The Dixie Terminal is a set of buildings in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, that were completed in 1921 and served as a streetcar terminal, stock exchange, and office building in the city's downtown business district. They were designed by Cincinnati architect Frederick W. Garber's Garber & Woodward firm. The main building includes an Adamesque barrel-vaulted concourse and Rookwood Architectural

Faience Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white Ceramic glaze, pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an stannous oxide, oxide of tin to the Slip (c ...

entry arch. The Rookwood tiles were manufactured by the local Rookwood Pottery Company. At Fourth and Walnut Streets, the terminal was constructed of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

and finished in gray brick, Bedford limestone, and granite. It includes two structures: the four-story south building extending to Third Street, where streetcars entered and left, and the "handsome" 10-story north building, housing railroad ticket agencies, the Cincinnati Stock Exchange, administrative offices of the Cincinnati Street Railway Company, commercial offices, and shops. A long and elaborate arcade runs through from main entrance through the building, lined by shops. The building included marble floors, Bottincino marble

wainscot Panelling (or paneling in the United States) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity to ...

, metal trimmings, and "costly brightly decorated ceilings, with fanciful medallions showing little children riding on the backs of various animals". The terminal was used for bus service after streetcar service ceased in the 1950s. Buses arriving from

Northern Kentucky Northern Kentucky is an urban area in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky consisting of the southern part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. The three main counties of the area are Boone County, Kentucky, Boone, Kent ...

crossed the

Roebling Suspension Bridge The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (formerly the Cincinnati-Covington Bridge) is a suspension bridge that spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky. When opened on December 1, 1866, it was the longest suspensio ...

and took ramps from the bridge into the terminal. In 1998 the ramps were removed, and the bus service ceased using the terminal. The Cincinnati Stock Exchange closed its physical trading floor in 1976 after becoming an all-electronic stock trading exchange but remained in the building until relocating to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1995 as the National Stock Exchange. A scene in the 1988 film ''

Rain Man ''Rain Man'' is a 1988 American road movie, road comedy-Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of abrasive and selfish wikt:wheeler-dealer, wheeler-dea ...

'' was shot at Dixie Terminal.

Ornament and decoration

Joseph Francis Beller is believed responsible for the original gold-leafing and the "frolicking"

cherub A cherub (; : cherubim; ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'') is one type of supernatural being in the Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, such as protecting the entrance of the Garden of ...

s in the building.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Cincinnati Bus stations in Ohio Former railway stations in Ohio Stock exchanges in the United States

Ornament and decoration

See also

References