It was the first bridge I learned. The bridge is nicknamed locally "The Big Mac Bridge". As to the origin of this nickname, it's yellow arches look like the arches of McDonald's. I did not know this next piece of information...McDonalds considered opening a restaurant at the base after the nickname caught on, but never went to construction. I have read that it would have been on the barge where Hooter's is now. The bridge is named in honor of Daniel Carter Beard, one of the founders of theBoy Scouts of America.





This is my favorite bridge that crosses the river to Cincinnati. It is known as The Singing Bridge. It isn't a poured concrete floor but metal that you can actually see thru to the river below. So when the tire go over it, it sounds like the bridge is singing. Every Reds baseball game I have ever attended, we have parked on the KY side and walked across this bridge. I'm not a big fan of heights but I will walk across as long as I can almost hug the side closest to the cars and trucks . My kids and husband drive me crazy walking close to the edge and leaning over looking at he river. It makes my knees like jello.The official name of the bridge is The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge When the first pedestrians crossed on, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet , a status it maintained until the 1883 completion of the Brooklyn Bridge. By the mid-1800s, Cincinnati had become the nation's leading inland port, and ferrytraffic between the two states.. The Covington-Cincinnati Bridge Company was formed to oversee the project. The state of Ohio mandated, however, that if a span was to be built, the piers could not interfere with the city's river shipping, and the deck would have to be high enough for the stacks of steamboatsto pass underneath. No such bridge had ever been built, but engineer Johm August Roebling submitted a design and was awarded the job. Construction continued for over ten years, interrupted by financial shortages and the Civil War, during which the city and the unfinished bridge were under threat of attack. The bridge was completed in December 1866. As the first bridge to use both vertical suspenders and diagonal stays fanning from each of its 230-foot (70 m) stone towers, it served as the prototype for Roebling's design of the Brooklin Bridge. When the Roebling Bridge was formally opened on January 1, 1867, the driver of a horse and buggy was charged a toll of 15 cents to cross; the toll for three horses and a carriage was 25 cents. Pedestrians were charged a cent. But today it is free. A definite must if you ever come to Cincinnati.










It is regarded as the city's symbol and one of the area's most-visited attractions. This is the Tyler Davidson Fountain.It was dedicated in 1871 and is the centerpiece of Fountain Square, a hard scape plaza at the corner of Fifth and Vine Streets in the downtown area. The fountain is turned off each winter and turned on again in April for the first home game of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds, the oldest professional baseball team. The entire construct is made of approximately 24 tons of bronze and 85 tons of granite. It is estimated that 500 gallons of water flow through it every minute.After the death of his brother-in-law and business partner Tyler Davidson, Cincinnati businessman Henry Probasco went to Munich, Germany in search of a suitable memorial to him. The fountain originally faced east, towards Europe, where much of Cincinnati's population originated. When Fountain Square was redone in the late 1960s. As you can see it is lunch time on the Square. When ever we have visitors from out of town, we always make a stop at the Fountain...be it early morning or very late at nice. It is just a cool place. In the winter, an ice rink it built for ice skating...kinda like Rockefeller Center in NY. You can take carriage rides thru downtown starting from here. I've never done that either. Have to get on that. The Square and Fountain have been recently refurbished and now it is better than ever. Do you remember the TV show...WKRP in Cincinnati? The opening scene was shot here.



And last but certainly not least, we make a short visit to one of the most unusual buildings in Cincinnati. Union Terminal AKA Cincinnati Museum Center and Union Terminal
This will always just be Union Terminal to me. I have been able to ride the train to Cincinnati twice in my lifetime. Once in college and once when I was in elementary school many, many years ago. I remember the very long train ride to Cincinnati and sitting in front of the terminal on my little round suitcase, with my Mom and little sister. I seems to recall that Robin was not a happy camper. Oh wait, I just found the said photo....You can see for yourself that Robin was not happy...and I am looking ever so cute in my gingham dog and calico cat shirt. Hey, I remember that shirt too. My mind is like a steel trap! Okay, back to the present...the railroad tracks actually went into and out of the terminal...in on one side and out on the other. The building was constructed in the Art Deco style. At the time of its completion, it was the only half-dome in the Western Hemisphere and the largest in existence. The inside of the building is more beautiful that the outside. The huge rotunda makes for a lot of echos, which every kids in the universe has to try out...even some of the big kids. The art work is unbelievable. German artist Winold Reiss was commissioned to design and create two 22 foot (6.7 m) high by 110 foot (33.5 m) long color mosaic murals depicting the history of Cincinnati for the rotunda, two murals for the baggage lobby, two murals for the departing and arriving train boards, 14 smaller murals for the train concourse representing local industries and the large world map mural located at the rear of the concourse. Reiss spent roughly two years in the design and creation of the murals. The 14 industries chosen to be depicted were:
Piano making (Baldwin Piano Company)
Radio broadcasting (Crosley Broadcasting Corporation)
Roof manufacture (Philip Carey Co.)
Tanning (American Oak Leather Co.)
Airplane and parts manufacture (Aeronca Aircraft Company)
Ink making (Ault & Weiborg Corp.)
Laundry-machinery manufacture (American Laundry Machine)
Meat packing (Kahn's Meat Packing)
Drug and chemical processing (William S. Merrill Co.)
Printing and publishing (U.S. Playing Card Co. and Champion Paper Company)
Foundry products operations (Cincinnati Milling Machine)
Sheet steel making (American Rolling Mills and Newport Rolling Mill)
Soap making (The Procter & Gamble Co.)
Machine tools manufacture (Cincinnati Milling Machine).
There have been lots of ups and downs with Union Terminal ...and the city almost lost a true treasure. But in May 1986 the voters of Hamilton County passed a bond levy to save the terminal from destruction and to transform it into the Cincinnati Museum Center. Former Cincinnati mayor Jerry Springer(yes, the one and only Jerry Springer...he was Cincinnati's mayor once... was one of the major proponents of saving the building and transforming it into a museum. It was opened in 1990 and now provides a home to six organizations:
Cincinnati History Museum
Museum of Natural History & Science
Robert D. Lindner Family Omnimax Theater
Cincinnati Historical Society Library
Duke Energy Children's Museum
The renovations also allowed Amtrak to restore service to Union Terminal via the thrice-weekly Cardinal on July 29, 1991.
Another must see when you are in town.

There are so many more unique and interesting places in my hometown. And I would love to show each and every one of them to you if you ever visit our city. We will leave the light on for you. Thanks again Marie!
If you would like to see the different hometowns thru the 'townies' eyes join the Robins here.