Golf Manor

How Golf Manor began

Golf Manor is a village of about half a square mile in Columbia Township, Hamilton County, almost surrounded by the Pleasant Ridge and Roselawn neighborhoods of Cincinnati. It was farmland worked by Pennsylvania Dutch families until developers Britton and Brown laid out lots in the mid-1920s, selling them for $1 down and $1 a week; the name comes from the nearby Maketewah, Avon Fields and Crest Hills golf courses. The village was incorporated February 3, 1947 and Tom Dunlap was its first mayor, serving until 1969. Its population peaked at 5,170 in 1970; it is home to the oldest Orthodox synagogue in the Cincinnati area.

Settled farmland in Columbia Township through the 1800s (Stover, Kellerman, Wiehe and Green families), platted mid-1920s, by developers Britton and Brown, incorporated 1947-02-03, by Britton and Brown (developers).

Where the name comes from

Named for the golf courses near the town site: the village's website names Maketewah, Avon Fields and the former Crest Hills Country Club (it also borders Losantiville Country Club); Wikipedia, citing Larry Miller's Ohio Place Names, says three courses near the site gave the name.

Before the town

No Native American village, mound or trail specific to Golf Manor is recorded in the sources checked. The site was rural Columbia Township farmland in the Mill Creek and Little Miami country ceded by the Treaty of Greenville (1795). Nelson's 1894 county history lists McFarland's Station on the summit of Pleasant Ridge, next to the village, among the sixteen frontier stations of the 1790s Indian-war years.

Timeline

1. 1876 — St. Peter's Evangelical Church of Pleasant Ridge, serving the farm families of the area, is founded.
2. 1902 — The Yad Charutzim congregation, ancestor of the Golf Manor Synagogue, is founded in Cincinnati by 27 men.
3. 1920s — Developers Britton and Brown lay out Golf Manor lots in the mid-1920s, with lots at $600 to $1,000 sold for $1 down and $1 a week; Depression prices fall to $200 to $300.
4. 1933 — The Anschei Sholom and B'nai Jacob congregations merge as Agudas Israel Congregation.
5. 1947-02-03 — Golf Manor is incorporated as a village, previously part of Columbia Township.
6. 1947-06-03 — The first mayor and council are elected; Tom Dunlap serves as mayor from 1947 to 1969.
7. 1950 — Population is 3,603.
8. 1952 — Rabbi David Indich takes the pulpit of Agudas Israel.
9. 1955 — Agudas Israel holds High Holiday services at the Golf Manor Civic Hall, drawing 200 people.
10. 1956-10-21 — Ground is broken on Stover Avenue for a prefabricated building bought from U.S. Steel, after Mayor Dunlap helped Rabbi Indich search for a site.
11. 1957-06-18 — The congregation holds its first services in the new Golf Manor building.
12. 1960 — Population is 4,648.
13. 1967 — The synagogue's sanctuary is built.
14. 1970 — Population reaches its peak of 5,170.
15. 2010 — Population is 3,611.
16. 2020 — Census population is 3,814.

Stories

Lots sold from a truck tailgate

The Golf Manor of the 1920s was a promotion before it was a place. Developers Britton and Brown laid out lots mostly 150 feet deep with 35- to 50-foot frontages, priced at $600 to $1,000 and offered for $1 down and $1 a week. A buyer took the ticket from a lot stake to the sales office, which was the tailgate of a truck, and paid a $1 binder. During the Great Depression the same lots sold for $200 to $300. Clusters of early settlers grew up near the Evers gardens on Langdon Farm Road, among the farms of the Stover, Kellermann, Wiehe and Green families, whose names are on the streets: Stover for a dairy run by Dietrich and Anna Stover, Englewood for the log cabin of the Engle family, Hammel for the Cincinnati lawyer Samuel Hammel, who once held the largest block of land in the area.

A synagogue from a steel kit

The Golf Manor Synagogue began as Yad Charutzim, 'the Hand of the Diligent,' founded by 27 men in 1902, and after a 1905 split, a 1909 reunion and a 1933 merger became Agudas Israel. As members moved out from Avondale, High Holiday services were held in the village's Civic Hall in 1955, drawing 200. The next year Mayor Dunlap helped Rabbi David Indich look for a site, and ground was broken on Stover Avenue on October 21, 1956 for a prefabricated building bought from U.S. Steel. The first services were held on June 18, 1957, and a sanctuary followed in 1967.

Local history sources: golfmanoroh.gov · golfmanoroh.gov · archive.org · en.wikipedia.org · golfmanorsynagogue.org · en.wikipedia.org

Ohio River intake at the plant's riverfront on Kellogg Ave in the California neighborhood, east Cincinnati The water here

• Cincinnati Public Water System95% of residentsOhio River (Miller Plant, ~88%) plus Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer wells (~12%)
• Reading City5% of residentsOhio River (Miller Plant, ~88%) plus Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer wells (~12%)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Private schools (1)

Police stations (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (4)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 5 of 5 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 1 of 1.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-12-09

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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