Episode 006 Field Notes Prisoners' Lake, Prostitutes & Alligators
The following are notes captured during the research and refinement process. The released episode is the refined product durived from these notes. Therefore, they ARE NOT refined. These notes do include additional reference material and information not included in the final version of the episode. Some elements were not included in the final release because additional validation is required. Some portions were omitted due to time restraints. Multiple drafts of the narrative is sometime included. This information has been provided for fellow historians and researchers interested in advancing the story, and to illustrate the process used to create these episodes. As always, validate and confirm before use.
See Notes Below:
There’s A Sordid And Salacious Backstory To Beautiful Devou Park
https://www.tumblr.com/handeaux/173478539139/theres-a-sordid-and-salacious-backstory-to
The view from Devou Park in Covington is magnificent. Many, perhaps most, people believe the hilltop resort provides the very finest perspective to appreciate Cincinnati. That is certainly the opinion of folks who publish the many postcards featuring panoramas snapped from Devou Park.
Very few of the sightseers enjoying the beauties of Devou Park stop to ponder how much their delight was paid for through prostitution and slum tenements.
It didn’t start out that way. What we know as Devou Park was originally the family estate of William P. Devou Sr. and his wife, Sarah Ogden Devou. William was a milliner; he made and sold hats. He earned enough to buy hundreds of acres of Northern Kentucky hillside around 1860 and moved his family to the bluffs overlooking the Ohio River. The Devou homestead still exists. It is now the older part of the Behringer-Crawford Museum.
Devou the Elder was no mad hatter. He made scads of money and sent his sons to Europe for college educations. William Junior and Charles came home and worked briefly at dad’s hat shop, but William had other plans and began buying property, lots and lots of lots, as it were.
It was said that. never sold property, only bought more. He was very much a hoarder. He made a fortune renting his many properties by the day, the week or the month. Rents ran $3 to $7 a month for a room, more for a house. His rent receipts were printed on two sides. One side had the receipt form, the other was an eviction notice if the tenant skipped a rent payment.
While Devou owned properties all over the city, the majority of his rentals lay in Cincinnati’s West End, the Eighth Ward, otherwise known as the Tenderloin, otherwise known as Cincinnati’s Red Light District. In her autobiography, “Dirty Helen” Cromwell described how she was introduced to prostitution, and to William P. Devou, by a prostitute named Ella:
“George Street was, in a nutshell, the Queen City's Temple of Aphrodite and Adonis. Tenderloin was readily available to fit any pocketbook. Ella was notorious in Cincinnati and was considered a favorite of the street. She had been, in her time, the companion of William P. Devou, until he married a colored woman. Mr. Devou was one of the richest men west of the Alleghenies but had been seen, at one time or another, by every resident of Cincinnati as he pushed a cart through the streets collecting rags and junk from garbage pails. His hobby of collecting litter was not his sole source of income. He owned practically every house on George Street and nearly all of the squalid tenements in the West End, and he made the rounds of his tenants every week, perched languidly on a sway-back white horse.”
Although the United States Army forced Cincinnati to slam a lid on the Tenderloin during World War I, prostitution remained the primary occupation along George Street well into the Great Depression.
According to Steve Tracy’s “Going To Cincinnati,” Devou fit right in:
“The music of orchestras of black musicians who entertained in George Street's houses, too, moved out onto the street, and all the area was supposed to have been cleaned up. Residents recall that George was still a place in the twenties and thirties where prostitutes could be found. Millionaire white man William P. Devou still was connected with George Street as a property owner, and he and his colored wife lived in a bare room that ‘equaled in squalor the worst of his tenements’ in the area, and he would have most likely heard the blues performed there.”
It’s estimated that as many as 70 brothels housing some 700 prostitutes lined George Street and the neighboring Sixth and Longworth streets between Plum and John. This was the heart of William P. Devou’s real estate empire. He owned around 120 buildings inside the Red Light District. Many of these brothels were elegant and sumptuously furnished, but that was due to the madams who ran the houses, not because of the cheapskate landlord.
Devou had a simple money-making philosophy: Collect rent and spend it on land. He slept on a cot at the back of his office on George Street next-door to a brothel, cooked his own meals, and never hired anyone to repair anything in his buildings, doing all the work himself. Relying on himself for repairs might have been feasible with a dozen buildings, maybe even 20, but Devou owned more than 200 rental properties in total and was constantly in court paying fines for allowing his impoverished tenants to live in grossly deteriorating tenements. None had indoor plumbing and relied on “vaults and catch basins” instead of flush toilets. Raw sewage bubbled up in the back yards where children played. The Cincinnati Post called Devou’s West End holdings “Darkest Cincinnati.”
Devou’s father died in 1897, his mother in 1910. William Junior was named executor of the estate. William and brother Charles donated the family homestead to the city of Covington on condition that Charles could live there for the rest of his life. Charles died in 1922 and William in 1937. According to the Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky:
“In April 1938, an appraisal of Devou’s estate listed 240 pieces of property, valued at $963,630. He also had personal wealth of $105,961.”
All but a pittance of this million-dollar inheritance, funded in large part by brothel rents, was bequeathed to Covington, to be expended on the maintenance and upkeep of Devou Park. For several years, Devou’s real estate was held in trust, with a bank collecting rents from the properties Devou once visited on his sway-backed horse. Alfred Segal, who, for many years, opined about local matters in his “Cincinnatus” column for the Post, observed [10 December 1937] the irony involved in the disposition of Devou’s slum properties:
“It seems rather amusing for tenement houses in Cincinnati’s West End to keep on producing rents for the upkeep of trees and flowers in Covington.”
(Thanks to Molly Wellman for loaning her very rare copy of Helen Worley Cromwell’s autobiography, Dirty Helen, for research on this post.)
#Devou Park#West End#Cincinnati Prostitutes#Slumlords#red light district#Eighth Ward
https://www.nkyviews.com/kenton/pdf/bricking_devou.pdf
https://www.flickr.com/photos/elycefeliz/8345756611
https://www.tumblr.com/handeaux/178663045854/all-but-obliterated-george-street-was-once-the
https://www.kentonlibrary.org/genealogy/community-history/prisoners-lake/
https://www.nkyviews.com/kenton/devou_park_views.htm
https://cemetery360.com/player/?lat=39.17085197&long=-84.52544626&location=&first=WILLIAM&last=DEVOU
https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/citywiseblog/cincinnatis-long-lost-red-light-district/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5453959/The-everyday-lives-prostitutes-Wild-West.html
Photos
https://piercetownship.org/history/great-bradbury-road-trainwreck-of-1885/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsqB2ktcVeQ Kenyon-Barr District
On Nov. 17, 1937, a Kentucky Post article described 82-year-old Devou as being under careful care of doctors and nurses after falling ill in “his humble living quarters at 338 George Street, Cincinnati, sometime last night.”
Police and employees of Fifth Third Union Trust Co., which handled Devou’s affairs, broke down a door at his house and crashed a window leading to his room after Devou’s employees became alarmed after he broke his longstanding habit of appearing at his Cincinnati property-rental agency. After they called to him and heard his feeble answer, “they found Mr. Devou, standing bundled with coats, and wearing a cap, typical of him, drawn over his ears,” according to the newspaper. “As he laughed over the scare he had caused, Mr. Devou told his visitors that he was ‘under the weather.’ He was rushed to the hospital.”
After he died of pneumonia Dec. 8, 1937, much of his wealth was left to the city for upkeep of the park. He was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery.
George Street was home to such colorful characters as:
Mollie Chambers, reputed to tip the scales at 300 pounds,
Dora Green who was known to lend – lots of money – to police officers .
Edna Creighton’s “resort”
Belle Kirk’s house at 141 George Street.
William P. Devoe resided at 338 George Street
Helen Worley Cromwell who went on and write two book called “Dirty Helen” and “Good time Party Girl” Started here on George Street and mentions meeting William P. Devoe here on George Street.
00 YoA Birth 18 Jul 1855 Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, USA
04-5 YoA Devoe’s purchase land in Covington 1859-60
06 YoA when the Civil War Started April 12, 1861
10 YoA when the Civil Wat Ended April 9, 1865
12 YoA Roebling Bridge opened January 1, 1867
15 YoA sent to Germany for School High School and Collage. 1870
19 or 21 YoA Returns home 1864-1876
23 YoA enters real estate 1878
28 YoA The Cincinnati Post [11 July 1883] condemned the dawn of depravity along George Street
42 YoA Father, William P Devou, dies February 8, 1897 (aged 70)
54 YoA Mother, Sarah Ogden Devou, dies on July 9, 1909 (age 80)
55 YoA Bequest Land to Covington November 28, 1910
65 YoA at the start of Prohibition January 17, 1920
67 YoA Brother, Charles P. Devoe, dies on August 21, 1922 (aged 63)
78 YoA at the end of Prohibition December 5, 1933
DEATH 8 Dec 1937 (aged 82)
https://playmakersrep.org/milliners-return/
Milliners Date 19th Century is a drawing by Mary Evans Picture Library which was uploaded on January 21st, 2018.
We opened this episode standing on a hilltop located in Devoe Park, in Covington Kentucky, looking across the Ohio River into the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. Prisoners Lake, is also in Devoe Park, and located just down the hill from this overlook.
Kentucky boasts 44 Fishing In Neighborhoods lakes in 28 counties. They are known as FINs lakes, As part of the FINs program, this 3.8 acre lake is stocked with catfish up to four times a year. It is also stocked with rainbow trout in the spring and fall and Largemouth bass and sunfish as needed.
This lake was once a stone quarry that existed before the Devou Family presented the property to the city for use as a park in 1910.
After the city was deeded the park, A rock crusher was purchased in 1916, and several small storage buildings were constructed, and prisoners from the Covington Jail were put to work in the quarry. It is reported that several prisoners escaped or, at least, didn’t return to his given cell that evening. There would be no way of knowing the full details of an unaccounted-for prisoner.
Over the next few years, the level of the quarry was steadily lowered. By 1924, the quarry had been transformed into a large lake in which the locals dubbed “Prisoners’ Lake.”
And yes, per Rick Robinson a local author, there were two alligators who apparently took a liken to the lake after they escaped from a temporary holding pen adjacent to the Beringer-Crawford Museum that is located just up the hill from this lake. Elements of the story can be found in his 2013 book “Alligator Alley”. Per the story, the alligators were caught and seen in the back of a pickup truck, but like the missing prisoners, the historical trail runs cold.
The 19th century was an interesting time in fashion, with the rise of what we now call haute couture–Charles Worth had established his fashion house in Paris to great renown, but yet it was also still considered shocking and downright immoral for men to involve themselves in the creation of women’s attire.
Charles Dickens himself even expressed this sentiment in his 1863 periodical, “All the Year Round,” thus:
“Would you believe that, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, there are bearded milliners–man-milliners, authentic men, like Zouaves–who, with their solid fingers, take the exact dimensions of the highest titled women in Paris–robe them, unrobe them, and make them turn backward and forward before them?”
The last part of today’s episode starts with an understanding that On November 28, 1910, William P. Devou, Charles P. Devou and his wife, Helen M. Devou, donated a tract of land of approximately 700 acres, In memory of their parents, to the Covington Board of Park Commissioners. Which is now known as Devoe park
As historians we often dance with the ghost of the past. As I researched William P. Devou Jr., I unearthed descriptions of him being a slum lord, a recluse, odd, a miser, and unlikeable. On the other side of the ledger, I found historians who felt an obligation to say something good and patronize an individual who, I believe, cared little about public opinion.
It wasn’t until I pulled on two historical threads, one at the beginning of his life and one near the end, that the fascinating character of William P Devou Jr. began to come into focus.
The first is that the Spring Grove Cemetery list his father as being a wholesale milliner. I might add that this wholesale milliner was successful enough to purchase 700 acres in Covington Kentucky, build a large home and send his two boys to Germany to be educated.
In the 1800s Cincinnati was known as the Paris of the West. A milliner was not a hat maker. A hatter was a hat maker for men and primarily a male occupation. A milliner makes hats and bonnets for women and was primarily a female occupation.
During this period to be called a male-milliner was a derogatory term that questioned the individuals manhood and morals. It does not appear that William P Devou Sr was either a hatter or milliner, but a supplier to the female operated fashion industry in the City, and perhaps contracted with female milliners to supply finished goods to retailers such as John Shillito, George Washington McAlpin, John Washington Ellis, the Pogue brothers.
The occupation of being a dress-maker or a milliner did have a certain reputation. For good wives could be found within the shops of the dress-maker and milliners. They understood the importance of appearance and fashion, worked hard, and could sew. Those men who wanted a kept companion, need to look no further than the head milliner herself, or her ambitious assistant, and those looking for a very short-term relationship, need only look for the milliner who hated to sew. This guidebook to the profession warns about these scenarios, it contains a delicately worded moralistic ‘warning’ against romantic or sexual ‘temptation’, writing that ‘many thousands of girls, employed as you are, have fallen into guilt, misery, and the grave’.
Devoe Park, William P. Devou, Prisoners’ Lake, Covington, Prostitutes, Alligators, FIN Lakes, George Street, Kenyon, Barr, Westside, Westside Cincinnati, Milliners,
Exactly how William P Devou Sr. made his money remains unclear to me. There was a wholesale clothing district just south of the Bernet House where Fort Washington Way is now located.
This location was just above the Public Landing where 5,000 steamboats arrived and departed each season.
The Railway Yards and Longworth Hall were 10 blocks to the West, and the Miami Erie canal enterer the Ohio river 10 Blocks to the east. This is where everything flowed into and out of the city. It was on these streets that William P Devou Sr. made his money. And money he did make.
Over time he purchased 500 acres of undeveloped land in Covington and sent his two sons to Germany for high school and college.
When William and Charles came home they joined the fathers business. Some say William left the company to venture into real-estate. I disagree. The name on many of the properties have both William and Charles listed, and many just say William P Devoe with no Jr or Sr listed. Therefore, I’m uncertain where William Devue Sr stops and William Devoe Jr begins. Regardless, we know William P Devou Sr. had previously purchased land in Covington and now his sons were purchasing property and helping expand the business empire.
In 1870 Jim Crow in the south was pushing blacks north to Cincinnati for a better life, and the invention of the sewing machine and made to wear clothing had changed the seamstress and milliners trades.
At the same time, the women’s equals rights movement of the late 19th century was well under way.
As all these elements converge onto second street in Cincinnati, William P Devue Jr. set his sights on the West Side Basin of Cincinnati and started purchase properties and providing housing for the working class of Cincinnati. In a relatively short period of time, he owned most of George street and was renting to several industrial minded females such as:
Mollie Chambers who supposedly tipped the scales at 300 pounds,
Dora Green who was known to lend a lot of money to police officers.
Edna who owned the Edna Creighton’s “resort”
Belle Kirk’s house at 141 George Street.
And lets not forget, Helen Worley Cromwell who went on and write two book called “Dirty Helen” and “Good time Party Girl”.
She started in Cincinnati and mentions meeting William P. Devoe on George Street along with his “colored wife”.
The millionaire William P. Devoe and his “colored wife” is also mentioned in a book written about the History of the Blues in the Queen City, titled “Going to Cincinnati”.
Two separated sources, that seem to be unrelated, lends credibility, but I have searched for her to no avail.
I will add that when William passed in 1937, his attorneys collected documents from his home and office on George Street. Upon review, they made sure the press was informed that no documentation indicating a past love life had been found. I find their manner and need to address this subject, as most interesting.
It wasn’t long before these enterprising ladies caught the eye of the Cincinnati Post, and on July 11, 1883 they wrote an article announcing and condemning the dawn of depravity along George Street.
These four blocks of George Street and the neighboring Sixth and Longworth streets became known as the “tenderloin district” and was estimated that as many as 70 brothels and some 350 ladies, who chose not to be milliners, seamstress, or work long hours in a sweat shop. The madams held a tight rein over the houses and many of these brothels were elegant and finely furnished with all the trimmings including the finest fabrics of the Victorian period.
This was the heart of William P. Devou’s real estate empire. He owned around 120 buildings inside this district and lived within a so-called back room or storage room at 338 George Street. Many found this to be odd, and the newspapers always made mention of this fact. I do not, when you consider that all of his tenants were living and paying week to week or even day by day. Many of the workers were in some form of transportation and therefore professionally transient. And the activities on the street seemed to be focused more in the evenings. The cogs of the city were always turning. You had to be in the moment to make money. Therefore, I see his seven day a week schedule to be:
Up at 8:30, grab breakfast and head to the French Brother’s stable. They would have his older white horse ready by 9:30 each morning. He rode her around the west side collecting rent and showing property, made his deposits at the Fifth Third Union Trust Co at around 3-4:00 o’clock, stabled his horse got home around 5:00. He would eat and rest and monitored the streets at night. Not that he ran the affairs of the night, but now owning 240 properties, something always seemed to happen in the late evening and early mornings, needing his attention. The next morning, he repeated the process.
On occasions he was seen pushing a cart through town picking up bottles and scraps from the night before.
On November 28, 1910 he and his brother and his brothers wife, gave the 700 acres to Covington that is now known as Devoe Park. With conditions that Charles and his wife Helen could live out their lives at the old home stead and the Charles P. Devou be elected a member of the Park Board.
William P. Devoe returned to his routine in the West Side of Cincinnati. He was 55 years of age, seen too much and was too practical to believe in love. Too old to have kids and too young to die. His parents were gone, his brother and his wife were taken care of, and he just wanted to be left alone to his routine and the business of the West Side.
But change always comes. Business empires are built on change, and they crumble on change. Nine years later in 1917 the US enters into World War 1, Fort Thomas, in Northern Kentucky, is reactivated and the commander of the base wanted prostitution shut down in a five mile radius. The City tries to oblige his decree. Prohibition then closes the bars in 1920, and the ladies of George Street started relocating and looking for protection from the mob.
The tenderloin district did remained functional into the 1930’s, but it was different times with different rules and different players.
46,875 people now lived in Cincinnati’s Westside basin
29,332 were black
17,543 were white
Most lived here because the worked close by. They needed some place to live and William Devou owned property. Therefore he continue his routine in collecting rent. The only change was the old white horse must have past away, becase Ol Cap, who ran the shooting gallery, had given William a pony named Babe to ride.
This 50 year routine had engrained itself upon the tellers at Fifth Third Union Trust Co. and employees of his Cincinnati property-rental agency. They became alarmed when he went missing for a few days.
On Nov. 17, 1937 Police and employees of Fifth Third Union Trust Co broke down a door at his house and crashed a window leading to his room.
After they called to him and heard his feeble answer, “they found Mr. Devou, standing bundled with coats, and wearing a cap, typical of him, drawn over his ears,” according to the newspaper. “As he laughed over the scare he had caused, Mr. Devou told his visitors that he was ‘under the weather.’ He was rushed to the hospital.”
He complained to the nurses that he had been kidnapped. The millionaire died of pneumonia on Dec. 8, 1937 and Babe the pony was taken to the stables at the Devue park.
In 1949 in the name of Urban Redevelopment, City officials made plans to clear out the West Side Basin, This became known as the Kenyon-Barr Renewal Area and By 1970 only one block of George Street still remains.
With each building William P. Devoe Jr. purchased, he unknowingly laid another block for the jail he was building for himself. During this time Helen Worley Cromwell mentions that he was married to a quote “colored woman” end quote, This is also mentioned in a book written about the History of the Blues in the Queen City, titled “Going to Cincinnati”. Many heard rumors that Mr. Devoe’s odd behaviors were due to a lost love.
Exactly how William P Devou Sr. made his money and how it intertwined with the milliners remains unclear to me.
There was a wholesale clothing district where Fort Washington Way is now located. This would have been just south of the Bernet House and just above the Public Landing where 5,000 steamboats arrived and departed each season.
The Railway Yards were 10 blocks to the West, and the Miami Erie canal ended at the Ohio river 10 Blocks to the east. This is where everything flowed into and out of the city. It was on these streets that William P Devou Sr. made his money. And money he did make.
Over time he and the Devoe family purchased 700 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to Covington Kentucky, he built a large house, and sent his two sons to Germany for high school and college.
When William and Charles, came home from college, they joined their father’s business. Some say that William left the company to venture into real-estate. I believe the family was already in real estate. The names on many of the properties listings have both William and Charles names , and many just say William P Devoe with no Jr or Sr listed. Some say E T A L , which means “and others”.
Therefore, I’m uncertain where Sr stops, and Jr begins. Regardless, we know William P Devou Sr. had previously purchased land in Covington and now his sons were purchasing property and helping expand the business empire.
In 1870 Jim Crow in the south was pushing blacks north to Cincinnati for a better life, and the invention of the sewing machine, and ready to wear clothing, had changed the seamstress and milliners trades. At the same time, the women’s equals rights movement of the late 19th century was well under way.
As all these elements converge onto second street in Cincinnati,
William P Devue Jr. set his sights on the West End and started purchase properties and providing needed housing for the working class of Cincinnati.
In a relatively short period of time, he owned most of George street and was renting to several industrial minded females:
Some noted madams of the day included:
Mollie Chambers who supposedly tipped the scales at 300 pounds,
Dora Green who was known to lend a lot of money to police officers.
Edna who owned the Edna Creighton’s “resort”
Belle Kirk’s house was at 141 George Street.
And lets not forget, the person battle between Florence Gossett and Helen Cromwell. Helen went on and write two books one is called “Dirty Helen” and the other “Good time Party Girl”.
It wasn’t long before these enterprising ladies caught the eye of the Cincinnati Post, and on July 11, 1883 they wrote an article about the good people of Cincinnati complaining about the unchecked ruckus and ongoings on George Street.
These four blocks of George Street and the neighboring Sixth and Longworth streets became known as the “tenderloin district” and was estimated that as many as 70 brothels and some 350 ladies, who elected to not to be church going, milliners, or seamstress.
To some, the ladies of the house lacked certain moral expectation, however they did seem to have an eye for fashion, for many of these brothels were elegant and finely furnished with all the trimmings including the finest fabrics of the Victorian period.
The newspapers reported that on any given night, City officials, politicians, industrialist, and bankers, could be found in this entertainment district. In fact, Boss Cox the local chairperson for the republican party, one time Mayor, and ward boss, owned a saloon at the corner of Longworth and John Street.
This was the heart of William P. Devou’s real estate empire. He owned around 120 buildings inside this district.
In Helen Cromwell’s book titled “Good Time Party Girl” she references Mr Devoe pushing a cart through town and that he married a colored woman. The same is mentioned in a book written about the History of the Blues in the Queen City, titled “Going to Cincinnati”. I’m still re-searching this mystery.
With each building William P. Devoe Jr. purchased, he unknowingly laid another block for the jail he was building for himself on George Street.
For each building consumed more of his time and commitment.
Building and people have a common reality. You can apply paint over time but eventually everything wears out. For now, money needed to be made, and every dollar needed to be squeezed out of every asset.
As immigrants, blacks, and rural America, migrated to the City, they needed a job and a place to live nearby, William P. Devoe Jr., and others, were buying buildings, turning them into multiple tenants and filling them as quick as possible. The rent money was used to purchase the next building.
Based on the shear number of tenants and building Mr Devoe now owned, collecting rent itself would have been a fulltime job. He preferred a horse over a car, therefore I imagine his daily routine to be:
Up at 8:30, grab breakfast and head to the French Brother’s stable. They would have his older white horse saddled and ready by 9:30 each morning. He rode her around the west end collecting rent and showing property, made his deposits at the Fifth Third Union Trust Co at around 3-4:00 o’clock, stabled his horse got home around 5:00. He would eat and rest and monitored the streets at night.
Not that he ran the affairs of the night, but now owning 240 properties, something always seemed to happen in the late evening and early mornings.
Sometimes it was naked patrons on the roof, hiding from police behind the chimney, or a whole list of other tails that always seemed to make the newspapers.
The next morning, he repeated the process.
On November 28, 1910 he and his brother and his brothers wife, gave the 700 acres to Covington that is now known as Devoe Park. With several conditions that included resolution to an ongoing tax debate, and that Charles and his wife Helen, would live out their lives at the old homestead with Charles P. Devou being elected a member of the Park Board.
William P. Devoe returned to his routine in the West End of Cincinnati. He was 55 years of age, experienced too much to look for love. Too old to have kids and too young to die. His parents were gone, his brother and his wife were taken care of, and he just wanted to be left alone to his routine and the business of the West End.
But change always comes. Business empires are built on change, and they crumble on change. Nine years later in 1917 the US enters into World War 1, Fort Thomas, in Northern Kentucky, is being used to train troops and the commander of the base wanted prostitution shut down in a five mile radius. The City stated they would oblige. How hard they tried is unclear, Prohibition then closes the bars in 1920, and the ladies of George Street started relocating and falling under the control of the mob.
The tenderloin district did remain functional into the 1930’s, but it was different times with different rules and different players.
46,875 people now worked and lived in Cincinnati’s Westside basin
29,332 were black
17,543 were white
William Devou now known as “Pops” on the streets continued his routine in collecting rent. The only change was the old white horse must have past away, becase Ol Cap, who ran a local shooting gallery, had given William a pony named Babe to ride.
This 50 year routine had engrained itself upon the tellers at Fifth Third Union Trust Co. and they became alarmed when he went missing for a few days.
On Nov. 17, 1937 Police and employees of Fifth Third Union Trust Co and the police broke down a door and crashed a window leading to his room at 338 George Street.
According to the newspaper, they called to him and heard his feeble answer, “they found Mr. Devou, standing bundled with coats, and wearing a cap, typical of him, drawn over his ears,”. “He laughed at scare he had caused and told his visitors that he was ‘under the weather.’ They decided he needed to be transported to the hospital.
This was the second historical thread that brought Mr Devou into focus for me. The image of the manager of Fifth Third Union Trust Company breaking into the humble dwellings to check on the older eccentric millionaire humored me. But the fact that is was not a family member, a friend, a wife, or one of the ladies of the past, pulled things into perspective.
At the hospital, He complained to the nurses that he had been kidnapped. The millionaire died of pneumonia on Dec. 8, 1937.
A few days later the bank and his lawyers, retrieved documents from the George Street dwelling and proclaimed to the press that no documentation indicating a past love life had been found, and Babe the pony was taken to the stables at the Devou park.
In 1949 and in the name of Urban Redevelopment, City officials made plans to clear out a good portion of the West End, over the next 20 years bull dozers cleared way for interstate 75, communities were lost, and 30 – 40,000 individuals had to find new homes. This became known as the Kenyon-Barr Renewal Area project.
Today only one block of George Street remains, and this alley faithfully guards it’s fascinating secrets of the past.
Episode 007 Leary Lake, Lloyds, Baseball & Shakespeare
https://www.nkyviews.com/boone/boone_john_uri_lloyd_main.htm
Pack full of history and photos
Puck or Robin Goodfellow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puck_(A_Midsummer_Night%27s_Dream)
Life timeline. https://lloydlibrary.org/wp-content/themes/Lloyd_wptheme/finding-aids/Curtis%20Gates%20Lloyd%20Papers%201859-1926.pdf
History of John Uri Lloyd https://www.erlanger.kyschools.us/content_page2.aspx?cid=330
Kentucky living article; https://www.kentuckyliving.com/lifestyle/remembering-curtis-lloyd
History of the three brothers: https://lloydlibrary.org/about/a-brief-history-of-the-lloyd-library-and-museum/
John Uri Lloyd (1849-1936)
Nelson Ashley Lloyd (1851-1925) and
Curtis Gates Lloyd (1859-1926).
Herdal medicine verses Allopathic
Nelson part owner in Reds and Giants
What is mycological study? mycology, the study of fungi, a group that includes the mushrooms and yeasts. Many fungi are useful in medicine and industry. Mycological research has led to the development of such antibiotic drugs as penicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline, as well as other drugs, including statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs).
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife owns, leases or manages more than 85 wildlife management areas (WMAs) for public use. In some areas, a user permit is required. It also has agreements to provide public access on certain privately owned lands, known as Hunting Access Areas. Many public-use areas have special regulations and hunting season dates that are different from statewide seasons. In some public-use areas, a user permit is required. Please refer to specific area listings for that information. The rest are open to hunting free of additional charge.
CURTIS G. LLOYD BORN 1859 — DIED 60 OR MORE YEARS AFTERWARDS. THE EXACT NUMBER OF YEARS, MONTHS AND DAYS THAT HE LIVED NOBODY KNOWS AND NOBODY CARES. CURTIS G. LLOYD MONUMENT ERECTED IN 1922 BY HIMSELF FOR HIMSELF DURING HIS LIFE TO GRATIFY HIS OWN VANITY. WHAT FOOLS THESE MORTALS BE!
Etidorhpa Aphrodita spelled backwards.
https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/citywiseblog/john-uri-lloyd/
4.6 acre lake
https://sacred-texts.com/earth/eti/eti38.htm Etidorhpa
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-masonic-murder-that-inspired-the-us-first-third-party-180982495/ Morgan and Puck
Rouse Family.
Joe Leary Frankfort Attorney (name of lake)
Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists, Inc., 1870-1938
Welcome to another episode of FishingLocalWaters.com. Today we are at Leary lake in the Curtis Gates Lloyd WMA. Leary Lake, The Lloyds, and Shakespeare
https://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/ Ben Franklin autobiography
Leary Lake is in Crittenden Kentucky of Grant County and Northern Kentucky
It is named after Joe Leary, a lawyer from Frankford Kentucky, who in 1963 helped negotiate the terms and conditions to transfer the properties associated with the Lloyd Library Botanical Park, also known as the Lloyd Wildlife and Recreation Area, to become part of the 1,105 acres that now make up the Curtis Gates Lloyd Wildlife Management Area or WMA.
The 4.6 acre, Leary Lake is a FINs lake and therefore routinely stocked by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife. The lake is just minutes from the I-75 Crittenden exit, and has a more remote feel than many of the FINs lakes located in public parks.
For those who do not know FINs stands for Fishing In Neighborhoods.
It is well maintained, with the grass cut in a manner to allow several points of bank access along the north side of the lake and the entirety of the dam. The south side of the lake is adjacent to a forest with a traditional trail system for those who prefer a more natural setting. Add in the newly constructed fishing pier and the lake provides several fishing options.
Like many of the WMA’s there are no posted hours, therefore you can fish later into the evening. However, there is no camping or campfires allowed and make sure you have your fishing license with you and a line in the water. The State Police Post is nearby, and enforcement is maintained.
There is a well-maintained port o let in the parking lot.
In the making of every episode, I fish the body of water and talk to the locals. Be prepared to deal with snapping turtles, the locals warned me of such, and I didn’t listen. I snagged a five pounder by the hind foot, he was irritated, and he and I had a hell of a time negotiation the return of my $2.00 fishing lure. Eventually he gave it back and retreated into the water.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife owns, leases, or manages more than 85 wildlife management areas (WMAs) for public use. This WMA has a public tube shooting range, Trap, and Skeet and archery range.
But this WMA has an additional feature that is unlike any other WMA. There is a unique 6 ton granite monument located in the center of the WMA that was placed here by Curtis Gate Lloyd himself.
Curtis Llyod was a highly regarded mycologist, collector of fungi samples, pharmacist, and scientific author, He had collected books from across the world and established a research library for medicine that is housed today at the four-story Lloyd Library and Museum located at 917 Plum St, Cincinnati, OH
To say that he was a man of many words is an understatement. And yet he elected to erect a monument to himself and narrow down his last message to the world to 51 words.
On one side of the monument, he scribed.
CURTIS G. LLOYD BORN 1859 — DIED 60 OR MORE YEARS AFTERWARDS. THE EXACT NUMBER OF YEARS, MONTHS AND DAYS THAT HE LIVED NOBODY KNOWS AND NOBODY CARES.
On the other side it is written.
CURTIS G. LLOYD MONUMENT ERECTED IN 1922 BY HIMSELF FOR HIMSELF DURING HIS LIFE TO GRATIFY HIS OWN VANITY. WHAT FOOLS THESE MORTALS BE!
Curtis G. Lloyd was cremated, and his ashes were spread upon this land. Therefore, this monument does serve as his memorial. The words written upon it have been recorded verbatim in several newspapers and other historical documents. I have found no attempt to unravel why these 51 words were selected.
Curtis Lloyd was the youngest brother of three brothers who owned and operated the Cincinnati based Llyod Brothers Pharmacists Inc. from 1886 to 1924. All three completed the associated apprenticeship program and became master and board approved pharmacist.
John Uri Lloyd to whom Erlanger/Lloyd High School is named was the chief pharmacist and the oldest of the three brothers.
Nelson Ashley Lloyd, the middle brother, was an early owner and partner in both the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Giants professional baseball teams and served as the CFO for the Llyod Brothers Pharmacists.
Curtis Gates Lloyd, the younger of the three, travel the world collecting plant specimens and relating historical text and books. This information was used by the Pharmacy and still being used today for research.
As I studied Curtis’ life I saw a lot of characteristics that reminded me of Ben Franklin. They both traveled and immensely enjoyed their time abroad. Both loved meeting new people and immersing into new cultures. Both understood the “power of the pen”. Neither shied from expressing a viewpoint that might offend. Both had a background in publishing. Both were incredibly bright, creative, and in a constant quest for new understandings.
And both addressed vanity in their closing writings to the world. At the beginning of Part 1 of Ben Franklin’s Autobiography he writes:
And, lastly (I may as well confess it, since my denial of it will be believed by nobody), perhaps I shall a good deal gratify my own vanity.
Ben went on to write.
Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others that are within his sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.
Rather or not Ben Franklin’s writings directly influence Curtis’ writing, I do not know. I do know that both text are written in the same vein.
It is the last sentence that throws everybody into a tizzy… WHAT FOOLS THESE MORTALS BE! The reader can’t help but step back and ponder, did Curtis Lloyd just set himself above us simple mortals and call us fools? Before we allow are own vanity to intercede. Let’s take a look at the source material.
What fools these mortals be is a direct quote from Shakespears’ A midsummer Nights dream. It was uttered by one of the characters, a mischievous fairy of the forest named Robin "Puck" Goodfellow, who had been sent to find and concoct a magical juice derived from a flower called "love-in-idleness", While doing so he was interrupted by several humans who had entered the forest looking for love. What happens next has become one of Shakespeare's most popular and is widely performed comedies. Like Puck, Curtis had been sent into the forest to find elements to concoct medicines and personal observation would have been one of his most valued means of scientific discovery.
As we did deeper into Puck and his famous quote, we find that it was used a lot more than just on the stage of the Globe playhouse and here on Curtis Llyod’s tombstone.
The Puck magazine was the first successful humor magazine in the United States that addressed the issues of the day using colorful cartoons, illustrations, and political satire. It was published from 1876 until 1918. The heading of the publication included Puck and a banner the read “what fools these mortals be. This magazine was the first to successfully adopt full-color lithography printing for a weekly publication. As such, Curtis would have been very aware of this magazine. Particularly when the magazine published several cartoons addressing the medical quackery of the time.
There is a third possible, more direct, more pointed, meaning behinds these words. There are local stories that Curtis offered to fund the construction of a new Crittenden High School, his only request was that it be named Crittenden Lloyd High School, in the same manner Erlanger Lloyd, was named after his older brother John. This makes sense since both of his parents had previously taught school in Crittenden. According to the oral history, the school board turned down his charity on the grounds of Curtis’ religious beliefs or lack thereof. Being a man of science, having a religious background, and feeling a slight to his parents, I can see where Curtis could have made a decision to plant a 6 ton, unmovable rock, in the area and leave behind these parting words.
Perhaps Curtis was just repeating an observation already made by Shakespear, or using the same humor illustrated over and over again in the Puck magazine, or had a more direct point to make, we may never know. We do know is that thanks to Curtis Gates Lloyd and his brothers, we have one of Kentucky’s finest WMA’s in northern Kentucky, The Cincinnati Reds, and a world renown research Library in Cincinnati. For that we need to give them thanks.
This episode explores Leary Lake and the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Curtis G Lloyd Wildlife Management Area located in Crittenden, Kentucky. We investigate the history of the Llyod Brothers and the odd monument erected by Curtis G Lloyd for himself and by himself to gratify his own vanity. We include elements that connects the Lloyds to the Cincinnati Reds, Ben Franklin, and William Shakespeare.
Leary Lake, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, Curtis G Lloyd, John Uri Lloyd, Nelson Ashley Lloyd, WMA, Wildlife Management Area, Crittenden, Kentucky, Llyod Brother’s Pharmacy, Lloyd Museum, Lloyd Library, Lloyd Memorial High School, Cincinnati Reds, Ben Franklin, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night Dream, Puke, Puke Magazine, Mycology, What Fools These Mortals Be,
Here is the latest segment release about Leary Lake https://youtu.be/aZ3QarqYZWA
This episode explores Leary Lake and the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Curtis G Lloyd Wildlife Management Area located in Crittenden, Kentucky. We investigate the history of the Llyod Brothers and the odd monument erected by Curtis G Lloyd for himself and by himself to gratify his own vanity. We include elements that connects the Lloyds to the Cincinnati Reds, Ben Franklin, and William Shakespeare.