1950's-1970's Stratford Manor & Eastwood Village (Cincinnati, Madison: apartments, houses)

[Hyden]

I am trying to get information on this Cincinnati neighborhood. I lived there for 14 years . I would love to exchange and hear others stories about it. It was great growing up there . It had everything you needed within itself. Drs. office, grocery store, drug store, barber shop, bar, chili bar grade school, nursery school. I could go on and on. Its gone now...I would like to find an ariel view of it.

[franke01]

Originally Posted by Hyden

I am trying to get information on this Cincinnati neighborhood. I lived there for 14 years . I would love to exchange and hear others stories about it. It was great growing up there . It had everything you needed within itself. Drs. office, grocery store, drug store, barber shop, bar, chili bar grade school, nursery school. I could go on and on. Its gone now...I would like to find an ariel view of it.

Was that the area over by Red Bank that is now visible from I-71?

[Hyden]

Franke01....Yes it is.....Do you remember it ??

[franke01]

Originally Posted by Hyden

Franke01....Yes it is.....Do you remember it ??

I remember seeing it but I didn't live there and don't know anything about it. As I recall there were apartment buildings and possibly single family homes. I knew of it before I-71 was built and I remember seeing it after, also. Sorry I don't have any real info.

[cincylifer]

I remember it well, I had cousins that lived in Eastwood Village in the late 60's/early 70s.
Its funny because I remember when going there, it was before I-71 was finished, so we went out Duck Creek. Also remember, when they were building i-71, we used to cut across the constrution, go thru a water tunnel, and walk up the hill to Kmart, man we had fun! I was a little girl, hanging with my two cousins who were boys! There is no way, that would happen today, that was probably dangerous, cutting across the unfinished highway....man we had fun!

[Hyden]

cincylifer...Thanks for your reply...The Manor as we called it was the best place to grow up. I have alot of good memories. You were talking about the I-71..we thought we were doing something if we crawled through the fence at the graveyard behind Thriftway. It was the best!! I try to explain to my grandkids...but I don't think they get it. I would love to find some of the people from there but years go by and can't remember names. Just the Best Fun !!!!

[NightBazaar]

Originally Posted by Hyden

I am trying to get information on this Cincinnati neighborhood. I lived there for 14 years . I would love to exchange and hear others stories about it. It was great growing up there . It had everything you needed within itself. Drs. office, grocery store, drug store, barber shop, bar, chili bar grade school, nursery school. I could go on and on. Its gone now...I would like to find an ariel view of it.

I remember the area called Stratford Manor. I spent 4 years growing up there in the mid to late-50s. It was located a few blocks off Madison Road, somewhat between Oakley and Madisonville. We lived on Kingsley Drive. It was a fairly clean place to live.

I remember a small shopping center with a grocery store, drug store, barber shop, etc. It was large enough to handle the needs of the area. I also remember the grade school, which was called Eastside Elementary School. Across from the grade school, there was an orphanage with several cottages. The school building seems to still be there, but I’m not sure if it’s still used as a school anymore. The orphanage buildings also seem to be there, but again, I don’t know if it’s used as a residence for orphans.[/font][/SIZE]

Here’s what I remember about the area. There was quite a number of apartment buildings. Each building was two stories with 2 apartments upstairs and two downstairs. Across from the shopping center, I think there were a few single story units, more like duplexes.

There were several streets in the area, but I can only remember Kingsley Drive and Stratford Drive. The apartment buildings were arranged in a fashion so that the back sides often faced a central courtyard with walks, small fenced playgrounds, and fenced locations for garbage cans. Not far from where we lived there was a fairly good-sized laundromat for the residents, but there must have been others around the area.

There were a couple of wooded gullies in the area with trails here and there where kids would ride their bikes, walk, or run around playing games. There were drainage streams that flowed through some of these “wild” areas.

To the north of Stratford Manor (I think it was north) was a farm that grew corn in the summer. The farm had a pond. Kids and adults alike would “sneak” over a back fence to swim in the pond in the summer and skate on the ice in the winter.

If you haven’t done it already, you can Google “Stratford Manor Cincinnati Ohio”. You should see a graphic street map of the area at the top. There are a number of online maps that should show the area. On one online map I looked at a couple of years ago, you could select an aerial photographic of the area that can also zoom in on for a closer look at details.

What I saw was surprising to me, as I guess I somewhat hoped to see the old place and maybe even the building where I lived. Instead, I saw what appears to be some kind of large area near the grade school where there trucking freight trailers are parked, like some kind of warehouse or something. Where our apartment on Kingsley Drive was located, there’s now what appears to be a large shopping mall or something that extends on what used to be the farm. There are also a number of smaller buildings in the area that may be single story professional offices.

I guess for the sake of nostalgia, I Googled Stratford Manor a couple of years ago just to see what it looks like now, and whether I could spot where I used to live. I was surprised to see there’s not even a hint that it was once filled with apartment buildings. There’s almost nothing remotely recognizable there now. Everything there has changed with the passing of time.

Although it was a long time ago, I still have a lot of great memories about Stratford Manor.

[NightBazaar]

Here's a satellite photo of Stratford Manor as it looks now. Looks like it's changed since the image I saw a couple of years ago. It looks more like an industrial park now. I-71 appears to run through where the farm was located.

The houses around E. Eastwood Circle are still there (below Duck Creek Road). Down out of this image, E. Eastwood Circle comes out to Madison Road. If you follow upward from the upper part of E. Eastwood Circle, you can see where the entrance drive to Stratford Manor was located. You can also see the grade school slightly to the right by Eastwood Drive. Below Eastwood Drive is where the orphanage was located (you can see a peek of it in this image).

Looks like Stratford Drive is gone, as are all the others. All that's left is Kingsley Drive and that looks nothing like I remember it. Big Chief Drive and Red Bank Road are still there. Red Bank Road used to go to down to Madison Road. I'm not sure if it still does though. Doesn't look like it in this image.

I suspect there's an old aerial image of the Manor apartments and the shopping center from the 1950s somewhere, but I haven't come across one yet.

Sorry about the file size. It's about 569 KB.

[NightBazaar]

PS: The orange "A" marker in the photo is where our apartment building used to be.

[Hyden]

NightBazaar, Thanks for your reply. I enjoyed reading it so much. I miss that place because it was home to me for 14 of my first 18 years. I would like to find pictures of the apartments to show the grand kids.I recall 4 streets: Eastwood Dr, Strathmore, Kingsley and I believe the other was Shelbourne. You spoke of the pond, mt brothers would go there. One of them met a boy and have been bst friends ever since. They even bought houses next to each other to raise their families.

The years you said you were there sounds like you were moved out before the pool was finished
Thanks Again, Hyden