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For my first thirteen years of life I lived just off Ritchie Ave. Every time I'm back in town I roll through the old neighborhood. (When we moved it was to another section of Wyoming, where my folks still reside today.) These days it looks even better than it did in the bygone years of my youth. One house on my childhood block, which had a gray stucco exterior that made it look like it was atop a smokestack, is now pale blue. A couple of the more raggedy-looking dwellings on the first block of Ritchie off "the Pike" have also been spruced up.
The owner of my childhood home, now widowed, has lived there since my parents sold it to her and her husband and family. One of the neighbors a few doors down was residing on the street when we were. Besides them, I can't say how many times the other houses have changed ownership, but the neighborhood is nothing if not stable.
Ritchie is unusual in that it was developed in three stages. The first two blocks went in during the mid-1920's, though the line of Cape Cod houses on the west side of the street clearly dates from after that. During the post-WWII baby boom, the looooong 100 block was constructed. Then still more woodlands gave way to houses in the late '60s. Although the entire street is looking good, given a choice I'd settle along the original stretch since the trees are more mature and some of the houses are more unique.
Forest Ave was also built in phases, two this time. It's one of the longest no-outlet streets in town. There's a nice mix of "middle-class" houses along its entire length and that of its several small side streets. My only quibble with Forest is that some large new homes have gotten constructed on the first block after the original cozy ranch houses were torn down. Wyoming has happily been pretty much spared from the tear-down craze that's swept many suburban towns on the East Coast, though.
Fleming I'm not so keen on due to its being a fairly heavily traveled thoroughfare. Kids of all ages love to test their driving skills along its narrow hilly course, particularly eastbound. Mrs Goyguy Sr has always said she'd be "terrified to pull out of the driveway" if she lived on that street. There as on Forest and Ritchie, the most eye-catching domiciles are on the first block or two, after which it's mostly generic ranch houses and Colonials out of the '50s and '60s. "Blink and you'll miss" Chatham Court, a tiny side street which got squeezed in between Fleming and the woods during the '90s. That's where you'll find the most recent construction (other than replacements of tear-downs) in the vicinity.
The golf club doesn't have tennis courts, but it does contain facilities for that uniquely preppie pastime known as "paddle tennis" in addition to a small swimming pool and obviously the golf course. The clubhouse is a popular site for parties, reunions, and such. One of the better places in Wyoming to watch Fourth of July fireworks is along its hillside greens.
Since the 1970's there's been nothing even approaching a "panic sales" scenario in Wyoming. 35 or so years ago rumors (largely unsubstantiated) were spreading that the Cincinnati schools and those of the Hamilton County suburbs would be folded into a single district, with random busing of pupils throughout the area. Undoubtedly some folks were scared into selling their houses "while they could get a good price." That same tactic was used - with disastrous results - employing the same paranoia around "integration" in Cincy's Reading Rd corridor. But in Wyoming it largely failed. Some hysterical "white flight" did occur on a few streets near the high school as strengthened fair-housing laws dovetailed with fears of countywide school busing. Today those same streets are considered to be within the highly sought-after "village" part of town, and there was never the radical racial turnover some White persons were afraid would occur. Ironically enough, numerous people from my and my siblings' high school days - who grew up in the sprawling '60s-vintage "Reservation" in western Wyoming - are happily raising their own families in the "village." There may be heavy real estate activity going on, but as has already been stated all kinds of factors are driving that. Getting out while the getting's good isn't one of them.
Jen35--Sorry to send a few questions your way. We visited Cincy this past weekend and really focused on Wyoming and Hyde Park. We are trying to decide which house to make an offer on and since we like both of the houses equally, it is really down to the neighborhoods. We have young kids, so like Wyoming for the school. Our one concern is that some people have thrown about the "snooty" label when referring to Wyoming. Do you think Wyoming is overly homogeneous and perhaps not a diverse as a community like Hyde Park. I imagine you are somewhat prejudice since you live in Wyoming, but do you think there is any truth to the closed community remarks that some people make about Wyoming? We live in Manhattan right now on the uppper east side and that is one thing we have not enjoyed as much about the area, so we are somewhat worried to move to the upper east side of Cincy, if that makes sense?
If you move into Hyde Park, by the time your children reach school age it's highly likely you're going to conclude that private school is the best educational option. Personally I would never pass up putting my kids into the Wyoming school system in favor of living in Hyde Park. It's a beautiful area, well-located, with many amenities and lovely historic homes, but the Cincinnati Public schools are for the most part not very desirable.
I think your concerns about snobbiness in either area are pretty much unfounded. Once you move here, you'll understand. Cincinnatians, by and large, are relatively unpretentious.
Off the top of my head, Wyoming may be a bit more diverse than Hyde Park. I'm guessing Wyoming has a larger Jewish population. There are few Asians in the Cincinnati area at all. Much of our AA population is not affluent enough to afford homes in either area. Of those who can, I'm guessing the distribution is similar in both Hyde Park and Wyoming.
I would agree with the other posts (although, like you said, I could be biased ) that Wyoming is less snobby than Hyde Park. I have found people to be extremely friendly so far, and that's it's not a closed community at all. We have met so many nice familes from the preschool we send our son to (he will be heading to K next year) as well as our neighbors and just people stopping to say hi as we walk around and explore. In Cincinnati, Hyde Park has a young white yuppie stereotype. If you raise kids there, you almost always send them to private school if you can afford it, since they are part of Cincinnati Public Schools.
Withing Wyoming, there is also a fairly active newcomers group from what I hear (we are yet to attend, but plan to check it out this summer).
As for diversity, I don't know a ton about Hyde's Park diversity as we ruled it out for schools. I just pulled the Wyoming school distirct data, and it says that there's 21% non-white in their schools. This also was a huge draw for us. We moved down from Lebanon (northern suburb) and it must be close to 99% white, which we did not like at all. As sad as it was, my son (4 at the time) would notice when someone's skin was a different color and make a comment (not in a negative way, but because he just didn't see it around where we lived). My husband and I were just mentioning yesterday that he never makes any comments like that anymore since it's part of everyday life (thank goodness!!!). There also seems to be a decent Jewish population, like someone mentioned. There's a synagogue right in Wyoming.
Let me know if you end up buying the house in Wyoming. What age are your kids? I really think you will love it here if you make the decision to buy here...
Someone who graduated from Wyoming High School a few years before I did once put it well, and succinctly: People there have a way at times of walking around with the attitude of, "Look at us, we're from Wyoming." Many old-timers and newcomers alike cast a nostalgic eye back to when the community was small enough to be officially a village. Old-money families in their big houses commingled with P & G'ers and other professionals who lived in comparatively modest homes but still wore the right clothes and did all the right (preppie) things. There were small Catholic and AA populations which marched to their tune to varying degrees of success, but the behavioral role model was East Coast WASP. (A not inconsiderable number of Wyomingites were in fact transplants from the Northeast.) Everything started to get shaken up when the elementary school for AA children - now a municipal office building - was shut down and the kids mostly started attending the Vermont Ave school. Then the shaking got more pronounced when new subdivisions less than coincidentally started popping up at the same time the Reading Rd corridor was hemorrhaging Jewish families. What's now called "diversity" was then most commonly known as "integration," but a lot of folks cast a wary and disapproving eye at the changes coming down. Some without school-aged kids bailed out for Glendale, while those with children and the means "headed for the (Indian) Hill." It's safe to say that Wyoming is now less than half WASP, but even if somebody's last name is Hernandez or Goldman they're susceptible to putting on the "look at us" airs. Until I moved to Boston I didn't have a grasp on how bad that was perceived by people not from Wyoming to be. Then it only took a few introductions to transplanted Cincinnatians to catch on. "You grew up in Wyoming? How nice!" "And that makes you special?" "Funny, you don't look rich OR Jewish..." No matter that only the very poor and very wealthy can't be found there, or that the ethnic/religious composition of Wyomingites is about the most varied in the region. The privileged and self-important attitude is subtle but ever present. You see it in the business districts which completely lack fast-food joints (unless Subway and LaRosa's count), the crinkly metal flower boxes wrapped around signposts at intersections on the main thoroughfares, and in the way the commercially glutted and treeless 8400 block of Vine St suddenly segues into the shaded residential single-digit block of Springfield Pike. (Much the same holds true on "the Pike" approaching from Woodlawn to the north.) It's Oz on the doorstep of Kansas. And a lot of Wyomingites listen to the wizard without peeking behind the curtain.
"Hype Park" (aka Snide Park) diverse??? BWAHHH HA HA HA HA HA
I would imagine any area in any part of the country where you mix top schools and money is going to have some people that are snobby/entitled. I'm sure there are people here in Wyoming and Hyde Park that are just that. I think you just have to make sure it's not the majority of those around you. I've yet to run into anyone like that in my time in Wyoming, but I'm sure it will happen at some point. I can say in my 6 months here, that it's definitely not the majority of people here by any means. I've met tons of locals, and everyone has been friendly and helpful with our transition. I think of the areas that have expensive houses, Wyoming would be on the lower end of the snobiness factor as it has more economic, religious and racial diversity to counter balance it than the other areas. It seems that it still has the reputation as being snobby, but I've found it to be anything but the truth.
Thank you everyone for such good information. I found Wyoming to be a very friendly place when I visited. Does anyone know how difficult it is to make the high school sports teams(not football), I was thinking more like cheerleading or soccer? I thought that it might making getting to know the other kids a little easier. My kids aren't overly athletic.
Football players and cheerleaders are the Big People on Campus at Wyoming High School just like at every other high school. But it's not as bad as at most, I think, because of the laserlike focus on academics. (Harvard has a football team that gets a lot of support, but nothing compared to - say - 'bama. It's the same principle.) When I was at WHS there were all sorts of social groups that catered to brainiacs, not only the typical chess club and school newspaper but also niche organizations like the James Joyce Society. I was in the Kilgour Trout Fan Club, where everyone was the president and was the proud owner of a black "Venus on the Half Shell" T-shirt. That was a conglomeration of artsy, nerdy, bright, and/or "alienated" kids which probably didn't see the dawn of the '80s. WHS society also doesn't stigmatize those in the band, drama club, or choir to the extent that "typical" American high schools' do. Football players think nothing of also being in Glee Club. All of which is to say, non-athletic kids aren't doomed to be social outcasts.
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Some hysterical "white flight" did occur on a few streets near the high school as strengthened fair-housing laws dovetailed with fears of countywide school busing. Today those same streets are considered to be within the highly sought-after "village" part of town, and there was never the radical racial turnover some White persons were afraid would occur. Ironically enough, numerous people from my and my siblings' high school days - who grew up in the sprawling '60s-vintage "Reservation" in western Wyoming - are happily raising their own families in the "village." There may be heavy real estate activity going on, but as has already been stated all kinds of factors are driving that. Getting out while the getting's good isn't one of them.
) that Wyoming is less snobby than Hyde Park. I have found people to be extremely friendly so far, and that's it's not a closed community at all. We have met so many nice familes from the preschool we send our son to (he will be heading to K next year) as well as our neighbors and just people stopping to say hi as we walk around and explore. In Cincinnati, Hyde Park has a young white yuppie stereotype. If you raise kids there, you almost always send them to private school if you can afford it, since they are part of Cincinnati Public Schools. 
