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On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union surprised the world with the launching of Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite. The Cincinnati Astronomical Society’s Moonwatch Team, organized in 1956 as part of its participation in the International Geophysical Year, was immediately activated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (S.A.O.). First observations of satellites were made December 15, 1957. On these grounds, from 1957 to 1964, the Cincinnati Moonwatch Team, principally under the leadership of Tom Van Flandern (1940-2009), spent thousands of man-hours optically observing and recording data to verify the positions of satellites in space. Many times the team compiled the best satellite tracking records in the world. Because of this work The Moonwatch Team and the Cincinnati Astronomical Society were recognized by the S.A.O. as one of its leading teams worldwide.
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When the cable car route was electrified in 1898, transportation through the area became more efficient, and Walnut Hills became more desirable. New stores were built to accommodate commuters who found it convenient to shop while waiting to transfer at Peebles Corner. During the early 1900s, high-density, mixed-use buildings were erected to accommodate the increasing population and facilitate commercial and residential growth. These buildings had three or four stories with a storefront on the first floor and multi-family residences above. They reflected architectural styles representative of the period including Italianate, Queen Anne, Classical Revival, and Art Deco. The Peebles Corner Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 for its commercial and architectural significance.
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In 1817 twenty-two men, including future President William Henry Harrison, chartered Cincinnati’s first Episcopal parish, Christ Church. In 1835 members erected a Gothic Revival-style church on this site. The neighborhood evolved as the city grew with the influx of immigrants. Parish women raised funds to teach, feed, clothe, and shelter tenement families, and alleviate suffering during floods and disease outbreaks. In 1883 the women helped establish what became Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. In 1909 members opened the Late Gothic-style Parish House, a community center with kitchen, classrooms, library, auditorium, clinic, gymnasium, and bowling alley. By the parish’s centennial in 1917, music had expanded beyond worship to public concerts. In 1940 the annual Boar’s Head Festival of music and pageantry began. Since the 1960s, members have collaborated with local agencies to advocate for social and economic justice, a mission continuing into the 21st century. (Continued on other side)
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Sarah Mayrant Walker was born enslaved in Charleston, South Carolina, and sent to New Orleans as a young girl to study under a French hair specialist in the art of hair and scalp treatment, and goods manufacturing. Brought to Cincinnati around 1840, she used her networks to build a hair salon empire that catered to elite and wealthy women. In 1859, Sarah single-handedly desegregated the Cincinnati streetcars when she successfully sued The Passenger Railroad Company after a conductor refused her passage and pushed her off the moving car. As a result, Black women and children could ride inside a streetcar while men could ride on the platform. She and her husband, Peter Fossett, founded First Baptist Church of Cumminsville circa 1870. Both are buried in the Union Baptist Cemetery.
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In 1902, Albert Belmont Graham (1868-1960), a school teacher and superintendent, established the Boys and Girls Agricultural Experiment Club in Springfield, Ohio. Graham believed in learning by doing, a concept at the core of 4-H, which stands for Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. In 1905, Graham became the first Superintendent of Agricultural Extension at The Ohio State University and he brought the idea of 4-H with him. 4-H is in all 50 states and over 70 countries, and more than 7 million members enroll annually. One in six Ohioans have been members.
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The Drexel Theatre is a significant example of the once-ubiquitous small neighborhood theatres that appeared in the 1930s, a time when movies were an inexpensive and popular form of entertainment. Designed by architect Robert R. Royce, the theatre was built in 1937 in a combination of Art Deco and Art Moderne styles. The P.F. Yoerger Sign Company designed the iconic marquee. The Drexel opened on Christmas Day 1937, showing the movie One Mile from Heaven, and has been in continuous operation ever since. In 2009, with the theatre falling on hard times, Friends of the Drexel and the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts came together to save and restore this artistic jewel for future generations to cherish. The Drexel Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
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With work inspired by mythology, literature, religion and nature, Cowan Pottery played a significant role in the formative years of American ceramic art and established a national following with products sold in fine department stores. The design studio, factory and showroom of Cowan Pottery stood here from 1920-1931. R. Guy Cowan moved the business to Rocky River from Lakewood, where it started in 1913. Although Cowan Pottery closed during the Depression, the firm’s work is still collected and can be found in the Smithsonian, Cleveland Museum of Art and other museums. Comprehensive holdings are in the Cowan Pottery Museum at the Rocky River Public Library.
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Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson (1940-2015) and her son Sydney moved into this home in 1974. The artist, a visual historian, lived and worked here in the Shepard community until her passing. Raised in Columbus’s Poindexter Village and educated in the local public schools, Robinson also studied at Columbus College of Art and Design and The Ohio State University. Her art reflected stories handed down from her elders, experienced within her community, and the local history she researched while working at the Columbus Metropolitan Library. She received a 2004 MacArthur Award for her celebration of “family, ancestry, and the grandeur of simple objects in drawings, paintings, and large-scale, mixed-media assemblages.” (Continued on the other side)
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