Jones’ Corner Building
Once the headquarters of Black entrepreneur Clarence Jones
The Jones’ Corner building was a two-story, Moderne-style commercial building, designed in 1950 for Clarence Jones. It was at the southeast corner of Lincoln and Gilbert Avenues in Walnut Hills. The building housed several African American businesses, and there is strong evidence that it was designed by a Black architect, Edward E. Birch.
Lincoln Avenue originally jogged as it crossed Gilbert, creating an awkward intersection. In 1949, the city of Cincinnati decided to improve traffic flow by widening Lincoln Avenue as it curved into Gilbert. This required taking property away from Clarence Jones, who ran the Silver Pony Keg & Delicatessen at 2924 Gilbert Avenue. The city condemned this property.
Jones objected, claiming that the city was planning to take more property than necessary. He presented an alternative as described in the Cincinnati Enquirer for July 7, 1949:
“Jones showed that after a strip was taken off the front of his property a triangular piece of property would remain and would be sufficiently large for him to relocate his place of business.” Jones won an injunction “restraining the city from appropriating more property than is necessary” for the street realignment.
In March 1950, architect Edward E. Birch appeared before the Cincinnati zoning board representing Jones. Birch requested “modification of the code in the erection of a two-story building at 2924 Gilbert Avenue with rear yard less than required.”
Since Edward Birch was Jones’ architect for the zoning appeal, it is likely that Birch also designed the resulting building: a two-story brick building in a stripped-down, Moderne style, coming to a curve at the prow, at the narrow end of the site, facing Gilbert Avenue.
Clarence Jones ran businesses in that building until his death in 1958, at the age of 50. His obituary describes him as the “owner of Jones’ Corner, Gilbert and Lincoln Aves., and operator of four businesses there.” The obituary continues: “He built the corner structure in Walnut Hills 10 years ago for $50,000. In the building, he operated a large variety store, Jones’s Tavern, Jones’s Pony Keg, and the Top Hat Club.”
In the era after Jones’ death, the most notable tenant was well-known gospel musician Louise Shropshire. (The anthem “We Shall Overcome” may have been based on Shropshire’s hymn “If My Jesus Wills,” which she composed in the 1930’s.) By 1962, the Shropshire Music Center was located at 2924 Gilbert Avenue. On February 19, 1962, Louise Shropshire hosted a banquet and fashion show there in honor of a visit by gospel artist Willie Mae Ford Smith of St. Louis, Missouri.
Over the following years, the building was home to several nightclubs including the Grenadier Club and the King of Clubs, described in 1976 in Cincinnati Magazine as “a cross-generational club for the suit-and-tie crowd.” In the mid-1970’s, the Cleveland Call and Post newspaper had a Cincinnati office in the building. By 2000, the building was home to Blossom’s West Indian Cuisine.
At one time, the south façade was painted with a large sign advertising the Major Federal Savings and Loan Association, founded by African American business leader Major Lee Zeigler. By 2018, the sign had been painted over and had become a barely visible “ghost sign.”
The building was demolished around 2023 by the Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation, as part of the Lincoln & Gilbert mixed-income housing development.
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