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Underwriters Salvage Corps Building
On July 23, 1897, The Underwriters Salvage
Corps authorized the construction of a new building at 110
East Eighth Street in downtown Cincinnati to serve as the
new Salvage House. The cost of the new building was $6,220.
Over 100 years later that building serves as the office for
Goodson & Company, Ltd.
The Underwriters Salvage Corps was organized
in 1886, the result of insurance company efforts to reduce
claims by limiting property losses from fires. Salvage personnel
worked as regular firemen, but focused their efforts on protecting
goods, machinery and buildings from fire and water damage.
The building at 110 East Eighth Street was the first built
specifically to house the men and equipment of The Corps.
It was constructed by William Schuberth, a local carpenter
and builder.
The Underwriters Salvage Corps remained in
this building for over 25 years. A second operation was opened
in the city's West End around 1910. By the early 1920's a
larger structure was needed downtown and The Corps built a
new building at 916 Elm Street. The West End offices and the
110 East Eighth Street offices were consolidated when the
larger building opened. The building on Elm remained the home
of The Underwriters Salvage Corps until 1960, when the company
is believed to have gone out of business.
The original Underwriters Salvage Corps building
located at 110 East Eighth Street has been used by various
small businesses since the departure of The Corps. Goodson
& Company, Ltd. has renovated this beautiful historic
building and is proud to occupy it. The renovation was completed
in 1999 by a local builder and carpenter, Pete Brunner of
Brunner Construction Company. The Hamilton County Courthouse
is located only a couple blocks from our office. This courthouse
was actually built a decade after the Salvage House was built.
For more information on this historic
building and the Underwriters Salvage Corps read Underwriters
Salvage Corps Cncinnati History by Kenneth H. Dunshee.
It is available in the Cincinnati Public Library.
 
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