The Abandoned Cincinnati Inclines (Cincinnati, Ohio)

foreign s know our hilly City Once boasted five inclines to Price Hill their view Bellevue Mount Auburn and Mount Adams our Upstream neighbor in Pittsburgh installed its first incline railway in 1864 although that first incline carried nothing but coal for several years it was soon adapted to passenger service Pittsburgh had three functional inclines before Cincinnati's first went into operation and it still has two functioning inclines from May 12 1872 when the Mount Auburn incline first went into service until the last bus depart from the Mount Adams incline on April 16 1948 more than three quarters of a century had passed by the time the incline ceased running years of deferred maintenance had rendered them unsafe and in need of expensive renovation entrance by the automobile Cincinnati demurred to our historic loss The Price Hill incline was one of the most unique among Cincinnati's inclines because it was really two inclines in fact some people count this as two making a total of six also it remained private and never hauled street cars William price after whose father General Reese e price name was given to the hilltop location built it it was actually two planes built side by side starting at West 8th Street and Glenway Avenue and going up to West 8th Street and Matson Avenue the first side was built in 1874 and had two cars for passengers the freight was finished in night in 1876 and carried three or four heavily loaded wagons wait waiting their turn to get up the hill in 1928 the steam engines were replaced by electric motors the only incline to do so nothing came of it so in December 1929 the freight plane was finally shut down to the falling off of the number of teams being hauled the motor truck and the Improvement of the streets brought this about however before it shut down it carried buses by 1943 the passenger side was in need of so many repairs that the incline company decided to shut down and so ended the second to last of the inclines now only Mount Adams remained to operate five more years and then they would all pass into history foreign [Music] [Music] the Fairview incline was the only incline constructed for street cars and ended up as passenger only all others started out as passenger and were converted to street cars except Price Hill that remained passenger Fairview incline did not go to a resort unlike the other Cincinnati inclines it went from McMicken Avenue Brown Street to Fairview Avenue in 1921 because of badly needed repairs it was declared unsafe for street cars and stationary bodies were mounted for foot passengers the streetcar company built a road around Fairview Hill to replace the incline the road was completed in 1923 and the incline shut down on December 24 1923. [Music] foreign [Music] foreign the Bellevue incline was the Cincinnati and Clifton incline plane railroad which was built in at the head of Elm Street at McMicken Avenue in 1876 and went to Ohio Avenue the ornate Bellevue house beckoned the city dwellers and visitors to ascend the incline and see the view from the Vantage of The Veranda it lasted until 1926. foreign the Mount Auburn incline plane was the first of these remarkable structures to be built this was open to the public in 1872 and ran from the head of Main Street the length of 900 feet to a point on the crest of the Hill known as Mount Auburn 312 feet high after the terrible accident of October 15 1889 which resulted in the releasing of a car at the head of the inclined and it's rushing with lightning-like speed to the foot carrying death and destruction with it this plane was remodeled in 1890 at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars after the control of this line had passed into the hands of the Consolidated system this plane was demolished and abandoned they called it the Mount Auburn the day when the passenger car of the city's first incline rocketed downhill and shattered into Flinders at the top of Main Street ending Six Lives it was noon on October 15 18 89 and the busy incline had just carried nine passengers to the top of the hill the steam-powered lift engine squealed as the car neared the summit and the operator panicked as the brakes failed he pulled on the lever with all his might but the car slammed into the structure at the top of the hill the cables snapped and the car shot downhill in free fall at the bottom the car crashed through a pair of wrought iron gates with such violence that the roof was sent sailing down the street and bodies bouncing every direction of the nine passengers six died of horrible injuries the incline never recovered although it resumed service five months later passengers sought sought alternative routes and the Mount Auburn incline closed in 1898. [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign foreign foreign the Mount Adams incline was the longest lived of the inclines the most well-known and was finally abandoned in 1948 it was constructed for streetcars and did accommodate wagons and in later years automobiles this incline was 230 feet to 270 feet in elevation the zoo Eaton car used the incline and carried many of the Z of the zoo over the years as this was the favorite way of getting there the reasons the cars stopped using the incline was because the bridge over the entrance to Eden Park had deteriorated and the cars were no longer allowed to cross it for about a year after the buses used it and on April 16 1948 it was shut down automobiles could use it and it was a short and interesting way to Eden Park the fair was 25 cents for for cars and drivers and five cents for each passenger and pedestrians were five cents each at the top of the incline was the Highland House a brilliantly lighted show place where even political meetings and conventions could be held as the end of gay 90s period approach the Highland House fell victim to the Sunday closing laws and finally was raised in 1895 but the incline continued for another half a century along with the price Hill incline this was the most photographed incline the pictures tell the story foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign

Channel: Matthew Skiba

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Length: 12min 22sec (742 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 03 2022