Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup from Columbia-Tusculum to Mount Washington

River roads and the climb up Beechmont

Columbia Parkway, US 50, runs along the hillside above the East End. Kellogg Avenue, US 52, runs along the river past Lunken Airport. Beechmont Avenue, Ohio 125, climbs from Lunken to Mount Washington and on into Anderson Township.

Riverfront streets can close when the Ohio River rises, and parking near Columbia-Tusculum's Victorians is often tight. Mention access when you call, along with any steep driveway on the Mount Washington side, so the provider can plan how equipment and sealed waste containers get in and out.

45226 and 45230 explained

ZIP 45226 covers the river neighborhoods: Columbia-Tusculum, the East End, Linwood and parts of California, along with the lower edges of Mount Lookout and Hyde Park.

ZIP 45230 covers Mount Washington and the rest of California, then continues into Anderson Township areas such as Forestville, Salem Heights, Sherwood and Turpin Hills. Other parts of Anderson Township use 45244 and 45255, which are covered on another page.

City police, the sheriff and the coroner

Columbia-Tusculum, the East End, Linwood, California and Mount Washington are all in Cincinnati Police District 2. The parts of 45230 outside the city, in Anderson Township, are patrolled by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office under a township contract, with a District 5 substation on Beechmont Avenue.

Deaths on either side of the city line go to the Hamilton County Coroner, which moved to Blue Ash in 2021. Its investigators arrange transfer to a funeral home and give back personal effects. They leave the property as it is; the owner, the estate or the landlord arranges any cleanup.

Low ground and high ground

Riverfront homes in the East End and California sit on land that has flooded many times. Lunken Airport earned the nickname Sunken Lunken after the 1937 flood submerged it up to the control tower. When cleanup involves a basement or ground floor here, past flooding can affect what materials need removal.

Mount Washington, on the hill above, is mostly single-family houses from the mid-1900s on quiet streets. It had 15,357 residents in 2020 and was a village from 1867 until Cincinnati annexed it in 1911.

Next steps for east side owners

If the property is a riverfront rental in the East End or California, the owner's policy usually handles the structure and the tenant's renters policy covers personal belongings. Ask both insurers whether a past flood claim affects the current one.

For a house in Mount Washington or the Anderson Township side of 45230, confirm who has legal authority to approve work. That is usually the surviving spouse, the executor, or an adult child with a power of attorney that was in effect before the death.

If a crime was involved, ask District 2 or the sheriff's deputies for the report number. Under Ohio Revised Code 2743.51, the Attorney General's victims fund can cover up to $750 of cleaning per claim for people who qualify, and Crime Victim Services takes questions at 800-282-0515.

Where Cincinnati began

Columbia-Tusculum, founded in 1788, is the city's oldest neighborhood and predates Cincinnati itself by about a month. It is known for brightly painted Victorian houses and for Pioneer Memorial Cemetery, where many early settlers are buried. It had 1,523 residents in 2020.

The East End stretches about seven miles along the Ohio River and once held much of the city's manufacturing. Linwood, a village from 1874 until 1893, and California, at the meeting of the Little Miami and Ohio rivers, are small neighborhoods nearby.

Up the hill, the Art Deco Mount Washington Water Tower, finished in 1939, and Stanbery Park, home of the yearly Pumpkin Chuck, are the usual landmarks people give when describing where they live.