SA Series 937 AV

              SA Series 937 AV
OHIO DEPT. OF PUBLIC WORKS
Cincinnati Central Parkway Photograph Collection
Page 1
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
State Archives Record Series
SA 937 AV
OHIO DEPT. OF PUBLIC WORKS
Cincinnati Central Parkway photograph collection
1920-1928
OVERVIEW OF THE SERIES
Series Number: State Archives Series 937 AV
Creating Agency: Ohio Dept. of Public Works
Series Title: Cincinnati Central Parkway photograph collection
Dates of Series: 1920 - 1928
Media: Photographs
Quantity: 0.17 cubic feet
Location: Ohio Historical Society
AGENCY BACKGROUND
The Central Parkway of Cincinnati, completed in 1928, is a main thoroughfare running
through Cincinnati. It was originally conceived as a way to modernize an important
travel route which had, for number of years, faded into sluggish disuse; the old Miami
and Erie Canal.
The canal, which was built in the 1820s and opened in 1827, was a waterway
connecting Toledo, on Lake Erie, with Cincinnati, on the Ohio River. Its busiest years
were the 1840s and 1850s when many boats passed between Toledo and the
Cincinnati. By the turn of the century, however, canals across the nation were becoming
obsolete due to the popularity in railroad travel and eventually the automobile.
The Parkway was begun in the early 1920s and was financed in part by the Ohio Dept.
of Public Works. It was constructed directly over the old Miami and Erie Canal bed. The
waterway channel was deepened to form the tube for a rapid-transit subway, which was
never completed.
FUNCTIONS OF THE RECORD SERIES
Photographs document the pathway of the Cincinnati Central Parkway before and after
construction.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THE SERIES
The collection contains 54, black and white photographs depicting the route of the
Central Parkway through Cincinnati before and after its construction. The before views