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.
Crosley's popularity carried the company through the Great Depression. Meanwhile, war was brewing, and the Crosleys were situated to play a key role.
On a blustery day in October, a car pulled up to the facility on Arlington Street in Camp Washington. Military officials got out and went straight to Powel Crosley Jr.'s office. They had a top-secret contract to discuss with him. Rusty McClure tells us more.
"Six-thousand proximity fuses a day are built in buildings around this building, mostly by women of German descent, under the cloak of armed military personnel," he recounts. "They do not know what they’re building. They’re taken to Lunken Airport and flown out to the allied fronts."
As the Crosleys worked on secret defense contracts, did a booming business in radios and refrigerators, and tinkered with selling cars, the rest of Cincinnati was totally caught up in the war effort. And there was another big change going on — a massive migration of people from Appalachia and the South. That migration had a direct impact on Camp Washington as people moved to work for industry like the Crosley Company.
University of Cincinnati Zane Miller Chair of Urban History Dr. David Stradling and UC Center for the City Director Dr. Anne Delano Steinert give us context about what was going on in Camp Washington and Cincinnati more broadly as Crosley boomed during the war years.
"Lots of folks end up in neighborhoods that are affordable. Camp Washington is one of them," Stradling says. "Camp Washington gives them good access to factory jobs."
As the war came to an end, the Crosleys were riding high. But the company's days were numbered. In the following episodes, we'll talk about the sudden end of Crosley — at least at the Arlington Street facility — and its aftermath.
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