Why does Hamilton have such a bad rep with locals? (Cincinnati: crime, neighborhood)

[JRE]

Has anyone heard about a high rate of brain cancer among graduates of Ross High School?
JRE

[prechrgrl]

I've lived in Hamilton for 4 years now without any problems. There are not so good parts in lots of old neighborhoods. I lived right on main street across the river in a big old wonderful house that I love. You get a lot more for your money there and the city is growing on the outer edges. If you are looking for a place I can help at no cost to you. Email me prechrgrl@aol.com

[hillside]

its got a bad rap b/c east hamilton is smack dab in abject poverty with high crime. east avenue looks like Stalin just marched through. front st. IS front st. front street projects. there was a wrecked train on the side of ohio 4 for months!? its much like cinci in that its an area of isolated poverty bordering polar opposite communities.

[Crew Chief]

At midnight last night, a car driver Northbound on MLK Drive decided it would be a good idea to run the light at Main Street. Fortunately, he decided against it as he saw my big truck emerge from the Jack Kirsch Underpass to make a VERY green light. After both of us locked 'em up, he stopped less than 10' from my left door. Wonder how badly he was beaten by his wife/girlfiend when they got home...

[SpaceCowboy]

You're right I think, Hamilton isn't all that bad - I think the reason so many locals diss it though, may be because there are so many exeptionally beautiful and interesting places closer to the city of Cincinnati, and hamilton just doesn't usually end up on that list. But you're right, it's not like it's a black hole...there is a campus, a mall, and a highway near by. Cincy really is a well kept secret, a great place. It all depends on what you're looking for and what you don't mind sacrificing.
I think Mainville is great! If you want to live in a rural atmosphere that would be my top pick, I've even thought of it myself. It's secluded, woodsy, quiet, beautiful and small townish. I have freinds out there who like to do alot of hunting and fishing. To me, that's great..it all depends on what you're looking for.
If you are into young, hip, eclectic, artsy or intellectual type communities I wouldn't pick hamilton or mainville. but my advise would be to just be confident in your personal tastes..if you like Hamilton, I wouldn't let anyone's alternative tastes ruin it for you.
Best of luck!

[LifeLongNorthCincy]

Oof, just reread this - sorry for the long post.

I stumbled across this board googling something related. I've read a lot of truths and a lot of silly stereotypes in this thread, so I thought I'd chip in.

I'm a life-long resident of Hamilton/Fairfield; I'm currently writing this from an upscale golf course neighborhood in the township in between the two - directly adjacent to the knob that someone said we should avoid at all costs. I guess if hard-working blue-collar Americans bother you that much...

Hamilton was, as others said, primarily a paper/safe town at one point. There's still some paper here, as well as one of the largest bank vault makers in the world (Hamilton Safe - actually in FF now).

Also, there was also a huge bootlegging community here - thus the 'Little Chicago' designation. Dillinger was known to have visited one of the many resident gangsters here.

Between the fairly big business and the illegal operations, at one point Hamilton had one of the highest per-capita of millionaires in the US. Go check out the fading beauty of D-street on the East Side, and many of the homes on the West Side to confirm this.

There's still a vestige of money here - I know at least five eight-figure millionaires that live on the West Side, and one nine-figure comes to mind. There's still some old P&G money here. Gordon Rentschler of Citibank fame owned the farmland my neighborhood is on and used the farmhouse that still stands here as a summer home.

The Fisher Body plant was on Fairfield soil, because Hamilton refused it, purportedly out of embarrassment. There was an exodus of blue collar workers out of Hamilton/Fairfield in the late-eighties when it closed.

My grandparents moved to Hamilton in the early 50s, for my Grandfather to run the machine shop at FB, and it did indeed already have an unsavory reputation. People snickered at their moving there, mostly an artifact of the 'Little Chicago' moniker. They lived in Lindenwald on the East Side, where many smart, honest, and hardworking people lived and still live.

We have many friends that live on the West Side, and I can assure you that many there are cultured, relatively affluent people just like any other north-side city. The professionals I know there, that have multi-generational roots, don't have a hint of Appalachian accent. Not that there's even anything wrong with that - amazing that even hundreds of years later, the Irish and their hard working descendents are still disparaged.

As an aside - I would dare some of the people in Mason, Deerfield, West Chester and Liberty Township, those that wouldn't deign to sully their shoes here, to show me their city/twp's equivalent to Pyramid Hill and the other sculptural highlights in Hamilton (they've marketed themselves as "The City of Sculpture", and backed it up very well). Nothing in SW Ohio comes close outside of the downtown Cincy museums.

The primary reason for the decline of Hamilton is quite simply its location relative to I-75. The popular rumor is that when the DOT was planning the exits for I-75 at a meeting in Cincinnati decades ago, the Hamilton city leaders were more interested in the Friday-night high school basketball game. For certain the city leaders did not do due diligence to get a slice of the interstate.

Even now, just in the past decade a connector was built to I-75 - SR129, but it still gives you a 10 mile (albeit 65mph) drive to the interstate. Businesses want nothing to do with its relative remoteness, and many commuters don't want the burden of the drive to any of the other CBDs in the city.

Much of the ignorant "Hamiltucky" talk in Greater Cincinnati can be attributed to this too - so many people haven't been there! Someone at my work (in Milford) referred to Hamilton in this way, always snorting and smirking at its mention. Just last month he took his boy there for a wrestling match - his first trip out - and he was pleasantly surprised by the charm of Main/High Street and the riverfront. His previous impression was that it was just a bunch of tenement buildings, not a proper city with history and pride.

But, all in all, Hamilton is a decent place with decent people. If it wouldn't have affected my work commute by another 15+ minutes to live on the West Side, we might have bought a house there and saved several tens of thousands of dollars. Don't let the negative hype prevail.

[hillside]

hamilton is a tale of two cities. you have the quiet, relaxed and insular westside, and the unsettled, bleak and insular eastside. lindenwald isn't too bad, mostly people who are the definition of locals, but southeast, the north end, the east ave area and the knob are bad. southeast is poor and black, north end is poor and white, east ave is poor and black/white/hispanic, and the knob is poor and largely redneck/hispanic. it is a very depressing place to be. most people from east hamilton NEVER make it out, and just about everybody wants to make it out. nothing to do. no jobs, just drugs and crime. not cincinnati avondale crime, but plenty enough.

the city wants everything on the westside. they closed the eastside high school, garfield, and made it a jr high. now 2200 kids are crammed into a 10-12 hamilton high over on the far westside. hamilton was called the best urban district in ohio (not sayin much is it), but hcs loses more kids to dropping out/failing in 12th grade than any district in southwest ohio. 22%. all of the commercial development and restaurant building happens on the westside, bar the new kroger and sonic on ohio 4 and grand blvd. the thing is, the grocery next door is closing, and the 2 main plazas along that strip are DEAD. a big lots, save a lot, and kmart is holding up about 20 properties. any of the new development along highway 129 is due to the booming burbs. you know what it means when the burbs are booming....

[hamiltonfan]

The Fisher Body plant was on Fairfield soil, because Hamilton refused it, purportedly out of embarrassment.

Actually, Hamilton handeled the negotiations for Fisher Body to come in the mid-1940's. At that time, annexation was just assumed. In 1947, they attempted to annex, but Fisher Body declined. In 1953, when Hamilton placed Fisher body and a large portion of Fairfield Township on a proposed annexation map, residents organized because Fisher was a large tax base for FF schools. Thus, in 1954, Fairfield was born from a portion of Fairfield Township.

[bosco1108]

[quote=Linda Pratt;1208156]Hamilton had a steel mill? When? Middletown has a steel mill, but it has not shut down (Middletown also has "bad" areas to avoid). What are you talking about?

Hamilton did have a steel mill, it was called Armco Steel Hamilton Plant. It closed in 1982. It was located in New Miami.
My family moved to hamilton in 1988. It has bad and good areas, just like every other town- includiong precious and expensive Monroe-- And dont forget to compare property taxes. W. Hamilton is a great place. (and I have lived in North End of Hamilton, East Hamilton, West Hamilton, New MIami, Trenton, And YES THATS RIGHT---- MONROE.

[aquila]

Some places in West Hamilton are really quite nice. I love the area around New London Road and Washington Blvd. Rossville Historic District has some great homes, too. My mom lives in West Hamilton, and I'd recommend the area. Sanders is a nice area, too.