A brief history of the Knepfles:
In the early 1800's a large group of German immigrants walked from Philadelphia to Harrison, OHIO. Englebert Knepfle (Knoepfle), age nine, was among them. Many in the group died on the way, and Englebert arrived with no immediate family. Another "founding family," the Stengers, apparently took in the young orphan, and he lived all his life on their homestead. Englebert married Maria Maury, who had been part of the same group. They had eight children and are buried in St. John's Cemetery in Harrison, Ohio. The Knepfle and Stenger families are still represented at St. John's. Mary Ann Bushman and Charles C. Knepfle were married in 1968.
Their four children have formed four beautiful families.
In the early 1800's a large group of German immigrants walked from Philadelphia to Harrison, OHIO. Englebert Knepfle (Knoepfle), age nine, was among them. Many in the group died on the way, and Englebert arrived with no immediate family. Another "founding family," the Stengers, apparently took in the young orphan, and he lived all his life on their homestead. Englebert married Maria Maury, who had been part of the same group. They had eight children and are buried in St. John's Cemetery in Harrison, Ohio. The Knepfle and Stenger families are still represented at St. John's. Mary Ann Bushman and Charles C. Knepfle were married in 1968.
Their four children have formed four beautiful families.
Below is our 50th Anniversary
Mass at St. Monica - St. George
Mass at St. Monica - St. George
Stained glass window at St. John the Baptist (Harrison, Ohio)
Henry Wesseling, the Carver...
Mary Ann Knepfle (Bushman) has a grandpa that
has his likeness on a mural that originally hung at
has his likeness on a mural that originally hung at
Curls of freshly planed wood rest at the feet of two craftsman assembling cases for grand pianos. Winold Reiss used workers at the world-renowned Baldwin Piano Co. in 1931 to create this mural, honoring Cincinnati’s piano-makers, for Union Terminal’s concourse.
Source photos for the mural were shot at the plant across from Eden Park.
Founder D.H. Baldwin started giving piano lessons in Cincinnati in 1857. The company’s first pianos were made in 1891. By 1913, they were exported to 32 countries. After two bankruptcies, Baldwin is now a Gibson Guitar Corp. subsidiary making most of its pianos in China.
None bears a label proclaiming: “Made in Cincinnati.”
Clem Vonderheide sizes up the rim of a grand piano made from thin, painstakingly glued layers of hard rock maple. The casemaker for Baldwin lived in Mount Adams and walked to work, always wearing a suit and tie, always taking care to mind his manners. The World War I-era Marine lost an eye to an errant splinter at Baldwin, where he worked for 45 years. Until his death at the age of 78 in 1975, he still dressed as if he owned the piano plant.
Henry Wesseling runs a sanding block over the smooth inner surface of an unfinished grand piano. Every rub of the block unleashes the wood’s sweet smell. The veteran casemaker, woodcarver and West End resident was 61 when he posed for this mural. He died at age 73 in 1944.
History behind the Mural:
The Winold Reiss Murals of
Cincinnati Union Terminal
Cincinnati was a major center of railroad traffic in the late 19th and early 20th century, especially as an interchange point between railroads serving the Northeastern and Midwestern states with railroads serving the South. However, intercity passenger traffic was split among no fewer than five stations in downtown Cincinnati, requiring the many travelers who changed between railroads to navigate local transit themselves. Construction of a new Union Terminal to serve all seven of Cincinnati’s railroads began in 1931 and was completed in 1933. The terminal’s rotunda features the largest semi-dome in the western hemisphere, measuring 180 feet wide and 106 feet high.
Famed German American art deco artist Winold Reiss was commissioned to design and create two 22 foot high by 110 foot long color mosaic murals depicting the history of Cincinnati for the rotunda, two murals for the baggage lobby, two murals for the departing and arriving train boards, 16 murals for the train concourse representing local industries, and the large world map mural located at the rear of the concourse. Reiss spent roughly two years in the design and creation of the murals.
