HISTORY OF CINCINNATI & THE WEST END NEIGHBORHOOD

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI & THE WEST END NEIGHBORHOOD

The West End neighborhood of Cincinnati is located just west of the Central Business District and the historic neighborhood of Over The Rhine. Union Terminal stands tall on the western edge of the neighborhood, a former train station that has since transformed into a museum center. Since the late 1800’s the West End has housed various pillars of industry including chemical manufacturing plants and soap and candle making. The West End was experiencing a steady influx of new residents and gradually became a densely populated neighborhood with a distinctive cultural identity. As the demand for housing increased, conversations began to shift, favoring large apartment complexes over townhouses and the identity of the West End rapidly changed. By 1890, white flight ensued, where wealthier populations abandoned the West End and migrated to other popular neighborhoods, such as Over The Rhine, resulting in the population decline in the West End. As a result, 85% of Cincinnati’s black population was now concentrated in the West End. As development expanded in wealthier neighborhoods of Cincinnati, city planners and policy makers focused their efforts elsewhere, ultimately neglecting the West End which continued to decline in population through the 1930’s.4

4 Arefi, Mahyar. “An Asset-Based Approach to Policymaking: Revisiting the History of Urban Planning and Neighborhood Change in Cincinnati’s West End.” Cities 21, no. 6 (2004): 491-500.

Like many other major cities, the Cincinnati Planning Office and Housing Authority together proposed a slum clearance plan, aiming to resolve issues of overcrowding and areas that were considered unappealing within the West End. Allegedly, the purpose of this plan was to link the lower basin of Cincinnati with the surrounding valley. More blatantly, the proposal was an attempt to remove the low-income black population to make room for wealthier whites. This slum clearance process was happening across the United States and the clearance of the West End in Cincinnati ranked as the second largest in the nation. The introduction of highways in major cities allowed for major clearances and for the West End, it was the construction of Interstate 75. During the late 1960’s the highway project bisected the West End, displacing a quarter of its residents. Attempts have been made to reverse the damage done, yet through the 1960’s-1980’s, the neighborhood lost about 70% of its population, reducing the number of residents from 42,000 to only 12,000.5

5 Arefi 2004, 491-500.