Spring in Our Steps

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.

It’s happening! The reconstruction of the upper Warner Street Steps is finally underway! The rebuilt stairway will reforge a walking connection from West McMicken Avenue to Fairview Avenue for the first time in decades. More so, there will soon be a continuous walking route from Vine Street to the Western Hills Viaduct, as plans to rebuild the Polk Street Steps are underway.

Join us for our signature annual 100+ alleys bike ride — the Alley Ronde! This 30-mile bike ride through several Cincinnati neighborhoods can be ridden for any duration. On-route support is available! We start with coffee and end with beer!

We’ll gather at 9am and ride before 9:30am, starting from Northern Row Park. Our halfway coffee stop is TBD. But we’ll finish off at Northern Row Brewery, where there’s plenty of delicious food and alcoholic/non-alcoholic options!

We’ve led the Alley Ronde: 100+ Alleys Bike Ride for six consecutive years, deriving from our early UBBC collaboration rides (2017, 2018), and the original 100 Alleys Bike Ride (2019). It’s thrilling to continue this tradition for a TENTH year!

Join us on Saturday, May 30 at 10am, when we’ll carve out the path of the 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.

This cleanup will include breaking down invasive growth. We will use loppers to clear branches and bag them up for collection by Public Services.

Meet up begins at 10:00am. Cleanup starts at 10:30am. Donuts, fruit, coffee, water, and gloves will be provided. See you there!

Ways to get involved: join us on May 30th to Clean-up the Bartlett St Steps in North Fairmount! After clearance of invasive growth, the City will schedule installation of handrails throughout the corridor and Duke will restore power to the streetlight!

Swipe through the photos below to read how this project came to be and why it’s important today.

Sorry for the late notice! SUNDAY, April 26th—join us for our next bike ride of alleys in Newport, Bellevue, and Dayton, starting at Collective Espresso (Newport) and ending at Wooden Cask Brewing!

2pm gather at Collective Espresso Newport (121 W 10th St)
2:15 roll out
back to Wooden Cask before 4pm

Please remember to bring water—and a lock if you’re planning to hang afterward.

Need a ride?
Cincy Red Bike has a station at Monmouth Street between 9th and 10th Sts, as well as at between 7th and 8th Sts!

Spring in Our Steps is working through the early stages of a process to install an Ohio Historical Marker for the Main Street Steps! At the time it was first constructed, on the former path of the Main Street Incline, it was deemed “the longest series of concrete steps in the United States if not in the world.” It was the first time concrete was used for a stairway of this nature.

First concrete stairway on the site of the first incline railway in Cincinnati. The only stairway with its own improvement fund. Longest stairway built at time of completion. Most risers of any stairway in the city. Yeah, we think that deserves an historical marker. Stay tuned.

The word from the City is that the upper Warner Street Steps are weeks away from the beginning of their reconstruction!

Colloquially known as the Fairview Park Steps from West McMicken Avenue to Fairview Park Drive, the full stairway set once extended just shy of Fairview Avenue, totaling 305 steps. Originally constructed of concrete in 1915, the elevation change from 607 feet to 755 feet, the lower and upper sets together totaled 670 feet in length. They became abandoned around the 1990s, then their reconstruction was aggressively opposed by residents at the top of the hill.

After many years of Community Budget Requests (CBRs), the CUF Neighborhood Association saw its request met with capital budget appropriation just a few years ago.

After its completion, this will likely be the most heavily used and most photographed pedestrian paths in the city, garnering views of the Mill Creek Valley and providing greater walking access to one of Cincinnati’s oldest public parks.

Join us Sunday, March 29th for our next bike ride of alleys in Northside, South Cumminsville, and Camp Washington, starting at Collective Espresso and ending at Binski’s!

Noon gather at Northside
12:15 roll out
back to before 2pm

Please remember to bring water—and a lock if you’re planning to hang afterward.

Need a ride?
Cincy Red Bike has a station at Vandalia Street at Blue Rock Street, as well as at Northside Transit Center.