Over-the-Rhine (often abbreviated as OTR) is a neighborhood in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
, Ohio, United States. Historically, Over-the-Rhine has been a working-class neighborhood. It is among the largest, most intact urban
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from ce ...
The neighborhood's name comes from the predominantly German immigrants who developed the area in the mid-19th century. Many walked to work across bridges over the Miami and Erie Canal, which separated the area from downtown Cincinnati. The canal was
nickname
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
d "the Rhine" in reference to the river
Rhine
The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...
in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
, and the newly settled area north of the canal as "Over the Rhine".Kenny (1875), pg. 130. In German, the district was called ''über den Rhein''.
An early reference to the canal as "the Rhine" appears in the 1853 book ''White, Red, Black'', in which traveler
Ferenc Pulszky
Ferenc Aurél Pulszky de Cselfalva et Lubócz (17 September 1814 – 9 September 1897) was a Hungarian politician, writer and nobleman. After fleeing Hungary in 1849 and being condemned to death in his absence, he was able to return and resume hi ...
wrote, "The Germans live all together across the Miami Canal, which is, therefore, here jocosely called the 'Rhine.' " In 1875 writer Daniel J. Kenny referred to the area exclusively as "Over the Rhine." He noted, "Germans and Americans alike love to call the district 'Over the Rhine.' "Kenny (1875), pg. 129.
Eventually, the canal was drained and capped by Central Parkway; the resulting tunnel was to be used for the now-defunct Cincinnati Subway project.
History
Built in the nineteenth century during a period of extensive German immigration, Over-the-Rhine changed as many residents moved to the suburbs following World War II. The city and area had lost many of the industrial jobs that once supported its workers. By the end of the century, the area was noted for its poverty. Residents united and created many life-saving organizations.Over-the-Rhine Foundation OTR History . Accessed on June 13, 2009 Following social unrest in 2001, the neighborhood has since been the focus of millions of dollars of redevelopment.
Geography
Over-the-Rhine, one of the largest, most intact urban historic districts in the United States, has several districts. The Northern LibertiesMarket History , Findlay Market of Cincinnati, Ohio /ref> and the
Brewery District
The Brewery District, traditionally known as the Old German Brewing District, is a neighborhood located in Columbus, Ohio. Located just south of the central business district and west of German Village, it is bounded by Interstate 70 on the north, ...
are north of Liberty Street. South of Liberty are the Gateway Quarter and Pendelton.
The Washington Park Area
In recent years, developers have renamed this portion of Over-the-Rhine as "The Gateway Quarter". This area has been the focal point of gentrification, which has displaced African Americans and low-income residents. More than 1,000 African Americans left this area between 2000 and 2010, and by 2012 it had become a predominantly white, wealthy and exclusive section of the neighborhood.
The Brewery District
North of Liberty Street sat the heart of Cincinnati's beer brewing industry. Christian Moerlein established his first brewing company in Over-the-Rhine in 1853. Eventually the
Christian Moerlein Brewing Co.
Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. is a private beer company that began production in 1853 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by German immigrant Christian Moerlein. Before closing its doors in 1919 as result of prohibition, Christian Moerlein was among the ten ...
became the city's largest brewery and expanded into the national market. At its height the brewery occupied three entire city blocks. Prohibition brought an end to the company in the 1920s. In 2010 the revived
Christian Moerlein Brewing Co.
Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. is a private beer company that began production in 1853 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by German immigrant Christian Moerlein. Before closing its doors in 1919 as result of prohibition, Christian Moerlein was among the ten ...
began brewing beer in the Brewery District once again.
North of Liberty Street
This area of the neighborhood has been relatively untouched by recent gentrification efforts and may resemble historic OTR better than other areas.
In the late 1820s, English writer
Fanny Trollope
Frances Milton Trollope, also known as Fanny Trollope (10 March 1779 – 6 October 1863), was an English novelist who wrote as Mrs. Trollope or Mrs. Frances Trollope. Her book, ''Domestic Manners of the Americans'' (1832), observations from a t ...
, mother of
Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ...
, lived in the Mohawk area, which today is considered part of Over-the-Rhine.Trollope, Fanny, ''Domestic Manners of the Americans'', Ch. 12. /ref> The acerbic portrayal of Americans of that period in her book '' Domestic Manners of the Americans'' is based in part on her interactions with the rough-hewn residents of the area.
Until 1849, today's Liberty Street, then called Northern Row, was the corporation line forming Cincinnati's northern boundary. The area north of Northern Row was not subject to municipal law and was called "The Northern Liberties". In 1955, the city decided to widen Liberty Street to connect with Reading Road as an east-west crosstown access point for the interstate highway system. Buildings on the south side of the street were demolished and the street was widened from two to five lanes. As of 2019, efforts are underway to narrow Liberty Street to bridge the gap between these halves of the neighborhood.
Gentrification
Over-the-Rhine Neighborhood Revitalization
Over-the-Rhine, the site of the
2001 Cincinnati riots
The 2001 Cincinnati riots were a series of civil disorders which took place in and around the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of downtown Cincinnati, Ohio from April 9 to 13, 2001. They began with a peaceful protest in the heart of the city on Fount ...
, became the city's most dangerous neighborhood by 2009. However, it has since seen intensive gentrification efforts. Private development corporations and city officials have begun to address the problems that come with a neighborhood with low employment and high crime rates. A neo-liberal
urban renewal
Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of bligh ...
strategy encourages private corporations rather than the city government to take on renewing and updating this area.
Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation
The
Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation
Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) is a private, non-profit real-estate development and finance organization focused on strategically revitalizing Cincinnati's downtown urban core in partnership with the City of Cincinnati and ...
(3CDC) is a private,
non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
real-estate development and finance organization focused on revitalizing Cincinnati's urban core with the city government and local corporations. Its work is focused on the central business district and in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. The organization is widely credited with revitalizing OTR. The organization began as a full-service real estate developer, but has since branched out and produces more than 1,000 events per year at the four civic spaces it manages: Fountain Square, Washington Park, Ziegler Park and Memorial Hall.
In July 2003, 3CDC was formed by former mayor of Cincinnati Charlie Luken and other corporate community members. This was a result of a recommendation by a City of Cincinnati Economic Development Task Force. Most funds are gathered through corporate contributions. In 2004, 3CDC accepted responsibility for overseeing Cincinnati New Markets Fund and Cincinnati Equity Fund. As of May 2018, those funds total over $250 million and have resulted in over $1.3 billion invested in downtown and Over-the-Rhine real estate projects.
Architecture
Over-the-Rhine has been praised for its collection of historic architecture. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' described the neighborhood as having "a scale and grace reminiscent of
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
." Its architectural significance has also been compared to the
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old S ...
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...
and Charleston, South Carolina.OTR Foundatio Why OTR Matters Accessed on 2010-08-13. When Arthur Frommer, founder of the Frommer's travel guides, visited Over-the-Rhine he described it as the most promising urban area for revitalization in the United States, and claimed that its potential for tourism "literally could rival similar prosperous and heavily visited areas."Over-the-Rhine Foundation Historic Preservation . Accessed on 2009-08-13.
Most of Over-the-Rhine's ornate brick buildings were built by German immigrants from 1865 to the 1880s. The architecture of Over-the-Rhine reflects the diverse styles of the late nineteenth century— simple vernacular, muted Greek Revival,
Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italia ...
and Queen Anne. Most of the buildings in Over-the-Rhine are one of these styles, but other motifs include the
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...
American Building on Central Parkway; the Germania Building at Twelfth and Walnut streets, ironically one of the few examples of German ornamentation in the neighborhood; Music Hall, a mixture of styles best described as Venetian Gothic; a handful of buildings with
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. I ...
; and the new SCPA on Central Parkway, the most notable example of
Modern architecture
Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that for ...
in the neighborhood.
File:Germania-Building-front.jpg, The Germania Building (Eastlake H)
File:Cincinnati-Music-Hall-entrance.jpg, Music Hall (Venetian Gothic)
File:HamiltonCountyMemorial.jpg, Memorial Hall ( Beaux Arts)
File:OTR-1207-Elm-Street-Building.jpg, Elaborate ornamentation of an Elm Street building
File:OTR-Rounded-Window-Cornices.jpg, Rounded window cornices are a common feature of Italianate architecture.
File:OTR-Italianate-brownstone.jpg, Italianate greystone at Clay and 13th Streets.
File:American-Building-entrance.jpg, Entrance to the American Building (Art Deco)
File:OTR-Hanke-Building.jpg, Hanke Building on Main Street detail (Renaissance Revival)
File:Over-the-Rhine-Queen-Anne-architecture.jpg, Queen Anne architecture on Main Street
New construction
Noted Indianapolis architect Evans Woollen III and his architectural firm of Woollen, Molzan and Partners helped redevelop the historic neighborhood in the 1970s and 1980s. Woollen designed the Over-the-Rhine Pilot Center (1972–84), a group of four modern, mixed-use buildings within a two-block area. The Pilot Center buildings included a recreational center, a senior citizens center, a Montessori school and daycare center, and a meeting and event space. Funding for the $2.5 million project came from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Historic restoration
In 2011 the Over-the-Rhine Foundation, which works to prevent historic building loss in OTR, won third place in the
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 b ...
's nationwide "This Place Matters" community challenge. In 2006 the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the status of Over-the-Rhine as "Endangered." Since 1930, about half of Over-the-Rhine's historic buildings have been destroyed. More will follow unless deteriorating buildings are repaired. Between 2001 and 2006, the city approved more than 50 "emergency demolitions," which were caused by
absentee landlord
In economics, an absentee landlord is a person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region. The term "absentee ownership" was popularised by economist Thorstein Veblen's 1923 ...
s' allowing their buildings to become so critically dilapidated that the city declared them a danger to the public. Reinvestment could have saved them. Due to the situation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation declared Over-the-Rhine one of Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places in 2006. Over-the-Rhine was included in the 2008 book, ''Frommer's 500 Places to See Before They Disappear'', which noted the district's "shocking state of neglect".
According to WCPO in 2001, some of the worst-kept properties at the time were owned by Over-the-Rhine's non-profits, which let the buildings sit vacant and deteriorating because of lack of funds or volunteers. With some buildings on the verge of collapse, investors and real-estate developers are trying to restore them before deterioration to the point of requiring demolition. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010, part of Over-the-Rhine had one of the highest rates of abandoned and vacant homes in the country. They classified it then as the sixth hardest area in the nation to get an accurate population count.
In recent years there has been a burst of restoration and development slowly moving northward year by year from Central Parkway, with a focus on attracting local small businesses rather than national chains. Developers have restored and renovated the abandoned buildings, the city renovated nearby Washington Park, and businesses and residents have moved into what were abandoned spaces. Local chefs and artisan brewers in particular embraced the area, and in 2018 Food & Wine Magazine called it "one of the country's most promising food scenes."
Demographics
In 2001 there were an estimated 500 vacant buildings in Over-the-Rhine with 2,500 residential units.Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Bridging the Economic Divide: Cincinnati's Crisis Presents New Opportunities . Fall 2001. Retrieved on 2009-01-11 Of those residential units 278 were condemned as uninhabitable. Also in 2001 the owner-occupancy rate was between 3 and 4 percent compared to the citywide rate of 39 percent. According to the "Drilldown", a comprehensive analysis of the city's actual population and demographics conducted in 2007, OTR's current population was just 4,970.
At the 2000
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
, the racial makeup of Over-the-Rhine was 19.4%
White
White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...
, 76.9%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
, and less than 4% of other races. 0.6% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race.
The neighborhood's residents comprise roughly 1.2% of the population of the City of Cincinnati.
Recent gentrification has changed the demographic makeup of the area as residents moving in tend to have a higher income and are more likely to be white. By 2018 the website statisticalatlas.com was estimating OTR's population to be 34% white and 54% black, with 56% of those between the ages of 20 and 24 being white.
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...
plays a politician who campaigns at Memorial Hall in Over-the-Rhine.
* In the movie ''
Traffic
Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation.
Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffi ...
'' (2000), the teenage daughter of the US drug czar becomes addicted to heroin and goes to Over-the-Rhine for drugs.
* '' Harry's Law '' (2011), an NBC legal comedy-drama, is set in Over-the-Rhine, though only old stock photos are shown. No filming was done in Over-the-Rhine or Cincinnati.
* ''
Little Man Tate
''Little Man Tate'' is a 1991 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Jodie Foster (in her List of directorial debuts, directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Scott Frank. The film stars Adam Hann-Byrd as Fred Tate, ...
'' (1991) was filmed in Over-the-Rhine as well as various other Cincinnati locations.
* '' A Rage in Harlem'' (1991) was filmed in Over-the-Rhine because it resembled 1950s
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harl ...
.
* In '' Eight Men Out'' (1988) scenes depicting Chicago in 1919 were shot in Over-the-Rhine.
* Over-the-Rhine and other nearby neighborhoods are featured in the 3 Doors Down music video “
It's Not My Time
"It's Not My Time" is the first official single from the self-titled fourth studio album by rock band 3 Doors Down. The song was serviced to US modern rock radio on February 18, 2008. Lyrically, the song focuses on "being resilient, going aga ...
”.
* In music, the folk-rock group Over the Rhine took its name from the Cincinnati neighborhood, where the band first started in 1989.
* Cincinnati-born vocalist Matt Berninger references the neighborhood in the lyrics of the 2015 EL VY song "I'm the Man to Be."
* Electronic Music Producer "OTR" took his name from the Cincinnati neighborhood, when he saw the transformation it was undergoing mirrored his own.
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
Fountain Square
A fountain square is a park or plaza in a city that features a fountain. It may stand alone or as part of a larger public park.
In the United States, there are numerous fountain squares, many of which are actually called "fountain square." Th ...
*Nowhere Else Music and Arts Festival
List of landmarks
Most of Over-the-Rhine's landmarks are related to
the arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both h ...
and are clustered in one area near Downtown.
* Art Academy of Cincinnati, founded in 1869, is a four-year arts college with its campus centered around 12th and Jackson streets.
* Cincinnati Music Hall, built in 1878, is a concert
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...
that hosts the
Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera is an American opera company based in Cincinnati, Ohio and the second oldest opera company in the United States (after the New York Metropolitan Opera). Beginning with its first season in 1920, Cincinnati Opera has produced oper ...
, the
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its primary concert venue is Music Hall. In addition to its symphony concerts, the orchestra gives pops concerts as the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. The Cinc ...
, the
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is a pops orchestra based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, founded in 1977 out of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Its members are also the members of the Cincinnati Symphony, and the Pops is managed by the same ...
Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati is a professional equity theatre located at 1127 Vine Street in Cincinnati, Ohio that was founded in 1986. It is Greater Cincinnati’s second largest professional theatre, and until April 2012 was known as "Ensemble Thea ...
In Over The Rhine since 1988, a theatre that presents new works and works that are new to the region.
* Findlay Market is the oldest continuously operated
public market
A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...
Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...
reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
* St. Paulus Kirche, 1419 Race Street, German Evangelical Protestant (Oldest Protestant church in the city)
*
German Baptist Church
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
Philippus United Church of Christ
Philippus United Church of Christ is located on the northwest corner of West McMicken and Ohio Avenues, in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The church is a landmark because of a gilded hand, with its index finger pointing to ...
Saint Francis Seraph Church St. Francis Seraph Church is a Roman Catholic parish in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1859 by Franciscan Friars of the Province Of St. John the Baptist on the site of the first Catholic parish in Cincinnati, Christ Church, w ...
, Vine and Liberty Streets
* St. Paul Church, East 12th and Spring Streets
*
Salem United Church of Christ
The Salem United Church of Christ, known in previous generations as the Salem German Evangelical Reformed Church or ''Deutsche Evangelisch Reformierte Salems Kirche'', is located at 1425 Sycamore Street in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cin ...
, 1425 Sycamore Street
* Nast Trinity United Methodist Church, 1310 Race Street (Known as Over-the-Rhine Community Methodist Church since 2015)
* Wesley Chapel, 76 E. McMicken Avenue
*Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 1528 Race Street
*First Lutheran Church, 1208 Race Street
*St. John's Unitarian Church, 1205 Elm Street
Notable people
*
Buddy Gray Stanley "Buddy" Gray (1950 – 15 November 1996) was a controversial political activist and social worker who lived in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Gray used 1960s-style confrontation and intimidation to persuade Cincinnati o ...
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
*
Ronald Howes
Ronald B. Howes (May 22, 1926 – February 16, 2010) was an American toy inventor, best known for his invention of the Easy-Bake Oven, which was introduced to consumers in 1963.
Biography
Early life
Howes' mother died when he was born. He was r ...
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an id ...
, created the
Easy-Bake Oven
The Easy-Bake Oven is a working toy oven that Kenner introduced in 1963 and currently manufactured by Hasbro. The original toy used a pair of ordinary incandescent light bulbs as a heat source; current versions use a true heating element. Kenn ...
*
Venus Ramey
Venus Ramey Murphy (September 26, 1924 – June 17, 2017) was an American beauty pageant contestant, and later an activist. She won the Miss America competition in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on September 9, 1944.
Early life
Ramey was born in Som ...
, 1944
Miss America
Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...