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Our Community Quilt - The Work of Many Hands

This quilt is a symbol of Price Hill itself, a community that includes many different people, groups, and businesses. The Price Hill Historical Society is dedicated to reaching across the community and taking the patchwork of elements in our neighborhood to help create a beautiful whole, like this carefully stitched quilt we have created. The quilt began as an anniversary project of the Society in June 2001, at the grand opening of our new building, and the project took two years to complete—the final stitches were taken at the beginning of June 2003. It is now on display on the second floor of our museum, a visible reminder of of the beginnings of our Society.

 

 The quilt includes 58 squares and 3 double-squares representing a total of 61 different groups in Price Hill, including families, churches, schools, businesses, landmarks, and organizations, 61 different perspectives on the character of our neighborhood. The grid guide helps you to find a specific part of the quilt. The list below tells a little about each square in the quilt, what group or which people or place it represents, and who made it. It’s a key to the quilt, but it is also a key to our community, reflecting the many facets of a vibrant community—Price Hill.

 1 Traditional Patchwork Quilt Block—Churn Dash pattern, pieced by Alice Helton.
 2 St. Lawrence Church—Iron-on digitized photograph of the church altar at Christmas.
 3 Prout’s Corner—Pen-and-ink drawing by Julie Hotchkiss, in an appliqued computer iron-on square.
 4 Carson Elementary School—The 1916 school on Glenway Avenue is embroidered on this quilt square.
5 Ferneding Girls—Shown at Virginia Ferneding Lugger’s 1944 wedding, an iron-on photo patch created by Sandra Woosley.
 6 Donna’s Hair Happening—Machine embroidered logo square for this business on Warsaw operated by Donna Reid.
 7 Mt. Echo Park Pavilion—Pen and ink drawing by Julie Hotchkiss, made into a colorized iron-on square.
 8 Traditional Applique Quilt Block—A traditional quilt pattern called Lemoyne Star, made by JoAnn Cox.
 9 Price Hill Civic Club—Machine-embroidered logo of the civic club, which was founded in 1915.
 10 Price Hill Paint and Hardware—This business was located on Warsaw Ave. (where the new Kroger store is now); this design was made from an original advertisement for the store’s grand opening in 1928 by Shirley Yeager Otis, daughter of business owner Charles Yeager.
 11 Urban Appalachian Council—Square created with fabric paint to create a folk design for the council. 
 12 Marmer’s Shoe Store—Saul Marmer commissioned a young art student to make this embroidered square in red and yellow, like the shoe store’s bags, with the word “Shalom,” which means three things in Hebrew: Hello, Goodbye, and most importantly, Peace.
 13 Price Hill United Church of Christ—Women’s Guild Mission Sewing members Louise McCauslin, Joan Maegley, and Erma Fritsche made this square from a drawing of the church on McPherson, now closed.
 14 Eagle Savings Bank—Our former neighbors at St. Lawrence Corner provided this square, an appliqued computer iron-on of the building’s beautiful facade.
 15 The Hat Lady—The bride in the photograph on this square, Virginia Ferneding Lugger, was known as The Hat Lady for her unique, handmade chapeaus.
 16 Rees Price—This square depicts Price Hill’s official “founder,” Rees Price, 1795-1877, and is a digitized copy of a photograph in the Society’s collection.
 17 The Women’s Connection—This community action organization, headed by Sister Mary Jo Gasdorf, occupies several store fronts on Glenway Avenue. Three ladies from the group worked to create this square’s design in cloth and fabric paints.
 18 Holy Family Church—Machine-embroidered design by Marilyn Bell and Marianne Griffith representing this Price Hill parish located at Grand and Hawthorne, which was founded in 1883.
 19 Traditional Patchwork Quilt Block— Mexican Star is the name given to this complicated square pieced by Alice Helton; it is also sometimes called Mexican Cross.
 20 Dunham Recreation Complex—This former tuberculosis hospital found new life in the 1970s as a recreation center. Dunham’s director, Diane Glos, who is herself a quilter, created this appliqued design.
 21 Traditional Patchwork Quilt Block—Jacob’s Ladder or Road to California pattern, pieced by Alice Helton.
 22 Price Hill Community Center—This digitized photograph was used to create an iron-on design that shows the Cincinnati Recreation Commission’s location on Hawthorne Avenue in Price Hill.
 23 Imago—This simple square represents the logo of a group of people who operate a Nature Center in Price Hill and advocate for positive changes and environmental issues.
 24 The Streets of Price Hill—Carol Feist and Sharon Perino made this square, one of two they created for the quilt. The computer graphic is a collage of well-known street signs in Price Hill.
 25 Western Hills High School—West Hi celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2003; the design of their square comes from a tile that was created to celebrate their 50th anniversary.
 26 Price Hill Incline—The Price Hill Incline opened in 1876 and operated until 1941; this is a famous engraving of the old incline that has been colorized by computer.
 27 Covedale Branch Library—The Covedale Library is a great new landmark in Price Hill on Glenway Avenue. Every one of the 13 branch employees worked on this appliqued and embroidered square.
 28 Peter Neff Home—Neff descendant Irving Maxwell and his wife Mary contributed a digitized photograph square of the Peter Neff home, which formerly stood on the grounds of the Cincinnati Bible College in Price Hill.
 29 Whittier Elementary School—Line drawing, iron-on transfer of the school on Hawthorne, no longer standing.
 30 St. Lawrence Bakery—A Price Hill institution for more than 100 years, the folks at the bakery created this square with appliqued fabric.
 31 Resurrection School & Church—This appliqued square represents the Church of the Resurrection and its school, located on First Avenue. 
 32 Cincinnati Bible College & Seminary—The appliqued square represents one of the buildings at the Bible College, on the grounds of the former Neff estate, now known as Cincinnati Christian University.
 33 The Woosley Family—In 1977, the Ohio River froze over from one shore to the next, and the Woosley family posed for posterity on its frozen surface.
 34 Price Hill Historical Society—Our own organization is well represented by this beautiful appliqued square created by our Executive Secretary, Valda Moore.
 35 Whittier School’s Parent University—A digitized photo of the school; this organization provided an outreach education program in the community.
 36 Elder High School—A fabric pen drawing of the school in the school colors, purple and white.
 37 Price Hill Branch Library—The public library on Warsaw Ave. is a Carnegie library, built in 1909. This appliqued square is by Julie Hotchkiss.
 38 Home of Larry & Lee Schmolt—The Schmolts’ daughter, Mary Ann Thomas, created this square with fabric paints and pens, depicting the family home on Rutledge Ave. Larry Schmolt is the current president of PHHS.
 39 Traditional Patchwork Quilt Block—Tumbling Blocks or Baby Blocks pattern, pieced by Alice Helton.
 40 Rapid Run Park—A pen-and-ink drawing by Karen Ball was used to create this digitized iron-on quilt square.
 41 The Geiger Family—This colorful square was created by Katie Geiger (second from right) with fabric crayons.
 42 Price Hill Historical Society—This square lists every family name in the Society at a single point in time— October 2001— and is also the signature square, indicating when the quilt was started and finished.
 43 Northcliff Consultants, Inc.—This beautiful applique design represents a business that has been in Price Hill for many years, now in a new building on Warsaw Ave.
 44 East Price Hill Improvement Association—EPHIA is an organization that was founded in the 1940s to save the Price Hill Incline, so it is fitting that their square is a digitized pen-and-ink drawing of the Incline.
 45 St. Teresa of Avila—This square in felt applique by Nancy Thoman shows the design used on the parish newsletter. The parish was founded in 1916 and the current church, its third, was built in 1962.
 46 The Bird Family—This computer-generated photograph includes Ted Sr., Alice, and Ted Jr., long-time residents of Price Hill.
 47 Cincinnati Looks Up to Price Hill—Betty Wagner, Treasurer of the Historical Society, created this square in applique from a design on a popular bumper sticker.
 48 St. William Church—This embroidered square by Carol Novotni shows the beautiful church building at Sunset and West Eighth Streets, dedicated in October 1931.
 49 The Hotchkiss Family—The Hotchkiss family first moved to Price Hill in the 1840s, and some are still here. This appliqued square by Julie Hotchkiss is from a heraldic design from when the family was still in England.
 50 Skyline Chili—A great Price Hill tradition since the first Skyline was opened by Nicholas Lambrinides on Glenway Ave. in 1949, and we’re still eating the spicy chili at the new restaurant on Warsaw Ave. today. 
 51 Churches of Price Hill—Carol Feist and Sharon Perino created this collage of illustrations of all of Price Hill’s Catholic parishes using computer art.
 52 Westminster Presbyterian Church—An embroidered representation of the church on Cleves Warsaw Ave., now closed. The original Westminster church was at Price and Grand Aves.
 53 Woosley’s Barber Shop—The barber shop was opened on State St. by Herb Woosley’s father, Ellis, in 1910.
 54 Traditional Applique Quilt Block—A traditional quilt pattern called Oak Leaf Swag, made by JoAnn Cox.
 55 Sprengard Knoll—Betty Geiger embroidered this unique square depicting the former Sprengard manse on Price Ave., which was once owned by her son, Rob Geiger.
 56 Seton High School—A school crest recalls the days when academy girls wore blazers with their uniform skirts, and the pinwheel of Seton’s colors bring to mind the whirl of activities at the Catholic girls’ school.
 57 Rainbow Limo—Sandra Woosley operated Rainbow Limo from the Cincinnati Union Terminal in the days when it was a shopping mall, in the 1980s.
 58 Price Hill Baptist Church—This appliqued square represents the church on Glenway Avenue, near Kreis Lane, in a pretty design by Sheila Robertson. The church is now known as Harvest Community Church.
 59 St. Lawrence School—Three people worked together to make this appliqued design that reflects the mission of St. Lawrence School, in the oldest Catholic parish in Price Hill. The school opened in 1870.
 60 Stryker Family—Digitized photos of members of the family and a painting of their Price Hill home create the collage of this long-time Price Hill family, who were already well established on the Hill during the Civil War. 
 61 Traditional Applique Quilt Block—A traditional quilt pattern called Prairie Flower, made by JoAnn Cox.