The land where Hillcrest's sprawling, 87-acre campus sits has been used to house troubled youth for more than a century. It closed last year after an investigation into alleged sexual abuse involving an employee. Now Hamilton County Juvenile Court administrators are working to reopen Hillcrest as the model treatment facility it once was.
1850: The city of Cincinnati opens the House of Refuge for children as an alternative to adult prison. It is dedicated by attorney Alphonso Taft, father of future President William Howard Taft, as a home where “children charged with petty offenses could be sent with the idea of reclaiming and making good citizens of them.”
1915: The House of Refuge on Colerain Avenue is closed and is reorganized as two separate facilities: the Boys’ Opportunity Farm, located on a 379-acre site on Sharon Road in Glendale, and the Girls’ Opportunity Farm on 130 acres at Bonham Road near Wyoming.
1924: The city transfers the Boys’ Opportunity Farm to the Board of Education. It is renamed Glenview School.
1926: The Board of Education takes control of the Girls’ Opportunity Farm, which is renamed Hillcrest School.
1936: Both the Glenview and Hillcrest schools close at the end of the year after the Board of Education, the city of Cincinnati and Hamilton County all fail to provide enough funds to keep them open.
1938: The Child Welfare Board of Hamilton County, acting as the city’s agent, is created to take over both juvenile facilities. Hillcrest School reopens in December. Glenview undergoes a renovation before reopening a few months later. Under this situation, the city owns the property, the Board of Education provides teachers and salaries, and the county pays operating expenses.
1946: The Child Welfare Board closes Hillcrest School for girls, citing lack of funds.
1947: Hillcrest School reopens. The Bureau of Governmental Research issues a study of the Hillcrest program and recommends the city transfer ownership to Hamilton County. The new County Department of Welfare takes over the Glenview and Hillcrest schools in 1948.
1972: City Council approves converting 335 acres of the Glenview School site into a golf course.
1977: Hamilton County Commissioners transfer jurisdiction of Glenview and Hillcrest to Hamilton County Juvenile Court, rather than the welfare department. Construction begins on a new facility, "a village of small … cottages," on the Hillcrest site at 246 Bonham Road in Springfield Township.
1978: Hamilton County consolidates Glenville and Hillcrest schools and completes the new $5 million residential facility to house 156 boys and girls ages 12 to 17. The name is changed to Hillcrest Training School.
2005: As part of a legal settlement involving several properties, the city transfers land that includes Hillcrest Training School to the county.
2012: County commissioners, facing budget shortfalls, decide to privatize Hillcrest. Juvenile Court officials choose Rite of Passage, a Nevada-based nonprofit, to run it. The nonprofit renames it Hillcrest Academy.
August 2023: Hillcrest Academy closes.
Sources: Enquirer and Cincinnati Post archives, Friends of the Taft Legacy
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