A short review of the history of Berger Hill follows:
Next year, 1985, will be the 120th anniversary of the year in which Grandpa John Berger bought the original 8 plus acres on which he and Grandma Mary Elizabeth Metz built their home. We plan to have a big celebration party to commemorate this notable event in June of 1985, so plan to be in Cincinnati about that time. They were married on Feb. 14, 1865 and the newly weds lived on Richmond Street in a brownstone front in downtown Cincinnati for about 11 months, At the time it was a very fashionable suburb on the west side of the rapidly growing river city. But Grandma was a country girl and was born and raised just about a half mile west of Berger Hill on her father Jacob Metz’s 15 acres which is located between Charlestown Square Apts, next to us and the Four Towers Apts west of them. Our cousin Art Metz still lives there but I have heard that he has sold it to Mr. Wurster who owns Charleston Square.
Grandma was unhappy downtown and never felt as good as she did in the country and greatly desired to move back there. Fortunately, Florant M. Meline and his wife Ellen wanted to sell the farm property that we now call Berger Hill. On the 18th day of December in 1865 the deed was signed, and Grandma was very happy to spend the rest of her days there. TwentySeven years later on July 13, 1894 Grandpa died at the age of 56, having been born on Oct. 18,1837.
This was a tremendous tragedy for Grandma who was only 50 years old at the time having been born on Aug 6, 1843. She died on May 6, 1927 in her 85th year. She raised 6 of her 8 children to maturity losing two. John, the oldest boy died of pneumonia at the age of 16, having fallen through the ice on Lick Run Creek which ran along Queen City Ave. He was skating to St. Bonnie’s School and, instead of going back home went on to school. He never recovered from this accident. Agatha, the youngest daughter died at the tender age of 6 months from either scarlet fever or diphtheria. In those days they did not have the wonder drugs of penicillin and the like and it was a wonder that as many survived as actually did. The other children were all our aunts and uncles. They were Anna, Amanda, Otillia, Teresa and Joseph. Each had his or her own individual personalities and were special people in their own wonderful way and I could write a lot about each one of them.
Grandpa bought the 18.65 acres across the creek from the Hill in 1892 and used it as an extension of his pasture for cows and horses and they kept it looking like a park. On the very top of the back hill as a huge barn, which could not be seen from the house at all and was used to store hay for the animals and farm equipment that would not fit into the carriage house at the foot of the Hill. It was allowed to deteriorate as they no longer used it and it finally blew down in a storm during the twenties. The roof leaked very badly. You could see the sky between some of the roof rafters and eventually all the large beams and trusses rotted.
Between the old barn and the adjoining Dunham Hospital Grounds (which used to be called Branch Hospital for T. B. Patients) was a peach orchard with two rows of 12 peach trees about 50 feet apart. This was a real bonus in the fall of the year and Old Sebastian, the very reliable Swedish farm hand, who was practically a part of the family, and myself would hitch up Old Frank, the horse of all trades, to a home made sleigh. It was a wooden plank bed about 12 inches above the ground on steel runners which used to haul anything and everything. Of course it would screech horribly going over the gravel driveway and poor Old Frank would stop, look around and as much as say “Why in the hell don’t you put some grease on those runners?”. We would bring it back loaded with peaches, or pears, or quinces, or whatever the crop of the season was.
I could ramble on like this for days as some of the most memorable days of my childhood were spent on the Hill, but enough for now. If I have made any errors in the dates or names I hope that the ones with the correct information will come forth.
