Millionare's Row

Front view of the John Hauck mansion on Millionaire's Row in the West End

First, I must take a minute to apologize for my last post in which I threatened to leave Cincinnati if the streetcar project doesn't happen. This is not going to happen. I suppose I sometimes let emotions get the best of me when it comes to standing up for downtown and OTR:)

Moving on...The Enquirer ran a story today about Dayton St. in the West End in reference to Mallory's recent appearance on Undercover Boss. In the article, they felt it necessary to explain to Cincinnati viewers what the term "Millionaire's Row" was referring to. I suppose in some sense they did an okay job explaining its historical importance, but it seems to me they went a little too far in making sure to let everyone know that the neighborhood is no longer full of millionaire's, but instead mostly low-income families. I got the feeling that they wanted to keep people thinking negatively about that part of town. They went out of their way to explain how many of the mansions are boarded up and even went so far as to call it Skid Row instead of Millionaire's Row.

I just don't get the Enquirer. I mean, how can anyone hate Downtown and OTR that much that they take every opportunity possible to put a negative spin on things? The West End neighborhood of Cincinnati, before getting sliced up by I-75, was a magnificent place. It was huge and contained just as many, if not more beautiful 19th century buildings than OTR does today. I always like to remind people, that if they consider themselves native Cincinnatians they likely had great grandparents or great great grandparents who helped build these neighborhoods and likely lived out their entire lives there. Why would you want to constantly crap on your own family history?

Anyway, I just wanted to express my frustration with the Enquirer for again screwing up a perfectly good opportunity to help Dayton St. out a little by publishing an nice article detailing all the interesting historical and architectural facts about Millionaire's row. Why not take the opportunity to educate your readers about all the different brewery owners that once lived there? Or how about point out that the Hatch House (referred to in the article as simply "in need of a lot of work") is believed to be one of the only remaining structures in the area built by the famous architect Isaiah Rogers. Instead, we are left with nothing but negative commentary that I see as totally unnecessary.

I suppose I don't mind it all that much though because what they are essentially doing is preventing rich suburbanites from wanting to come down here and buy up all these old mansions. For my wife and I that's a good thing because we would love to eventually buy one of these amazing properties and fix it up and live there. So, at least they're helping to keep property values down?

Below: A few examples of the type of magnificient architectural treasures still intact throughout most of the West End and especially prominent along Millionaire's Row.







An example of a Carriage House in the rear of the Hauck Mansion. Many of the buildings along Millionaire's Row still have these beautiful structures intact as part of the property.