When my great grandpa William Howard Furnier passed away in 1940, he left behind his wife Edith Myrtle (nee Graham) and their two kids. Sometime around then she moved to the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority project Winton Terrace. In my Grandpa’s (Edith’s son’s) papers there are newsletters from Winton Terrace in the latter half of the 20th century. This one particularly caught my eye for its colorful cover and anniversary theme.
Unfortunately there isn’t much history inside the newsletter, aside from this page making a special tribute to the families that moved in when Winton Terrace first opened (including my great grandma):
The auto-fill that pops up when I type Winton Terrace into a Google search bar looks something like:
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The history of Winton Terrace
My Cincinnati and public housing history knowledge isn’t very sharp, so I don’t feel qualified to really dig into the social-cultural issues that make up Winton Terrace’s history and present. (Best thing found in a quick online search is this report.)
I asked relatives about their memories of Winton Terrace. The small details of kid memory get me the most, like my aunt remembering “Grandma’s bricks on her aluminum garbage cans.” Memories from multiple family members about their Grandma (my great grandma) threatening (but never hitting) them with a flyswatter when they misbehaved.
I want to know more, but I started grad school this year and stuff got pretty real in February, so I have to set aside in-depth personal research for research of the school and work variety for now. But Winton Terrace will be hanging around in the back of my mind for awhile. That tension between the hope of public housing and the reality of decades of aging and change, and how personal memories and contemporary stereotypes about housing projects shape the conversation. Lots of questions; lots and lots of questions.
(P.S. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth is a really good documentary on a public housing project in St. Louis.)
Illuminated Past 
I just came across this post. I grew up in Winton Hills in the late 70’s – late 80’s. Interesting history.
My mother was Carolyn (Furnier) Foster and my grandmother was Edith Furnier. My Mom and Uncle James lived in the “terrance” for many years, both going to Hughes High School. They described it as a wonderful place to grow up but it slowly went down hill beginning in the 60’s. I used to stay with grandma from time to time and we would walk down to Spring Grove avenue and eat at Frisch’s before walking to her sisters in St. Bernard.
Feel free to reach out with questions.
David Foster
dhfoster@zoomtown.com
Fairfield, Ohio
lived on winnesta in the late 60s as the only white family in the neighborhood. There was an elderly white lady across the street..ms. debolt. We were forced out during a riot june 1970. We helped get ms debolt out a couple weeks later. They burned her rose bushes. I was 6 years old.