cliftonheights.org - History of Clifton Heights

History of Clifton Heights - Clifton Heights

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History of Clifton Heights - Clifton Heights Skip to contentClifton HeightsEat & Drink Bar / Restaurant American Italian / Pizza Asian Indian Ice Cream / Cookies Coffee Mexican Shop Clothing Convenience Store Clothing Books Electronics Banking Beauty Fitness Pharmacy Grocery Gas Live Apartments Hotels & Accomodations Churches Park Lease About History of Clifton Heights About Clifton HeightsPolityUrban Redevelopment Corporation Clifton HeightsMerchantryAssociation CUF Neighborhood Association Projects Blog You are here: Home / About / History of Clifton HeightsHistory of Clifton Heights The Clifton Heights neighborhood is home to over 6,000 people and 100 businesses.  The neighborhood bridges the gap between Over-the-Rhine and Downtown Cincinnati to the South and the University of Cincinnati to the North.  The population reflects this diversity and the merchantry district has rapidly wilt a destination for those visiting the University and its many events.   The neighborhood of Clifton Heights was the original “suburb” of Cincinnati.  As the population in the valley grew rapidly during the early-mid 19th century, living conditions became cramped and increasingly undesirable for those with the financial ways to live elsewhere.  As late as 1886, there were literally no streets; however, as the population grew and transit options expanded rapidly in the 1870s with the inclines followed shortly thereafter by streetcars, the zone quickly became wieldy and consequently grew exponentially. The neighborhood would be populated by the wealthy who sought the wipe air and spaciousness and who boasted that the neighborhood “combined the pleasures and comforts of hill-top and country life, with the conveniences of the municipality very tropical to hand.” While the University of Cincinnati was founded in 1819, it wasn’t until 1890 that it would uncork to take shape as we now know it.  It was at that time that theMunicipalityof Cincinnati set whispered 43 acres at the southern end of Burnet Woods to serve as a permanent home for the University. Over the next half century, Clifton Heights would wilt more dense and evolve into an increasingly middle matriculation neighborhood. The next major transpiration came in 1977 when the University ceased stuff aMunicipalityowned institution and officially became a part of the State of Ohio.  This transpiration resulted in an scrutinizingly overnight increase in enrollment and growth at the school skyrocketed. This growth had consequences and served to rapidly transpiration the real manor market as the University could not house all of its students on campus.  As a result, students began to increasingly rent single family housing on the blocks immediately proximal to campus.  Over time, the middle matriculation mostly owner-occupied neighborhood gradually became increasingly and increasingly densely populated with students and rental property. Concurrently, the Clifton HeightsMerchantryDistrict as regional by Calhoun and West McMillan streets underwent a rapid transformation as its traditional mixed-use older towers stock was razed in favor of a increasingly auto-oriented suburban model of minutiae highlighted by single story drive-thru fast supplies restaurants and surface parking lots.  This physical form was reflective of the student soul at the time which was heavily commuter. In 1989, under the leadership of then President Joseph Steger, the University embarked on a massive Master Plan that saw $2 billion in on campus construction that would radically transpiration what had traditionally been a passenger campus into one that Forbes Magazine would highlight as one of “America’s Most Beautiful  College Campuses”. Shortly thereafter, the University began to partner with the surrounding communities to create and fund polity minutiae corporations (CDCs).  These CDCs were structured in such a way as to bring all the stakeholders to the table to squint at how the areas virtually campus could be improved to complement the changes occurring on campus.  One of these CDCs, the Clifton HeightsPolityUrban Redevelopment Corporation (CHCURC) was worked in 2001 as the lead entity to implement the Clifton Heights / UC Joint Urban Renewal Plan. Over the next 15 years, CHCURC engaged in numerous initiatives to remake the Clifton HeightsMerchantryDistrict.  As stated previously, much like the University it served, the merchantry district had over time wilt very vehicular oriented with fast supplies momentum thru restaurants sprinkled throughout.  The planning process sought to make the merchantry district increasingly pedestrian and increasingly dumbo to bring life to the street. These efforts began with the branding of Clifton Heights and then evolved into increasingly bricks and mortar projects.  The organization, in partnership with theMunicipalityof Cincinnati, invested in existing businesses through the Façade Improvement Program which provided matching grant funding to merchantry and property owners who wanted to modernize their storefronts.  Concurrently, CHCURC, with the assistance of the University of Cincinnati andMunicipalityof Cincinnati, purchased several large tracts of land that would be ultimately be ripened into University Park Apartments, USquare, and flipside project currently under predevelopment, Gateway to Uptown. While primarily focused on new construction, CHCURC took the lead in saving the historically significant Old St. George, a formerly CatholicDenominationdesigned by renowned Cincinnati architect, Samuel Hannaford.   In 2005, when faced with pending foreclosure and imminent subversiveness by a large drugstore chain, CHCURC withal with the University stepped up to purchase the towers and save it.  In 2008, the denomination suffered a catastrophic fire that destroyed the steeples.  However, in 2015 CHCURC negotiated a sale of the property to CrossroadsDenominationwho would invest millions of dollars into the restoration of the towers and the rebuilding of its iconic steeples.  In 2016, Old St George opened its doors once again. As national trends evolve and people are now looking to repopulate the urban core, Clifton Heights, with its proximity to employment centers, entertainment, and culture, finds itself uniquely poised to enjoy a new renaissance. 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