History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 11

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

million dollars. Several streets are paved with asphalt, and not a few retain the old-fashioned but substantial surface consisting of small boulder stones gathered from the bed of the river. Brick is also used as a paving material, and, to a small extent, wood. The large, firm blocks of blue limestone, from the inexhaustible quarries of the river hills, supply a building material not more esteemed for its great durability than for its remarkable beauty. Stone of various kinds is also imported for building purposes, especially granites and red-sandstones. Brick and iron are extensively used in the construction of houses.

Cincinnati holds a very respectable rank among cities on the score of architect- ural achievements. The greater number of her public buildings were designed by home architects and constructed by local builders. The city, however, boasts of one of the noblest designs of Richardson-namely, the Chamber of Commerce build- ing, on the southwest corner of Fourth and Vine streets. The City Hall, the Armory, the great Exposition and Music Hall, and the Odeon, all designed by Hannaford, are among the most imposing of our public buildings. The Art Mu- seum and the Art Academy, in Eden Park, are noble specimens of the work of the architect, Mclaughlin. The government building, in which are the post office, the custom house and the United States courts, was designed by Mullet.

The terminal stations belonging to the great railroads, the hotels, theaters, apartment houses, business blocks, club houses, hospitals and other benevolent in- stitutions, the school buildings and churches of Cincinnati are, as a rule, quite as large, elegant and tasteful in their several lines as are the corresponding struct- ures in rival American cities.

Of numerous private residences in or near the city, it may be said without exag- geration that they are magnificent. There are scores of stately mansions in the suburbs of Cincinnati, more costly, more beautiful, and far more conveniently and richly furnished than many a prince's palace in Europe.

THE PEOPLE OF CINCINNATI; THEIR NUMBER, CHARACTERISTICS AND AMUSEMENTS.

In the foregoing pages an attempt is made to sketch the beginnings of Cincin- nati; to show that her wealth was derived from three main sources-agriculture, trade and manufacture-and to present a brief summary and description of the city's present condition. It remains to write a few paragraphs concerning the peo- ple of Cincinnati, their number, character and amusements.

There is a saying that corporations have no soul; but they certainly have the passions of ambition, pride, emulation. Great cities, like powerful families, or enterprising men, are influenced by the spirit of rivalry; they strive to excel, and are humiliated by failure and defeat: One element of distinction among cities is largeness of population. Though it does not follow that the most populous city must be the most excellent, any more than that the heaviest man must be the wisest, yet there are many advantages which the accumulation of numbers can give. The more people, the more production, the more demand for public improvements, the more activity, the more accumulation of capital, the more power. At least so it is generally thought, and therefore the census returns are regarded as an index to the prosperity of states and cities. According to the census of 1890 Cincinnati had within the limits of her corporation boundaries 296,308, and it is estimated that the number has since increased to 300,000. But this enumeration does not include that great multitude of families which, though not in the city, are of it-families residing in the suburbs, but maintained by city capital, and by the labor of fathers, sons, and often of daughters and mothers, following their vocation within the city limits. These thousands flock to their places of business every morning, coming into town by street cars and suburban trains, and returning in the evening to their suburban homes. From the Kentucky cities, Covington and Newport, and the fast- growing towns of Bellevue, Dayton and Ludlow, thousands who carry on regular

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

business in Cincinnati come swarming over the great bridges, or on ferry boats, _ and go back at night to sup and sleep. Covington has a population of nearly 35,000, and Newport has about 25,000. These cities and the other Kentucky towns adjacent to them belong commercially to the mother city, Cincinnati. If we include as properly belonging to the population of Cincinnati the people of these Kentucky cities, and of the suburban towns and villages which are directly depend- ent on this city, and have their business and social interests in its institutions, the whole number of inhabitants amounts to about 500,000. There is no reason why the greater part of these, the people residing in the suburbs on the Ohio side of the river, might not be taken into the city proper by annexation, as so many have been thus added to Chicago and other cities. Whatever the City Directory may show to be the actual population housed inside of the corporation lines, a true count will also prove that within the circle naturally comprising the city's unified interests and improvements half a million people now dwell. By counting these the Cincinnati statistician may claim that his city ranks in population fifth in the scale in the list of American cities. It is impossible to foretell what changes, abso- lute and relative, the census of 1900 may reveal in regard to centers of population; but from present prospects there is no reason to fear that Cincinnati will not con- tinue to grow. Now that facilities for the rapid spread of population on the upland are provided, there is no limit to the available room for expansion. The whole of Hamilton county is eligible for city purposes. The rate of increase of population for the last eighty years has been regular and comparatively rapid. The popula- tion in 1810 was 750; in 1820, 9,602; in 1830, 24,831; in 1840, 46,338; in 1850, 115,438; in 1860, 161,044; in 1870, 216,239; in 1880, 255, 139; in 1890, 296,308.

But numbers are not the only or the chief thing that makes a city great. Not how many but what kind of men determines the character of a community. Every city in the long run finds its true mission in the world's affairs, and fultills its des- tiny. Cincinnati has passed through several phases of development, and present indications seem to promise for her a high career in the skilled industries, liberal arts, and in enterprises social, intellectual and æsthetic. No longer is she called Pork- opolis or the Tyre of the West, but the City of Beautiful Suburbs, the Paris of America, the Central Metropolis of Art and Music, the Social Capital of the Ohio Valley.

A majority of the original settlers of Cincinnati was from the middle States, from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. They were property-getting, steady - going conservatives, who believed in prudential maxims, safe land-titles, and re- liable neighbors. They were patriotic and moral, honoring George Washington, and the precepts of "Poor Richard's Almanac;" their religion while not so aggressive as that of the Puritans was quite as austere, and they found the Bible full of stern requisitions and uncompromising judgments. These men from the middle zone, between the Yankees of New England and the Planters of Virginia, came to the Miami Country, bought their lots, and went about their business, "im- proving" the settlement, and putting money in their purses.

The shaping influences that modeled young Cincinnati came from Philadelphia. The town was laid out regularly, its streets like those of its prototype were named Walnut, Vine, Sycamore, and so on, from the sylvan catalogue. Dr. Drake, a native of New Jersey, completed his medical education in Philadelphia, and brought to the West ideas and opinions imparted by Dr. Wistar, and, like a second Frank- lin, he impressed many of the early institutions of Cincinnati with the stamp of his conclusions, original or acquired. Dr. Drake's "Picture of Cincinnati," published in 1815, was patterned after a little book called "Picture of Philadelphia," and the author more than once draws comparisons between the new city on the Ohio, and the old one on the Delaware.

The direct influence of the middle States was soon modified by two other pow-

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

erful elements which flowed to the Ohio Valley, and to Cincinnati, from New Eng- land and from the South. The history of civilization presents no more signifieant chapter than that which explains the blending of different classes of people, and the interaction of ideas, in Cincinnati, from the close of the war of 1812, to the end of the Civil war. Massachusetts and Virginia were brought together, with all their respective prejudices and predilections, under new conditions, in a new town, and were held together and compounded by the moderate sentiments of Pennsylvania. After the war of 1812-15, the tide of migration to the Ohio Valley was swollen by a for- eign stream: the Germans began to pour in, and the Irish. One consequence of this, which gradually developed, was an inhospitable opposition to foreigners in general, and the consequent organization of the political party called the "Know- Nothings." Cincinnati and Louisville were chief eenters from which started the movement, the old Cincinnati Times, and Prentice's Louisville Journal being its organs. The discussions of the " Know-Nothing" campaign involved not only political questions, but points of religion and social order, which led to fundamental inquiry concerning nationality, and race, and forced debate on the nature of liberty and the primary rights of man. The final result was a larger toleration, a liberal welcom- ing of the foreigner, and the doing away with slavery. Whatever the nationality, color, or belief of the new-comer to Cincinnati, he is now sure of a friendly recep- tion, and his tenure of personal freedom depends upon his good behavior as a citi- zen. The population of Cincinnati, like the English language, is composite, though most of the elements are naturalized, making a genuine American municipality. No other class of citizens is more loyal to the city, or more obedient to the State than the German, a class embracing more than one hundred thousand individuals, enough to form a large city. That part of the city which lies north and east of the canal is called "Over the Rhine, " because it was once specially occupied by Germans who there kept up most of the customs of the "Fatherland." But now the Ger- man inhabitants are to be found in every quarter of the city-they own much prop- erty, and are distinguished for industry, frugality and public spirit. They are devoted patrons of education, and the foremost promoters of music and the fine arts. The German language is taught in the public schools, the city has several German newspapers, some book-stores, a German theatre, and innumerable German societies. The Germans take a leading part in city politics, and represent every shade of opinion on religious subjects, some belonging to the Church of Rome, some to the Protestant Churches, some to the Jewish, and some to what is called the "Broad Church," which is no sect at all.

The Irish population of Cincinnati is important, numerically and otherwise. They are mostly Catholic. Not a few of the leading citizens are Irish; they are prominent on every public occasion, are noted for energy and wit, for bravery and enthusiasm. The "Emerald Island " is never forgotten here; nor the cause of " Home Rule; " nor St. Patrick's Day; nor the names of Burke, Goldsmith and Tom Moore. It is a glorious memory in Cincinnati that when the Union drums beat to arms in 1861, the Irish and the German soldier, side by side with the American, marched away to the common defense of liberty, and that, among the thirty-six generals whom the Queen City gave to the army, a noble quota drew their blood from German or Irish stock.

The Hebrew element in Cincinnati is large, energetic and zealous. Many of the business establishments are owned by Jews, and much of the best residential property. Two magnificent synagogues, and several smaller temples of Hebrew worship may here be seen; the Hebrew Union College is located here; and here the American Israelite, is published. The Jews are profoundly interested in education, and the high schools and the university are largely attended by their young people.

The several racial, national and sectional elements just noticed as entering into the make-up of the Cincinnati people, tend to unite and coordinate. The band that

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

binds the sheaf together is the Anglo-Saxon element, which, of course, is numeri- cally strongest. The city, while it is cosmopolitan in its population, is distinctly American in its ideals.

The dependence of Cincinnati upon agriculture and manufacture, determines the occupation of a large body of her people. Most are busily engaged in earning a living, or amassing a surplus. There are many property owners, and but few that are absolutely poor. Food, clothing and fuel are cheap in Cin- cinnati. The markets are stocked with the meats of the North and the fruits of the South.

The half-northern, half-southern character of the city, a natural result of its lo- cation and climate, is discernible in the habits and tastes of the people, in their favorite pursuits and leisurely ways. One does not encounter, on Fourth street, the rush and noise of New York or Chicago; he sees a rather easy-going multitude, who seem to be living at home and not going on a journey. They are indeed a home- loving people, given to hospitality and domestic enjoyment.

Compared with other western cities, Cincinnati is old, and has the air of an old city, with well established institutions and customs. She has a history, and traditions and local haunts fraught with dear associations. She has hereditary estates and old families who derive distinction from honored ancestors. She has great wealth, and a class of rich people who have retired from the rush of business to the repose of leisure. Society is as completely organized, and all its distinctions are as rigidly observed in Cincinnati, as in Boston, or conservative old Philadelphia.

If it were asked: "How do the people of Cincinnati employ their leisure? How do they rest and recreate themselves in a city so far inland?" The answer is, their inland situation has compelled them to invent a hundred modes of enjoyment, sev- eral of which are peculiar to the town. Perhaps it is due to the introduction of some foreign tastes and customs, derived from Germany and more southern countries of Europe, that many of the modes of recreation in vogue here, have become popular. Sunday amusements, both out of doors, and in theaters and public halls, are common.

The number and variety of summer amusements that attract crowds, in and around Cincinnati, are extraordinary. When the warm weather comes on, the Zoological garden, with its wonderful collections, its pony-tracks, its " Mr. and Mrs. Rooney," trained chimpanzees, its concerts and fireworks, is thrown open to young and old. Throngs of people go by steamboat to "Coney Island," on the Ohio, or by rail to "Woodsdale Park," on the Big Miami. Other multitudes swarm to the hill-tops, or to the Art Museum in Eden Park. Burnet Woods Park is always open to the public, and there, on stated days, concerts are given by the best bands that can be engaged. There are innumerable summer picnics and driving parties, and trips in sailboats or naphtha launches on the river. Hundreds camp out, along the Little Miami, and the Ohio, to hunt and fish. Short excursions are made to Fort Thomas, the United States Military Post, just across the river, in Kentucky, to see the soldiers parade, and to hear the music; or to Fort Ancient, the famous earthwork, some dis- tance up the Miami; and longer outings to High Bridge over the Kentucky river, or to the Mammoth Cave, or up the river to Blennerhassett's Island, or down to Louis- ville or to New Orleans. Besides all these attractive pleasures, there are swimming schools, riding schools, tennis courts, bicycle clubs, gymnasiums, field day sports, base ball games, and the exciting annual races at Chester Park, near Carthage, and at the far-famed race-track of Latonia, in Kentucky. Occasionally the citizens are treated to a great military display, or a sham battle. For a number of years the Order of the Cincinnati has provided for the public entertainment every summer, an immense spectacular show, representing on a vast scale such subjects as "The Fall of Babylon," "Rome under Nero," "The Last of the Montezumas." But most notable of all the city's enterprises designed both to amuse and elevate her

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

people are the grand "Expositions," held at Music Hall, and the delightful May Musical Festivals which draw audiences from all parts of the United States.

When cold weather sets in, the craving for excitement and amusement is grati- fied within doors, excepting when a deep snow makes coasting possible, or a cold wave brings a coating of ice for the canal. the river and the ponds in the parks. But the absorbing pleasures of winter in the Queen City are those of the reception room, the ball and the social party. There is a constant round of banquets, dances, card parties, fashionable weddings, club-meetings, lectures, concerts and visits. " So- ciety" controls everything. The several church organizations, with their adjunct societies for instruction and entertainment, make duty a pleasure, and utilize, for religious ends, the banquet, the bazaar, the illustrated lecture, the concert, the pri- vate theater, and even the dance. The Unity Lectures for the million are given on Sunday afternoon, as are the excellent concerts known as the "" Sunday Pops," the word " Pop" being an abbreviation of the word popular. The eight theaters, which the city amply supports, attract crowds of pleasure seekers to their ever-varying performances, which are given every night of the week, and frequently at after- noon matinees.

CONCLUSION.

In concluding this sketch of Cincinnati, past and present, it is perhaps due to the reader to say that no attempt at completeness or continuity of narrative has been made, nor any endeavor to furnish a minute description of the city and its people. Only a broad outline is given; only the most significant facts and figures, and the most suggestive generalizations. Although written in full sympathy with the subject, the chapter is based upon clear evidence, amply proven, and claims to be a judicial statement rather than an advocate's special plea. If it be such, the sketch seems to justify the conclusion that Cincinnati may be proud of her past career, contented with her present prosperity, and confident of her future progress and distinction.

CHAPTER VI. PARKS, SOCIETIES AND OBJECTS OF INTEREST.

PICTURESQUE SCENERY AND LOVELY PARKS-THE GARDEN OF EDEN-SECRET SOCIETIES AND SOCIAL CLUBS-PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND INSTITUTIONS-THE POST OFFICE AND ITS BUSI- NESS-POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS-ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN-BANKS AND BANKING.

T HE location of Cincinnati is one of peculiar natural beauty. The city is prin- cipally built on a plateau, through which the river passes from the southeast to the southwest. This plain is nearly twelve miles in circumference, and is bisected by the river in nearly equal parts. On the north half is Cincinnati, and on the south are Covington, Newport and Dayton, in Kentucky. This great plain is en- tirely surrounded by a chain of hills, rising to an altitude of three hundred feet, forming one of the most beautiful natural amphitheaters to be found anywhere on the continent, from whose hilltops may be seen the splendid panorama of the cities below, with the winding Ohio, spanned by five magnificent bridges, trains, steamers, and incessant movement along its shores. No large city of the United States pre- sents such a strikingly picturesque variety of position and scenery. The hills which surround the extensive plain upon which the city stands present to the eye of the beholder one continued ridge, irregularly elevated and of diversified configurations. They do not exhibit an aspect of colossal grandeur, but are always beautiful and pleasing to the eye. There are many gentle and varying slopes, which are mostly

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

covered with imposing and stately residences, and surrounded by lofty native trees - and beautiful foliage. And when ascending these hills by the inclined planes of the street railways, the scene becomes more beautiful by degrees, reminding one of the dissolving views of the kaleidoscope. On the east the amphitheater is approached by a narrow way on the bank of the river from the valley of the Little Miami, whilst. the Mill creek valley affords an outlet to the north west. From the Kentucky hills in the south the view of the city is particularly fine, as they afford a greater scope or range of vision to the eye. The cities of Covington and Newport, divided by the Licking river, appear as settings in the foreground of the picture, and add to the beauty of the whole. The site of the city is particularly fine, while for health and drainage a better spot could not have been selected in the lovely alley of the Ohio, on which to build a great city. W. J. Kenny, in his "Illustrated Guide to Cincin- nati," gives much valuable information relating to the city, its environs, parks, societies and objects of interest, for which we acknowledge our indebtedness for many facts used in this chapter.

CITY PARKS.

There are several very beautiful parks within the environs of Cincinnati. In name and area they may be enumerated as follows: Garfield, 1 acre; Hopkins, 0.90 acre; Washington, 5.60 acres; Lincoln, 10 acres; Markley Farm, 148.81 acres; Burnet Woods, 163.50 acres; Eden, 209.25 acres. Total, 539.06 acres. When the Markley Farm is deducted, which is not yet strictly park property, the acreage is reduced to 390.25. While some of these "breathing spots" are very attractive, Mayor Mosby strongly advocates the acquisition of more ground for park purposes. He claims, and rightly too, that they are the public lawns, as it were, where all the people have a right to congregate and to enjoy nature in the particular way they choose. The census of 1890 shows that the portion of Cincinnati below the hills is probably more densely populated than any city in the Union. Hence the necessity for more " breathing spots." The value of the present parks will reach four and a half millions of dollars.

Burnet Woods Park, north of the city, was purchased in 1872, and opened to the public in August, 1874. The following year Hon. William S. Groesbeck gave the munificent sum of $50,000, as the nucleus of a fund for the purpose of giving public concerts. during the warm weather. Concerts are also given in other parks, and all are greatly enjoyed by the people.

Lincoln Park was formerly the Potter's field of the city, and if its lovely shades could tell its story they would reveal many a tale of crime and woe. Here is where the resurrectionists used to ply their gruesome occupation by securing specimens of castaway humanity for the medical colleges, and here they met with many a fright while despoiling the graves of the friendless. But all is changed now. Childhood gambols on the green, and mirtli, frivolity and pleasure banish all thoughts of weird associations, and in time all knowledge of the former uses of the ground will be for- gotten.

The most charming of all the parks is Eden. Suggestive name. It lies upon a hill, east of the city proper, between the city and East Walnut Hills, with Columbia avenue on the east, and Gilbert avenue on the west. Its lawn is beautiful; its grassy hill-slopes and valleys are penetrated in every direction by broad, smooth carriage ways. The two new city reservoirs so exactly correspond with the charac- ter of the scenery that they look almost like natural lakes. They have each a capac- ity of one hundred millions of gallons of water, and are valued at four and a quarter millions of dollars. In 1865 the city purchased of the Longworth estate what was known as the "Garden of Eden." It contained 156 acres, and cost the sum of $3,000 per acre. In 1869 twelve acres more were purchased from Washington McLean for $125,000, and four and one-fourth acres of Joseph Whittaker, for

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

$100,000; and nineteen acres of the estate of Nicholas Longworth, for which the city was to pay an annual ground rent of $5,500. Another small purchase from another party was also made; which brought the park up to its present area. The cost has been great, but in time the benefits will be greater. The avenues and paths pass through the grounds in the most graceful curves, and as the park lies three hundred feet above the river and the lower portion of the city, the views rise almost to the degree of sublimity. As remarked by a writer: "The river, the miles of dis- tant hills extending along the Kentucky side of the stream, the less remote hills 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 the busy thousands, makes up a scene so fair that it may be said that the park hardly has its peer in natural situation."

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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 11

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1592

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592