History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 110

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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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 vastly 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

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THE TYLER DAVIDSON FOUNTAIN.

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masonry of the Cincinnati tower, carried up forty-five feet above the foundation, in order to satisfy the proprietor of the ground, whose claims had not been finally settled.

After all these reverses and drawbacks, most of the stockholders were disposed to consider their investments in the light of public sacri- fices. The old stock was freely offered at twenty-five per cent., thus indicating the hopelessness of a final success. But the enterprise counted a few of its friends who never flinched or gave up in despair. With these gentlemen, the eventual completion of their great work was only a question of time.

During the winter of 1862, when the whole power of the nation was absorbed in its struggle with that gigantic Southern rebellion, fresh en- deavors were made by the friends of the work, in conjunction with some prominent capitalists on the. Cincinnati side, to resuscitate their sleeping enterprise. The great exigencies of the war, by the movement of troops and materials across the river, made the want of a permanent bridge all the more felt. It is a fact, worthy of historical notice, that in the midst of a general national gloom and despondency, men could be found, with unshaken moral courage and implicit trust in the future political integrity of the Nation, willing to risk their capital in the pros- ecution of an enterprise which usually will only meet support in times of profound peace and general prosperity.

The prosecution of masonry was actively resumed in the spring of 1863. This was then the only public work in the country carried on by private enterprise; to crush the Rebellion, all the energies of the Nation had to be centred upon this one military task. From this time for- ward there was no lack of support; the different parts of the bridge were carried on as rapidly as could be done, with due regard to econ- omy. The new interest in the work, awakened in Cincinnati, kept pace with its progress, and its final completion is in a great measure due to those liberal residents of the Queen City, who have so freely in- vested in our enterprise, and have taken so active a part in its manage- ment. Under these favorable auspices we were enabled to open the roadway for foot travel on the first of December, 1866. One month later, on the first of January, 1867, the bridge was opened to vehicles, and from that day on has continued to serve as a permanent highway between the States of Ohio and Kentucky.

The following general description of the bridge is abreviated from Mr. Roebling's account :

By our charters the location of the towers was fixed at low water mark, so that the middle span should present an opening of no less than one thousand feet in the elear. To comply with this act, the dis- tance from centre to centre of tower measures one thousand and fifty- seven feet, which leaves a clear space of one thousand and five feet between the base of masonry. In the spring of 1832 the river rose sixty- two feet six inches above low water, and this is the elevation of the approach near Front street on the Cincinnati side. The centre of this street is only sixty feet above low water. But such an extreme rise may not occur again in a century. At this stage the width of water- way is over two thousand feet, including two blocks of buildings on either side. Except the intersection of Front by Vine and Walnut streets, thence to the approach, the entrance to the bridge on the Cin- cinnati side may be considered above water at all stages. The ap- proaclı on the Covington side is seventy-one feet above low water, therefore always dry.

On the Cincinnati side the abutment and anchor walls range with the line of Wharf row. This masonry extends solid through this block to Water street, a depth of one hundred and four feet. On the Cov- ington side the face of the southern abutment is in line with Front street. With the exception of the towers, the whole waterway between the two cities is thus left unobstructed, a width of one thousand six hundred and nineteen feet. The two small spans left open between the abutments and towers are each two hundred and eighty-one feet from face to centre of tower.

Owing to the persistent opposition of property, steamboat and ferry interests, the clear elevation of the floor above low water mark, in the centre of the river span, has been fixed at one hundred and twenty-two feet. With this elevation the ascent of the Cincinnati approach would have been over eight feet in one hundred feet. By a late enactment this height was reduced to one hundred feet. As the bridge stands now, its elevation is one hundred and three feet in the clear at a medium temperature of sixty degrees, rising one foot by extreme cold and sink- ing one foot below this mark in extreme heat. The greatest ascent is now only five feet in one hundred at the Cincinnati approach, and this diminishes as the suspended floor is reached. The consequence of this easy grade is that teams will load one quarter more than they were

accustomed to do when crossing the ferries, and this is done without abusing the horses. Although considerations of humanity towards animals are seldom entertained when framing bridge charters, during those debates at Columbus, when the application for lowering the height of the bridge was discussed before the legislature of Ohio, this ground was made an argument of great force in favor of a reduction. The result has fully justified this humane intention.

The floor of the bridge is composed of a strong wrought-iron frame, overlaid with several thicknesses of plank, and suspended to the two wire cables by means of suspenders attached every five feet. The sus- penders are arranged between the roadway and sidewalks. The latter are seven feet wide, and are protected by iron railings towards the river. The roadway is twenty feet wide, forming two tracks of four lines of iron trams, on which the wheels run, each tram being fourteen inches wide, to accommodate all kind of gauges. The whole width of the floor between the outside railings is thirty-six feet.

The general appearance of the elevation of the bridge is that of a finely turned arch, suspended between two massive towers, the arch carried over both side spans in tangential lines, which continue to de- scend over the approaches, until Front street is reached on the Cincin- nati side, and Second street on the Covington side. The symmetry of ' this arch will never be disturbed, because all disturbing forces are fully met by the inherent stiffness and stability of the work. Its curvature in the centre is subject to an imperceptible and gradual change of one foot, either higher or lower, caused by extreme variations of tempera- ture. With the exceptions of this, no other impression will be noticed to take place, neither from transient loads nor high winds.

To approach the Ohio bridge on the Cincinnati side, Water street, sixty-six feet wide, has been crossed by five plate girders, each of a depth of four feet, and strengthened by the suspension of wire ropes arranged on each side of the vertical plates. This bridge, therefore, is a combination of girders and suspension cables on a small scale. There will be no strife between the girders and the cables while contracting and expanding, as the material in both is the same. Now the same combinations have been carried out on the large bridge, only the order has been reversed. A floor of one thousand feet long is suspended to

two wire cables; as such, it is the lightest and the most economical, and at the same time the strongest structure which it is possible, in the nature of things, to put up. But a simply suspended platform is too flexible for the transit of heavy loads; it is also liable to be effected by high winds; therefore other means must be resorted to to insure stabil- ity and stiffness. As one of these means, two wrought-iron girders extend from one abutment to the other through the centre line of the bridge. One is twelve inches deep, and suspended underneath the floor beams, the other, of a depth of nine inches, rests on top, botlı be- ing connected by screw bolts, firmly embrace the crossbeams, and thus not only form a combined girder of twenty-eight inches deep, running lengthways, but also add greatly to the lateral stiffness of the framing of the bridge floor. The girders are rolled in lengths of thirty feet. The two trusses which extend along each side of the roadway, ten feet high, constitute another and more powerful element of stiffness and of stability.

Mr. James Parton wrote of this bridge in 1867 that "the whole population of Cincinnati might get upon it without danger of being let down into the water."

The Cincinnati Southern Railway bridge, a mile and a half below the Suspension, and the Louisville Short-Line bridge, also used for street-cars and other vehicles, and foot passengers, about a mile above the Suspension, also span the river opposite the city. They are both of more recent construction, the latter being finished in 1870.

At the beginning of 1877 there were eighty bridges belonging to the city, perhaps with a few small additional wooden girders. The number is about the same now. Thirty-one were of iron, forty-seven of wood, and two were of stone arches. Seven bridges were over the tracks of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati & Lafayette railroad, and are kept in repair by that corporation, but are in charge of the board of public works. Of the wooden bridges thirty- one are of the truss kind, and sixteen had wooden gird- ers. The expenditures for such improvements, from 1852

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to that year, were nearly one million dollars. Fifteen other bridges in the city, all belonging to railway or turn- pike companies, were not under the control of the de- partment.

In 1880 new work was done by the bureau of bridges to the value of nine thousand six hundred and nineteen dollars and thirty-one cents. . New bridges were planned or being constructed over Mill creek at Harrison avenue, over Lick run at Hart street, and over Hunt street at McMillan avenue- the last a ten thousand dollar bridge.

PUBLIC PARKS.

The parks of the city, with their respective areas, are as follows:

Eden park, comprising two hundred and six acres.

Burnet Woods park, one hundred and sixty-three and one-half acres.

Lincoln park, ten acres.

Washington park, five and seven-tenths acres.

Water-works park, East Front street.

Hopkins park, one acre.

City park, west side Plum street, between Fighth and Ninth, about two acres.

The value of the parks in April, 1879, was held in the mayor's message of that date to be: Eden, 2,004,000; Burnet Woods, 1,499,000; Lincoln, 660,000; Hopkins, 40,000; other park property, 55,000; total, 4, 198,000.

The Park commissioners (first appointed in 1860) have also charge of the Tyler Davidson fountain, on Fifth street. In 1872 the general assembly passed a law in- creasing the number of commissioners from three to nine. The board has in charge the improvement and expendi- tures of the public parks of the city, subject to approval of the common council.

Burnet Woods park was bought in 1872-3, and opened to the public August 26, 1874. The next report of the Park commissioners gives the following picture of the scene:

It was a joyous day; a gentle breeze was felt in the air; the sun re- tired behind the floating clouds, tempering its rays; the weather was perfect. No speeches, formal or informal, were made; and the woods, hitherto silent except when broken by the singing of birds were made vocal by the merry voices of both old and young of all classes, who with delight drank in the sweet strains of music, as in har- mony they, were sent forth from Currier's band. The people were there, and appeared more than satisfied that the city had secured, before it was too late, that beautiful spot so richly planted by Him whose plant- ing has been a study from the beginning of time, and will be till the end. The trees of Burnet Woods are grand specimens, and without rivals in the other parks, lifting their heads high up toward heaven, re- minding those who rest beneath their genial shade of the God who plants and creates man to enjoy. Burnet Woods will be the pride and joy of the people of the Queen City.

In this park are given the public concerts in the warm season, on the foundation of fifty thousand dollars, given for the purpose by the Hon. Wm. S. Groesbeck, April 7, 1875. Evening concerts have also been given at the ex- pense of the city in Lincoln and Washington parks. The first year of concerts in Eden park was 1872. This mag- nificent pleasure-ground was bought, to the amount of one hundred and fifty-six acres, December 6, 1865, of the heirs of Nicholas Longworth, and increased by suc- cessive purchases to its present dimensions. In 1869

improvements were begun upon it, and have since been vigorously prosecuted, developing great beauty of situa- tion and prospect. Colonel Maxwell says of it, in his Suburbs of Cincinnati :

The river; the miles of distant hills extending along the Kentucky side of the shore; the less remote highlands of Ohio, rolling away in multitudinous waves of improved lands; the suburbs of the city to the north and east, and the city at the foot of the hill, teeming with its busy thousands, make up a prospect so rare that it may be said the park, for location, has hardly its peer. The avenues meander by grace- ful curves through the groves, at every turn shutting out something the visitor has just seen, but revealing another landscape filled with new beauties.

Lincoln park was formerly the Potter's field of the city; if its lovely shades could tell its story they would reveal many a tale of crime and woe. An interesting in- cident of this period was thus narrated by the late Dr. Wright, in the last public address of his life:

Among the visitors to that lonely spot were the night-prowlers, the resurrectionists. The latter plied their vocation at a time when they supposed no eye was upon them-when they hoped the surroundings were as quiet and lifeless as the tombs they were about to despoil of their occupants. But there were times when clouds, nor storms, nor quiet steppings secured the prowler from observation. Just after mid- night, the face of the moon being hid, and not a twinkle of the nearest star to be seen-the whole earth seemingly clothed in gloom-the light from a near-by brick-kiln fell upon the person of one and made him a prominent object, just as he had thrown from his shoulder two heavy burdens, specimens of castaway humanity. The men at the kiln were anxious for an opportunity to discharge the loads of two rusty guns, which had been on hand for some time; and they concluded to shoot near enough to the audacious intruder to frighten him from the ground. He was more than frightened-he was wounded, but retained sufficient activity to effect his escape, leaving horse, wagon, and con- tents at the mercy of the marksmen.

THE TYLER DAVIDSON FOUNTAIN.

This supero benefaction stands upon the western half of the old Fifth Street market space, now called Foun- tain square, between Walnut and Vine streets. It is the donation to the public by the late Tyler Davidson, one of the merchant princes of Cincinnati, though the con- nection with it of his brother-in-law, Mr. Henry Probas- co, has been so intimate and liberal that it is sometimes called the Probasco monument. February 15, 1867, Mr. Davidson addressed a letter from Palermo, Sicily, to Mayor Wilstach, embodying his thought and intention of several years, in the offer to the city of a sufficient sum for the building of the fountain. The conditions of the gift were simply that the fountain should always be kept in good order, with an abundant supply of pure water, free to the use of all; that it should be supplied with water twelve hours a day in summer, ten in the spring and fall, and six in the winter, except when the murcury should fall below the freezing point; that a policeman should always be near it to preserve its cleanliness and to guard it from abuse; that the water should be used only for drinking and ornamental purposes, except in case of fire in the immediate vicinity; and that the doner and his legal representatives should have the right to hold the city responsible for the constant fulfillment of the conditions. The grant was accepted, but legal and other difficulties had to be overcome in securing the proposed site and the procurement of a satisfactory design for the fountain. All were overcome, however, and on the sixth of November, 1871, it was unveiled in the presence of

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an immense multitude, and with appropriate ceremonies. Mr King in his Hand-book of Cincinnati gives the fol- lowing description of the work :

It stands in the centre of the esplanade, on Fountain square. The massive base and the circular basin are made of porphyry, quarried and polished in Europe. The fountain itself is cast in bronze, of con- demned cannon procured from the Danish government. The castings weigh twenty-four tons. The diameter of the basin is forty-three feet, and the weight of porphyry eighty-five tons. The height of the foun- tain above the esplanade is thirty-eighty feet. The bronze pedestal on the base of porphyry is square; the four sides bearing representations in relief of the four principal uses of water,-water-power, navigation, the fisheries, and steam. The pedestal is surmounted by four semi- circular bronze basins, each pierced in the centre by a single jet an inch in diameter. From the centre of the four semi-circular basins rises a second bronze at a pedestal, surmounted by a square column, on which stands the Genius of Water, a draped female figure, with outstretched arms, from the palms and fingers of whose hands the water falls in spray into the four semi-circular basins. On either side of the square column is a group of figures of heroic size. The eastern group repre- sents a mother leading a nude child to the hath; the western group, a · daughter giving her aged father a draught of water; the northern group, a man standing on the burning roof of his homestead, with uplifted hand, and praying for rain; the southern group, a· husbandman with an idle plough, and at his side a dog panting from heat, supplicates Heaven for rain. There are life-size figures in niches at each corner of the bronze pedestal beneath the semi-circular basins. One represents a nude boy with a lobster, which he has just taken from a net, and is holding aloft in triumph with one hand; another, a laughing girl, play- ing with a necklace of pearls; the third, a scini-nude girl, listening to the sound of the waves in a sea-shell which she holds to her ear; the fourth, a boy well muffled, strapping on his skates. There are four drinking-fountains, equi-distant on the rim of the porphyry basin. Each is a bronze pedestal, surmounted by a life-size bronze figure. One represents a youth astride, a dolphin; the second, youth kneeling, hold- ing one duck under his left arm, and grasping by the neck another; the third is that of a youth, around whose right leg a snake has coiled, which the youth has grasped with his left hand, and is about to strike with a stone that he holds in his right. The fourth figure is that of a youth kneeling on the back of a huge turtle, and grasping it by the neck. Water issues from the mouths of the dolphin, duck, snake, and turtle. The fountain was designed by August Von Kreling, of Nureni- berg, and cast hy Ferdinand Von Müller, director of the Royal bronze foundery of Bavaria. The cost of the fountain itself was one hundred and five thousand dollars in gold. Together with the esplanade the total cost was over two hundred thousand dollars.

SEWERAGE.

The situation of Cincinnati, in nearly all parts, is re- markably favorable for a good system of sewerage. In- deed, so excellent is the natural drainage of the city that it was not until 1860, under a new law of that year, that the building of sewers began, and then chiefly for local purposes, and 1864 came before a thorough and system- atic drainage by sewers was instituted. In two years more there were twenty-six miles of sewers in the city. The board of commissioners of sewers was created by the new code in 1869, and began operations the next year, when effective work was done, seventeen miles of sewers being laid, and much other work done. In 1872 the great Eggleston avenue sewer was constructed, and five hundred and thirty thousand and eleven dollars expended. In 1879 there were nearly thirty-nine miles of sewers in the city, besides those laid by private enterprise. The next year thirty-three thousand one hundred and fifty- eight lineal feet of pipe sewers were laid, and four thou- sand eight hundred and seven of brick sewers, making a total of 37,965, or 7.19 miles, at a cost of about $75,000. There were, then in the city, 47.348 miles of sewers, with about 20,000 slants for house connections.

A sewer at the city infirmary had also been laid by the bureau of sewers' construction, in which bureau of the chief engineer's office of the board of public works the business is now transacted, a sewer 3,864 feet long at the city infirmary near Carthage.

GAS.

The Queen City, unlike many large cities, has never had its own gas-works. The Cincinnati Gas and Coke company was organized in 1841, and has since enjoyed a monopoly of the city's supply. In 1865, at the expira- tion of the twenty-five years during which the company was to have the exclusive right of furnishing gas to the city with privilege of purchase then, the purchase of the works was provided for by the council, but not consum- mated, and ten years' extension of privilege was given to the company. The value of their works and appurten- ances is more than $6,000,000, and the stock of the company owning them is among the most valuable in the city. The cost of light to the corporation of Cincinnati in 1880 was $200,313.69, including that of two hundred and four new gas lamps erected, and two hundred and nineteen gasoline lamps. The total number of gas lamps in use January 1, 1881, was 6,334; gasoline, 1,018; lineal feet of gas pipe in use, 212 miles and 2,160 feet.

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History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 110

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