Shawnee State University Area Before Its 1988 Expansion Vid #1

I knew Shawnee State University was due to expand, so I decided to take my video camera down to the area in late 1987 to film what the area was like before everything was torn down. This video was recorded just two months after my family & I had moved to Portsmouth.

Before anyone complains or makes stupid comments, YES, the video & audio are not the greatest. This video was recorded onto videotape on October 17, 1987- over 21 years ago, using a personal-type camcorder. Videotape was never designed to be a permanent storage solution, and thus, anything recorded onto videotape has a limited ifespan of about 20 years before the videotape itself begins to degrade, resuting in a diminished video & audio quality. So, please, just take the videos at face value, and don't expect miracles from the limited technology of the 80's.

As you can see in the video, mostly the area was made up of old houses, most of which I am guessing were vacant anyways, as many of them are in Portsmouth.

The video starts out at 3rd & Gay Sts. The brick building to my immediate right is no longer there, having been turned in to a parking lot. The two houses seen at the same intersection are where the Performing Arts building is now.

Massie Hall is first visible at 2:41 through a vacant lot which hd once been houses. at 3:25 you can see the old 2nd Street, which originally ran right in front of Massie Hall. This street was to have been closed off to vehicular traffic and converted into a pedestrian walkway years later. Obviously some houses have already been demolished, rreduced to piles of rubble, whereas others are still standing, awaiting demolition.

At about 4:50 I am directly across the street from Massie Hall, where the library is now. Before this library was built, the old library took up most of the 2nd floor of Massie Hall. At 5:15 I am approaching what used to be the intersection of Bond and 2nd Sts. This intersection no longer exists, at least not to vehicular traffic. Massie Hall used to be at this same intersection, and you could obviously drive on these streets. Bond St continued northward, past the two identical red brick houses at 5:35. Now, the library sits on this same exact location.

Check out the old dilapidated police cars at 6:01 Portsmouth used to have back in the day! I think that is an old Ford Zephyr (?) or Fairmount. I believe the brick building shown at 6:03 is still standing. Could someone in Portsmouth verify this for me? Is it still called the Shawnee State Student Union building, as shown here?

At 6:25 I show the old red brick house at the corner of Bond & 2nd Sts. I think this is the house I actually went inside for a peek. The 2-story brick building at 6:38 appears to be the oldest one on that side of the street, dating back to perhaps the 1860's.

Since Massie Hall is still standing, I contiually used it throughout the video as a visual point-of-reference.

The road you see at 9:31 is again Bond St which, again, is now where the library sits.

Pretty much none of the houses shown in this video still exist today. See Vid #2 for more.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Portsmouth
• Ohio
• Oh
• SSU
• Shawnee
• State
• University
• early
• video
• expansion
• Massie
• Hall
• Floodwall
• 1987

[Geochron]

I can still remember 2nd Street running through campus as well as the old carriage house.

[CincinnatiGifts]

Most students and young people today have no clue that 2nd St passed right past Massie Hall. Refresh my memory- where was the old carriage house?

[Mavrickon4chan]

The building at 6;03 is still standing. It is now the University Bookstore.

[CincinnatiGifts]

Thanks! I was sure that the building was still standing- it just looked too new, even back in 1987, to be demolished.

[hagiadzo]

It's so odd watching cars drive along Massie Hall. The university campus isn't huge now, so it's hard to imagine how small it was back in '87. Thanks for posting this!

[bandito07]

awesome video, u got any more

[Geochron]

The "carriage house" is the red brick multi-story house right beside the "Student Union" (now the campus bookstore).

[jerome29662]

great vid....5 stars especially since i was born in 1987 and didnt get to see any of this. so yeah GREAT JOB keep it up!!