The Enquirer's Just Askin' series aims to answer the questions that no one seems to have an answer for, not even Google. Here's an easy one: Question: Wondering where to send your questions about Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky? Answer: Send them to [email protected].
The Seven Hills of Cincinnati are an iconic part of our history, but there's no shortage of debate on which hills make the cut.
If you ask an East Side native, they'd tell you Mount Washington is on the list. West Siders would have your head on a spit for forgetting Price Hill. Suburbanites may even try to throw Mount Healthy into the mix.
But what are the Seven Hills of Cincinnati? Is there an official list?
Well, sort of.
There are a lot more than seven hills in our topographically uneven town. But a 19th-century marketing ploy to encourage population growth aimed to equate the Queen City to a more glamorous Rome, another city of seven hills.
As Cincinnati annexed more surrounding communities, new neighborhoods wanted a piece of the pie. So the list developed, and everyone's version was different.
Question: What are the Seven Hills of Cincinnati?
Answer: The original iteration was devised by the city in the early 1850s. It included the hills in the core basin of Cincinnati, which was pretty small at the time.
The marketing tactic devised by the city in the early 1880s listed the Seven Hills as:
- Mount Adams
- Walnut Hills
- Mount Auburn
- Vine Street hill
- College Hill
- Fairmount
- Mount Harrison (now known as Price Hill)
Question: Why does everyone define the Seven Hills differently?
Answer: Before most of Cincinnati's 52 neighborhoods were neighborhoods, they were suburbs. More communities were annexed to the city and everyone wanted in on the action, according to Ohio History Connection historian Marlise Schoeny.
By the 1880s, the seven-point list had somehow evolved into 10. Clifton Heights, Mount Lookout and Mount Echo were usually interchanged with whatever a local felt was right.
Cincinnatians of the 1950s decided it should also include Fairview Heights. And by the mid-2000s, Schoeny said, people started accepting basically any community or neighborhood with "mount" in the title.
From there, Mount Airy, Mount Echo, Mount Healthy, Mount Lookout, Mount Storm and Mount Washington started popping up.
So what's official? Experts like Schoeny are sticking with the original. But really, she said, it depends on who you ask, and where they're from.
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