This Month's Price Hill Westwood Treasure
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Price Hill Historical Society P.O. Box 7020 Cincinnati, OH 45205-7020 513/251-2888 phhs@pricehill.org
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The James N. Gamble Estate on Werk Road
This month, we are featuring an historic treasure in nearby Westwood. Most months, we feature a Treasure of Price Hill from our museum collection and archives, from our newsletter and oral histories, or simply from around Price Hill. If you have any ideas for a "Treasure" that needs to be featured or preserved, let us know at phhs@pricehill.org.
This house at 2918 Werk Road was the home of James N. Gamble, the inventor of Ivory Soap and the son of one of Procter & Gamble’s founders, from 1875 to his death in 1932 at age 95. It’s not in Price Hill, but it is nearby, in neighboring Westwood, and it is in danger of demolition by its current owners, a foundation called Greenacres established by the wife of James N. Gamble’s grandson. A coalition of Westwood groups is working hard to preserve this house, which is part of the history of Cincinnati, not just the west side. That's why we're featuring this "Westwood Treasure" for March.
The property has a history that is tied closely to that of the suburb of Westwood. The land was originally owned by James Goudy, the first known settler in the area, and the house was built in the 1830s or 1840s by Richard Gaines, “the Father of Westwood.” The first mayor of the Village of Westwood, John Gaines, also lived in the house. James N. Gamble was himself the last mayor of Westwood, before it was annexed to Cincinnati. Among other things Gamble is noted for, he also reopened the Cincinnati & Westwood Railroad after it was closed for lack of funding, and he started the United Way in Cincinnati. He was also responsible for the founding of several churches in Westwood and funded the
football stadium at the University of Cincinnati, which is called Nippert Stadium for his grandson, James Nippert, who died of injuries he sustained playing football at UC. James Gamble lived in this house when he came up with the whipped formula that made Procter & Gamble’s soap float—Ivory’s Soap’s distinctive characteristic.
After James Gamble died, his unmarried daughter, Olivia, continued to live in the house until her death in 1961. Then her nephew and Gamble’s grandson, Louis Nippert, made sure that the house, though unoccupied, was carefully maintained until his own death in 1992. A caretaker remained on the grounds, taking care of the estate until at least 1998, but in recent years there has been no regular maintenance. Other Gamble family homes in Florida and California have been preserved as museums, and the hope is that the Westwood groups, with help from the city of Cincinnati can have the house designated a local historic landmark and find other ways to help preserve the Gamble home in Westwood.
