Liberty Street station

Liberty Street is an abandoned and never used subway station of the Cincinnati Subway. The station is the subject to a legend of it being retrofitted to be a fallout shelter capable of holding the entire population of Cincinnati. Fencing and lights were installed during this time period.[1] The station was planned in 1916, but lacked funding to complete.[2]

Liberty Street
A station platform and unlaid trackbed.
General information
LocationLiberty Street & Central Parkway, Cincinnati, Ohio
United States
Coordinates39°06′48″N 84°31′16″W / 39.11333°N 84.52111°W / 39.11333; -84.52111
Owned byCity of Cincinnati
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
History
Openednever opened
Services
Preceding station Cincinnati Subway Following station
Linn Street Main Line Race Street
Terminus
MetroMoves
Kings Island
Western Row
Mason
Bus interchange West Chester
Fields Ertel Bus interchange
Bus interchange Springdale/Tri-County
Cornell Park Bus interchange
Glendale
Reed Hartman
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Blue Ash/Pfeiffer Bus interchange
Bus interchange Wyoming/Lockland
Cooper
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Kenwood/Galbraith Bus interchange
Paddock
Silverton
Elmwood Place
Ridge Road
Reading Road
Norwood
Bus interchange
Dent
Eastgate Bus interchange
Monfort Heights
Newtown
Montana
Fairfax
Bus interchange Northside
Hyde Park
WintonPlace
Rookwood
Cincinnati State
Xavier/Evanston Bus interchange
Hopple
Martin Luther King Drive
Brighton
Walnut Hills Bus interchange
Liberty
Broadway Commons
Court Street
enlarge… Downtown
Government Square Bus interchange
The Banks
Covington/Riverfront
4th Street/Levee
(Covington)
Pike Street
10th Street
(Newport)
(Covington)
12th Street
Carothers
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Southgate
Buttermilk
NKU Bus interchange
Cold Spring
AA Highway Bus interchange
Mineola
Donaldston
Airport Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
Florence Bus interchange
 Blue Line 
 Red Line 
 Green Line 
 Purple Line 
 Light Green Line 
 Yellow Line 
multiple lines
frequent on-street stops

History

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Construction of the Cincinnati Subway began in the early 1900s to upgrade the Cincinnati Streetcar system, however due to political arguments, World War 1 and the Great Depression during the 1920s and 1930s, the construction of the subway system in Cincinnati was indefinitely cancelled, leaving all the stations of the subway to be abandoned. In the 1960s, Liberty Street station was converted into an underground nuclear bunker as a proposition by the Hamilton County, unfortunately the result was very weak because it would not provide much for those residing in it. There were also suggestions by investors to turn the tunnels into passages for freight trains, but the project failed due to the sharp turns existing in the tunnels that freight trains could not handle.[3]

In 2002, the station was proposed to be part of the MetroMoves light rail system until the plans were rejected.

Establishment

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The entrance to the station is located near a former Warner Bros Pictures film distribution center in Cincinnati, Ohio with caution tape bordered over it.

 
The entrance to Liberty Street station near a former Warner Bros Pictures film distribution center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The east platform of the now-retrofitted bunker has lighting, ventilation, food, and communications equipment installed. The station's bunks were also placed in the station's bathrooms, and the platform was divided into several small rooms with cinder blocks with an erected chain link fence. At the platform edge, the tunnels weren't sealed off from the shelter, making it vulnerable to vandalism, particularly spray paint graffiti.

North up the outbound platform are two rows of pillars, the small rooms built between the wall and the first row of pillars.[4] A room at the north end of the platform stretches almost to the platform edge. Another area along the back row of pillars was painted lime green, but not turned into a room. The bench was the only piece of furnishing installed in any of the stations. The shelter light fixtures on the ceiling still have bulbs in them, but the electricity has been cut off.[5]

Inside the station is an empty ticket booth with empty window frames, a fuse or circuit breaker box, and graffiti on the walls.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "The Cincinnati Subway".
  2. ^ "CINCINNATI'S ABANDONED SUBWAY".
  3. ^ "Cincinnati-Transit".
  4. ^ "Subway Construction Photos".
  5. ^ "Subway Construction Photos".
  6. ^ "Subway Construction Photos".