"Leaves Cincinnati headin' down that Dixie line" (12/22/2018)

Saturday, December 22, 2018 (continued)
"Leaves Cincinnati headin' down that Dixie line" is a lyric from "Pan-American" (1947) by Hank Williams.
After the downtown walking tour of Cincinnati, we drove out to Union Terminal.

Union Terminal (1931-1933, by Alfred T Fellheimer and Steward Wagner
in Art Deco style) is now the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal

Union Terminal was another project providing employment during the Great Depression. However, after years of getting seven railroad companies to agree to a single terminal, the decline of railroads began soon after its completion. Fortunately for Cincinnati, being at a mid-America cross-roads, the terminal handled record levels of traffic due to World War II deployments.

The largest semi-dome in the western hemisphere,
measuring 55 m/180' wide and 32 m/106' high (KSS)

The restored mural (by Weinhold Reiss) on the north side depicts
the story of Cincinnati; the figures are mosaics of tiny glass tiles

The local Lego club set up a humongous display of
Lego "sculptures" and model train set-up

The Lego Roebling Bridge

A peek into the Dino Hall

There were several exhibition spaces that required admission, but we took the free tour at 15:00.

Wood veneer art in the former Men's Lounge that once
provided services such as showers, haircuts and shaves,
newspapers, shoe polishing, etc

The former Men's Lounge is now the waiting room for Amtrak, which had left Union Terminal in 1972, then returned in 1991. The waiting room is only open three days per week in the wee hours of the morning when the Cardinal train arrives between 1:30-3:30!

Mosaic glass tile mural of the architects, located
in the beginning of the concourse

Most of the concourse, which extended 137 m/450' across the railroad tracks, is gone to accommodate piggyback freight trains. However, 14 of 16 concourse murals by Weinhold Reiss were removed and installed at the Cincinnati Airport. In 2016, nine of the murals were moved to the Duke Energy Convention Center downtown.

The former Rookwood Tea Room with refurbished original furniture,
is now a Graeter's ice cream shop with priceless Rookwood tiles

In each of the front corners of the rotunda
is a drinking fountain at which people can
whisper to each other across 180'

We were taken up on the gallery for the view;
here is the mural on the south side depicting events
in Ohio history; Weinhold Reiss used real people
as models for his figures of mosaic glass tile

View of the original information booth, that had one of the world's
first digital clocks, which they hope to restore (KSS)

Losantiville Dining Room with recently restored art (by Pierre Bourdelle)

The ceiling painting (Pierre Bourdelle) of the Fine Dining Room (KSS)

The Fine Dining Room had a balcony bandstand

Entry to Women's Lounge with carved linoleum mural
by Pierre Bourdelle (KSS)

The "signature" of Pierre Bourdelle is a black panther

Definitely a departure from the typical Neo-Classical railroad terminal,
Cincinnati's Art Deco station even has a restored clock with neon hands

The wings of Union Terminal were originally open-air, and
provided access for streetcar, bus, and taxi traffic for
drop-off and pick-up within the station

View of downtown Cincinnati from Union Terminal

A hop and a skip to the Over the Rhine district of Cincinnati, a working class neighborhood of German immigrants living on the far bank of the Miami and Erie Canal, which was nicknamed the Rhine, in reference to the Rhine River in Germany.

Rhinegeist Brewery was for beer and fun, not a meal!

Rosemary Clooney Mural (2016, by Natalie Lanese)

At the Taft Ale House, we had a great dinner,
in a re-purposed church building

Fountain Square backed by the 5/3 Bank Building
(1969, by Harrison & Abramovitz)

Next: "Don't make me wait for you at the corner of Eden Park."