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Philip Spiess
Paul: Thanks for the wonderful photos. I have no idea what the International Critter statue is, but I see Porkopolis pigs at the base, the international flags, and a stack of flapjacks up top. Syrup-titiously I'd say that "Sugar 'n' Spice" is trying to make some sort of statement.
Of course, Clifton was my old home base; I published a modest history of it in 1965. So, since you have such a lovely photograph of the Mount Storm Park pergola, let me remind folks of its history: The "Mount Storm" estate was the home of Robert B. Bowler, a prominent (and successful) dry goods merchant in downtown Cincinnati. He built an impressive Italianate mansion (I have photographs of it in my collection) at the westen end of Lafayette Avenue; it had no less than two drawing rooms, one facing east and one facing west; one was French Louis Quatorze in style, while the other was more restrained and (what was then) modern in style. It is said that, on the night Mr. Bowler and his family were to move into this new home, a tremendous thunder and lightning storm took place, which, coming from the west, would have hit this Clifton hillside head-on; hence, Mr. Bowler named his new establishment "Mount Storm." (Robert Bowler was killed at a fairly young age in a carriage accident in downtown Cincinnati near the beginning of the 20th century, and his estate was eventually ceded to the Cincinnati Park Board, the house being torn down. However, the carriage house/stables still exist as, I'm told, a caretaker's house, down the hill to the south of the parking lot.)
The Graeco-Roman pergola which Paul has so nicely captured on film supposedly is (or was) the capstone to an underground reservoir which supplied water to Mr. Bowler's seventeen greenhouses. It is said that the then Prince of Wales of Great Britain, Albert Edward (a.k.a."Bertie"), son of Queen Victoria and much later King Edward VII, gave a short speech from the pergola when he visited Cincinnati circa 1867 (frankly, I'm not sure that date squares up with the date when the Bowler place was established). Nevertheless, it makes a pretty story, and, when told it as a child living just down the hill on McAlpin Avenue, I pondered what a Prince of Whales must look like! Adjacent to the pergola is a small, abrupt hillock, almost like a short, sharp Indian mound, which, if inspected, will be found to have three sides of it sealed up with concrete. My grandmother told me that this was a small (apparently natural) cave which you used to be able to go into; my researches told me that it served as Mr. Bowler's wine cellar. However, evidently some child hit his or her head on the rock ceiling in (maybe) the 1940s and was killed [?!], and so the Cincinnati Park Board sealed it up.
I've mentioned elsewhere in these pages what a wonderful sled-riding hill exists south of the parking lot, just west of the pergola and cave, so I won't go into that again. What I will mention is that the sloping (and rather deserted) hill just west of the park's Shelterhouse and refreshment stand (almost always closed) was nearly perfect for flying kites in March and early April (if you could keep the kites out of the trees). It was also where my family watched Sputnik go over in October of 1957. The asphalt path at the side of the hill goes down to connect with Ludlow Avenue near Trechter Stadium, where nearly all of our WHHS football games were played (if it's still there, which I think it isn't), the site of which had been a major supply reservoir and boat turn basin for the Miami & Erie Canal, which was covered over in 1925 by the building of Central Parkway (which terminates at its northern end at the foot of Mount Storm).
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