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The facilities once here propelled the United States through the Nuclear and Space Ages and were named for the nearby pre-historic Miamisburg Mound. The Manhattan Engineer District of the War Department began construction of Mound Laboratory in 1946. The facility consolidated production of the nuclear-reaction initiators, developed for the United States’ first atomic bombs during World War II. Previously (1943-1946), the work to separate, purify, and process the element polonium used in these initiators occurred at facilities throughout the Dayton area. Mound Laboratory was the nation’s first permanent post-WWII Atomic Energy Commission site. Mound Laboratory had 116 buildings and at its peak employed approximately 2,500 scientists, engineers, and skilled workers. Contractors operating at the site were Monsanto (1947-1988), Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier (1988-1997), and Babcock and Wilcox (1997-2002). (Continued on other side)
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Steel-frame skyscrapers and retail buildings replaced wood-frame residences as the downtown evolved into a commercial district. A small public library branch occupied the north side of the square from 1923 to 1954. The Keith-Albee Theater (later the Palace) in the northeast corner of the square from 1926 to 1964, featured vaudeville performances and movies. Streetcar tracks around the square were removed for scrap during World War II. With expansion of suburban shopping malls, downtown theaters and department stores gradually closed. In 1973-74 Central Square was converted to a pedestrian Federal Plaza by closing off traffic on Federal Street one block east and west of Market Street. Central Square reopened in 2004 with a new traffic pattern, planting beds, and street furniture. Marker for “Central Square (1798-1899)” across the street.
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Designed by noted Detroit architect Albert Kahn (1869-1942), this 13-story Commercial Style building was contructed for the Mahoning National Bank in 1910 and opened in 1911. Advances in steel-frame structural systems and Kahn’s pioneering developments in fireproof reinforced concrete construction allowed buildings in America to soar to new heights. In 1925 the building’s width doubled with the addition of five bays. Rich exterior details consisting of piers joined by Renaissance-styled arches emphasize the verticality of the white terra cotta skyscraper. The windows have ornamental iron windowsill guards. The banking lobby retains much of the original lavish interior characterized by black walnut paneling, coffered plaster ceilings, and period light fixtures. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
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Elm Court, designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw of Illinois, was built in 1912 for Arthur Hudson Marks. The original mansion exemplifies the Italian Renaissance Revival style. Elm Court included the mansion, barn, stables, carriage house, pond, and a variety of trees, especially elms, on 33 acres. Arthur Marks was the inventive genius in chemistry and business who revolutionized the rubber industry in Akron. He was best known for inventing the alkaline-recovery vulcanization process in 1899, the cord tire, the chemical research laboratory system, and placing rubber research on a scientific basis. In World War I he served as director of chemical warfare services. Marks served as vice-president of B.F. Goodrich Company and Curtis Airplane and Engine Company and president of other rubber companies and the Aeolian Skinner Organ Company.
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The oldest building in Cincinnati’s basin area, the Betts House exemplifies a national trend on the expanding frontier of impermanent log and frame structures giving way to more permanent brick architecture. It is the earliest surviving brick building in the city. During Cincinnati’s period of settlement in the early 1800s, the William and Phebe Betts family established a brickyard here that supplied building materials for the rapidly growing frontier city. The Betts House lends its name to the Betts-Longworth Historic District. Established in 1983, the district represents the last nineteenth century remnant of Cincinnati’s lower West End and surrounds the older Betts House with tall, narrow mid-and late-nineteenth century buildings. The Betts house is oriented to the cardinal directions, rather than to the city’s slightly skewed grid.
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Completed in 1915, the Gate Lodge is one of several service buildings located at Stan Hywet Hall dedicated to the operations of the estate. Located at the front entrance gates, this two-story Tudor Revival structure was designed by the Seiberlings’ architect Charles S. Schneider. Originally, the Gate Lodge served as a residence for the estate’s superintendent. The first to fill this role was William Dennis who moved in with his family to the Gate Lodge after its completion and resided there until his death in 1923. Between 1923 and 1944, Fred, the eldest child of F.A. and Gertrude Seiberling, lived in the Gate Lodge with his wife Henrietta and their three children. In 1935, Henrietta brought here the two men who would formally found Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson of New York and Dr. Bob Smith of Akron.
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Established in 1851 after the addition of the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railway, Glendale incorporated in 1855 as Ohio’s first planned community and one of the nation’s first planned villages. The original planning included forested greenbelts and parks, curvilinear streets meandering around established trees, large lots, and superior building standards. Glendale is designated as a National Historic Landmark community from the Department of Interior and a Certified Local Government through the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, all owed to Glendale’s persistent adherence to the plan and faithful preservation of original infrastructure. Much of today’s preserved infrastructure includes the original 59 pivotal buildings, curvilinear streets, tree canopy, stone gutters, gas streetlights, and railroad depot.
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This historic synagogue symbolizes the work of one of the most important figures in nineteenth-century American Jewry, Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900). The Bohemian-born rabbi’s many achievements include the establishment of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1873, Hebrew Union College in 1875, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 1889. Wise’s leadership made Cincinnati a center for Reform Judaism in America. The Plum Street Temple, designed by Cincinnati architect James Keys Wilson and built in 1865-1866 for the B’nai Yeshurun congregation during Wise’s tenure, is one of the best-preserved Moorish Revival buildings in the United States. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1975.
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