USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Cincinnati, the Queen City, 1788-1912, Volume II > Part 43
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At that same date the road from Xenia to Columbus was completed.
After May I, 1849, one train daily each direction had been passing between Cincinnati and Springfield. Passengers for the east going from Cincinnati were provided by the agent here with tickets by way of the Little Miami, and Mad river and Lake Erie railroads to Sandusky, by steamboat to Buffalo, and then by railroad to Albany and by steamboat thence to New York.
After the New York and Erie road had been completed, passengers could take steamboats to Dunkirk and then go by rail to New York.
Two trains each day left Cincinnati in 1851. One train left this city at 5:20 a. m. and the other at 2:30 p. m. Travelers on the afternoon train arrived at Sandusky at six o'clock the next morning. They could get steamboat connec- tion at seven o'clock for Buffalo. There a train could be gotten for Albany, and thence a steamer for New York.
Passengers could reach Detroit by steamer connection from Sandusky. They could reach Montreal, Toronto and Quebec by steamer from Buffalo.
At Albany one could find railway connection with Boston, and at New York with Philadelphia and Baltimore.
The fare from Cincinnati to Springfield was $2.50, to Sandusky $6.50, to Detroit $8.00 and to Buffalo $8.80.
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The fare from Buffalo to New York was $7.50.
The total fare from Cincinnati to New York was thus $16.30. The steam- boats made no extra charge for meals and berths.
The Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton railroad, chartered March 2, 1846, opened September 19, 1850. Mr. L'Hommedieu, in an address before the Pio- neer Association, said : "It may be expected I should say something of the second railroad built in our city,-the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton, or the Great Miami railroad. When this road was commenced in 1848, the question as to the superiority of railroads over canals had been settled in the public mind, and there was no such difficulty in raising funds as had been experienced by the Little Miami Company. The bonds of roads then under way,-such as the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, Lake Shore and others,- were negotiated in New York, so as to net from eighty to eighty-five cents on the dollar. County, town and township subscriptions to capital stock were read- ily obtained, and railroads were built with comparative ease.
"The Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton railroad, however, was built without the aid of any such subscriptions. Its stocks and bonds were sold at par, without the employment of New York or other brokers. Such was the faith at home in the enterprise, that within a month a cash subscription of three-fourths of a million was made by our merchants, manufacturers, and other citizens. New York capitalists took the remaining stock and the first issue of bonds at par. This was the first instance in which western securities had found a market in New York without making heavy sacrifices, and it took the New York city brokers by surprise at its presumption and success.
"The road was placed under contract and built in a little over a year's time. It was opened on the 19th of September, 1851, and for twenty years or more promptly met all its obligations, and, after paying interest on bonds, made fair average dividends to its stockholders."
The Ohio and Mississippi railroad was the next to come to Cincinnati. It was opened May, 1857. This road, which runs to St. Louis, is now a part of the system of the Baltimore and Ohio. Connections were made with what was at first the Atlantic and Great Western, afterward the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and with the Erie road.
In 1845, the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad Company was chartered as the Belpre and Cincinnati Railroad Company. It was merged in 1851 with the Frank- lin and Ohio River Railroad Company and began to construct a road from the vicinity of Parkersburg to Cincinnati. April 15, 1857, this line was finished to the Little Miami at Loveland. After taking in a number of other roads, the Marietta and Cincinnati Company was in 1883 reorganized as the Cincinnati, Washington and Baltimore Road. The Baltimore and Southwestern Company was organized in 1889 and passed under the general supervision of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company.
The Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis road received its charter March 12, 1845. What was the original road, 138 miles, was finished February 22, 1851. The road between Springfield and Delaware was obtained in 1861. As an extension into Cincinnati, the -Cincinnati and Springfield Company was
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formed and the Dayton Short Line was finished July 1, 1872. The "Big Four" now owns this whole system.
By the census of 1860 we see that the number of pursuits followed in Cin- cinnati was at that time three hundred and forty. Of these two hundred and thirty were those of manufacturers, artisans and mechanics.
There were fifty more pursuits than in 1850.
Mansfield, state commissioner of statistics at the time, declared that twenty more pursuits were followed in Cincinnati than in Chicago and fifty more than in all Indiana.
The manufacture of tobacco in Cincinnati was begun in 1863.
In 1869, there were one hundred and eighty-seven kinds of manufactures produced in Cincinnati and vicinity. This output came from 3,000 establishments. These employed 55,275 hands. The capital invested was $49,824,000. The value of the product for the year was $104,657,000.
The gain over 1860 was one hundred and twenty-three per cent. The gain since 1840 was five hundred and forty per cent.
In 1869, the value of iron produce was $5,500,000; the value of furniture $17,- 000,000 ; meats $9,000,000 ; clothing $4,500,000; liquors, $4,500,000; soaps and candles, $1,500,000 ; mills of all kinds, $2,000,000; oils, lands, &c., $3,000,000.
Cincinnati in 1867 ranked third in manufactures among the cities of the na- tion. It stood fourth in the bookmaking industry.
In 1873 Cincinnati still maintained this rank in manufacturing. One third of the medals given at the Vienna Exposition to manufacturers in this country were awarded to Cincinnatians.
In 1873 the manufacturing products of this city were valued at $143,000,000.
The report of the Board of Trade for 1870 gave the following comparative statistics : Number of employes 1850, 28,527; in 1860, 30,268; in 1870, 59,354. The value of products in 1850, $46,789,279; in 1860, $46,995,062 ; in 1870, $119,- I 14,089.
The year 1873 was that of a great panic. S. D. Maxwell said of this panic, in his report in 1876 as superintendent of the chamber of commerce : "Cincinnati, in the midst of this general depression, was peculiarly situated. Alone, among the great cities of the country, she was the center of a large district which had sustained tremendous losses from the storms of the previous harvest. In some places crops had been literally ruined and in others badly damaged. It was nothing short of a great agricultural disaster in nearly the whole locality upon which Cincinnati draws for her local trade. In the light of these circumstances must be read the detailed result of the year, for it reveals facts concerning the pros- perity of this city which, if not exceptional among the great centers of business, are remarkable, and speak for the enterprise of the merchants of the city, the stability of our manufacturers, and the solidity of our commercial foundations so forcibly that it should silence all croakers and be a subject for general con- gratulation among our whole people.
"In volume the business of Cincinnati has not only suffered little diminution, but in some departments it has been more than maintained. The aggregate value is considerably less than the preceding year, but this grew mainly out of the steady and in many cases great shrinkages in prices. The number of pounds,
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yards and packages, in general is the only fair test of relative trade, and with this measure there is little but encouragement to the business men of Cincinnati. The season certainly has not been a money-making one, but with constantly shrinking prices good profits could not be expected."
The actual volume of business during that trying year in coal and pig iron was the largest in the history of the city to that time, while there was an increase in the cotton business, a small increase in hog products, grain and certain other products.
In 1878, the total values of manufactures were $138,736,065.
There were 5,272 establishments at work. There were 67,145 employes.
The investment in manufactures was $57,509,000.
The school books trade of Cincinnati was now equal to that of any city in the world.
Only one other city surpassed Cincinnati in the law book manufacture.
The production of oleomargarine had begun here in 1877.
In 1880, Colonel S. D. Maxwell said in his report as superintendent of the Chamber of Commerce: "The aggregate value of the products of our manu- facturing industry, the number of hands employed, the value of real estate oc- cupied, the cash capital invested, and the number of establishments engaged in Cincinnati, for each year in which statistics have been compiled touching these particulars, will be found in the following table: Total for year 1840, hands em- ployed 9,040, value of products, $16,366,443; 1850, hands employed, 28,527, value of products $46,189,279 ; 1860, $46,995,062 ; 1869, cash capital invested, $45,225,- 586, value of real estate occupied, $36,853,783, hands employed 59,354, value of products, $119,140,089; 1870, cash value invested, $51,673,741, value of real estate occupied, $37,124,119, hands employed, 59,827, value of production, $127,- 459,021 ; 1871, cash capital invested, $50,520,179, value of real estate occupied, $40,443,553, hands employed, 58,443, value of production, $135,988,365; 1872, number of establishments, 3,971, cash capital invested, $55,265,129, value of real estate occupied, $45,164,954, hands employed, 58,508, value of production, $145,- 486,675; 1873, number of establishments, 4,118, cash capital invested, $54.377,- 853, value of real estate occupied, $47,753,133, hands employed, 55,015, value of production, $127,698,858; 1874, number of establishments 4,469, cash capital invested, $63,149,085, value of real estate occupied, $52,151,680, hands employed, 60,999, value of production, $143,207,371; 1875, number of establishments, 4,- 693, cash capital invested, $64,429,740, value of real estate occupied, $53,326,440, hands employed 62,218, value of production, $146,431,354; 1876, number of es- tablishments 5,003, cash capital invested, $61,883,787, value of real estate oc- cupied, $51,550,933, hands employed, 60,723, value of production, $140,583,960 ; 1877, number of establishments, 5,183, cash capital invested, $57,868,592, value of real estate occupied, $47,464,792, hands employed, 64,709, value of produc- tion, $135,123,768; 1878, number of establishments, 5,272, cash capital invested, $57,509,215, value of real estate occupied, $45,245,687, hands employed, 67,145, value of production, $158,736,165; 1879, number of establishments, 5,493, cash capital invested, $60,523,350, value of real estate occupied, $48,11I,870, hands employed 74,798, value of production, $148,280.
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BEGINNING OF CINCINNATI SKYSCRAPER ERA ABOUT 1904
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. "It is a noticeable feature of Cincinnati that they who are managing our in- dustrial establishments are generally men who are thoroughly acquainted with the practical features of their business. They are mechanics themselves, who did not commence to build at the top of the structure, but at the bottom, when they had small means. These oaks, whose great spreading branches now shelter so many families of working men, were once small producers, who have grown up by degrees, gathering skill with experience and strength with their skill. The result is a large intelligence in the prosecution of business. Then, as a sequel to this, we find that the capital used by our manufacturers consists largely of the accumulations from their business. Their surplus has not been committed to the treacherous waves of speculation, but has been turned into their business to enlarge their usefulness.
"Again, our manufacturers largely own the real estate which they occupy. Among the great producers, those who are manufacturing under the roofs of other people are limited in number. These conditions secure a stability which is not attainable under other circumstances, an endurance, during periods of finan- cial distress which is peculiar, and an ability to accommodate production to re- duced wants, without impairing in any way the capacity of the manufacturer for promptly and advantageously providing for increased demand, when such de- mand may be warranted by the improved condition of the country.
"We generally associate with the idea of manufactures colossal establish- ments, and in some districts the productive industry manifests itself before the world through such great agencies only. But these giants among producers are not all that exist. Manufactures, in their most comprehensive sense, embrace everything in which material and labor, more or less skilled, are combined for the production of something to meet the wants of men. The business may be conducted on a very small scale. It may be done by a single man, and yet such a man is a manufacturer. In this city the business is distributed to an unusual degree. It is not conducted by a few great firms or companies, that hold in the realm of production imperial sway, and whose failure would carry with them wide-spread disaster. To the contrary, it consists of a large number of estab- lishments, many of them by no means large, not a few really small, that make up in their united industries the mighty aggregate which has given this city such a prominent position among the manufacturing districts of this country. The whole number of establishments in this city and immediate vicinity in the year ending January 1, 1877 was five thousand and three. In the city of Phil- adelphia in 1870 the whole number of establishments was eight thousand, two hundred and sixty-two; but these produced an aggregate value of three hundred and thirty-eight million, one hundred and sixty-eight thousand, four hundred and forty-six dollars, in comparison with one hundred and forty million, five hundred and eighty-three thousand, nine hundred and sixty dollars produced by the whole number in Cincinnati.
"We all recognize the fact that a diversity of production secures a more sure and steady prosperity. Here again is an element of strength at Cincinnati. Our manufactures extend to a great variety of articles, many of them entirely distinct from each other. They embrace productions from wood, stone, metal, animals, earth, paper, leather, grain, vegetable fibre, tobacco, drugs, and other articles
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differing widely in their nature and in the wants and localities they are called upon to supply. The number of different kinds of goods made here is beyond the estimate of many of the best informed. If anything of a surprising nature were revealed by our industrial displays it was the scope of our production. The statistician finds it difficult to pursue the vocations. Men are working in their own houses. They are in obscure places. They are doing their business in a small way, but are swelling production. The kinds of manufactures are steadily increas- ing in number. You will hear of producers in unlooked-for localities, commenc- ing the manufacture of new articles, doing it in an unpretending manner, but lay- ing the foundation of great future usefulness to the city.
"The classes of goods manufactured here, without descending to the sub- divisions of distinct classes, number one hundred and eighty-two. Embraced in each, in numerous instances, are many products which might with propriety have separate mention. Thus, in iron, though our manufactures extend to a great variety of articles, the classes number but thirty. Candles, soaps, and oils are embraced under one head. Many kinds of machinery are in one class, and so on through the list. In this department, the largest item is machinery, embracing stationary and portable engines, wood working machinery, sugar mills, steam fire engines, steam gauges, and an almost infinite variety of articles of a like nature. In wood working machinery, including machines for planing, moulding, mortising, sawing, boring and working generally in wood, Cincinnati has no su- perior if she has a peer. She had, in 1878, three establishments producing annually of these goods alone about five hundred thousand dollars. Over two hundred different kinds of machines are manufactured, which find a market not only in this country generally, but, with two or three minor exceptions, in every nation in Europe, in Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, South America and the West India islands. And for their qualities have received distinguished recog- nition wherever exhibited or known.
"In endeavoring to reach some idea of the relation which our manufactures sustain to the future progress of the city, it may be well to consider briefly what has been accomplished in the past. In the year 1840, the total product of our manufactures was sixteen million, three hundred and sixty-six thousand, four hundred and forty-three dollars; that is only thirty-seven years ago, our total product of all kinds was less than was either the single department of iron, wood, food or liquors in 1876. Our total product for the year ending January 1, 1877, it will be remembered, was one hundred and forty million, five hundred and eighty-three thousand, nine hundred and sixty dollars, having increased in the period seven hundred and fifty-eight per cent. The growth mainly having been steady, it is difficult to realize how amazingly we have progressed. This has all been accomplished within the recollection of many in this audience. Now, if the same ratio of increase should be exhibited in the coming thirty-seven years, the result would be still more astonishing, for it would in the year 1915 reach one billion, two hundred and six million, two hundred and ten thousand, five hundred and eighty-six dollars, or an amount equal to more than one fourth of the en- tire manufactured product of the United States in the year 1870. Now, the average product to the operative in 1876 was two thousand, three hundred and fifteen dollars. If in 1915 the relation should remain the same, it would render
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necessary for the production five hundred and twenty-one thousand and forty- one hands, making, in operatives alone, a larger number than the present entire population of Cincinnati, Covington and Newport, with their suburbs.
"The increase from 1840 to 1850 was, in the aggregate product one hundred and eighty-two per cent. From 1850 to 1860 there was, according to the federal census less than two per cent. From 1860 to 1870 it was one hundred and fifty- three per cent. What the increase has been from 1870 to the present time is the more difficult to ascertain on account of the great decline which has taken place in values. What that decline actually has been is not easily reached. From an extensive inquiry, I think thirty-three per cent a low estimate. This would make for the year 1876, the production equivalent to two hundred and ten mil- lion, eight hundred and seventy-five thousand, nine hundred and forty dollars, showing an increase, even in times of great depression and commercial distress, of sixty-five per cent in a period of six years. But goods in 1870, compared with 1860 as well as 1876, were above their relative value, so that it would probably be more fair to compare the year 1860 with 1876. This would show an increase of one hundred and ninety-nine per cent. It must be remembered too that not- withstanding a part of this period embraces the war, with its abnormal activity in many departments, it also comprises a period in which the industries of the country have been prostrated, and in which the inducements to manufacture have been well alone found in a purpose to maintain business and to save manu- facturing property from decay and ultimate ruin. Admitting that our manu- factures in 1880 will be no greater than now, it would show that on the average our production about triples itself every twenty years."
In 1880 the federal industrial census showed that Cincinnati had three thou- sand, six hundred and fifty-two manufacturing establishments.
There were three hundred and sixty-three boot and shoe shops and manu- factories. There were two hundred and thirty-four bakeries. There were two hundred and forty-seven cigar factories. There were two hundred and forty- six clothing establishments. There were one hundred and twenty-five butchers. There were one hundred and twenty-six boat builders and block, tackle and spar makers. There were one hundred and eighteen tin and copper workers and metal roofers. There were one hundred and twenty boss carpenters and builders. There were one hundred and seventeen furniture and cabinet factories and repair shops.
There were forty-three thousand, seven hundred and seventy-two males and eleven thousand, four hundred and ninety-eight females above sixteen years of age employed in manufactures. There were four thousand, five hundred and thirty-five children and youths.
The total wages paid from May, 1878, to May, 1879, was $21,348,796.
The capital, invested was $61,139,841. The value of materials was $81,021 .- 672. The value of the gross product was $138,526,463.
Manufactures in the vicinity, as in Lockland, Avondale, Millcreek, and so on can be properly included. In these places in the neighborhood there were one hundred and fifteen establishments. The capital was $2,647,000. The hands employed numbered one thousand, one hundred and sixty. The wages were $990,- 700. The material used was worth $5.760,000. The value of the total product was $8.320,000.
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The number of establishments in the towns on the Kentucky side was four hundred and, seventy-nine. The capital was $9,017,000. The employes num- bered seven thousand, nine hundred and sixty. The wages were $3,981,000. The material was worth $18,741,000. The product was valued at $27,622,600.
The Cincinnati Board of Trade was organized in 1869. The board of trans- portation was founded in 1876.
"In the summer of 1878 the subject of a union of the two boards was broached, and a formal request for the appointment of a joint committee for the consider- ation of the project was passed by the Board of Trade August 17, 1878. The similarity of the objects of the two organizations seemed to indicate that this was the natural course to take. The Board of Trade has always taken a deep interest in matters relating to transportation, and one of the most important labors it had achieved was the breaking of the freight blockade at Louisville, a work that was only effected by means of a considerable outlay of money and the establishment of a special agency at that point, which was of the greatest importance to Cincinnati shippers. A formal consolidation of the two boards was effected April 7, 1879, under the title of the Cincinnati Board of Trade and Transportation.
CHAPTER XVI.
INDUSTRIES CONTINUED.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE-INDUSTRIAL BUREAU AND COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATION-GROWTH OF TRADE AND MANUFACTURING MANY FOLD IN LAST DECADE-TRADE EXCURSION TO THE SOUTH-PROPOSED THIRTY MILLION DOLLAR TERMINAL-MERCHANTS AND MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION -BUREAU OF MUNICIPAL RESEARCH.
CINCINNATI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE: HISTORY OF
ITS ORGANIZATION AND ITS EDIFICE.
The following history of the organization of the Cincinnati Chamber of Com- merce and Merchants' Exchange and of the edifice injured by fire in 1911, together with the action of the association touching the latter, was prepared by Sidney D. Maxwell, superintendent of the Chamber of Commerce, at the request of the board of real estate managers, for deposit in the corner-stone of the new edifice, which was laid on Saturday, June 18, 1887.
The Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce was organized in October, 1839. The call for a meeting of merchants, interested in the formation of a commercial organization, was published in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette on the 14th day of that month, of which the following is a copy :
"We, the undersigned, feeling the want of a Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade in this city, and believing it would be of great advantage, recom- mend a meeting of the merchants, on the 15th of this month, at the hall of the Young Men's Mercantile Library Association [kindly tendered for this purpose], to take into consideration such measures as may be necessary to carry it into effect. Signed: Kilgour, Taylor & Co., Gazzam & Butler, C. & L. Fletcher, Thos. J. Adams, R. Buchanan, John Young, Thos. Newell, James Reynolds, Chas. Fisher, Allen & Co., J. & S. H. Goodin, Green & Woodward, David Lor- ing, Miller & Farrar, S. Fosdick & Co., Geo. H. Hartwell, Peter Neff, J. H. Groesbeck, Burrows & Hall, Jos. S. Bates & Co., Samuel Trevor, G. W. Messick, J. A. Simpson, Charles Foster, S. E. Pleasants, Avery & Athearn, William Goodman, Caleb Bates, J. York, Samuel B. Findley, John M. Rowan, Glascoe & Harrison, Wm. Disney & Son, Wm. Parry, C. Sontag & Co., E. Poor & Co., J. G. Smith & Co., Henry Miller, Irwin & Whiteman, Strader & Gorman, Henry Rockey, E. Lawrence & Co., L. Worthington, J. R. Baldridge, John Bailey & Co., J. P. Irwin, Corwin, Foot & Co., R. W. Lee, Hartshorne & Co., John Pullan, S. B. Hunt, N. W. Thomas & Co., Josiah Lawrence, John D. Jones, H. A. Amelung, J. & J. Graham, Trimble & Woodrow, George Carlisle, J. R. Coram
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