Spring in Our Steps

Embracing entropy is critical to caring about—and caring for—walkable public corridors. There’s only so much we can do to counter private property actions, which may include the spread of invasive growth. We are working to ensure that Wendell Alley remains walkable and bikeable. While we may still be one of its only active stewards, we find it to be a giant gem in the massive crown of Cincinnati. And we will be even more active along Vine Street Hill in the weeks, months, and years to come. Cherish these wonderful alleys. // 📷: Ella Schultian

Peete Alley and the Peete Street Steps are walkable again! Thanks to Ella Schultian and company for cutting through the invasive overgrowth to make it happen. Since the building fire at 2016 Vine and surrounding demolition in 2021, and subsequent years of intermittent grounds maintenance by Vision + Beyond, direct sunlight on Peete Alley has made our own maintenance that much harder. Fortunately, we have good people on our side. Be patient with us, as each year becomes harder to keep the overgrowth at bay!

On Monday, June 22nd, for just a couple hours, a determined group of volunteers came out to Merton Street and Montrose Street (at the base of the abandoned Lima Alley Steps) in South Fairmount to carry 33 tires out to Queen City Avenue for pickup/removal. We took out quite a bit more: a recliner, a sofa, a deteriorated mattress, and numerous wooden boards. Thanks to Keep Cincinnati Beautiful for coordinating pickup of this massive amount of material by City of Cincinnati Government Public Services. This is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the decades-old dump site along Lima Alley, but it’s a determined start! We’ll continue to work with Keep Cincinnati Beautiful on strategies and funding to address more of the problem. South Fairmount became just that much mightier after that afternoon.

Last Saturday (June 20th), we had an incredible group of volunteers come out and turn up for part two of our Bartlett Street Steps! So much was cleared in just three hours. One can now walk end to end without much impediment. Special thanks to Deeper Roots Coffee for amazing strawberry apricot bars and coffee, and always thanks to Cincinnati ToolBank for tool rental to make it happen! We’ll now update Cincinnati Department of Transportation and Engineering on site progress and work to get handrails and repair made on the stairway, which will lead to a full reopening of this vital walking connection in North Fairmount.

It is happening! On Wednesday, June 17, Cincinnati City Council passed an ordinance to allow Spring in Our Steps to lease 2125 Vine Street (right along the Fig Alley Steps!) to establish an edible fruit tree orchard!

This is the surreal culmination of more than a year, getting sign-offs from city departments, conducting soil tests and awaiting results, working with the City on lease terms, and awaiting a recommendation by Planning Commission and two reads at City Council.

The ordinance will take effect 30 days following adoption. This will make our autumn activities that much more focused along Vine Street Hill and Fig Fest that much sweeter. Thanks to everyone who has helped us to get here!

(This project will be supported by the Tommy Pacello Fellowship and the Devou Good Foundation where activation funds were dedicated.)

Round TWO! Join us on Saturday, June 20 at 10am, when we’ll carve out the path of the UPPER Bartlett Street Steps in North Fairmount! In exchange for the removal of invasive growth along this lengthy public stairway connection, City of Cincinnati engineers will install new handrails there and reopen the stairway! We will work to formalize the reconnected path between Fairmount & Baltimore Avenues. Our fantastic volunteers did a wonderful job cleaning the lower stairway. Now, we complete the connection.

This cleanup will include breaking down invasive growth. We will use loppers to clear branches, then toss them away from the stairs to form a berm.

Meet up begins at 10:00am. Cleanup starts at 10:30am. Strawberry apricot bars and coffee from Deeper Roots Coffee, fruit, water, and gloves will be provided. See you there!

Stairways are monuments of mobility. Cincinnati has nearly 400 public stairways throughout its limits, reminding us daily of the hill climb of those before us. Principal Structural Engineer Stough McGavren said it best in 1947: “Due to the rugged topography of Cincinnati there are many locations on the hill slopes where the streets follow in general the contours, and cross streets, due to the steepness of the slope, are non-existent or widely spaced. In such locations there has been a persistent demand from the residents for stairways to provide easy access for pedestrians.”

Reinforced concrete built many public stairways from the beginning—the Main Street Steps in 1908—into the early 1930’s. High original cost paired with deterioration led to a City desire to standardized manufacture of units, which were precast during the offseason. Casting under shelter provided more stable conditions for workmanship and curing, and prevented seasonal layoffs of workers. Construction of stairways could then be done by unskilled laborers with minimal engineering guidance. Bituminous concrete landings between flights helped to adjust construction to the grade of the stairway route.

The ex*****on was practical. Its hollow core was meant to provide integrity and to require less concrete. Even innovations to the precast riser by the 1940’s promised greater cost savings and higher quality. The idea that a deteriorated tread could be flipped to its unworn side just made fiscal sense.

Over the ensuing decades, gravity became its master and brought these stairs down piece by piece. Diminished resources by the 1970’s led numerous stairways to be signed “Steps Closed for Repair”, not to be reopened. Many of these stairways remain closed a half century later. At some point during the 1980’s, this practice seemed to have been abandoned when greater funding and priority led to the reconstruction of important stairway connections. The movement coincided with the first city-led stairway maintenance inventory.

Without the precast concrete riser, first developed by assistant engineer W.A. Vogelsang, perhaps some walking connections would have been lost forever.

Photos by Christian Huelsman. Historic blueprints obtained via Public Records Request via City of Cincinnati DOTE.

If you are to wander Cincinnati neighborhoods on foot, you may find more alleys than stairways depending upon a variety of factors. Lack of steep topography, platted pre-1930s, and density come in to play. These neighborhoods top the list of having the highest proportion of alleys to stairways.

If you are to wander Cincinnati neighborhoods on foot, you may find more stairways than alleys depending upon a variety of factors. Topography, era of development, and density come in to play. These neighborhoods top the list of having the highest proportion of stairways to alleys.