Price Hill carries the name of a man once described as “the most pleasantly deranged man with whom I am acquainted.”

There is no question but Rees E. Price was eccentric to say the very least. Although he was a quite successful businessman, a pillar of the community and a leader of many civic projects, Price steered his own lonely course through the universe. He was a vegetarian and shunned tobacco and alcohol. He was vehemently anti-slavery and an early proponent of women’s rights, going so far as to propose - in the 1850s - a “Woman Party” to promote his social ideals into politics.

Although referred to almost all his life as “General,” he resigned his commission in the Ohio National Guard to protest United States aggression against Mexico, which he saw as a ploy to annex slave-holding territory. When the U.S. Senate met in 1845 to ratify statehood for Texas, Price marched to Washington determined to halt the process. As the Cincinnati Commercial reported:

“In the early days, when the present [1882] supreme court room was the Senate chamber, there was placed behind the president’s chair an immense eagle, with widespread wings. At the close of the debate on the question of annexing Texas as a state, and just as a vote was about to be taken, Price climbed from the gallery and out on this eagle, and, in a loud voice, charge the Senate to refrain from their action in the name of Almighty God. Of course everybody was startled, and men were sent to take Price down, but they could not reach him and the president was obliged to adjourn the Senate for the day.”

Price’s strength was legendary. One day, a group of men failed to lift a large log. Price arrived at the scene and lifted the log - with one of the men sitting upon it. His integrity was absolute. Price’s father went into debt signing notes for unscrupulous friends and Price worked for years to pay off every cent. On marrying the daughter of a noted judge, Price’s father-in-law granted him a large farm which Price refused to accept until he had earned the money to pay for it himself. Staunchly anti-Catholic, he one day - unasked - sent his entire work crew to help a Catholic neighbor bring in crops threatened by an Ohio River flood. He was a lifelong spiritualist, and his home atop Price Hill (which he called Mount Zion) was often the site of séances by visiting mediums. Price funded the Price Hill Incline because he hated to see horses overworked hauling materials up the steep hills from the city basin.

Throughout his life, he published many letters to the editor in various newspapers. All of them are delightfully loony. Here is a sample of just one example from 1852:

“Jacob is Lord over Esau. Jesus the Godfather to Washington bestowed the sword defensive on Esau Chief - the Liberty soldier. Polk Esau sent armies to Mexico with the sword offensive. Fillmore Esau usurped dominion over the Woman Party in the enforcement of the fugitive act. The Lord taketh cognizance of the usurpation.”

The letter is signed “Rees E. Price, Prince of Peace.” More than one editor referred to him as a “Prophet.”

Price did not limit himself to letters to communicate his political and religious views. He was well known as a street preacher in Cincinnati, known as “Father Price,” and often found declaiming to the crowds along the riverfront wharves from atop a pile of salt barrels.

The “Christian Advocate,” of February 22, 1849, contained an article from Thomas A. Morris, bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he spoke of Price as follows:

“In his habits he is abstemious, drinks no tea, coffee, or anything but water; eats no animal food, but eats vegetables and fruits, except apples, which are the forbidden fruit, and are the raw material from which comes hard cider, which, in 1840, was used as the symbol of man-worship—one of the marks of the beast. He is fluent, often shrewd; has a stentorian voice, and talks not by the hour only, but by the day and night. Still he is gentle, polite, and good-natured; bears reproof with meekness, and contradiction with patience, but never yields a point which is to him rendered certain by revelation. He believes the Bible, but interprets it by the spirit within him. Upon the whole, he is the most pleasantly deranged man with whom I am acquainted.”

Price was born in Wales in 1795, the eldest son of Evan Price, a wealthy Welsh merchant, and his wife Sarah, who was esteemed as a woman of remarkable beauty. In Cincinnati, his businesses included brick-making, lumbering and real estate. His sons, John and William, built the Incline Plane in 1874 with financing from their father. He died on 20 January 1877, reportedly worth $300,000 (about $6.5 million today).

Price’s home was located on the northeast corner of West Eighth Street and Mt. Hope Avenue. The home was subdivided into apartments for many years until it was demolished to make room for a parking lot. The Warsaw Federal Incline Theater is now under construction on this land.