City Plan for Cincinnati

The City Plan for Cincinnati is a set of plans to guide the development of Cincinnati. Cincinnati was first surveyed and laid out by Israel Ludlow in 1794. The earliest modern plan was the 1907 Park Plan created by George Kessler. Every 20 or 30 years since then new comprehensive plans have been created as the city has grown.

Israel Ludlow bought land from John Cleves Symmes and was the first surveyor and town planner in Cincinnati. He laid out the city with a north-south, east west- grid like many towns in the Northwest Territory. This grid unfortunately ignored topography, and no space was reserved for parks or open space except the public landing on the river.

In 1907 George Kessler, a nationally-known landscape architect, was hired to create a park plan for the city. His plan, however, dealt not only with the 18 parks and 17 public squares/recreational areas contained in it, but, as historian Zane Miller wrote, it was "to inspire civic patriotism by encouraging the construction of monumental public and quasi-public buildings in an impressive downtown setting, to bring all the neighborhoods of the city closer together by improving cross-town and downtown commuter circulation, and to mitigate the problems of traffic congestion and children playing in the streets."

Cincinnati was the first city in the United States to have a comprehensive plan approved by City Council. Sponsored by the United City Planning Committee and paid for by donations, the plan was started in 1922 and finished in 1925. It was led by Alfred Bettman, a Cincinnati lawyer; Ladislas Segoe, an immigrant planner from Hungary; and George B. Ford and Ernest P. Goodrich, of New York, the owners of the first American planning consulting firm. The plan was long range, seeking to reduce the influence of machine politicians on the city government. The plan built on previous transportation, park, and utilities plans. The 1925 plan called for the construction of the Western Hills Viaduct and what is now Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. It was unique in controlling the growth of new subdivisions by requiring installation of utilities prior to approval.

Of the 135 structures existing in Cincinnati parks today, nearly half were produced during the period from 1929 to 1943.

...
Wikipedia