USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Sketches and statistics of Cincinnati in 1851 > Part 29
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I now bring my survey of the railroad influences-those which now exist, and those in prospect-which are so materially to affect the destinies of Cincinnati, to a close. Had time and space allowed, many others, as well as other radiating points, would have been
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CINCINNATI -ITS DESTINY.
passed in review ; but as I have said, the reader is trusted to trace and apply their influence.
This examination exhibits fourteen great trunk roads, radiating to every point of the compass, and each one terminating at either a great commercial point on the sea-board, or in a mineral or agricultural re- gion, with all their influences converging to this centre. Our river con- nections, canals, and turnpikes, are not embraced, they being in use before. Nor have I alluded to the scientific, the social, the artistic, or the philanthropic influences, all of which operate under the same law of the spheres, in circles rising to the climax, which must centralize somewhere ; and the political, monetary, and commercial so imper- fectly, that I fear their weight in the scale, will not be appreciated. The great cities of the old world were the growth of centuries, each under the influence of some great, but sluggish force. Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, are forced cities, built under the iron rule of des- potism, to decay, doubtlessly, upon the overthrow of arbitrary power. Fashion and taste, combined with national pride, built Paris. " Paris is France," because France yields everything for her greatness. Diplomacy, backed by the navies of England, built London. The statesmanship which centralized there, became the arbiter in con- tinental quarrels, and constituted her the highest point of political influence ; and capital, which is always timid, took shelter under the double guarantee of hier political wisdom and physical power. This capital has so aggregated, that it controls the world's monetary affairs, and now defies all the influences which threaten London. And New York-what built her ? without doubt, it was her com- merce-carried on mainly through foreign agencies. The legitimate imports of a country, are made by cities lying nearest the consumers ; but the forced trade, that is, the portion which comes not upon order, but is the unsold stock of the manufacturer, to be forced without limit-goes to the most noted sale point. New York had been made so before, by being the factor for New England ; and hence the cen- tralization of foreign agencies at that point; but when a more cen- tral distributing point offers, where go these agencies ? But I think I have said enough to show that Cincinnati is the grand centre of the United States, not geographically, perhaps, but the centre of the forces and influences, which, when readjusted after the introduction of the great disturbing cause, the railroad, must settle and deter- mine the destiny and relative position of the various cities or centres, which are now struggling for supreme ascendency on this continent.
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BIOGRAPHY -GEORGE W. NEFF.
BIOGRAPHY-GEORGE W. NEFF.
GEORGE W. NEFF, was born at Frankford, a village near Phila- delphia, on the 19th day of May, 1800. He was the youngest son of Peter and Rebecca Neff, and lost his father when only four years of age, and was left under the care of a pious mother, who early instilled into his mind, those principles of religious truth, which ripened into fruit of later years. At the village school he was instructed in the rudiments of a plain English educa- cion, and when twelve years of age, was sent to Basking Ridge, New Jersey, where he remained for several years, in the family of Mr. Southard, father of the late Hon. Samuel L. Southard, whose kindness made a lasting impression on his heart, and whose memory he ever cherished with filial regard. Mr. Finley, afterward the Rev. Dr. Finley, had charge of the academy at Basking Ridge, and fitted young Neff for the junior class at Nassau Hall, Princeton, New Jersey, which he entered in 1816, and where he graduated with distinguished honor in 1818, in the largest class that had ever passed through the college. He was also a member of the " Clio" society, which presented him with a gold medal, on his retiring. Soon after he left the college, he commenced the study of the law, with the Hon. Horace Binney, in Philadelphia, and was admitted to practice in 1821, and attended to the duties of his profession in Philadelphia, for three years, exhibiting talents, that in due time would have won for him a proud position as an advocate. More alluring prospects of wealth, were presented to him in the west, where his brothers were about establishing a mercantile firm. He became a partner with them in trade, and in 1824, removed to this city, where he resided during the remainder of his life. His public spirit and enterprising benevolence, became soon manifest, and every judicious project for the improvement of the city, found in him a warm friend and zealous advocate.
He founded the present fire department of the city ; was the ori- ginator of the fire association, and its first president; and was the first president of the Independent Fire Engine and Hose Co .- Rovers-also of Independent Fire Co., No. 2.
He was the first president of the Little Miami Railroad Co. He drew up the charter of the Fireman's Insurance Co., and had it passed ; and was the president from its foundation, until his death. He was for many years a director in the Lafayette bank ; was pre-
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BIOGRAPHY -GEORGE W. NEFF.
sident of the city council for a series of years, and took a warm in- terest in the various plans formed from time to time, for increasing the business and developing the resources of Cincinnati.
Deliberate in forming an opinion, he was not backward in avow- ing it; firm in maintaining his sentiments, he had the ability to pre- sent his thoughts in the most striking manner to the minds of others.
He was for many years, and until his death, a trustee in Lane Seminary, at Walnut Hills. He aided greatly in establishing Spring Grove cemetery. About three years before his death, a severe ill- ness gave a shock to his system, from which, he never entirely recovered ; although his health was tolerably good until a few months prior to his death, a severe attack of jaundice terminated in dropsy, and after an illness of about five months, the latter part of it at the Yellow Springs, in this State, he departed this life, on the 9th of August, 1850. His remains were brought to the city, and, although, at a time, when there was so much sickness, that nearly all his intimate friends were absent from Cincinnati, his funeral was one of the largest that our city has ever witnessed, the firemen all turning out, and on a very short notice ; and having their different alarm bells tolled during the procession. His remains were deposited in Spring Grove cemetery, where he had a beautiful lot.
The " Independent Fire Co.," as a testimony of respect, appointed a committee, and had a lithograph likeness taken from a daguerreo- type. These portraits are the basis of that which may be found in this volume.
SHIP BUILDING ON THE OHIO.
THERE has always been more or less, ship and steamboat building and finishing, here ; but this business involves large disbursements in advance ; and a deficiency, at Cincinnati, of bank capital and bank accommodations, which exist abundantly at other places, has induced many steamboat owners to build elsewhere. On these accounts, we are not building and finishing as many steamboats as in former years ; but the construction and equipment of ship vessels, which had been commenced years ago, at Marietta and other points, seems likely to become a permanent, and finally, an extensive business, at this, and some other points on the Ohio.
Within the last six years, the barque Muskingum, burthen 350
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SHIP BUILDING ON THE OHIO.
tons, was built at Marietta, and being loaded at Cincinnati, made a voyage to Liverpool. Her arrival there was thus noticed in the Liverpool Times, of the 30th January, 1845:
" Arrival direct from Cincinnati .- We have received a file of Cin- cinnati papers, brought by the first vessel that ever cleared out at that city for Europe. The building of a vessel of 350 tons, on a river seventeen hundred miles from the sea, is itself a very remark- able circumstance, both as a proof of the magnificence of the American rivers, and the spirit of the American people. The navigating of such a vessel down the Ohio and the Mississippi, and then across the Atlantic, would, a few years ago, have been thought impossible. She brings a cargo of provisions ; and we trust, that the success of this first adventure, will be such as to encourage its frequent repe- tition. The name of the vessel is the Muskingum."
The building of the Muskingum was followed by that of various others ; and John Swasey, of the firm of J. Swasey & Co., a public spirited citizen here, has taken a deep interest in, and as rank a hold of this subject, as any individual can do, whose active capital is embarked in other business pursuits. The following letter was written by that firm, in answer to inquiries made of them by the author of "Cincinnati in 1851," and affords an intelligent view of this enterprise, so deeply interesting to the west.
" In regard to the building of sea-going vessels at this point- Cincinnati-our experience convinces us that the business can be carried on here to as good advantage as in any of the eastern cities, and at less cost than vessels of equal quality can be built anywhere on the sea-board. Within the last eighteen months, we have built and completed three vessels ; one full-rigged brig, the Louisa, of 200 tons, and two barques, the John Swasey and Salem, of 300 and 350 tons, measurement burthen. The Louisa and John Swasey took in full cargoes at this port for Salem and Boston, proceeded down the river, in tow of Steamers, for New Orleans, with battened hatches and royal masts on end, and put right out to sea, stopping at New Orleans only long enough to bend sails and ship a crew. These craft have proved themselves fine vessels and fast sailers. The Louisa lately returned to Salem from a six months' trading voyage to the west coast of Africa; and the Captain reports her sailing and weather qualities to be of the highest order. The last named vessel, the Salem, which was launched about a month ago, left this port light, in the expectation of being able to procure, at
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SHIP BUILDING ON THE OHIO.
New Orleans, a profitable freight, for California, eastern ports, or Europe. Three years ago, we built at Marietta, on the Muskingum, two schooners, the Grace Darling and Ohio, of 150 tons burthen ; both of these vessels we loaded at this port, with provisions and other produce for Salem. These vessels have ever since been engaged in the African trade, and are in no respect behind any vessels of their class. About three years ago the Minnesota, a ship of 850 tons burthen, was built at this place, for Captain Deshon, of New Orleans, by Messrs. Litherbury & Co. She was intended for the . cotton carrying trade, but has since made several voyages to differ- ent parts of the world, and proved herself a good ship. We are now getting out the timber for another ship of 350 tons, to be built at Covington, and ready to launch in the early part of next fall. The timber for this vessel we procure from the neighborhood of Point Pleasant, on the Kanawha.
" There is nothing to prevent vessels built on the Ohio river, being equal in every respect of material, model, construction, &c., to vessels built in any of the eastern cities, or elsewhere. The princi- pal advantage we have, consists in the abundance of excellent oak timber, with which the country on both sides of the Ohio abounds ; and an incidental advantage in the certainty of being able to obtain, at this place, a full cargo of provisions, breadstuffs, &c., for eastern ports or Europe, at any time during the winter season.
" The disadvantages consist in the obstruction to navigation at the Falls of the Ohio, and in being able to get out when loaded, only at high stages of the river. There are other minor disadvantages, which, as the business increases, will be done away with altogether, such as being obliged to procure from the east, a number of articles necessary in the full equipment of the vessels."
Eastern ship-builders are also becoming interested in this subject. In a letter dated from this city to his friends at home, a practical ship-builder from the state of Maine, says,-" I have now been en- gaged in ship building, upon the margin of the Ohio river, for the last two years. I have built two barques and a brig, and have another on the stocks. I find timber abundant, of good quality, of easy access, and the cost not one-fourth of New York prices ; copper, iron, and cordage, at eastern prices-rents and boarding, far below. Ship plank, worth forty dollars per thousand in New York, are placed upon the banks of the Ohio from five to eight dollars. Floor timbers, worth in New York forty-five cents per cubic foot, are here furnished
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SHIP BUILDING ON THE OHIO-NEW PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
for seven to ten cents ; and so of knees and other products of the forest."
With these facts before them, the lumbermen and the ship builders of New York have not been sleeping on their posts. A committee has been dispatched to secure the most eligible site for an extensive ship-building community, or colony, from New York. This committee have in part discharged their duty by the purchase of twenty-five square miles of territory, clothed with millions of the most valuable timber, and possessing numerous advantages which will be set forth by a report, now soon to be laid before the stock- holders.
The forests of white oak, interspersed with groves of yellow and hard pine, in the Kanawha and Big Sandy region, will furnish, for years to come, a sufficient supply to build the navies of the world.
NEW PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
A NUMBER of buildings for various purposes of a public character, are in process of erection, or will shortly be commenced. Among these, are the German Protestant Orphan Asylum, and the Widows' Home, on Mount Auburn; an Engine house, on Vine, near Front street ; public school houses in the Eleventh and Twelfth wards, and on Mount Adams; a spacious Hotel, on the corner of Walnut and Sixth street, and another at the corner of Front and Broadway ; an Episcopal church on Sycamore street, north of the canal; St. John's-Episcopal, corner of Plum and Seventh streets; First Pres- byterian church, Fourth, near Main street, and Seventh Presbyterian church, Broadway, between Fourth and Fifth streets. These last three, will be magnificent structures, internally and externally. A City Hall is expected to be shortly put up, on Plum, between Eighth and Ninth streets ; as also, a spacious building for the United States public offices here, such as the custom-house, depository of public moneys, and post-office, at the south-west corner of Fourth and Vine street. A new county court-house, with public offices, has been commenced, on a scale and in conformity to a plan, which justifies the expectation that it will prove an ornament to Cincinnati.
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ST. PETER'S CATHEDRAL,
ST. PETER'S CATHEDRAL.
THIS fine building, belonging to the Roman Catholic Society, is completely finished, excepting the portico in front, after being ten years in progress of construction ; and is worthy of all the labor and expense it has cost, as an architectural pile and an ornament to our city. It is the finest building in the west, and the most impos- ing, in appearance, of any of the cathedrals in the United States, belonging to the Roman Catholic church, the metropolitan edifice in Baltimore not excepted.
St. Peter's Cathedral is a parallelogram of two hundred feet in length, by eighty in breadth. It is fifty-five feet from floor to ceiling. The roof is partly supported by the side walls, which, as well as the front, average four feet in thickness, but principally upon eighteen free-stone pillars, nine on each side, which are of three-and-a-half feet diameter and thirty-three feet in height. The ceiling is of stucco-work, of a rich and expensive character, which renders it equal in beauty to that of any cathedral in the world, as asserted by competent judges, although executed, in this instance, by J. F. Taylor, a Cincinnati artist, for a price less than one-half of what it would have cost in Europe. The main walls are built of Dayton marble, of which this building furnishes the first example in Cincinnati. The basement is of the blue limestone of the Oliio river, and forms an appropriate contrast with the superstructure. The bells, not yet finished, which will be a chime of the usual num- ber and range, played by machinery, such as is employed in musical clocks, are in preparation for the edifice. The steeple is two hundred and twenty-one feet in height. The cathedral is finished with a centre aisle of six feet, and two aisles for proces- sional purposes, eleven feet each, adjoining the side-walls. The residue of the space forms one hundred and forty pews ten feet in length. The roof is composed of iron plates, whose seams are coated with a composition of coal-tar and sand, which renders it impervious to water.
An altar of the purest Carrara marble, made by Chiappri, of Genoa, occupies the west end of the Cathedral. This is embellished with a centre piece, being a circle with rays, around which, wreaths and flowers are beautifully chiseled. It is of exquisite design and workmanship. At the opposite end, is put up an immense organ, of forty-four stops and twenty-seven hundred pipes, lately finished bv
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ST. PETER'S CATHEDRAL.
Schwab, of our city, which cost $5,400. One of these pipes alone is thirty-three feet long, and weighs four hundred pounds. There is no doubt, that this is an instrument superior in size, tone and power, to any on this continent.
The following paintings occupy the various compartments in the Cathedral :
St. Peter liberated by the Angel.
Descent from the Cross.
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin.
St. Jerome in the attitude of listening to the trumpet announcing the final judgment.
Christ in the Garden.
Flight into Egypt.
The St. Peter is by Murillo, well known as the head of the Span- ish school ; and was a present to Bishop Fenwick, by Cardinal Fesch, uncle to Napoleon. The others are by some of the first artists in Europe.
The two windows next the altar are of stained glass, and serve to give us, of the west, an idea of that style of imparting light, through edifices devoted to religious purposes, in the old world.
Not a drop of ardent spirits was consumed in the erection of the Cathedral, and, notwithstanding the unmanageable shape and size of the materials, not an accident occurred in the whole progress of the work. Every man employed about it, was paid off every Sat- urday night; and, as the principal part of the labor was performed at a season of the year when working hands are not usually em- ployed to their advantage, much of the work was executed when labor and materials were worth far less than at present. The Day- ton marble alone, at current prices, would nearly treble its original cost. The heavy disbursements have proved a seasonable and sensi- ble benefit to the laboring class. The entire cost of the building is $120,000.
The plate of the Cathedral, in this publication, represents its fin- ished state.
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OHIO FEMALE COLLEGE.
OHIO FEMALE COLLEGE.
THIS institution is located at College Hill, Hamilton county, Ohio, five miles north of the city.
The corner-stone of the main edifice was laid on the 21st of Sept., 1848, and the institution went into operation in the fall of 1849. In 1851, the college was chartered by the Legislature, with the same powers of conferring degrees upon its graduates and awarding di- plomas as are usually possessed by male colleges. The course of studies is extensive and thorough, including a wide range of scien- tific, mathematical and classic learning, and equal, in respect to variety and extent, to that pursued in our best male colleges. The institution has a library, philosophieal, chemical and astronomical apparatuses, for the illustration of the natural sciences ; a cabinet of minerals, and a good refracting telescope. Four buildings have already been erected for the accommodation of the pupils, the prin- cipal of which, is a magnificent structure, four stories high, and for beauty, adaptation and architectural taste, is unsurpassed by any school building in the west. A beautiful chapel, and two other buildings used as study rooms and dormitories, complete the group occupied at present for college purposes. Other buildings will doubtless soon be added. The location is one of the very best that could have been selected. It is eentral, accessible, elevated, and healthy, surrounded by pleasant groves and picturesque scenery, and sufficiently far from the city to be free from its temptations and dissipating tendencies, yet near enough to enjoy its privileges. The design of its founders has been to establish an institution of learning, centrally, in the west, where their daughters might enjoy advan- tages equal to those of their sons for acquiring the imperishable treasures of knowledge, where by intellectual and moral culture, they may be fitted for teachers of seminaries, missionaries, or to fill with honor and usefulness any station in life. The college is under the supervision of an efficient board of trustees, of which board, the Hon. John McLean is president, and Samuel F. Cary, secretary. All letters of inquiry relative to the institution, should be addressed to the secretary of the board, or to Rev. John Covert, president of the college, College Hill, Hamilton county, Ohio.
LAN Ter .. 2. BALTHIS. SC. CINCINNAT
OHIO FEMALE COLLEGE.
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NATIONAL ARMORY IN THE WEST.
NATIONAL ARMORY IN THE WEST.
THE establishment of an armory by the national government, at what shall be adjudged the most appropriate point in the west, is a measure which has been loudly called for, a length of time; and although the claims of the west to its due share in the disburse- ment of the public moneys by our national legislature have been long slighted with impunity, there can be no doubt, that under the apportionment of representatives to Congress, created by the census of 1850, this mighty section of the republic will be strong enough to insist on that measure of justice due to her interests, her rights and her numbers.
The following propositions, in relation to the armory, may be regarded of such weight, that their mere statement supersedes any elaborate argument.
1. That the west has a just claim to the next armory that may be established, the other great sections of the United States, each pos- sessing one.
2. That the central position of Cincinnati to the whole country, and its ready communication with the entire west, already existing to a great extent, and about to be spread more widely by the net- work of railroads which will connect us shortly with every import- ant point, claims for the vicinity of this city, a decided preference in the location of that armory.
3. That the low price of the necessaries of life in this immediate region ; the abundance of the best quality of iron, coal, and other materials, almost at our doors; and the fact, that competent workmen to any necessary extent, already trained to the use of tools, can be found in Cincinnati, are advantages that can be com- bined at no other place.
4. Lastly, that the cheap and abundant hydraulic power at Ha- milton, twenty-one miles north of Cincinnati, points out that precise spot as the proper point for such armory.
What the United States government requires for this purpose, are :
I. An abundant supply of water-power, for present and future use.
II. That this power shall be free from interruption by high or low water.
III. That the constancy of an ample supply, shall not be liable to frequent interruptions from breaches, repairs of locks, tumble dams, and other works connected with navigable canals; and,
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NATIONAL ARMORY IN THE WEST.
IV. That the expenses of such water-power, should be moderate. All these circumstances exist at Hamilton, to a degree that cannot be found anywhere else.
The water-power obtainable at Hamilton, is five times the quan- tity necessary for an armory on the same scale, as that of Spring- field or Harper's Ferry-a power equal to thirty run of stones being amply sufficient for an armory at this point.
At Hamilton, a sufficient quantity can be furnished for an armory, which will be liable to no interruption from high or low water, or other ordinary causes. Nothing is hazarded in the assertion, that the expenses of water-power and the cost of land, upon which to construct the armory, would be far below what it would cost at any place in the west, offering equal advantages.
The Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton railroad, which will be opened for travel and transportation, before Congress can be called on to act upon this subject, will afford every facility to transport all the manufacturing materials requisite, which are not already on the spot, and at a mere trifle of expense.
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