Cincinnati's Premier Department Store Closed in 1955, The Alms & Doepke Building

www.HistoryInYourOwnBackyard.com
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William F. Doepke, with his first cousins, William H. Alms, and Frederick H. Alms, established a dry goods store in Cincinnati in 1865 and moved to the northeastern corner of the intersection of Main Street and the Miami and Erie Canal two years later. Starting in 1878, they erected the core of the present structure at that location; it would later be expanded in 1886, 1890, and 1906. Seven-stories tall,  it is a brick building with a stone foundation and a slate roof. Major architectural elements include an ornate cornice with heavy bracketing and its Mansard roof that is pierced by many dormers.
By the late nineteenth century, Alms and Doepke had built a reputation as the region's leading dry goods firm; eight hundred individuals were on its payroll in 1891. When the company chose to expand their facilities in 1886, they hired Samuel Hannaford,  who by that time had become Cincinnati's most prestigious architect. During the 1870s and 1880s, Hannaford independently designed a wide range of buildings throughout Cincinnati and its suburbs,  becoming known as the architect of choice for prosperous individuals and companies of the Gilded Age. 
After ninety years of operation, Alms and Doepke closed permanently in 1955. Their headquarters endured after their demise; its architecture was sufficiently well preserved to qualify the building for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, along with dozens of other Hannaford buildings. Three years later, it was one of more than two thousand buildings in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood added to the Register together as a historic district, the Over-the-Rhine Historic District. Today, the Alms and Doepke Dry Goods Company building is owned by the Hamilton County government, which uses it as offices for its Job and Family Services and human resources departments, as it is located across Central Parkway from the Hamilton County Courthouse.
GPS Location: 39°06'28.1"N 84°30'38.7"W

[@riverview9320]

Well done! Samuel Hannaford my fave.

[@historyinyourownbackyard2363]

Mine also.

[@aedb15t]

Fascinating! I’m reading “Cincinnati Revealed: A Photographic Heritage” and the picture of the building brought me here.

[@JayYoung-ro3vu]

The important things are that the complex is a survivor (urban renewal) and a successful repurposing. ❤👍🙏😁

[@historyinyourownbackyard2363]

Exactly!

[@paulbethell5258]

Thanks for this history.

[@historyinyourownbackyard2363]

You're welcome!

[@NOC1TIME]

Prior to Hamilton County moving in. Several Cincinnati Police investigative units occupied a couple of the upper floors for some years.

[@historyinyourownbackyard2363]

I didn't know about that.

[@gregoswald45]

Little did I know when I shopped with my grandmother and sat on Santa's lap here in the early 1950s when it was a department store, that I would end my career here retiring in 2000 from Hamilton County Department of Human Services.

[@historyinyourownbackyard2363]

How cool is that!

[@astrosmith6313]

i walk pass there everyday to go to work now i look at it different now

[@historyinyourownbackyard2363]

Good to know.

[@22vx]

Those drone shots are remarkable.

[@historyinyourownbackyard2363]

They are pretty slick.

[@cincinnatiking8008]

You should do a video on Longworth Hall.

[@historyinyourownbackyard2363]

Great idea!

[@mikeklaene4359]

Subways are nice as are trolley systems. The problem with both is that they are hard to adjust as populations and commuter patterns shift. I did not know that Alms had been a department store.

[@Barlages]

Good Job Spencer!

[@donroberts756]

Were you aware this building originally produced it's own power?

[@historyinyourownbackyard2363]

I did not know that!

[@marklandwehr7604]

My mom worked in this building doing data entry tickets data entry for the city when they were going from microfilm to digital

[@jackwalsh1468]

Satolli, Hamilton County is going to move this department to a newer Bond Hill complex.. In, turn the Alms and Doepke building will be sitting empty. Which raises the question. Will the building be repurposed, modernized and demolished? Given the push to modernize the downtown Cincinnati area. As evidenced by the Duke Energy Center is now starting a 18 month overhaul... Cheers, Mate.

[@joycerichmond7979]

we would go there in the 40s and 5os to see santa and ride a train that was in the store and we also got a candy cane /

[@mattressmusicable]

I remember having to go to court in there back in 1980 to testify testif.Also I went to Child Support Court in there . Adult Parole was in there on the top floor.

[@ysa4473]

썸네일 건물이 일본최초 백화점 미츠고시 백화점을 닮아 난 깜짝 놀랐다. 한국문학가 이상이 방문하여 네모나고 네모나다라는 내용의 시도 쓰게한 일본 최초백화점 미츠고시 난 이 백화점이 밀워키에 있는 것으로 보았는데 오하이오에 있던 것일까? 현 일본에도 저 백화점 건물이 있지만 저 백화점은 현 일본이 아닌 다른 일본의 건물로 미국에 있던 것. 미국이 인류의 고향!

[@DavidJones-vf3ff]

Re: the beer vaults, there was a very similar tunnel under the alley behind the old McAlpin’s department store a 13 W. 4th street. It was closed on both ends, opening into the boiler room in the sub-basement of the building. The building was never a beer hall and their were no signs of any other opening to the outside where coal could have been dumped in for the old boilers. Any idea what this might have been built for?

[@dac1227]

I have a tunnel beneath Ogden Alley, connecting 309 Vine and 1 W 4th (PNC). Both connect the sub basements below the sidewalk vaults.

[@DavidJones-vf3ff]

@@dac1227 The one behind McAlpins would have been under Ogden Alley too, just farther west.

[@ikemyzon]

Architect, Spencer Johnson, let me ask you a question, " I think that these magnificent structures of old that you think were built in 1800's were much older than that and built by another civilization. Do you agree that Pioneers could not build these magnificent structures? Just looking for facts...not deceiptions. Huge Beer Gardens underground built by migrant Germans, really?

[@5thdmt]

Yes! Star forts too. All we did was move in.

[@bumblebeesntrees2531]

exactly, cruising around in horse and buggy, and they built THAT? don't think so.

[@marycallie588]

@@5thdmt Free Masonry,

[@jasonlauder7199]

Maybe you guys can help shed light on a topic that has come to my attention. There is a relatively new conspiracy theory on the internet that involves this building. Here's a brief summary of the conspiracy theory: In the 1800's, there was a great "mud flood" in America that buried buildings in a deep layer of mud. This fact was somehow covered-up, nobody spoke of it, and the story of this mud flood was lost to history. If you search "Mud Flood Cincinnati, Ohio," you'll come across a video with this building in the thumbnail. If you look closely, you'll notice that the foundation, or base, of the building seems to be recessed in the ground. Compare the image in the thumbnail to what's shown at 3:14 in this video, here. It appears as though, back in the 1800's, people would have to walk down a flight of stairs, from street level, in order to enter the building. Then, in modern times, in appears as though the grade of the street has been leveled off, to make the entrances level with the street. Although mud floods are real, and you can find examples of them in modern times, I'm skeptical of this theory. I feel it was just the way they would design these buildings, back then. They would excavate enough of a pit so that when the building was constructed, there would be a area around the perimeter that was recessed, on purpose, into the ground, for reasons I'm not sure about. Do you guys know anything about this? Why they would construct buildings in this way?

[@davidmoser7849]

Jason Lauder not true

[@bumblebeesntrees2531]

calling it a "conspiracy theory" is just a way to dismiss the mud flood. i personally don't see how these immigrants cruising around on horse and buggy built something like this. it's not reasonable. they're are many buildings like this, including in spring grove cemetary. they have no explanation for how these buildings were built by the level of technology and skills that were known at that time. believe it or don't, but do a little research. michelle robinson is a good place to start. don't use the term conspiracy theory, it is very derrogatory and inflammatory. everything in history is a conspiracy theory, including 911, 19 hijackers and OBL conspired to take down the towers from a cave in afghanistan.

[@bcbloc02]

It was somewhat discussed in the video when the building was first built it was located along the erie canal. See drawing at 1:27 then when they filled in the canal and built the subway the level was raised and the street was up on the side of the building so the lower level windows were bricked in. There is a similar deal in Chattanooga where an entire streets were raised and that resulted in many buildings with the first floor being in the ground later.

[@robertlee8400]

You don’t ever want to be in this building , it’s mostly for well-fair & child support & once your in the system it’s hard to get out & good luck letting them try to find you a job , you.ll just get lost in the system without finding a job . I had to pay my child support in this building for 17 years & know one in this building is nice or polite they mean business & it’s all business . Job & Family Services ( BREAKING FAMILY,S APART SINCE 1947 IN CINCINNATI , OHIO , HAMILTON COUNTY ) .

[@ikemyzon]

Nope, so called Scott Borders, this building was built way before you say. Funny...this building started out as a dry goods merchant. No way bud...ridiculous for sure...So then the Germans made the Beer Garden Tunnels too? Really... I want a recall on your so called History Sir...

[@davidmoser3535]

Mike go get some help

[@TheRealNewWhirledOrder]

Bullshit.