The Kennedy Heights Cultural Campus has a long and storied history. The first Kennedy Heights Public School was built at the corner of Montgomery Road and Kennedy Avenues in 1912. The school closed and was demolished in the 1970s to make way for a Kroger grocery store.
After Kroger vacated the premises, Furniture Fair moved in for a time. Since Furniture Fair’s tenancy ended, the building was repurchased by Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) and used as storage for outdated school furniture and equipment. For at least a decade, the building sat idle and in increasing disrepair.
With funding and assistance from the City of Cincinnati, the City purchased the blighted property from CPS in October 2011. The City transferred ownership to the KHDC in April 2012.