Walnut Hills is one of the 52
neighborhoods
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...
of
Cincinnati, Ohio
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 ...
.
One of the city's oldest hilltop neighborhoods, it is a large diverse area on the near east side of Cincinnati. The population was 6,344 in the
2020 census.
History
The neighborhood was named from the farm of an early settler, Reverend James Kemper, which he called Walnut Hill. For generations, the Kemper family lived in the
Kemper Log House. Walnut Hills was annexed to the City of Cincinnati in September, 1869.
After the turn of the century, new migrants from Cincinnati's downtown basin moved to the area. Like South Avondale, Walnut Hills was home to many Jewish and Italian families. An area on the western side of McMillan St. was known as “Little Italy.” After construction of the
Union Terminal, and other public housing projects demolished housing in the West End, many African Americans moved to the area in the 1930s. When modern suburbs were created after World War II, many of community's middle class white residents moved out of Walnut Hills. Similarly, middle class African Americans moved from the area after less affluent residents moved to the area. Almost 80% of Walnut Hills was populated by African Americans by 1970.
Historic sites
Walnut Hills is home to multiple historic sites. The
Harriet Beecher Stowe House was where
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (185 ...
's father,
Lyman Beecher, lived. Harriet spent time there since it was the center of Beecher family life in Cincinnati. While Harriet's husband was out of town her first children, twin daughters, were born in the house. Although Harriet wrote her famous anti-slavery novel in Brunswick Maine, the factual material for the novel was gathered during her almost 20 years in Cincinnati. Her father was the president of Lane Seminary where Harriet first learned about the horrors of slavery by attending the famous Lane Debates. These were a series of presentations, held at the seminary in 1834, about the need to abolish slavery.'
The Walnut Hills Library, Cincinnati's first
Carnegie Library, and the
Walnut Hills United Presbyterian Church's remaining tower at Taft and Gilbert were designed by architect
Samuel Hannaford.
The commercial district at
Peebles' Corner, originally called Kemper's Corner, was once the busiest district outside Downtown Cincinnati, with six street cars lines intersecting at McMillan and Gilbert by the end of the 19th century.
The original site of
Walnut Hills High School
Walnut Hills High School is a public college-preparatory high school in Cincinnati, Ohio. Operated by Cincinnati Public Schools, it houses grades seven through twelve. The school was established in 1895 and has occupied its current building s ...
is located in the neighborhood.
Several
historic districts
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 ...
in Walnut Hills have been listed on the National Register. These include the
Gilbert-Sinton Historic District,
Gilbert Row, and
Peeble's Corner Historic District.
Demographics
As of the census of 2020, there were 6,344 people living in the neighborhood. There were 4,223 housing units. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 32.8%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 60.1%
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.2%
Native American, 1.4%
Asian, 0.1%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 0.8% from
some other race, and 4.7% from two or more races. 2.4% of the population were
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race.
There were 3,777 households, out of which 32.6% were families. About 65.7% of all households were made up of individuals.
12.7% of the neighborhood's population were under the age of 18, 71.8% were 18 to 64, and 15.5% were 65 years of age or older. 48.5% of the population were male and 51.5% were female.
According to the U.S. Census
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...
, for the period 2016-2020 the estimated median annual income for a household in the neighborhood was $30,259. About 30.5% of family households were living below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
. About 27.8% of adults had a bachelor's degree or higher.
Notable people
*
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (185 ...
, author and abolitionist
See also
*
East Walnut Hills
References
Neighborhoods in Cincinnati
{{Cincinnati-stub