Historic Hyde Park Square

By Mary Casey-Sturk

Hyde Park Square has been a gathering place for generations of residents. Families gather for meals, events and shopping. An easy drive from much of Cincinnati, it’s a popular spot for others wishing to shop, dine and enjoy the community.

Centering the Square is the lovely Kilgour Fountain. Standing strong and elegant, she has welcomed admirers since 1900.  The Kilgour Fountain at Hyde Park Square is a treasure and has been loved by generations of residents and those enjoying the Square with its greenspace and the surrounding businesses.

The bronze fountain features a classically draped female figure, lion-head spouts and fluted basins. Donated by brothers Charles Kilgour (1833-1906) a real estate investor and street railway engineer and John Kilgour (1834-1914), a banker and president of the Cincinnati Street Railway, it was a gift to the people of Hyde Park — an area they helped to develop.  Together, the brothers transformed the community by developing horse-drawn bus lines and then electric trolley lines to what was once hundreds of acres of farmland.

The Kilgour brothers also gave the entire area another gift, in the form of what would one day become Cincinnati Bell. Charles Kilgour was riding a horse and became severely injured when the horse was spooked by a streetcar (ironically owned by Charles Kilgour), this resulted in his need to work from home for an extended period. His assistant, growing quite tired of the endless walking back and forth to deliver messages, suggested the idea of installing a telegraph. So, in 1873, Charles and John Kilgour formed the City and Suburban Telegraph Association. Telephones came along in 1878 and the company gained the exclusive rights to be a Bell System franchisee within a 25-mile radius of Cincinnati, thus becoming the first telephone exchange in Ohio and tenth in the United States. In 1903, the company was renamed the Cincinnati and Suburban Bell Telephone Company. Ring a bell?

Hyde Park was founded in 1892 (in 1896 the first election for village officials was held), with the Kilgours and other prosperous citizens who wished to preserve the natural beauty of the area, architectural beauty and provide a quiet place for people to call home. Prior to this, the Hyde Park area was known as Mornington. 

All of this remains true and the Square in particular remains much as its founders envisioned, home to dozens of shops and boutiques, art galleries, coffee shops, restaurants and other businesses. On the edge are places to worship, a library, historic fire house, a school and many homes-some dating to the late 1800s and some recently built. 

Plazas, Piazzas, Place Publique

No matter the language, cities around the world have public squares that are enjoyed by locals and visitors alike. These are important gathering points. 

Hyde Park Living Magazine spoke with Gregory Parker Rogers, author of Cincinnati’s Hyde Park: A Queen City Gem. 

Rogers shared, “most of the buildings (around Hyde Park Square) were built between 1890 and 1922.” Which makes Hyde Park’s public square relatively young, as Rogers continues, “In the western world, public squares date from around the 10^th century BC in Greece.  The Greeks called them “agora,” which means gathering place or assembly.  They were the center of athletic, artistic, business, social, spiritual and political life.  I don’t know that much has changed today.  Visiting politicians use Fountain Square to orate.  People who have ballot amendments use Fountain Square to make their point.”

Rogers adds, “In Hyde Park, people arrange to meet at the square for social events.  And it is still a marketplace.  The Sunday Farmers’ Market runs from April to October and ends in October when the Hyde Park Art Show takes place.  Most people are still social animals and public squares facilitate such gatherings.  That’s one part of what was so difficult about the COVID restrictions — the loss of social interaction.” 

Some fun facts:

• A spring-fed pond was once located in the block that is bound by these streets: Michigan, Observatory, Erie and Edwards. Young men would paddle their sweethearts around on flat bottom boats. It was filled in at the turn of the 20^th century. 
• There was a noisy trolley nicknamed “Jerky” that ran along Erie Avenue until the middle of the 20^th century.
• By 1908, structures included a stable, a theatre showing silent movies and an undertaker’s parlor.
• Band concerts were common most Saturday nights.
• Folklore has it that the Fountain was a peace offering from Kilgour brothers as neighbors complained about the loud streetcar line.
• Today’s square continues to embrace its role as a gathering place. Rather than an undertaker’s parlor, there’s an ice cream parlor. Instead of streetcars, people patiently wait for an open parking space and even if it was an apology, the Fountain still dazzles.

Today’s square continues to embrace its role as a gathering place. Rather than an undertaker’s parlor, there’s an ice cream parlor. Instead of streetcars, people patiently wait for an open parking space and even if it was an apology, the Fountain still dazzles.