The Enquirer’s Just Askin’ series aims to answer the questions that no one seems to have an answer for, not even Google.
I’ve had a question I’ve wanted answered since I was a little girl.
Why in the world does it look like there were once staircases on Columbia Parkway?
It seems unlikely anyone would use staircases on such a busy road. Stranger, these staircases would lead to a mass of trees.
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There hasn’t been a drive from my East Side home to downtown where I haven’t pined for an answer. Welp, 16 years later, I finally know the truth.
This is why you get into journalism, people.
Question: Why are there stairs on Columbia Parkway?
Answer: There aren’t. Not really, that is.
The staircases are just the outlines of staircases that were “basically” stamped on the side of the wall around the early 2000s, says James Stine, principal architect at the City of Cincinnati Department of Transportation & Engineering.
It’s true there used to be staircases there. In the early 20th century, Columbia Parkway was the quieter “Columbia Avenue,” says Christian Huelsman, executive director of Spring in Our Steps, and residents could walk up the staircases from Columbia Avenue to their homes located past the trees.
The wall you see today came in the 1930s as a public works project. The Public Works Administration constructed the concrete retaining wall on both sides of all the existing staircases, says Huelsman.
That same decade, the city expanded the avenue into a parkway, and the road got much busier. Over time, the city shut off access to the staircases. And, instead, residents started to access their houses from behind Columbia Parkway by taking side streets off of Delta Avenue.
Huelsman recalls in the ’90s seeing the stairs adorned with a “steps closed” sign and filled with organic debris. Then “probably into the 2000s,” the city decided to fill them with concrete and imprint the wall with the outlines of stairs − handrail and all.
Why? Because it looks cool, Huelsman says.
“Even people in professional roles like to do things in a slightly creative way if given the chance.”
Do you have a question for Just Askin’? Send it to us at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What are the steps built into the Columbia Parkway wall used for?
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