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Finneytown, a dynamic first-ring suburb of Cincinnati, continues to display the optimism and civic spirit that transformed this community during the post–World War II economic and population boom.

A tiny rural settlement for 140 years, Finneytown’s population from 1946 to 1970 quadrupled as young people filled its new residential subdivisions, schools, businesses, and churches. Finneytown celebrates this “creation story.” Seemingly overnight, farms and open fields gave way to streets carved out for cookie-cutter houses as well as stately, custom-built homes, including Mid-Century Modern designs prized today as architectural timepieces. This wide variety of housing drove Finneytown’s economic diversity, while enthusiastic support of its public and private schools defined the small community’s values. Some Finneytown residents throughout its history, such as television writer Rod Serling and illustrator Charley Harper, are known worldwide. Even a potato chip popular across the globe was named after a Finneytown street—Pringle Drive.

Rick Kennedy is a retired media relations manager for General Electric and author of three books, Jelly Roll, Bix & Hoagy, Little Labels—Big Sound, and GE Aviation: 100 Years of Reimagining Flight. Mark Evans is a retired product development manager for Procter & Gamble, a product development consultant, and an accomplished photographer. Kennedy and Evans, along with their wives, Jane and Chris, respectively, are longtime and active Finneytown residents. 

The Great Lakes Exposition was held in Cleveland during the summers of 1936 and 1937, drawing seven million visitors over its two-year run. The exposition was intended to observe the city's centennial anniversary and to celebrate the Great Lakes Region. It was also hoped that it would help lift the city's economy out of the Great Depression. The exposition boasted a staggering array of ever-changing national-level attractions and feature events. In a single day, exposition visitors could experience the latest technological innovations; see a world-class aquatics show; watch a Shakespearean play; ride in a blimp; and hear the music, taste the food, view the architecture, and experience the culture of 40 of the world's countries.

The Valley Dale Ballroom began as a stagecoach stop in the 1880s and later served as a tavern and overnight inn. The dance hall was added in the early 1920s, thus bringing about the birth of the Valley Dale Ballroom, or The Dale. In the 1930s, the wisdom of the Peppe brothers' ballroom purchase and their connection to the neoteric music of that generation assisted in their cultivation of the big band era. Significant musical giants like Benny Goodman, Harry James, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, and Dean Martin (before he knew Tommy Dorsey's vocalist Frank Sinatra) each appeared on that marvelous stage, while CBS and MBS broadcast nightly from the ballroom. After World War II ended, the ballroom was no longer the nightly spot for music it once was. War and soaring band costs ushered in different uses for the ballroom's survival; it was hosting rock bands while becoming a wedding and event facility.

Long before folks had a television set and radio in every room, they sought entertainment by stepping out for a night on the town. The choices around Cincinnati were nearly limitless: live theater at the Cox; spectacular musicals at the Shubert; hotels featuring fine dining and dance orchestras; talking pictures at everyone's favorite movie palace--the Albee; burlesque and vaudeville shows at the Empress Theater on Vine Street; and gambling casinos were just a short drive across the river in Newport. All of the major entertainment venues in the Queen City during the first half of the 20th century are explored in Stepping out in Cincinnati. From saloons to ornate movie palaces and from the Cotton Club to the Capitol, you join those pleasure seekers, getting a real sense of what they saw: wonderful events and their countless images--the things of which fond memories were made. Today, those memories have faded and virtually all of the once-glittering showplaces have been bulldozed into history. But within these pages, we get to experience first hand what it was like to be there. Unique among the many photographs featuring unforgettable movie houses and nightclub orchestras are never-before-published images of actual live vaudeville performances onstage at the Shubert, plus rare, clandestine pictures snapped inside the casinos in Newport. Also revealed are the locations of the better-known speakeasies during Prohibition; where the best halls to dance to live orchestras were; what the earliest movie houses were like; and what black Cincinnatians did for entertainment.

Formed by glaciers, Chippewa Lake has been drawing visitors since early Indian tribes came to hunt and fish; settlers first laid down roots in the area during the War of 1812. Soon, visitors hoping to escape the heat of the city discovered the cooling waters of Chippewa. Eventually, a pleasure resort was developed, and the area expanded. Churches, a school, a brickyard, a grain elevator, general stores, a post office, and a meat market were established. Passenger trains delivered families laden with picnic baskets to Chippewa Lake Park, an amusement park that featured water activities, a carousel, a roller coaster, and a ballroom. Dignitaries, politicians, and entertainers frequented the park. A cottage community developed along the shoreline in neighborhoods like Gloria Glens, Briarwood Beach, and Chippewa-on-the-Lake. Before refrigeration, ice was harvested from the lake in the winter and shipped as far away as Philadelphia. After 100 years in operation, Chippewa Lake Park closed in 1978. The lake is currently owned by the Medina County Park District and still offers spectacular sunsets and public fishing and boating.