If you’ve spent any time in Cincinnati, you know the hulking white building with the tower on top that rises just west of I-75. In a city of architectural gems, the Crosley Building in Camp Washington stands out for its size — and its neglect.
What might not be apparent gazing at the crumbling building is that a significant amount of history took place there. This podcast is the story of how a now-empty building helped change the world, and how the fate of the neighborhood around it is tied up in its construction, its boom years, its decline — and efforts to resurrect it.
The history of the Crosley empire starts with two brothers — Powel and Lewis Crosley — who had very different, but complementary, skill sets and personalities. Together, they made a team that changed mass communication and American industry. They also had a huge impact on Cincinnati and the fate of Camp Washington, where they would eventually build the Crosley Building. Rusty McClure is Lewis Crosley’s grandson and author of Crosley: Two Brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the World. He tells us more about the duo and their start.
"Powel flunked out of the University of Cincinnati three times. Lewis was a graduate civil engineer... A very meticulous, thoughtful engineer," McClure says. "They’re very different people. That’s what makes this story so rich.”
As the Crosleys worked to establish their business and build the enormous factory on Arlington Street in Camp Washington, the city around them was changing. University of Cincinnati Zane Miller Chair of Urban History Dr. David Stradling and UC Center for the City Director Dr. Anne Delano Steinert talk to us about the broader historical picture of the times.
"They’re very different people. That’s what makes this story so rich."Rusty McClure
"WLW makes Cincinnati, as a place, something that people from great distances will hear about," Stradling says. "WLW has the ability to broadcast into very distant communities. The Cincinnati Reds become the team for lots and lots of people who don’t live anywhere close to Cincinnati because they can follow the team on WLW."
As the popularity of Crosley radios exploded at the end of the 1920s, the brothers began to look around for a place to build a manufacturing facility for their products. They settled on a Cincinnati neighborhood already heavily industrialized and teeming with energy — Camp Washington. Meanwhile, an economic calamity loomed. We’ll explore it all in our next episode.
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