History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 109

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

Eighth and Ninth, about forty yards of such a pavement was found.

In 1800 Eastern row, now Broadway, from a point opposite Columbia for about one hundred feet north, still ran through a pond of three or four acres extent, upon which the early settlers shot aquatic birds. Another pond, also a shallow one, crossed on a log footway con- siderably decayed, was yet about the northeast corner of Fifth and Main streets. From Lower market to west of Ludlow street the entire tract was swampy. In 1808, Colonel Mansfield, the surveyor general of the north- west, then resident here, laid out Broadway on the line of Eastern row, but much increased its width for a few squares, intending to make a fine, broad avenue from the village to the country, until stopped and compelled to leave the remainder of it narrower by the opposition of the property-holders above Fourth street.

It is manifestly impossible, within our limits, to follow in detail the history of the multitudinous streets of the Queen City. Colonel George W. Jones, author of the forthcoming History of Cincinnati, contributes the fol- lowing notes of old streets and boundaries to King's Pocketbook :

In the winter of 1831-32 a flood submerged the whole lower level of the city. Water rose to the second stories of the highest houses on Front street. Steamboats passed through Second, at that time Colum- bia street. A large number of the original citizens lived near the river; and it was not until the "miserable Yankees" came, and made a fuss about fever and ague, "and such aboriginal invigorators," that people who were "anybody" lived on the hill-say Fourth street. Front street, from Walnut west to Elm, was lined by beautiful homes. The wharf was the meeting-place, especially Sunday morning. There the best townsmen exchanged the news, took a quiet "nip" at the "Orleans Coffee-house," situated just east of Main street, on the public wharf, and surrounded by a large open garden, and thence went to church. Joseph Darr, the proprietor of the coffee-house, is now [1879] living in comfortable abundance, the owner of the large mansion southeast corner Seventh and Race. The chief business streets were Main and Lower Market, now East Pearl. Pearl street was opened in 1832; and at what is now its intersection with Main, stood a large tavern, with a large wagon-yard into which teamsters drove. This tavern was bought from Daniel Horne by merchants, who built a row of four- story brick stores, thought at the time to be the finest in America, some of which are still standing on the north side of the street. The projectors of this first great commercial enterprise were Goodman & Emerson, Carlisle & White, J. D. & C. Jones, C. & J. Bates, Foote & Bowler, Blachley & Simpson, Reeves & McLean, David Griffin, and John R. Coran. Pearl street, west of Walnut, was opened in 1844. Fifth street, except from Main to Vine, was occupied by cheap resi- dences; and a wooden market house filled the space now occupied by the Esplanade. About 1833 Broadway and East Fourth began to be pretentious as desirable residence streets. Prior to 1841 Fourth street west of Walnut as far as Plum, was a beautiful street. In 1841 im- provements were made west of Plum, and gradually reached the "fence" which ended the street at what is now Wood street. In 1832 Columbia, now Second street, was merely a dirty creek, crossed by wooden bridges at all intersections west of Walnut. No business of importance was done west of Main. The wharfage was between Main and Broadway, and even as late as 1846 the wharf-space was a great mud-hole, sprinkled with coarse gravel. All transportation was done by river, by canal, or by country wagons. As late as 1842 the Little Miami railroad opened the State of Ohio, and about 1848 the Madison & Indianapolis railroad the State of Indiana. In 1840 streets beyond the canal were simply unmacadamized roadways. Central avenue was then Western Row, which north of Court street ran through pastures. Nearly every family kept a cow; and the cows were driven to the pas- tures in the morning, and were turned loose to wander home at night to be milked in the alleys and side-yards. The great characteristics of a city were not to be seen in Cincinnati until about 1848, when a "hog- law" drove those "first scavengers" from the streets. Ash-piles were

condemned, and the city supplied with water and gas. Most of the houses were cheaply built, and but few men kept carriages. There were only a few schools worthy of note. The merchants often enter- tained customers at their homes, and the general habits of pioneer sim- plicity prevailed. Turnpikes from the city were built between 1834 and 1840, and many of the citizens of to-day remember the mud-roads to Walnut Hills. Prior to 1840 Clifton was unknown. Cumminsville, now the Twenty-fifth ward, and Camp Washington, now the Twenty- fourth ward, were all farms. The "sports" gathered at a mile race track, south of the old Brighton house, where the John street horse- car stables are. The principal drives were up the river-bank to "Cor- bin's," or down to old Joe Harrison's place. Only occasional pleasure parties ascended the hills, and then chiefly towards Cleves. The "down- river" road found all the fast horses, and Joe Harrison gave them good cheer. A few elegant homes, some yet in good condition, lined the hill-side of the road which was approached by Front street, and by a road, the Sixth street of the present time. West of Western Row, Sixth street was not improved much earlier than 1840. A great orchard stood on a high bank west of Park street; milk-yards and brick-kilns generally occupied that locality. The pioneers of wealth in that street were Abraham M. Taylor, who recently gave ten thousand dollars to- wards the Old Men's Home; James Taylor, William Neff, J. P. Tweed, Ambrose Dudley, Pollock Wilson, H. W. Derby, and others. The great Barr estate was north of Sixth street, and was subdivided after 1843, and the Hunt and Pendleton estate at the head of Broadway about 1846. In that neighborhood few houses were seen. The pork- houses were on Sycamore and Canal streets; the wholesale dry goods houses, on Pearl and Main streets; and the large grocery houses, on Main, Front, and Pearl streets. Such is a faint outline of what the great city of Cincinnati was only forty years ago.

By 1826 the ideas of the people and the city govern- ment in regard to street improvement were considerably liberalized. Pavement was put down that year to the length of four thousand eight hundred feet, and other street work was done to the value of five thousand eight hundred dollars, besides one thousand dollars expended for fire cisterns.

Mr. Cist, in his Miscellany of 1845, made the follow- ing interesting note upon one of the Cincinnati streets:

Front street is not only the longest continuous street in Cincinnati, but with the exception of one or two streets in London, the longest in the world. It extends from the three mile post on the Little Miami railroad, through Fulton and Cincinnati as far west as Storres township, an extent of seven miles. In all this range there are not ten dwellings which are three feet distant from the adjacent ones, and two-thirds of the entire route is as densely built as is desirable for business purposes and dwelling house convenience.

The following plaint, of much later date, is from one of the mayors' messages :

Our limestone pavements have long been an annoyance and reproach to the community. Of friable material and irregular shape, they soon break into irregularities, where water lies after heavy rains, increasing and extending the irregularity of the surface. It is easy to percieve to what extent this must affect the comfort as well as the health of our citizens.

Of late years we owe to the public spirit of D. L. Degolyer the intro- duction of bowlder pavement, which is gradually changing the whole surface of the city. Properly laid, these require neither repaving nor repairing for fifty years or more. Indeed, this material is nearly inde- structible. Our bowlders are smaller than those used in the Atlantic cities, which circumstance renders the surface here comparatively smooth. When this species of pavement shall be spread over the whole city, we may hope to escape those clouds of dust, which in dry summer weather constitutes our greatest street nuisance.

In 1870 extensive experiments were undertaken with the Nicholson pavement, locust and other round block, the Stevens iron-slag pavement, the Fisk concrete, and the limestone pavement devised by Alderman Smith, of the eighteenth ward. Attempts had previously been made with the Pacific and the Harmeyer concretes, and the Whitehead square block pavement. In 1867 a large

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

amount of Nicholson was laid costing altogether one hundred and seventy-five thousand six hundred and fitty- five dollars and fifty-two cents.

The city had, on the first of January, 1879, about ninety-nine miles of streets and alleys paved with bowl- der stone; seventy-seven and one-fifth miles of avenues, streets, and alleys macadamized with broken limestone; six and three-fourth paved with limestone blocks ; seven with wooden blocks; and twelve miles of macadamized turnpikes. Improved avenues, streets, and alleys two hundred and two and one-fourth miles; unimproved, one hundred and ninety-six; total, three hundred and forty-eight.

A STREET CLEANING DEPARTMENT

was organized by ordinance of council February 9, 1866, to be managed by a board of supervisors of street clean- ing, consisting of the mayor, the chairman of the coun- cil committee on cleaning streets, and three citizens serv- ing without compensation. The first board was composed of Mayor Wilstach, Hon. Larz Anderson, George Klot- ter, Samuel S. Stokes, and David Baker. Colonel A. M. Robinson was appointed superintendent of streets, by whom a contract was made with George Thompson, by which he paid three thousand dollars a year into the city treasury, in consideration for the house offal and animal garbage he was to collect from the streets.

STREET RAILROADS.

In 1839 the first street railways were laid in Cincinnati -although it is stated that three years previously an ex- periment was made of them here. At first there was much opposition to them, which had not wholly died away long afterwards. Said Mayor Wilstach, in his annual message of 1868:

All great enterprises have their opponents. Why it is so, it is often hard to divine, but we in Cincinnati have already been treated to many instances of this kind. All recollect with what pertinacity the street railroads were opposed. Grave arguments were advanced that their adoption would ruin business, that the streets along which the track was laid would be so obstructed that it would be an utter impossibility to transact the carrying trade of the city, etc. What have been the re- sults? Property, instead of decreasing, has steadily enhanced in value. The city, indeed, has been largely built up by their influence. The entire West End, in fact, owes its solid blocks, its palatial private residences, its park, its skating rink and ponds, and its base ball grounds to the facilities of getting to them afforded by the "peoples' carriages." So will it be with the suburbs of the city, to which these roads are fast being extended. In short, the people could not well do without them, now, notwithstanding their occasional shortcomings in the way of accommodations; high fares, etc.

In 1860 the city had already sixteen and one-half miles of street railway, owned by the Cincinnati Street railroad company (four and one-half miles), the Cincinnati Pas- senger railroad company (three and one-fourth miles), the Pendleton & Fifth Street market space line (three and three-fifths miles), and the City Passenger railroad com- pany (five miles). Each of these had laid much new track this year-the Pendleton line nineteen thousand feet, or nearly its entire road. Two years afterwards the Spring Grove Avenue line was also in existence, from the Brighton house to Spring Grove. The later companies have been incorporated as follows:

Cincinnati Consolidated Street railway company, No-

Vember 29, 1872, capital one hundred thousand dollars, Very nearly all the lines in the city are now controlled by the Consolidated company.

The Avondale Street railway company, June 10, 1873; capital one hundred thousand dollars.

The Mount Adams & Eden Park Inclined railway, June 26, 1873; two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

The Newport Street railway company; twenty-five thousand dollars.

The Avondale & Pleasant Ridge Street and Inclined Plane railway, July 28, 1874; five hundred thousand dol- lars.

The Clifton Inclined railway, June or July, 1875 ; fifty thousand dollars.

The Price's Hill Inclined railway, January 1, 1876; fifty thousand dollars.

Eden Park, Walnut Hills & Avondale, April 9, 1887: two hundred thousand dollars.

South Covington & Cincinnati, August 2, 1877; ten thousand dollars.

Avondale, May 10, 1879; one hundred thousand dol- lars.

Newport & Cincinnati, July 28, 1879; twenty-five thoasand dollars.

Cincinnati & Newport, same date and capital.

Covington Railway Company of Cincinnati, July 30, 1879 ; ten thousand dollars.

Not all these have yet constructed or completed lines. By 1876 the four inclined planes now used to surmount the hills were constructed, and seventeen lines were in operation. In 1879 there were twenty-one lines, seven of them run by the Consolidated company, and all em- ploying five thousand five hundred men.

A Belt Railway company was also organized in 1880, with one million dollars capital, to run elevated tracts for steam cars from the terminus of the Cincinnati, Hamil- ton & Dayton railroad at Fifth street to the Little Miami tracts, thence by Eggleston avenue, Broadway, a tunnel under the canal, and the Mill Creek bottoms to the rail- way tracks east and west of the creek, and southwardly along these roads to the place of beginning. The pro- posed occupancy by railroads of the berme-bank of the canal, from Cumminsville to its terminus will also make an important difference in the passenger facilities of Cincinnati.

By an ordinance passed some years ago, the old Fifth Street market space, between Walnut and Main, at the front of the new Government building, is made the start- ing point for all lines in the city.

BRIDGES.

The first bridge to connect the shores of Mill creek near the river was attempted, but not built by popular subscription in 1798. April roth of that year, Judge Symmes drew up a subscription paper, heading it himself with one hundred dollars, promising to pay to Thomas Gibson, George Callum, John Matson, sr., and William H. Harrison, esqs., or to the order of any three of them, the amount of the several subscriptions, "for the express and sole purpose of forming and erecting a bridge over

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

Mill creek at its mouth, either of stone or wood, on pil- lars or bents, so high as to be level with the top of the adjacent banks, and twelve feet wide, covered with three- inch plank, and so strong that wagons with three tons weight may be safely driven over the same, and so dura- ble that the undertaker shall warrant the bridge to con- tinue, and be kept in repair for passing loaded wagons, seven years after the bridge is finished." The argument for the improvement is very briefly and sensibly suggested: "The great advantage of this bridge, as well for supplies going to market as to the merchants, tradesmen, and other inhabitants of Cincinnati, as for travellers in gen- eral, needs no illustration." Two hundred and ninety- two dollars were subscribed upon this paper, in sums of one dollar to one hundred dollars, by Messrs. Symmes, Israel Ludlow (seventy dollars), William H. Harrison, Thomas Gibson, Cornelius R. Sedain (forty dollars each), Joel Williams (thirty dollars), J. and Abijah Hunt (twen- ty dollars), Stephen Wood, Smith & Findlay (one dollar each) Benjamin Stites (eight dollars), Samuel Dick (seven dollars), William Ramsey; J. Clarke, Burt & New- man, Griffin Yeatman, Jacob Burnet, A. St. Clair, jr., J. Sellman (five dollars each), George Fithian, Culbertson Park, Joseph Prince, George Gordon, Aaron Reeder (three dollars each), William McMillan, David Snodgrass (two dollars each), and Thomas Grundy (one dollar). Enough money was not raised for the purpose, however, and the enterprise was postponed indefinitely.

Another and more successful effort was made in 1806, under which, one Parker built a bridge across Mill creek near the town of Cincinnati-a floating affair at the mouth of the stream, built of the yellow poplar that grew on the creek bottoms.

A man named White was the proprietor of a ferry-boat kept near for recourse when high water rendered the bridge useless, and it was conjectured, after the bridge went out, as related below, that he was the principal agent in the ingenious arrangement of the boat and bridge, which resulted in the destruction of the latter.

It is related that in the spring of 1807 or 1808 a freshet started loose one of Jefferson's gunboats, built at the mouth of Crawfish creek, just above Fulton, which was moored simply by a grape-vine. As the vessel went floating by Cincinnati, canoes and skiffs put out to her, and the waif was towed into the mouth of Mill creek and fastened under White's bridge. The rising waters, however, presently lifted the boat, with the bridge on its back, so that the string-pieces and all other fastenings gave way, and the people were only able to save the flooring of the bridge by stripping it off. The same planks, it is said, went into the floor of the first ware- house built in this town. The greater part of the bridge timbers, with the vessel beneath, were swept out by the rushing waters into the current of the Ohio.

The next candidate for destruction was a bridge con- structed over the same stream in 1811 by Ethan Stone, under an act of the legislature and a contract with the county commissioners, which lasted eleven years, and was then taken off by an immense freshet before it had been accepted by the commissioners, who required fur-

ther time for testing it. The loss therefore fell upon Mr. Stone, and it nearly ruined him. This structure was but one hundred and twenty feet in length, which shows how much narrower the ravine of Mill creek was then than now. Shortly after its loss, Mr. Stone put up another bridge, with arches, which the county bought and made free of toll. This is the one carried off by the great flood of 1832. But the structure was then substantially built, and floated off entire, keeping company down the Ohio, says Mr. Cist, with a Methodist meeting-house, which had come out of the Muskingum. The former lodged upon an island six miles above Louisville, and an effort was made to tow it back by steamer, but it had finally to be loaded in pieces upon a flatboat, and so brought up the river. It was subsequently destroyed by fire.

The only bridge across Deer creek, at this point, in the first decade of the century, was built of a single string- piece stretching from bank to bank (the ravine not being more than twelve feet in span, at least in 1800), protected against loss from floods by piling loads of stone on the edges. It had a slight descent at each end, about one- quarter the fall of the Deer Creek bridges afterwards.

The City Gazetteer of 1819 observes that within two or three years two bridges had been built within the city limits-one three hundred and forty feet long, at the confluence of Deer creek with the Ohio, and the other over the same stream, a few squares to the north. The compiler also notes the bridge over Mill creek, built by Mr. Stone, "a toll bridge, considered one of the finest in the State."

In the same year the Gazetteer discusses the practica- bility of a bridge over the Ohio:

It is now satisfactorily ascertained that a bridge may be permanent- ly constructed, and at an expense vastiy inferior to what has generally been supposed. The current of the Ohio here is never more rapid than that of the Susquehanna, Monongahela, and Allegheny sometimes are, where the experiment has been successfully proven. There is little doubt, if we can be allowed to form an opinion from the public enter- prise which now distinguishes our inhabitants, that very few years will elapse before a splendid bridge will unite Cincinnati with Newport and Covington.

It was not until September, 1846, however, that the first plan and report on the subject of the bridge was presented to an association of Cincinnati capitalists by the eminent engineer who ultimately constructed it -- Mr. John A. Roebling; not until ten years thereafter that a beginning was made of the great suspension bridge and not until ten years after that December 1, 1866, that the mighty structure was opened to foot passengers.

The following brief history of the work was included in Mr. Roebling's report of April 1, 1867, after its com- pletion :

It was observed that my first plan and report on the Ohio bridge was dated September 1, 1846. About the same time in the year 1856, after a lapse of ten years, the foundations for the towers were commenced. The work was actively prosecuted during 1857, when the great financial crisis of that memorable year put an involuntary stop to our operations. So far it had been almost exclusively a Covington enterprise. Cin- cinnati looked on, if not with a jealous eye, at least with great indiffer- ence and distrust. Left without the moral and financial support of the proud Queen of the West, the Covington enterprise was allowed to sleep, and that sleep came very near terminating in its final dis- solution by the threatened sale, at public auction, of the splendid

PEOPLEIOET

CINCINNATI

THE TYLER DAVIDSON FOUNTAIN.

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

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History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 109

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co. Number of Pages: 666

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666