Pill Hill is an informal name for a neighborhood in uptown Cincinnati, Ohio. It is one of the city's major employment centers, with a large concentration of hospitals and other medical facilities.
The neighborhood lies immediately west of the Martin Luther King Drive exit off Interstate 71 and east of the Hopple Street exit off Interstate 75. Proposals have called for the Cincinnati Bell Connector to be extended north to Pill Hill.
History
The neighborhood's first hospital was the Jewish Hospital on Burnet Avenue, which was dedicated on March 30, 1890.[3] In 1915, Cincinnati General Hospital (now the University of Cincinnati Medical Center) joined it a few blocks away in Corryville, followed by other hospitals.[4] By the 1960s, the hospitals and university had led to heavy traffic congestion in the neighborhood. The Jewish community moved out of the surrounding neighborhoods of Mount Auburn and Avondale, eventually leading to Jewish Hospital's move to Kenwood in 1997.[5]
In the 2000s and 2010s, more hospitals shifted investment away from Pill Hill to the fast-growing northern suburbs. TriHealth closed Bethesda Oak in 2000 in favor of Bethesda North Hospital in Montgomery. Cincinnati Children's and The Christ Hospital established full-service hospitals in Liberty Township, earning that area nicknames such as "Pill Hill North". TriHealth and Premier Health Partners also opened campuses in neighboring Warren County. Several hospitals have retained a presence on Pill Hill, anchored by University of Cincinnati medical facilities.[6][7][8]
^Grace, Kevin (2012). Legendary Locals of Cincinnati, Ohio. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 75. ISBN978-1-4671-0002-1 – via Google Books. Serving the entire population of Cincinnati, the General Hospital moved in 1915 from its original canal location in the city's basin to Corryville, and what would become known as Pill Hill as other hospitals followed suit.