USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Cincinnati illustrated: a pictorial guide to Cincinnati and the suburbs > Part 3
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BANKS .- From a statement made by the Cineinnati Clearing- house association, it appears that the banking capital of its members amounted, on the 31st Angust, 1878, to $6,468,000. This does not include several large ,discount houses, nor the business of the stock brokers. The following is a list of the public banks, showing the capital of each :
NATIONAL BANKS.
1 First National Bank, $1,200,000
2 Second National Bank, 200,000
3 Third National Bank, 800,000
4 Fourth National Bank, 500,000
6 Merchants' National Bank, . $1,000,000
10 National Lafayette & Bank of Commerce, . 400,000
PRIVATE BANKS AND BANKERS.
7 Commercial Bank, 300,000
9 Franklin Bank, 300,000
Total, . $4,700,000
There are ten private banking-houses, with an aggregate capi- tal of $1,113,000.
The Clearing-house, of Cincinnati, at Nos. 70 and 72 West Third Street, is an association of 8 public and 10 private bankers, for the purpose of the exchange of cheeks, and general facilities in the transaction of business. Its rooms are open every afternoon, and are also used for any general meetings of the members. In the financial year ending 1st April, 1879, $508,936,000 passed through the Clearing House.
BAPTISTS' UNION (See Cincinnati Baptists' Union).
BAR ASSOCIATION-Has for its object the discussion of topics of interest to the legal profession. The Cincinnati Association has about a hundred members, and mects the third Tuesday in January, June and October, at their rooms, No. 23912 West Fifth street. The officers are elected at the October meeting. The present officers are: President, Judge George Hoadly; Vice-Presidents, Joshua H. Bates, W. H. Mackoy, E. W. Kittredge, Judge E. A. Guthrie and S. N. Maxwell; Sec., E. B. Molony; Cor- responding Secretary, Aaron A. Ferris; Treasurer, G. II. Wald; Executive Committee, J. R. Murdoch, Thornton M. Hinkle, C. W. Merrill, Chas. B. Wilby, Walter St. John Jones; Committee of Investigation, Jacob Wolf, Lewis W. Irwin, Ferd. Vogeler, D. H. J. Holmes, Walker Hartwell ; Committee on Grievances, P. Mallon, R. S. Hamilton, Milton Sater, W. T. Porter, W. A. Davidson; Committee on Judiciary and Legal Reform, J. W.
BARRSVILLE .- A small village south of Fairmount, on the high- lands west of the city, and adjacent to the Lickrun Turnpike. A handsome locality, but sparsely settled.
BARTHOLOMEW INSTITUTE. - A classical school for young ladies and misses, located at Fourth and John streets, estab- lished in the year 1875. The school has three departments, the primary, for children from six to nine years old; the prepara- tory or intermediate for those from ten to twelve; and the col- legiate, which offers a thorough course of six years' study, in English Language, History and Literature, in Aneient and Modern Languages, in Mathematics and in Natural Sciences. Those who desire are spceially trained for the Harvard Exam- inations for women, and for the higher university course. Be- sides the Principal, Geo. K. Bartholomew, A.M., President, there are sixteen instructors, both male and female. The number of pupils this year has been one hundred and twenty-eight.
BASE BALL .- In addition to innumerable amateur clubs, there are two professional organizations in Cincinnati, possessing grounds devoted to the National Sport. The first is the Cincinnati Base Ball Association, which holds membership in the National Base Ball League. It is an incorporated company, with a Board of Directors, whose officers are : J. M. W. Neff, President; Edgar M. Johnson, Secretary; and S. S. Davis, Treasurer. The Club plays at the Ball Park, located on the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, about four miles from the city's center, but within the corporate limits. The other pro- fessional club is that of the Star Base Ball Association. Its grounds are situated at the foot of Bank street, in Mill Creek Valley. The association has an organization similar to Cincinnati Club, but is not connected with the League. The officers are: B. F. Shott, President and Manager ; George Herancourt, Treasurer; and Charles T. Blackburn, Secretary.
BATHIS .- There is but one publie bath in the city. This is
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the floating-bath house, moored 'about 50 feet out in th - Ohio river, at the foot of Broadway. It also serves as a boat-nousc for individuals owning pleasure craft, besides having a large number and variety of boats for hire. The public swimming place is 20 by 85 feet, with 412 feet depth of water. It is pro- vided with spring-boards, trapezes, and other appliances for those athletically inclined. There are 70 dressing rooms, one of which is given to each patron. The time allowed for a bath is one hour. The bath house also contains separate rooms for bathers who desire privacy. The water space in these is about 8 by 10 feet, with 4 feet depth. There is a swimming school at- tached, 30 by 40 feet, in which the water is from 2 to 312 feet in depth, presided over by competent teachers. A current of water passes constantly through the float. A thousand people daily take advantage of this bath. The price of single baths is 15 cents; season tickets, $5.
BEER BREWERS' ASSOCIATION .- An Association of brewers for mutual protection, of which all the brewers in the City arc members. It maintains a secretary at a salary, whose duty it is to report daily to all the members, the name of any saloon keeper who fails or refuses to pay for the beer he has received. The members are pledged not to furnish beer to such saloon keeper until he has squared up his debts, of which fact the brewers are duly notified. They have monthly meetings at the Elin street Club House, near Moerlein's brewery. The officers of the Association are: Herman Lackman, President; John Kauffman, Vice-President; Geo. Moerlein, Secretary; P. W. Schneider, Treasurer.
BEER GARDENS .- Cincinnati has long been famous all over the United States for the number and variety of its beer gardens, ranging from the little grass plat sheltered by but a single tree in the rear of a saloon of but humble pretensions, and gener- ally the resort of a small party of friends to the spacious grounds in which hundreds assemble, and of late years to the immense structures on the beautiful hill tops, capable of receiving their thousands. The general characteristics of all the larger gardens are nearly the same. They are all provided with a multitude of tables, and Gambrinus is but one of the presiding deities, his throne being shared by music. The amount of beer consumed is of course very large; and at all of them, the concerts are evidently among the chief attractions. They are given during the Summer in each of the great establishments almost every evening, and frequently in the afternoon also, so that every day the people are provided with most excellent music, in cool, shady places, for admission to which no charge is made. The hill tops are reached by cars rapidly ascending and descending inclined planes, and are crowded by thousands nightly. The view from the terraces and balconies of the great gardens is very fine, extending over the whole city and across the river to the blue Kentucky hills in the distance. The visitors are com- posed of whole families, husbands, wives and children alike, and it is a great mistake to suppose that the great majority are Germans They are in fact composed of almost equal number of Americans, and as the best order prevails, no lady hesitates to present herself. In the chief gardens "Over the Rhine," the German quarter, the ladies are indeed oftener in the majority, owing to the fact of their arriving in groups of whole families. In nearly all these gardens another characteristic is the rarity with which anything is called for stronger than the native wines. Brandy and whisky are scarcely ever touched, and beer and lemonade the favorite beverages. Well-cooked meals may also be had at all of them.
BEGGARS .- Professional beggars are hardly known in Cincin- nati. Occasionally one is met with, but they do not prosper. The swarms of regular tramps and vagrants that infested the eity a few years ago are fast disappearing. In 1877, according to the police reports, 60,875 indigent persons obtained lodgings at the several station-houses during the year, and this large number was a decrease of nearly twenty per cent. from 1876. A regular tramp is known at a glance, it being barely possible to be mistaken in them. Nightly the station-house lodging rooms
are filled with the homeless vagabonds, nine out of ten of whom refuse to work when the same is offered at fair prices. It is stated officially that Cincinnati is constantly the abode of not less than one thousand of these creatures, not one of whom is a producer, or lives by any other method than begging or stealing. The Mayor of the city says, in his last report, regarding tramps: "Every one of them should be made to go to work and be self- supporting, or else be made to leave the city at once ; and if we have not legal authority now, it should be obtained without de- lay."
BELLEVUE, a village almost adjoining Newport on the east, was laid out in 1866. This new suburb now has about six hun- dred inhabitants, and is a village of much quiet beauty, and considered very healthy.
B'NAI B'RITH .- A secret benevolent organization connected with the Jewish Church. There are five lodges in the city, to- wit: Bethel, Jerusalem, Mt. Carmel, Spinoza and Standard. These lodges are subordinate to the Grand Lodge of District No. 2, which ineludes the States of Ohio, Indiana and Ken- tucky. The weekly sick benefits are $4; the yearly dues and endowments, $25; and the death assessments $2 each. These fees cover an endowment insurance, obligatory on all the mem- bers, of $1,000, and a district insurance (not obligatory) of $2,000, payable at the death of a member. The Jewish Orphan Asylum at Cleveland was instituted and is supported by this society. The various lodges meet weekly at the hall on the northwest corner of Fifth and Central Avenue.
BETHEL (See Union Bethel).
BIBLE SOCIETY, THE YOUNG MEN'S .- This Society, anxili- ary to the "American Bible Society," was organized in the Spring of 1834. Its object is to " circulate the Holy Scriptures, without note or comment." Its field of operation embraces Hamilton county, and its present board of managers represent fifty Protes- tant Churches of Cincinnati. The total distribution of the So- ciety since its organization, is 563,368 volumes. Bibles and Testa- ments are sold at cost, or presented to those unable to purchase, at the Depository, 176 Ehn street. All the public and charitable institutions of the city and county are visited and supplied, and destitute families are looked after throughout the whole field. The most intimate connection is maintained between this aux- iliary body and its parent stock, and the most cordial relations subsist between them. The Bibles and Testaments sold or dis- tributed gratuitously are in size and print adapted for use every- where and upon all occasions. They range from the handsome presentation or family Bible, intended to preserve the records of a generation or more, to the large volume intended for the sit- ting room, or bedroom of hotels and other public places, to the books small in size, but containing either both Testaments or the New by itself, for assistance in private devotions, or for the use of the traveler. The City missionaries and most of the clergy of all denominations have interested themselves deeply in the success of the Society, and much of it is undoubtedly due to their efforts. Bibles, and Testaments especially, are kept in all the languages at all likely to be asked for. A Swede, a Norwe- gian, an immigrant from Holland, an Italian, or a Spaniard, can find in the Repository a Bible in the language of his birth- place. The fact that much of the service of the Repository is done gratuitously alone enables the managers to dispose by sale of so many Bibles at merely cost price, and to give away so many to those who are unable to pay. Officers for 1878-79: J. P. Walker, M. D., 96 West Seventh, President; Theodore Baur, 28 Milton, Vice-President; William McAlpin, 133 Broadway, Corresponding Secretary; T. J. Peale, M. D., 28 Hathaway, Recording Secretary; Samuel Lowry, 36 Vine, Treasurer.
BILLIARDS .- Public billiards, by which we mean the game as formerly played to a large extent in billiard halls and saloons, is decidedly on the wane. The evils attendant on public billiard rooms have driven the more respectable lovers of the science to the establishment of private tables in their homes, and no
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modern house is now considered complete without its billiard room. There the game is greatly enjoyed, not alone by gentle- men, but by ladies also, many of whom are very expert with the cue. In the saloons the game has degenerated from a scientific to the vulgar one of " pin pool" and "ball pool," either for gambling purposes, or to 'decide which of the party playing shall pay for the liquor consumed, the proprietor getting no other recompense. No saloon of any pretensions is without one or more tables for this purpose. Still there are a number of elegantly fitted billiard rooms in the city, notably at the hotels, where guests, and citizens not so fortunate as to own a private table, may enjoy the game. The manufacture of billiard tables and furniture is an important interest, there being several large manufactories in the City that supply a large scope of territory North, South, East and West, and give employment to a large number of workmen.
BILL-POSTING .- The business of bill-posting has grown into an extensive industry, and has been reduced to a perfeet system in all the large cities of the country. Though there are only some three hundred persons engaged in it as principals, and the employes probably do not exceed two or three thousand, yet they are as well organized a guild as can be found in any other line of labor. They have a Bill-posters' Union, founded in 1868-9, composed of State organizations which send delegates to a national assembly. The organization has introduced many reforms into the business, and the combined efforts of the employers who compose it have resulted in considerably elevat- ing the standard of morality among the workmen. Bill-posting in its present development is an art, and one that is not to be picked up any day, but requires time and labor in its acquire- ment. For the satisfactory prosecution of the business, one must have experience and judgment to select the most favorable locations for display, and sneh an eye for arrangement as will make that display to the best advantage. Bills are posted at so much per sheet, twenty-eight by forty-two inches being the average size. From seventy-five to one hundred thousand posters are required to bill a city the size of Cincinnati.
BOARD OF ALDERMEN .- The present Board of Aldermen, one of the branches of the City government, consists of Julius Reis, President; Charles C. Jacobs, Vice-President, with Rich- ard C. Rohner, Clerk; Jacob Mathes, Sergeant-at-arms, and Thomas F. Geoghegan, Assistant Clerk. The members from the First District (1st, 2d, 3rd, 4th and 7th Wards, ) are Messrs. Chas. C. Campbell, Samuel Nieman, Oliver P. Tharp, Michael Ryan, James O'Neill and Frank VorMohr. From the Second District (5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th Wards,) Messrs. John II. Lawrence, Mathias Lichtendahl, Julius Reis, Thomas Lee, Thomas J. Mul- vihill, and James B. Wilson. From the Third District (11th, 12th, 23d, 24th and 25th Wards,) Gabriel Dirr, John Geiger, Ru- dolph Rheinboldt, Frank H. Falke, Geo. H. Oberkleine and Byron Stanton. From the Fourth District (13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 22d Wards,) B. Frank Hopkins, John C. Riley, Frank A. Tucker, Daniel Metz, Samuel II. Taft, Jr., and IIenry Varwig. From the Fifth District (17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st Wards,) Win. Hodgeson, John J. Kelly, M. W. Oliver, Charles C. Jacobs, John Mackey, Jr., and Samuel R. Smith.
BOARD OF CITY COMMISSIONERS .- This Board took the place of the Board of Public Works, which was legislated out of ex- istence by the Ohio Legislature in 1878. The members were appointed by the Judge of the Police Court, and are to serve for five years unless sooner legislated out of office. Hereafter, one member will be elected by the people each year. The pres- ent Board is composed of George K. Duckworth, five years ; Simon Wolfstein, four years : Chas. W. Rowland, three years ; Nathaniel Caldwell, two years; Robert H. Weatherhead, one year. Mr. Weatherhead is the only Republican on the Board. Their duties arc, under the law, very onerous, having under their charge all the City departments except the Courts, the Police and the Fire Department; and all measures for the ex- penditure of moneys, outside of the departments mentioned, must originate with them before they can be acted upon by
Council. For convenience, the City is divided into five dis- tricts, and each Commissioner is to exercise personal supervision over the district assigned him. The Commissioners receive a salary of $2,500 per annum. Mr. Caldwell is President, and John D. Binks, Secretary of the Board.
BOARD OF CONTROL-A board composed of five members, elected every three years, at the Spring election. Its duty is to supervise the work of the County Commissioners, confirm or veto the action of those officials in making appointments or ap- propriating money. and to look after the fee fund. The mem- bers of the board are William Dunn and Adam Geis, of Cincin- nati ; William Brown of College Hill ; Silas V. Hayes, of White- water; and E. J. Turpin, of Anderson Township. Mr. Dunn is President, and Thomas Sullivan, Secretary. The Board serves without compensation.
BOARD OF COUNCILMEN -The present Board of Councilmen, a branch of the City government, consists of Benj. Eggleston, President; L. L. Sadler, Vice-President. The members arc : 1st Ward, George N. Stone, J. G. Stowe; 2d, Benj. Eggleston, M. F. Thompson; 3d, Charles Doll, Austin E. Carr; 4th, John Heenan, P. F. Gleason; 5th, J. H. Drahmann, Philip Carrigan ; 6th, J. W. Fitzgerald, Daniel J. Dalton; 7th. Leo Cohnen, Julius Engelke; 8th, P. H. Duffy, A. F. Clarke ; 9th, Benj. H. Cox, John W. Legner; 10th, Michael Gramp, B. Kuhl; 11th, Jacob Doll, Jno. J. Abbihl; 12th, David Schorr, Medard Fels; 13th, A. Birnbryer, C. Schwier; 14th, Fred Strubbe, W. H. Schrader, Jr. ; 15th, L. L Sadler, Morris Bauer; 16th, Joseph IIand, Wm. De Courcy ; 17th, A. Q. Ross, Lewis Voight; 18th, W. S. Hudson, Geo. B. Cox : 19th, P. II. Maley, Wm. Stacey; 20th, J. Mahoney, W. M. Forbis; 21st, Harmon Teepen, Hugh Shiels; 22d, J. M. Ray, T. Q. Hildebrant; 23d, Albert Goettle, H. R. Wiethoff; 24th, John B. Morris, Thomas J. Stephens; 25th, Arm'd De Serisy, J. C. Bruckman.
BOARD OF EDUCATION (Sec Education).
BOARD OF EQUALIZATION-A Board elected by the Common Council, whose duty it is to examine the returns of assessors on personal property, hear grievances of parties thinking them- selves too heavily assessed, and to increase the amount returned for taxation, when in the judgment of the Board it is too small. The Board is composed of six members, two of whom are to be elected by the people cach year to serve three years. The pres- ent Board consists of Matthew Ryan and Albert Schwill, elected for three years ; Julius Adler aud W. B. Cassilly, for two years; Herman Rothert and F. B. Freeling, for one year.
BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS .- The Commissioners in charge of the Fire Department are, Messrs. George C. Sargent, Wm. Dunn, C. J. W. Smith and George Weber. The office is on the south side of Sixth street, between Vine and Race. (See Fire Department.)
BOARD OF IIEALTH, THE-As re-organized in the early part of the year 1878, embraces four separate and distinct " Bureaus," the Bureau of Vital Statistics, the Bureau of Medical Relief, the Bureau of Sanitary Inspection, and the Bureau of Markets.
The Bureau of Vital Statistics is intrusted with the collection and care of all data relative to population. A complete and systematic registry of births, marriages and deaths, occurring within the corporate limits of Cincinnati, is kept by this bureau. This registry is perfect for a number of years back, and is constantly increasing in value, being consulted by nu- merous foreign consuls, members of the legal profession, pension agents, and other parties interested in questious of land titles, life insurance, pensions, marital relations and paternity-con- taining as it does, full information relative to cach marriage, birth and death occurring in the community, it has been the means of restoring thousands of dollars to rightful heirs and claimants in this country and abroad. During 1878 numerous applications for certified copies of births and deaths registered have been made by the nuthorities of other States and the Government agents of various foreign powers. The importance of keeping up such a "registry" for the purpose of legal
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KENNY'S CINCINNATI ILLUSTRATED.
reference cannot therefore be overestimated. Aside from its value in the matter just mentioned, a systematie registration of vital statistics enlarges the knowledge of the publie as regards the growth of population and the causation and prevention of disease. The first evidence of any epidemic tendency is marked with unerring aecuracy by the " death registry," and the community, forewarned of danger present or threatened, is placed on its guard. Hundreds of valuable lives are thus annually saved that might otherwise be lost. By means of this registry the more prevalent diseases may be aeeurately mapped, and local eon- ditions favoring the extension of the epidemic tendency remedied as far as possible.
Bureau of Medical Relief .- This bureau affords a certain index to all the diseases, endemic and epidemie, that are indigenous to this latitude. The variety and number of different maladies, treated by twenty-five "Out Door Poor Physicians," afford a basis on which to roughly approximate the percentage of mor- tality from certain given causes. Such a system of registration is also valuable as a seouree from which to secure information regarding the more prevalent diseases of certain localities- wards and streets for instance. This enables the Sanitary In- spectors to investigate the cause of inereased mortality in such " districts," and if diseovering the cause to recommend the application of remedies, such as sewering, surface drainage, etc. The tabular statements made by this bureau are also interesting in as much as they exhibit the amount of medieal relief annual- ly given the poor of a great eity, and the prevalent diseases among this class of our population.
Bureau of Sanitary Inspection .- To this bureau is intrusted thie immediate collection of all vital statistics, the inspection of all nuisances, the removal to Hospital of all contagious diseases, the work of disinfection, fumigation and cleansing, the serving of notices and all other "Sanitary Poliee" duties.
Bureau of Markets .- The reports of the market-master and milk-inspector exhibit the large amount of food condemned during the year. Cincinnati still maintains the reputation of having the best inspected markets of any city in the Union. The importance of such inspection can not be overestimated when we consider the amount of diseased and unhealthy food excluded from the markets.
The following table gives the death rate in the principal cities of the Union in 1878:
Death rate per thousand population, 1878 .-- New York, 24.93; Brooklyn, 20.15; Philadelphia, 17.97; Boston, 20.36; Providenee, R. I., 19.75; Baltimore, 18.44; Pittsburg, 21.16; Cleveland, O., 16.72 ; San Francisco, 15.80; Newark, N. J., 25.13; Chicago, 16.49; Milwaukee, 14.50; Charleston, S. C., 28.98; New Orleans, 50.17; Memphis, 79.22; Nashville, 23.11; Washing- ton, 26.57 ; Cincinnati, 17.23.
The officers of the Board of Health are: Thomas C. Minor, Health Officer; William J. Elliott, Seeretary; Clayton W. Ebersole, Milk Inspector ; John Connelly, Sanitary Superintend- ent; Michael Quinlan, Superintendent of Markets.
BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS-Is composed of five members, originally appointed by the Governor of the State, to serve for the term of five years. One member is elected at the City election each year. Mr. J. H. Setchell being the first to be eleeted by the people. The Board is now composed of W. W. Sutton, President, whose term expires in 1880; J. H. Setchell, term expires in 1884; Patrick J. Hogan, term expires in 1883; Danicl Weber, term expires in 1882; John Dorsch, term ex- pires in 1881. They have control of the Police Department, Health Department, and the City Infirmary, and appoint the subordinate officers of each, including the Superintendent of Police, Health Officer and Superintendent of Infirmary. The members serve without compensation. Meetings are held each Monday. J. M. Hanson is Secretary of the Board.
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS (See Board of City Commission- ers).
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