Melissa Kramer

Inclines of Cincinnati Melissa Kramer

On a summer evening, the overlook at the Rookwood Pottery in Mount Adams will be visited by at least a few, as it is one of the most romantic and fascinating hilltop vantage points in Cincinnati. One hundred years ago, though, this was the place to see and be seen. The fashionable Highland House, a world-class entertainment complex, put Cincinnati on the cultural map, and the city became known as "the Paris of America." Every weekend, crowds of thousands of hardworking Cincinnatians watched their worries disappear as the streets grew smaller, the city came into focus, and they were lifted on the Mount Adams Incline toward the Highland House and the promise of a cool drink, a good meal, and a night of dancing under the stars. At one time, five of these hillside railroads carried Cincinnati citizens and tourists alike to the peaks of Mount Adams, Mount Auburn, Clifton, and Price Hill. When were the inclines built? Why did they disappear? And why were none of them saved? The Inclines of Cincinnati examines these questions through historic images, some never before published, of the inclines and their hilltop resorts.