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.
By the late 1920s, the popularity of Crosley radios was booming. The company couldn’t keep up with demand for its inexpensive radio sets at a time when the airwaves were the only real form of mass communication. Powel and Lewis Crosley knew they needed to expand. And they set their eyes on Camp Washington — already a bustling industrial neighborhood — to do so. Lewis Crosley’s grandson and author of Crosley: Two Brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the World, Rusty McClure, tells us more.
"If you’re sitting somewhere worried about your future, your family’s well-being, you’re not going to go on the family vacation, you’re not going to blow money, but you could save up and buy a home entertainment system for seven to 10 dollars," McClure says. "That radio in some ways wasn't the cutting-edge thing so much as it was the only thing."
Even as the Crosleys were building their enormous new factory and state of the art studio facility, the world's economic system was grinding to a halt. The Crosleys managed to escape the brunt of that due to the way they operated their business.
Many others were not so lucky. University of Cincinnati professor of history, Dr. David Stradling, discusses how the Great Depression impacted Cincinnati and America.
"By the time this building opens for business and is occupied, the Great Depression has begun," says Stradling.
Crosley continued its dominance in the radio industry beyond the Great Depression. But another major historical event was on the horizon.
In the next episode, we’ll talk about the pivotal role the company played in the effort to win World War II — including a game-changing device that might have turned the tide of the war.
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