Bond Hill, Cincinnati

Bond Hill
Neighborhood of Cincinnati
Bond Hill (red) within Cincinnati, OH
ZIP code	45237

Founded as a railroad suburb and temperance community in 1870 in northeastern Millcreek Township in Hamilton County, Ohio, Bond Hill is currently a neighborhood of the City of Cincinnati. It is one of a number of neighborhoods lining the Mill Creek, an urban stream in southwestern Ohio. Bond Hill began as a commuter suburb connected to Cincinnati via the Marietta-Cincinnati Railroad. Bond Hill incorporated as the Village of Bond Hill in 1886 and the small village of about 1000 persons was annexed into Cincinnati in 1903. Many new homes were added east of the original settlement in the 1930s. Beginning in the 1960s, redlining by the Federal Housing Authority and blockbusting by Hamilton County realtors swiftly changed the demographic makeup of the community. The first black family moved to Bond Hill in 1964, but due to these practices, by 1978 nearly 70% of the community was black. By 2000, less than 7% of Bond Hill residents were white.

Bond Hill was founded by a cooperative building association, the Cooperative Land and Building Association No.1 of Hamilton County, Ohio, the first post-Civil War housing cooperative in Cincinnati and the first building association to be organized along idealistic and not ethnic lines. The cooperative was organized in 1870 by five men including several teetotallers from nearby Cumminsville. The cooperative initially planned on building in Cumminsville but for unknown reasons, the young co-op changed the site of their development to the area they renamed Bond Hill. The change was likely stimulated by a founding member of the cooperative, Henry Watkin. Watkin had been living in the area with his wife, Laura Ann Fry Watkin and their child, Effie Maud, since 1860. A utopian communalist and expatriat English printer, Watkin attained some renown as the adopted father and mentor of the once famous writer, Lafcadio Hearn. Henry Watkin's wife, Laura Ann Fry Watkin, was the daughter of the master artist, woodcarver, vegetarian, and religious communist Henry Fry. Early members of the cooperative included artist friends of Henry Fry: Emma Bepler and her father August Bepler.

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