USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Cincinnati, "the Queen city" : newspaper reference book > Part 2
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Zoological Garden Among Best.
Cincinnati does not believe in all work and no play, and has a great many things which make it most attractive to the vis- itor, and which afford its people ample facilities for wholesome recreation. En- titled to first mention is the Cincinnati Zoological Garden, ranking among the very best of its kind in the United States, if not in the world. Though not as large as some other Zoos, it has a wonderful collection of rare animals and birds, some of which are not duplicated in any other institution. The Cincinnati Zoo covers sixty acres of ground and in the summer time is almost a fairyland of interest and beauty. Fine musical concerts are given throughout the sum- mer and a modern clubhouse affords every facility. On summer evenings the Cincinnati Zoo is the mecca for thou- sands of Cincinnati's own people and vis- itors within the city, and nowhere will there be found a better dressed, more happy crowd.
Has Three Great Amuse- ment Parks.
Cincinnati has three principal amuse- ment parks, Coney Island situated about ten miles up the Ohio River, Chester Park in the north side of the city and the Lagoon across the river in Kentucky. Between the city and Coney Island is maintained a line of steamers operating in the summer season which carry a tre- mendout passenger traffic. There is no- where in this country, if abroad, a more picturesque river than the Ohio, and a steamboat excursion on a moonlight summer night is one of the most delight- ful experiences which Cincinnati offers its visitors.
Many Points of Interest.
Cincinnati abounds in other points of interest, including the famous Rookwood Pottery on the brow of Mt. Adams, the Art Museum and Art Academy, Eden Park, Burnet Woods and many other public parks, playgrounds and athletic fields, numer- ous summer resorts, country clubs, golf links, a bathing beach, fishing camps, boat clubs and other recreation facilities. It has a magnificent race course in Kentucky adjacent, Ft. Thomas, a inilitary reservation across the river, the Fernbank Dam in the Ohio River below Cincinnati, and many other things.
In the city proper there are many things of public interest, including the Tyler Davidson Fountain, the old St. Peter's Cathedral, the Cincinnati Observatory, the Ohio Mechanics' Insti- tute, and many, many others. Cincinnati is famous for its good music, has several splendid musical schools and is one of the
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COPYRIGHT 1900 BY RONE ACH & GROENE CINTI O.
CITY HALL.
few cities capable of sustaining a symphony orchestra. 1ts biennial May Festivals are international affairs,
Cincinnati Qualifies as a Great City.
Cincinnati qualifies in the three all-important requirements of a great city. This essential trinity is:
No. 1-Nearness to the sources of the principal raw materials used in manufacturing and adequate facilities for bringing this raw material to the factory doors.
No. 2-Favorable local conditions for the economical trans- formation of this raw material into finished products, including good labor, cheap fuel, equitable taxation, low insurance rates. high-class municipal facilities, wholesome living conditions, etc.
No. 3-Ability to reach the market. Many ambitious projects for the building of cities near stores of raw material have failed because the other necessary elements were lacking. Neither can a great manufacturing center be developed where both the raw material and the market facilities are available, but the other element is missing. Many a city that is a splendid railway
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center, has a rich surrounding territory and a big distributive trade, cuts little figure in the industrial world.
Why ?
The labor and the skill- the workmanship builded upon the right sort of local conditions-are not there. Many a city anxious for factories, and willing to give free land and cash bonuses, fails to grow industrially.
The progressive manufacturer is realizing more and more that certain economic considerations are worth inestimably more than the artificial inducements held out to him by some towns.
What does it profit this manufacturer to accept a free site and a cash bonus if it costs him more to do business, if his labor is insufficient and poorly trained, if the town is not attractive to working men and is not meeting the demands of modern com- munity life?
There are many other questions just like these.
To prove that Cincinnati meets the real test of industrial greatness is the aim of the following:
No. 1-Raw Material and Transportation Facilities.
Its nearness to the vast timber region of the South makes Cincinnati the greatest hardwood lumber market in the country. Manufacturers using lumber of any class can secure it most economically if their plants are lo- cated in Cincinnati.
Nearness to the iron fields of the South makes Cincinnati the cheapest pig iron market in the country. One- fifth of all the iron produced in the United States is sold by Cincinnati firms. It is conveniently located to the steel market. More scrap iron is handled in Cincinnati than in any other city in the United States. Small wonder, therefore, that Cincinnati is a great metal working center; that more than 12,000 machine hands find em- ployment in Cincinnati factories.
Cincinnati is the place for metal working industries.
Cotton to the value of $800,000,000 is grown annually within a few hundred miles of Cincinnati, and no other Northern city is as accessible to all the cotton producing sections of the South. As a consequence there are unlimited opportunities in Cincinnati for all lines of cotton goods manufacturers.
Cincinnati is also the center of a great wool producing section and consequently an excellent wool market, appealing to those industries producing woolen fabrics.
The tanning industry in Cincinnati is very extensive, one of its tanneries being the largest single plant in the country.
Paper mills of various kinds surround Cincinnati. Within a radius of thirty miles are manufactured every grade of paper used in the commercial world. It is conceded that Cincinnati is the cheapest paper market in the United States. To this may
ART MUSEUM AND ACADEMY - EDEN PARK.
PUMPING STATION - EDEN PARK.
be attributed in part Cincinnati's first rank in lithographic poster- printing and third in the paper in- dustry. With lumber, iron and steel, cotton, wool, leather and pa- per, in great abundance, it will be seen that Cincinnati has all the principal raw materials used in the great majority of industries. Other articles classed as raw material and used largely in manufacturing which are extensively produced in Cincinnati are printing inks, acids, chemicals and varnish.
Railroad Facilities.
Twenty railroad lines radiate from Cincinnati to every section of the country. Six of these are trunk lines to the East-Big Four Divis- ion of the New York Central, reach- ing Boston and New York; Erie to New York; Baltimore & Ohio to Baltimore and New York; Chesa- peake & Ohio to Newport News and New York; Norfolk & Western to Norfolk, Va., and Pennsylvania to New York. The city owns its own railroad into the South, the Cin- cinnati Southern. When the city's
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CINCINNATI UNIVERSITY.
trade with the South was threatened for lack of railroad facilities the citizens by popular vote authorized the construction of a railroad of their own from Cincinnati to Chattanooga. From the proceeds of the sale of municipal bonds, this road was com- pleted in the early eighties. It is the city's most valuable asset, and if sold at the valuation on which the present lease of it to the Queen & Crescent road is based, the proceeds would pay the city's entire bonded debt, and leave a surplus in the treasury of several million dollars. The road will bring an annual rental during the sixty-five years for which it is leased sufficient to pay the cost of its construction, and make it a free asset of the city. At present it pays to the city $1,100,000 annually. This road, operated in connection with the Southern Railway, the Louisville & Nashville and the lilinois Central, connects Cincinnati with practically every city and town in the growing South. Four lines to St. Louis and four to Chicago connect Cincinnati with all the West and Northwest, while other lines reach the various markets of the lake regions.
Cincinnati is a terminal point of every railroad line entering the city.
Water Transportation.
Cincinnati is located on the Ohio River with its thou- sand miles of navigable water, furnishing water trans- portation to all points on the navigable streams of the great Mississippi Valley.
When the Panama Canal is completed, Cincinnati will have direct water conection with all the world's seaports
and will be nearer the markets of the Orient than New York A greater tonnage floats down the Ohio River annually than is carried by the waters of any other unimproved river. The United States Government is now engaged in erecting a series of locks and dams in the Ohio which, when completed, will insure a nine-foot stage of water from Pittsburgh to the Gulf of Mexico the year around. One of these, the Fernbank Dam, just below Cincinnati, completed in 1911, is the largest movable dam in the world. It gives Cincinnati a twenty-foot harbor
BUFFALOES AT Z00.
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Though already an important factor in the transportation facilities of Cincinnati, the Ohio will then make of Cincinnati an inland seaport, with all that the term implies.
Cincinnati has the raw material and the necessary facilities for transportation.
No. 2-Favorable Local Conditions. Labor.
One of the greatest elements needed for industrial success is a good labor supply. Cincinnati has it. The Commis- sioner of the National Metal Trades Association has tes- tified that Cincinnati is freer from labor disturbances than any other large manufacturing city in the country. Cin- cinnati labor is chiefly American born and largely of German extraction. That it is of a diversified class is evidenced by the fact that it is employed in more than 250 kinds of industries outside the building trades. The city ranks among the leaders of American municipalities as a city of home owners. Living costs, which are lower than in other large centers, have made acceptable wages which are not as high as in some large manufacturing cities. Cincinnati is the chief distributing point for the produce of the South as well as for the fertile lands sur- rounding Cincinnati, and because of this fact and by reason of Cincinnati's numerous public markets, working men are enabled to live more economically than in many other large industrial centers.
Cincinnati is doing more for the industrial education of its people than any other American city. Through its co-operative engineering course in the University, the first of its kind, through its Continuation Schools modeled after the German schools, and the first to be established in America, through its industrial high schools and in its private technical schools, Cincinnati is training thousands of its young men and women in practical efficiency. This can not help but have a tremendous influence upon the question of a labor supply. Cincinnati's school system has attracted national and international attention. Its schools, including the University, are open to every citizen's chil- dren. Even free school books are provided, excepting in the University. Besides the public schools, Cincinnati has the Ohio Mechanics' Institute, the oldest trade school in the country, now occupying a new half-million-dollar building; three theological seminaries, five medical col- leges, two colleges of dental surgery, one college of phar- macy, two colleges of music and several dramatic schools.
Cincinnati is liberal in its provision for amusement and recreation facilities, and therefore attractive to working men. Its summer amusement resorts, its ball grounds, its athletic fields, its playgrounds, its public parks, are easily accessible to the masses of the people. Besides its splen- did educational facilities Cincinnati is doing many other things which contribute to the health and happiness of its working classes. It has given them a pure water supply, and a splendid system of food inspection; it has built the best municipal hospital in this country, and is develop- ing a great system of parks, boulevards and playgrounds.
Cheap Fuel.
Eighty-five per cent of all the coal mined in the United States is produced within 300 miles of Cincinnati. Coal costs but little more in Cincinnati than at the mines. Seven states ship the product of their coal fields to Cin- cinnati, where it is either consumed or distributed to the North, East and South. From the Pennsylvania and West Virginia fields coal is brought down the Ohio River at a cost of only one-third of a mill per ton per mile. Immense new coal fields are now being developed in Eastern Ken-
tucky and new railroad lines have been built to bring this coal through the Cincinnati gateway. In addition to the states men- tioned, coal comes from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Virginia. Cin- cinnati is fast becoming the greatest inland coal market in the United States. Good steam coal delivered at the furnace door costs Cincinnati manufacturers from $1.50 to $1.90 per ton, ac- cording to prevailing conditions. Cincinnati is one of the few large industrial centers that enjoys natural gas. This gas, piped from the West Virginia fields, is supplied to all sections of the city and suburbs at a cost ranging from 11 cents to 30 cents per
we will stay in Mindis
UNION CENTRAL BUILDING.
Home of the Union Central Life Insurance Co., of Cincinnati ; also Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce
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thousand cubic feet, accord- ing to the amount used.
Electric power is delivered to any part of the city or sub- urbs by the Union Gas & Electric Co. at 11/2 cents to 10 cents per thousand watt hours, according to the amount consumed.
Supplies.
Ability to secure all sup- plies needed in the factory and to have repairs made promptly is an economy and a source of gratification. This is always possible in a city having the diversified indus- tries of Cincinnati.
Insurance and Taxes.
A tabulation of the rates of insurance in a number of the leading large cities of the country shows Cincinnati on the average to be the fourth lowest. Modern manufactur- ing plants in Cincinnati equipped with sprinkler ap- paratus have an insurance rate that is ridiculously small. The city has a powerful fire department and a splendid waterworks system.
ORIGINAL BUILDINGS OF THE ROOKWOOD POTTERY.
Under the new law in Ohio the tax rate is limited to one per cent to cover all forms of taxation, exclusive of sinking fund levies, which limit may be increased by vote of the people to not more than ene and one-half per cent to cover everything.
Water Supply.
Cincinnati in 1907 discarded an old worn-out waterworks system and began operating a new system which cost nearly
twelve million dollars. The water is taken from the Ohio River, about seven and a half miles above Cincinnati, settled, treated and filtered, and furnished-at the rate of forty million gallons daily-to the city absolutely pure and free from disease germs. The Cincinnati waterworks plant has attracted international attention. Since its installation the Cincinnati typhoid fever death rate has fallen to one of the very lowest among American cities.
Other Facilities.
The banks of Cincinnati are accustomed to handling manufacturers' accounts and are in position to give to the manufacturer every accom- mnodation. Cincinnati has eight national banks and thirty state banks and trust companies, representing a combined capital of about twenty million dollars; com- bined resources of one hun- dred and eighty-five million dollars, with deposits of one hundred and thirty million. The bank clearings exceed one and one-quarter billion dollars. Cincinnati has al- ways been a solid city finan- cially. Its postal savings de- posits are larger than any other city in the United States. Cincinnati has never been affected by panics. Its municipal securities are mar- ketable at a lower interest rate and demand a propor-
$373
COAL FLEET AT RIVER FRONT.
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FOUNTAIN SQUARE.
MUSIC HALL.
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HUGHES HIGH SCHOOL.
The Manufacturers Permanent Exhibit Building, Cincinnati, Ohio.
MANUFACTURERS' PERMANENT EXHIBIT BUILDING.
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CINCINNATI GENERAL HOSPITAL.
tionately better premium than the bonds of any other large city. Cincinnati bonds net 3.75 per cent to 3.85 per cent interest, while other cities have to pay from four to five per cent.
Cincinnati has a single telephone system and the service is equal to or better than that enjoyed by other cities, with rates lower than in cities of equal or greater population. For the convenience of the manufacturer, branch offices are maintained by the telephone companies throughout the city, located with special reference to the convenience of the various manufac- turing districts.
Switching charges are absorbed and otherwise excellent service and good treatment are accorded manufacturers by the railroads. Industries not located in railroads are afforded ex- cellent facilities for the drayage of their raw materials and other manufactured products. Cincinnati's two hundred and twenty- five miles of street railway with universal transfers makes it possible for the manufacturer, wherever located, to draw his supply of labor from every section of the city and suburbs.
As a residence city Cincinnati is nearly ideal. Its homes are found on the surrounding hilltops, and are unexcelled for their natural beauty. Cincinnati is a modern city in every respect. As a center of music and art Cincinnati ranks among the first of American cities. Its Music Hall, and its biennial Musical Festivals, have an international reputation. Cincinnati main- tains its own Symphony Orchestra. Its College of Music, per- petuated chiefly by endowments, has given to the musical world many masters of the art, and with several conservatories of music, attracts students from all parts of the country. The same may be said of Cincinnati's Art School. The Art Museum, crowning one of the city's most beautiful hills, contains rare treasures from every land. Its Rookwood Pottery is known wherever works of art are treasured for art's sake.
HUGHES HIGH SCHOOL,
FERNBANK DAM, OHIO RIVER.
No. 3-Ability to Reach the Market -- Distribution Facilities.
As has already been stated, the United States map will show that Cincinnati is almost ideal as a distributing point. The center of the population of the United States is only about
OHIO RIVER VIEW FROM EDEN PARK.
100 miles west of Cincinnati, in Indiana. Cincinnati is the center of 200,000 miles of first-class railways, and, as already pointed out, its railroad lines radiate in every direction. It is located on the Ohio River at the Gateway of the South, midway between the Great Lakes and the Gulf. The consuming markets of the country are within easy reach. A manufacturer located in Cin- cinnati can reach a large number of consumers in less time and at less average expense for freight and ex- press charges than from any other industrial center. Why is this true?
An analysis of the 1910 census shows a population living within dif- ferent radiuses of Cincinnati to be:
Within 100 miles. 3,793.187
.. 200 .. 8.678,526
.. 300
.. 20.880,946
400
.. .30.901.518
.. 500 .. .42,939.812
.. 600
.. .62.415.102
It will be seen that more than 20 per cent of the population of the United States is within 300 miles of Cincinnati and nearly three-fourths of the people of the country live within 600 miles.
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CINCINNATI'S NEW SKYSCRAPER VIEWED FROM OHIO RIVER.
BAND STAND - EDEN PARK.
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Clubhouse and Lake, Chester Park. Cincinnati, O.
Latonia Race Track, Latonia, Ky.
LATONIA RACE TRACK-LATONIA. KY.
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CLUBHOUSE AND LAKE - CHESTER PARK.
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Mail facilities in Cincinnati are especially good for the man- ufacturer, who can have his day's mail at the postoffice as late as 6 o'clock for delivery throughout the central West the next morning. Mail leaving Cin- cinnati at 2:30 o'clock in the afternoon reaches the Eastern Seaboard cities the following morning. The same way mail from other cities is delivered to the Cincinnati manufacturer or merchant early the following morning, thus enabling speedy receipts and delivery of orders.
The receipts of the Cincin- nati Postoffice exceed two and a half millions annually. Every express company doing business in the United States has an of- fice and receives and delivers packages in Cincinnati.
Center of Industrial District.
Cincinnati has reached the stage in its growth that it has become the center of a great in- dustrial district, like New York, Chicago and Pittsburgh. The Bureau of Census has given it this recognition, and although the population figures will be confined to the territory within the city limits, the manufactur- ing returns will be those of the "Cincinnati Industrial District," including all the surrounding su- burbs and the towns across the river in Kentucky.
More than 250 classes of in- dustry flourish in Cincinnati ac- cording to the last report of the census. These industries use al- most every form of raw mate- rial. For all the principal arti- cles consumed in manufacturing Cincinnati is a collecting and distributing center.
Raw Materials at Door.
Nearness to that vast timber of the South has made Cincinanti the greatest hardwood humber market in the country. This accounts for its rank as the first city in the manufacture of laundry machinery, office furniture and vehicles. Since the first of the present year the superiority of the city as a limber market has caused the big antomobile factories of the country to begin to transfer their lumber pur- chasing departments to Cincinnati. All the humber used in the manufacture of the several lines of cars is already purchased in Cincinnati. An officer of a company which has been making heavy purchases of lumber here said recently:
"There is no city in the country better for the buying of hard- wood Inmber for the antomobile industry than Cincinnati. It is the natural gateway to the biggest sources of raw material in Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina. Sales- men from these timber regions when searching for a market imust pass through Cincinnati, and here we get in first touch with them. Then, if we want to inspect a particular tract of lumber it is easy to reach it from Cincinnati. Your shipping and
SAM'L
ATUM
CO.
SAMUEL C. TATUM COMPANY. Manufacturers of Printers' and Binders' Machinery, Loose Leaf Devices, Etc.
ANCHOR HUGGIES
TURERS
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ANCHOR BUGGY CO.
distributing facilities are of the very best."
This is a significant testimonial to the industrial advantages of Cincinnati.
Cotton, Wool and Leather.
Cotton to the value of millions of dollars is grown annually within a few hundred miles of Cincinnati, and no other Northern city is as accessible to all the cotton-producing sections of the Sonth. As a consequence there are unlimited opportunities in Cincinnati for the manufacture of all lines of cotton goods.
Cincinnati is also the center of a great wool-producing sec- tion, and consequently an excellent wool market. appealing to the industries producing woolen fabrics.
The tanning industry in Cincinnati is a very extensive one- one of its tanneries being the largest single plant in the country. As a consequence this city is a leading leather market. It ranks as the first city in the United States in the manufacture of har-
HAVLIN HOTEL.
70€
SINTON HOTEL.
METROPOLE HOTEL.
STERLING HOTEL.
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ALMS HOTEL.
PALACE HOTEL.
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MONROE HOTEL.
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JEWISH HOSPITAL.
ness and saddlery. In recent years it has become the fourth shoe manufacturing center in the United States. At the present time Cincinnati made shoes are known the world over. The thirty local shoe factories are all operating to the limit of their capacity, while some of the other shoe centers report depression in business. This is a testimonial to the solid basis upon which the industry is founded in this city.
Location is Unexcelled.
When a city can offer great stores of iron, wood, cotton, wool, leather and paper, it will be seen that it is an excellent point for the location of almost any kind of manufacturing industry. Coal costs but little more in Cincinnati than at the mines. Six states ship the products of their coal mines to Cincinnati. From the Pennsylvania and West Virginia coal fields coal is floated down the Ohio River at a cost of only one-third of a mill per ton mile. Natural gas is supplied to all sections of the city directly from the West Virginia fields. Electric power is deliv- ered to any part of the city or suburbs.
Cincinnati has the great advantage of being centrally located. It is the largest city near the center of population of the United . States, this center, as shown by the last census, being only about fifty miles distant. A greater proportion of the population of the country can be reached in less time and at less average cost than from any other city in the country. Twenty-five railroad lines have their terminals in the city. Every mail, express, pas- senger or freight train-750 in all-is made up and broken in the Cincinnati yards.
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