Cincinnati Work House and Hospital

Cincinnati Work House and Hospital
Site of the work house and hospital
LocationCincinnati, Ohio
ArchitectAllison and Anderson & Hannaford[1]
Architectural styleRomanesque and Other[1]
NRHP reference No.80003044[1]
Added to NRHPMarch 3, 1980[1]

Cincinnati Work House and Hospital was a registered historic building in the neighborhood of Camp Washington, Cincinnati, Ohio, listed in the National Register on March 3, 1980. The jail was built between 1867 and 1869 on 6 acres (2.4 ha) of land.[2]

The City Work House was located on Colerain Avenue upon the grounds of old Camp Washington, used for the rendezvous of Ohio troops during the Mexican War. The buildings were about 510 feet in length, five stories high and from 54 to 60 feet in width. They were designed by Adams and Hannaford and built under the direction of Robert Allison, chairman of the building committee of the Council in the years 1866 to 1890 at the cost of about half a million dollars. In a 1904 report, it had 606 cells and received between about 2,500 and 3,000 prisoners each year.[3]

Prisoners were moved out of the building in the late 1980s and the building was demolished in 1990. Today the site is home to another correctional facility called River City Correctional Center, which treats felons for chemical dependency.

The 1989 film Lock Up starring Sylvester Stallone was shot at the City Work House.[4]

Several artifacts taken from the Work House, including the door of a jail cell and the old prison register, are on display at the Hamilton County Justice Center.[5]

  1. ^ a b c d "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. June 30, 2007.
  2. ^ Mersch, Christine (Oct 24, 2007). Cincinnati Police History. Arcadia Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 9780738550961. Retrieved 2013-05-19.
  3. ^ Charles Theodore Greve (1904). Centennial History of Cincinnati and Representative Citizens, Volume 1. Biographical Publishing Company. p. 1031. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
  4. ^ Rolfes, Steven (Oct 29, 2012). Cincinnati Landmarks. Arcadia Publishing. p. 41. ISBN 9780738593951.
  5. ^ "The Cincinnati Workhouse". Hamilton County Sheriff's Office. Archived from the original on 12 August 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.