Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 60

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048

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was pitcher, was defeated by a score of 15 to 14. A game with the "Ilay Makers," which occurred on August 26th in this city, almost re- sulted in a riot. At the end of five innings the score was a tie,-17 to 17. At the opening of the sixth, McVey who was at the bat struck a foul tip and the ball bounded three times. The catcher of the "Hay Makers" grasped a handful of gravel instead of the ball and held it up, . claiming that he had caught the strike out. The umpire decided against him, whereupon the vis- iting team refused to continue the game. A riot almost ensued and it became necessary for the police to interfere. It is supposed that there had been collusion between a number of New York gamblers and the ball players by which the latter had agreed to stop the game on some pretext. The game was awarded by the umpire to the Cincinnati nine.

In September the club made a trip West, play- ing with the principal nines of the Pacific slope. While in California they also played a game of cricket with the crack eleven of that State, winning by a score of 39 to 18. The home com- ing of the team from this trip was again made the occasion of rejoicing. In the fall several exciting games were played on the Union grounds back of Lincoln Park, two of which . were with the "Athletics" of Philadelphia in which the scores were 55 to 16 and 17 to 12. The last game of the season which made the Goth victory was played on November 5th, with the "Mutuals" of New York. The "Red Stock- ings" won by a score of 17 to 2. In the evening a banquet was given by Albert G. Corre, pro- prietor of the Gibson House, to the members of both nines and the officers of both clubs.

Noteworthy events of 1867 in financial cir- cles were the consolidation of the Ohio Na- tional Bank with the Merchants' National un- der the name of the latter, with a capital of $1,000,000, and the incorporation of one of Cin- cinnati's greatest institutions,-the Union Con- tral Life Insurance Company. During the year 1868 the Farmers' Insurance Company was in- corporated and also the Safe Deposit Company and the Clearing House Association. In this year the well known banking firm of Espy, Heid- elbach & Company began its career.

By 1868 the Cincinnati Hospital and the Work House and a great part of the Eggleston avenue sewer had been completed. One of the great thunder storms in the history of this city came on June 18th of this year, in which one house was burned and a number struck by

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lightning. On July oth the Varieties Theatre was once more visited by fire; this on the site of the present Emery Arcade was the first vaudeville theatre of the city. The Widows' Home was burned on November 4th.

THE YEAR OF NEW ENTERPRISES,-1869.

The year 1869 has been regarded as one of the great years in the history of the city. In the first place this was the first great year of annex- ation, beginning with the addition to the city of Storrs township, Camp Washington and Lick Run, which were followed in a few months by Walnut Hills, Mount Auburn, Clintonville, in- cluding Vernonville and the west end of Spencer township. In this year too was passed the act authorizing the projected Cincinnati Southern Railway. The Louisville, Cincinnati & Lexing- ton Railroad was completed July 1, 1869, cross- ing at Newport on the second bridge thrown over the river in front of the city. This gave a line to Frankfort and Lexington and to Louis- ville and by way of that to the South via the Louisville & Nashville road, into whose posses- sion the Louisville, Cincinnati & Lexington Rail- road passed in the fall of 1881. The Board of Trade was organized in 1869 and ten years later was consolidated with the Board of Transporta- tion organized in 1876, the new organization tak- ing the well known title,-Board of Trade and Transportation. On August 3rd of this year in the new Sinton Building near the Burnet House was opened the exhibition of textile fabrics which was the forerunner of the great industrial ex- positions which have made Cincinnati known throughout the world. This too was the year of the organization of the Weather Bureau. Ac- counts of the Cincinnati Southern Railway, the expositions and the Weather Bureau are given at the close of the narrative of this decade.

BURNING OF THE COLLEGE BUILDING.

Another celebrated fire took place October 20, 1860, at which time the College Building on Walnut street between Fourth and Fifth was once more the victim of the flames. . The fire began a few minutes after one o'clock in the afternoon at a time when the streets were thronged with people and thousands of spectators witnessed the scene. The first sign of fire was some smoke pouring from the roof a little north of the cupola. The ladders of the hook and lad- der company were found to be too short and the account of the efforts of the firemen to use them is quite thrilling: "It was about two o'clock

when the long ladder was raised at a point south of the main entrance of the Library and Ex- change rooms. It just touched the cornice. Up thuis perilous ascent the firemen mounted with a heavy hose. In front was John Bray of Com- pany No. 17 and he was followed by John Moor- wood of the same company. When Bray had reached the top of the ladder and Moorwood the middle, it slipped and was about to fall. The gazing crowd was seized with horror and every spectator held his breath in fearful suspense. Coolly as if it was a matter of little importance, Bray reached for the cornice, swung himself up and reached down and caught the falling ladder, thereby saving his own and his comrade's life. The feelings of the multitude below expressed themselves in a deafening cheer as the smoke hid them in from view." For a time an effort was made to save the books of the library, but after many had been taken out this attempt was given up. Within the building a terrible trag- edy was taking place entirely unobserved by the spectators. Capt. Matthew Schwab of the hook and ladder company had groped his way with a party carrying a hose up the double stairway. He had lifted the hatch of the roof when flames struck the firemen in the face and made them re- treat. All were thought to have been dragged out of the smoke by their comrades although . six or seven were badly burned and some dis- figured for life. Several persons stated that they had seen Schwab carried downstairs and away, although his hat and lantern were found in the building. At about three o'clock the north half of the roof of the Merchants' Ex- change room fell in and a half hour later the fire was under control. In the evening it was learned that Captain Schwab could not be found. Finally the chief, Megrue, and his assistant, Lewis Wisbey, headed a party of firemen and searched the building. Schwab with his fore- head and hands terribly burned, and his chest badly scalded was found at the extreme southern end of the corridor in the fourth story. Hle was near a window in a crouching position with his face in his hands. He evidently had been blinded by the flash of flames and had started to run but had been cut off by the walls on the one hand and the suffocating smoke on the other. His death at the age of 28 created a pro- found impression on the city and his funeral was largely attended by the different organiza- tions of the city and citizens. He had served four years in the Civil War in the Fifth Ohio Regiment and had risen from the ranks to the

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captaincy. Although the College Building had been reduced to a complete wreck, the damage to the library was not serious as no books of value were lost or ruined.

THE CALIFORNIA EXCURSION.

Another incident of city life of this year was the so-called Cincinnati excursion to California which was organized under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce. In this excursion 53 citizens, including Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bu- chanan, Abram Swift, Robert Hosea, William Resor, Michael Werk, A. H. Smith, Alexander McDonald, Albert Mitchell, A. S. Merrell, B. S. Cunningham and Messrs. Morris White, D. J. Fallis, George Graham, C. B. Murray, George W. Jones, Frederick Burkhardt and others took part. The party traveled six thousand miles and were received with enthusiasm at many of the large cities of the West to which they carried the greetings of the city.

THE BIBLE CASE.

In this year began the contest with relation to the use of the Bible in the public schools. This litigation began by an order of the Board of Education forbidding the use of religious books including the Bible in the schools of Cincin- nati. Thereupon certain well known citizens made an effort to restrain by injunction the en- forcement of this order. The case was tried be- fore the Superior Court in general term. Judges Bellamy Storer, M. B Hagans and Al- phonso Taft presided. The attorneys for the plaintiffs were William Ramsey, George R. Sage and Rufus King and for the defendants, George Hoadly, Johann B. Stallo and Stanley Matthews. The court decided in favor of the injunction ; Judge Taft, however, delivered a strong dissent- ing opinion. The case was taken to the Su- preme Court of the State, which sustained Judge Taft's view and the action of the Board of Edu- cation. The arguments and opinions in this case have been published and constitute one of the most valuable contributions to the legal litera- ture of the country.

CINCINNATI IN 1869.

In the year 1869 appeared another of the val- able contributions to the history of the city, the book entitled "The City of Cincinnati" by George E. Stevens. This gave, in the language of its sub-title, a summary of the attractions, advan- tages and institutions and internal improvements with a statement of its public charities. Mr. Stevens speaks of Cincinnati just entering upon

the ninth decade of its existence as the largest and wealthiest inland city with a population es- timated at over a quarter of a million. Early in its history it had achieved the title "Queen City of the West" and now by no idle fancy it was called the "Paris of America." Its river front at this time was about ten miles long and its northern line about two miles from low water mark. The map prefixed to the volume gave the city from a point east of Eden Park to Mill creek its western boundary. On its northern outskirts were the suburbs of Fairmount, Belle- vue, Mount Auburn and Walnut Hills. In Eden Park was shown the proposed new reservoir. Many of the streets we are told were still adorned by shade trees and splendid avenues and parks were projected and in process of construction. The points of interest to a strang- er included the hotels,-the Burnet, Gibson, Spencer, St. James, Walnut Street, Merchants', Galt, Metropolitan and Henrie House. Fourth street was the center of attraction and a special point of interest was the new Suspension Bridge. The great staples of the Cincinnati market,- iron, cotton, sugar and tobacco,-were handled along Front, Walnut and Second streets, while Pearl street was the center of operations for an immense capital employed in distributing dry goods, notions, clothing, shoes and the like. On Third street, the Wall street of the city, were assembled most of the banks, insurance and law- yers' offices and the like. Fourth street con- tained the magnificent retail establishments and was the fashionable promenade of the city. At its east and west ends were many handsome dwellings. The West End lying west of Cen- tral avenue was also a fashionable dwelling por- tion. The district across the canal had been known for years as "Over the Rhine." This was largely inhabited by Germans whose num- ber was estimated as 80,000. ()11 the hills could be seen the Cincinnati Observatory on Mount Adams and, beyond, the beautiful suburbs of Walnut Hills, Clifton and Mount Auburn, and far to the northeast that most beautiful cemetery, Spring Grove. The important public buildings that are mentioned are those of the Cincinnati Ilospital, Cincinnati College, Court House, Ohio Mechanics' Institute and a number of church buildings of which there were tig in the city at that time. Twenty-three of these were Roman Catholic. The old City Hall built in 1853 was, still the seat of the city government. The Cus- tom House Building on the corner of Fourth and Vine was very properly called an ornament

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to the city. The Fountain had not yet been erected nor had the Garden of Eden been com- pleted; both were among the possibilities of the near future. The beer gardens so largely fre- quented during the summer evenings received special mention. Other buildings of importance were those of the Gymnasium on Fourth street which had been entered by this association on March 12, 1869, Hughes and Woodward high schools, Lane Seminary and the Jewish Temple at Eighth and Plum. A well known hostelry, at that time one of the most fashionable resorts of the city, was Keppler's on the north side of Fourth street. In addition to Eden Park there were Lincoln, Washington, City and Hopkins parks. The City Park is now occupied by the City Hall: Mozart Hall, the present Grand Opera House, and the rebuilt Pike's Opera House were the principal amusement places of the city although to these should be added the Queen City Skating Rink on Freeman avenue and the Union Skating Pond west of Lincoln Park, used in summer for baseball. The great retail stores on Fourth street west of Main in- cluded Shillito's, Hopkins', De Land's, Boutil- lier's, Lewis & Livingston's and Wilson's estab- lishments while art treasures could be seen at Bonte's and Wiswell's and jewelry at MeGrew's, Duhme's, Smith's and Owen's establishments. In addition to Keppler's there were the catering establishments of Leininger & Buhr and the St. Nicholas. A feature of the city that has long since disappeared were the carriage stands, the principal one of which was on Vine street south of Fourth. Nine horse car routes are given on which the rate of fare except on that to Mount Auburn was six cents. These lines correspond in a way with what were known for so many years as the Seventh, john, Third and Fourth, Pendleton, Covington, Storrs and Sedamsville, Cumminsville and Spring Grove lines and the Mount Auburn line. The railroad depots were five (including one in Covington), used by 13 different lines. Those in the city were the depots of the Cincinnati Hamilton & Dayton, the Plum street, Little Miami and the Ohio & Mis- sissippi depot on Front and Mill. The chief lines leading out of the city were the Cincin- nati, Hamilton & Dayton, Cincinnati & Zanes- ville, Erie ( Atlantic & Great Western) Cincin- nati & Indianapolis Junction, Indianapolis, Cin- cinnati & Lafayette, Little Miami, Louisville & Cincinnati, Kentucky Central, Marietta & Cin- cinnati and Ohio & Mississippi. The United States mail line steamers including such steam-

ers as "Major Anderson," "General Buell," "General Lytle" and the "St. Louis" were still an important feature of passenger travel. The suburbs specially mentioned are Avondale with a population of 1,200, Clifton, East Walnut Hills, Woodburn, College Hill, Glendale, Wyom- ing and Mount Auburn and Walnut Hills, large parts of which had been incorporated within the city. The estimated products of the city for the year were valued at sixty millions of dollars and the main branches of productive in- dustry were iron ($5,500,000) furniture ($1,- 700,000) meats ($9,000,000) clothing ($4,500,- 000) liquors ($4,500,000) soap and candles ($1,- 500,000) oils, lards and resins ($3,000,000 ) and mills ($2,000,000) ; the aggregate wealth of the county was given as $166,945,497. Twenty-five thousand pupils were in the public schools and ten thousand more in the private and parochial schools. The volume also contains lists of city offi- cers and of the various charitable, literary, scien- tific and social organizations of the time. The principal newspapers were the Commercial, En- quirer, Gazette, Volksblatt and Volksfreund among the morning papers and the Times and Chronicle, both evening papers.

JAMES PARTON ON CINCINNATI.

This brief account of Cincinnati in the "six- tics" can be best concluded by a view of the city by a non-resident contrasting with that of a resident,-Mr. Stevens. James Parton, the celebrated historian, contributed to the .Atlantic Monthly for August, 1867, a most remarkable article about the city of Cincinnati, one of a ser- ies of articles on Western cities. Mr. Parton ob- viously was more anxious to be sprightly than truthful and for that reason took care not to investigate his historical facts too thoroughly. llis impression of the city, however, is that of many Western people and is worth quoting, if perhaps only as an illustration how not to de- scribe a town. Speaking of the period before the war he says: "The Ohio, formed by the june- tion of two Pennsylvania rivers, is the natural western outlet for the redundant population of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and consequently the first twenty thousand inhabitants of Cincin- nati were chiefly from those States,-honest, plodding, saving Protestants, with less knowl- edge and less public spirit than the people of New England. The Swedes, the Danes, the Germans, the Protestant Irish, who poured into Pennsylvania and New Jersey in Franklin's time, attracted by the perfect toleration estab-

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lished by William Penn, were excellent people ; but they had not the activity of mind nor the spiritual life of the English Puritans. Shrewd calculators and of indomitable industry, they · were more able to accumulate property than disposed to risk it in bold, far-reaching enter- prises, and took more pride in possessing than in displaying wealth,-in having a large barn than an attractive residence. They were more certain to build a church than a school house, and few of them wanted anything of the book- pedlar except an almanac. The descendants of such men founded Cincinnati, and made it a thriving, bustling, dull, unintellectual place. Then came in a spice of Yankees to enliven the mass, to introduce some quickening heresies, to pro- mote schools, to found libraries, to establish new manufactures and stimulate public improve- ments. That wondrous tide of Germans fol- lowed that has made in each of the cities of the West a populous German quarter,-a town with- in a town. Meanwhile, young men from the Southern States, in considerable numbers, settled in Cincinnati, between whom and the daughters of the rich 'Hunkers' of the town mar- riages were frequent, and the families thus cre- ated were, from 1830 to 1861, the reigning power in the city."

It is not surprising that after such an introduc- tion Mr. Parton should state that "perhaps there was no town of its size and wealth in Christendom which had less of the higher in- tellectual life and less of an enlightened public spirit than Cincinnati before the war." The great wealth of the city Mr. Parton conceives as being legitimately earned. It was Cincinnati he says "which originated and perfected the sys- tem which packs fifteen bushels of corn into a pig, and packs that pig into a barrel, and sends him over the mountains and over the ocean to feed mankind." He says that there were 64 persons in Cincinnati at that time whose estate was rated at one million dollars or more. In spite of this wealth, the city he thought displayed little of the spirit of improvement. "People were intent on their own affairs, and were satis- fied if their own business prospered. Such a thing even as a popular lecture was rare, and a well-sustained course of lectures was felt to be out of the question. Books of the higher kind were in little demand (that is, little, considering the size and great wealth of the place) ; there was little taste for art ; few concerts were given, and there was no drama fit to entertain intel- lectual persons. Cincinnati was the Old Hunk-

ers' paradise. Separated from a Slave State only by a river one third of a mile wide, with her leading families connected by marriage with those of Virginia, Kentucky and Maryland, and her business men having important relations with the South, there was no city-not even Balti- more-that was more saturated with the spirit of Hunkerism,-that horrid blending of vanity and avarice which made the Northern people equal sharers in the guilt of slavery, while tak- ing the lion's share of the profit."

An explanation of Mr. Parton's feeling is given in his account of the conduct of the mobs in breaking into Birney's office and attacking the negroes. The war according to Mr. Parton regenerated Cincinnati. "There were few of the leading families which did not furnish to the Rebellion one adherent, and all men, of what- ever class, were compelled to choose between their country and its foes. The great mass of the people knew not a moment of hesitation, and a tide of patriotic feeling set in which silenced, expelled, or converted the adherents of the Re- bellion. The old business relations with the South, so profitable and so corrupting, were broken up, and Cincinnati found better occupa- tion in supplying the government with gunboats and military stores. The prestige of the old 'aristocracy' was lost; its power was broken; it no longer controlled elections, nor monopolized offices, nor lowered the tone of public feeling. Cincinnati was born again,-began a new life. There is now prevalent among the rulers of the city that noblest trait of freemen, that supreme virtue of the citizen,-PUBLIC SPIRIT; the blessed fruits of which are already apparent, and which is about to render the city a true metropolis to the valley of the Chio, the fostering mother of all that aids and adorns civilization.'

When it comes to describe the appearance of the city Mr. Parton is a little more accurate. Over Cincinnati says he "a deuse cloud of smoke usually hangs, every chimney contributing its quota to the mass. The universal use of the cheap bituminous coal is making these Western cities almost as dingy as London. Snioke pervades every house in Cincinnati, be- grinies the carpets, blackens the curtains, soils the paint, and worries the ladies. Housekeepers assured us that the all pervading smoke nearly doubles the labor of keeping a house tolerably clean, and absolutely prevents the spotless clean- liness of a Boston or Philadelphia honse. A lady who wears light-colored garments, ribbons or gloves in Cincinnati must be either very young.

南津:

THE ROOKWOOD POTTERY.

ENTRANCE TO SPRING GROVE CEMETERY.

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very rich, or very extravagant; ladies of good sense or experience never think of wearing them. Clean hearts abound in Cincinnati, but not clean hands. The smoke deposits upon all surfaces a fine soot, especially upon men's woolen clothes, so that a man cannot touch his own coat with- out blackening his fingers. The stranger, for a day or two, keeps up a continual washing of his hands, but he soon sees the folly of it, and abandons them to their fate. A letter written at Cincinnati on a damp day, when the Stygian pall lies low upon the town, carries with it the odor of bituminous smoke to cheer the homesick son of Ohio at Calcutta or Canton. This uni- versal smoke is a tax upon every inhabitant, which can be estimated in money, and the sum total of which is millions per annum. Is there no remedy? Did not Dr. Franklin invent a smoke-consuming stove? Are there no Yankees in the West?"

Despite the efforts of the smoke inspector, the tall chimneys of the city even in the most con- spicuous block as well as from the power houses of the Cincinnati Traction Company to-day belch forth their all pervading clouds of smoke, very much as did the chimneys of Mr. Parton's day. Mr. Parton is more complimentary to the suburbs :

"Behold the Fifth Avenue of Cincinnati! 1 is not merely the pleasant street of villas and gardens along the brow of the hill, though that is part of it. Mount to the cupola of the Mount Auburn Young Ladies' School, which stands near the highest point, and look out over a sea of beautifully formed, umbrageous hills. steep enough to be picturesque, but not too steep to be convenient, and observe that upon each summit, as far as the eye can reach, is an elegant cottage or mansion, or cluster of tasteful villas, sur- rounded by groves, gardens and lawns. This is Cincinnati's Fifth Avenue. Here reside the fam- ilies enriched by the industry of the low, smoky town. Here upon these enchanting hills, and in these inviting valleys, will finally gather the greater part of the population, leaving the city to its smoke and heat when the labors of the day are done. As far as we have seen or read, no inland city in the world surpasses Cincinnati in . the beauty of its environs. They present as per- fect a combination of picturesque and the acces- sible as can anywhere be found; and there are still the primeval forests, and the virgin soil, to favor the plans of the artist in 'capabilities.' The Duke of Newcastle's party, one of whom was the Prince of Wales, were not flattering their enter-

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 60

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1048

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048