The Cincinnati-Clifton Incline Plane, better known as the Bellevue Incline, connected Elm Street in Over-the-Rhine to Ohio Avenue in Clifton Heights. It was touted as “the only direct route to Burnet Woods Park, Zoological Garden, and Clifton.” The Elm Street steps used to run adjacent to the incline from McMicken to Clifton avenues where the steps would terminate and the incline would bridge Clifton Avenue on its way to the summit at what is now Bellevue Hill Park. For many years, the Bellevue House stood at the top of the incline and was a popular destination for dancing and leisure.
This ornate resort that once was perched on the edge of the hill at the end of Ohio Avenue, in what is now Bellevue Hill Park, had a 400-foot-high rotunda, a wrap-around veranda and a crow’s nest view of the city. It is memorialized today with a small bronze plaque and a lovely patch of flowers. The stone pier still stands near the sidewalk on Clifton Avenue halfway between the park and the bottom of the hill. Its twin, which stood across the street, is long gone. The two piers once formed a bridge of the Bellevue Incline over Clifton Avenue. Signage nearby says, “Welcome to Clifton Heights.”
An example of organic architecture, the park's pavilion was designed by architect R. Carl Freund in 1955 to serve as an outdoor dancing venue. It features a cantilever roof, bandstand and three pergolas that form the pavilion's signature concrete canopy.
Cincinnati Parks:
AFK to Eden Park
AFK to Bellevue Park
AFK to Fairview Park
AFK to Washington Park
AFK to Mt Echo Park
AFK to Burnet Woods
AFK to Krohn Conservatory
AFK to Ault Park
AFK to Sawyer Point and Yeatmans Cove
AFK to Smale Riverfront Park
AFK to Mount Airy Forest
AFK to Mount Airy Arboretum
AFK to Alms Park
AFK to Piatt Park
AFK to Hyde Park Square
AFK to Fountain Sq.
AFK to Fleischmann Gardens
AFK to Hauck Botanical Gardens
AFK to Lytle Park (and Taft Museum of Art)
AFK to International Friendship Park
Other Local Parks and Sights:
AFK to Purple People Bridge
AFK to Devou Park
AFK to World Peace Bell
AFK to Trammel Fossil Park
AFK to Chilo Lock 34 (CCPD)
AFK to East Fork State Park (OHDNR)
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