Sunday, February 14, 1999
White elephants: Union Terminal outlives Workhouse
BY OWEN FINDSEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A “white elephant” is something that's too valuable to destroy but too expensive to keep. A number of historic buildings in Greater Cincinnati have been dubbed white elephants: the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, the Workhouse and Union Terminal among them.
Built in 1933, Union Terminal was designed to handle passenger rail traffic well into the 21st century. It was declared obsolete even before it was finished.
The $41 million, 22-building complex proved its worth during World War II, but by the 1950s, the railroad age was ending, and the terminal was declared a white elephant.
In 1973, the concourse was demol ished by the Southern Railway to make way for expanded freight service. Before demolition, 14 mosaic murals were saved and moved to Greater Cincinnati International Airport.
Proposals for the terminal included a science museum, bus terminal, site for the School for Creative and Performing Arts and shopping mall called OZ, which survived for four years.
Threatened continually with demo lition, Union Terminal was saved in 1991 when the Cincinnati Historical Society and the Museum of Natural History moved in, adding two museums, an Omnimax Theater and, in 1998, a children's museum under the Museum Center umbrella.
From the outside, the Cincinnati Workhouse was one of the city's most outstanding buildings. Inside, it was a crime.
Built in 1869 in Camp Washington, the Workhouse was the municipal prison, with five tiers of four-by-eight cells, 606 for men, 202 for women. The average stay for a prisoner was only three to four weeks. Conditions were deplorable, with most cells lacking plumbing and electric lights.
The gigantic, white brick structure was one of the city's most visible buildings, reminiscent of a castle on the Rhine. It was a designed, like Music Hall, by Samuel Hannaford.
Preservationist groups lobbied for it. Hollywood found it an ideal set for motion pictures about innocent men unjustly imprisoned. Parts of two 1989 movies — An Innocent Man and Tango and Cash were filmed there.
It was demolished in 1991.
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White elephants: Union Terminal outlives Workhouse
