History of Cincinnati

See also: Race relations of Cincinnati, Ohio

File:Cincinnatus statue.jpg

"With one hand he returns the fasces, symbol of power as appointed dictator of Rome. His other hand holds the plow, as he resumes the life of a citizen and farmer." — A statue of Cincinnatus in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Cincinnati was founded in 1788 by John Cleves Symmes and Colonel Robert Patterson. Surveyor John Filson (also the author of The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boon (siq) Daniel Boone) named it "Losantiville"[1] from four terms, each of different language; meaning "The city opposite the mouth of the (Licking) River," "ville" is French for "city," "anti" is Greek for "opposite," "os" is Latin for "mouth," and "L" was all that was included of "Licking River."

Early history

Cincinnati began as three settlements between the Little Miami and Great Miami rivers on the north shore of the Ohio. Columbia was on the Little Miami, North Bend on the Great Miami. Losantiville, the central settlement, was opposite the mouth of the Licking River.

In 1789 Fort Washington was built to protect the settlements in the Northwest Territory. The post was constructed under the direction of General Josiah Harmar and was named in honor of President George Washington. [2]

In 1790, Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory, changed the name of the settlement to "Cincinnati" in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which he was president. The society gets its name from Cincinnatus, the Roman general and dictator, who saved the city of Rome from destruction and then quietly retired to his farm. The society honored the ideal of return to civilian life by military officers following the Revolution rather than imposing military rule. To this day, Cincinnati in particular, and Ohio in general, is home to a disproportionately large number of descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers who were granted lands in the state. Cincinnati's connection with Rome still exists today through its nickname of "The City of Seven Hills" [3] (a phrase commonly associated with Rome) and the town twinning program of Sister Cities International.

Civil War

Main article: Cincinnati in the Civil War

Cincinnati in 1862, a lithograph in Harper's Weekly.

During the Civil War, a series of six artillery batteries were built along the Ohio River to protect the city. Only one, Battery Hooper, now the James A. Ramage Civil War Museum in Fort Wright, Kentucky is open to the public.

'Porkopolis' and other nicknames

In 1802, Cincinnati was chartered as a village, and in 1819, it was incorporated as a city. The introduction of steam navigation on the Ohio River in 1811 and the completion of the Miami and Erie Canal helped the city grow to 115,000 citizens by 1850. The nickname Porkopolis was coined around 1835, when Cincinnati was the country's chief hog packing center, and herds of pigs traveled the streets. Called the "Queen of the West" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (although this nickname was first used by a local newspaper in 1819), Cincinnati was an important stop on the Underground Railroad, which helped slaves escape from the South.

Cincinnati also is known as the "City of Seven Hills." The seven hills are fully described in the June, 1853 edition of the West American Review, "Article III--Cincinnati: Its Relations to the West and South." The hills form a crescent from the east bank of the Ohio River to the west bank: Mount Adams, Walnut Hills, Mount Auburn, Vine Street Hill, Fairmount, Mount Harrison, and College Hill.

Cincinnati was the site of many historical beginnings. In 1850 it was the first city in the United States to establish a Jewish Hospital. It is where America's first municipal fire department was established in 1853. Established in 1867, the Cincinnati Red Stockings (a.k.a. the Cincinnati Reds) became the world's first professional (all paid, no amateurs) baseball team in 1869. In 1935, major league baseball's first night game was played at Crosley Field. Cincinnati was the first to build and own a major railroad in 1880. In 1902, the world's first re-inforced concrete skyscraper was built, the Ingalls Building. "The Sons of Daniel Boone", a forerunner to the Boy Scouts of America, began in Cincinnati in 1905. Because of the city's rich German heritage, the pre-prohibition era allowed Cincinnati to become a national forerunner in the brewing industry. During experimentation for six years (until 1939), Cincinnati's AM radio station, WLW was the first to broadcast at 500,000 watts. In 1943, King Records (and its subsidiary, Queen Records) was founded, and went on to record early music by artists who became highly successful and influential in Country, R&B, and Rock. WCET-TV was the first licensed public television station, established in 1954. [4] Cincinnati is home to radio's WEBN 102.7 FM, the longest-running album-oriented rock station in the United States, first airing in 1967. In 1976, the Cincinnati Stock Exchange became the nation's first all-electronic trading market.

Comparisons

As a pioneer-era city, it compared with Pittsburgh and Nashville. As a "Riverboat" and canal-era city, it compared with Louisville, St. Louis, and New Orleans. As an immigrant, industrial city it compared with Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, and Detroit.

Because of its river setting and extensive park system, many commentators have remarked on Cincinnati's beauty, including Winston Churchill, who called it "the most beautiful of America's inland cities." The city's picturesque skyline was used as a backdrop for the fictional city of Monticello on the soap opera The Edge of Night, one of the many soap operas sponsored by Cincinnati soap-maker Procter & Gamble. In fact, Procter & Gamble created the genre of the "soap opera" when it helped launch the Ma Perkins radio program in 1933. Cincinnati was also featured in Rain Man and many icons of the city are identifiable in the movie including the Pompilio's restaurant that is still in business.

In August 1966, Cincinnati rock-music fans had the privilege of seeing The Beatles perform at a large outdoor venue at Crosley Field. This was during the British group's final concert tour of the United States and Canada.

Tragedy struck the Cincinnati metropolitan area on May 28, 1977, when a suburban nightclub in Southgate, Kentucky burned, taking the lives of 165 persons. The Beverly Hills Supper Club fire remains the third-deadliest fire at a nightclub in American history.

One of the worst rock concert tragedies in United States history occurred in Cincinnati on December 3, 1979. Eleven people were killed in a rush for "festival seating" before a concert by The Who at Riverfront Coliseum (now U.S. Bank Arena). As a result, "festival seating" was banned at city venues until 2004.

Firsts

Cincinnati has been a pioneer city in many respects, including:

• 1835 - First bag of airmail, which was lifted by a hot air balloon[5]
• 1849 - First city in the U.S. to hold a municipal song festival named Saengerfest[6]
• 1850 - First city in the U.S. to establish a Jewish hospital[7]
• 1850 - First city in the U.S. to publish greeting cards with the Gibson Greeting Card Company[[8]
• 1853 - First practical steam fire engine. First city to establish a municipal fire department and first fire pole.[9]
• 1869 - First weather bureau.
• 1869 - First professional baseball team - the Cincinnati Red Stockings.
• 1870 - First municipal university - the University of Cincinnati.
• 1870 - First city to hold annual industrial expositions.[10]
• 1875 - First city to establish a Jewish theological college, Hebrew Union College.[11]
• 1880 - First city in which a woman, Maria Longworth Nichols Storer, began and operated a large manufacturing operation, Rookwood Pottery.[12]
• 1880 - First and only city to build and own a major railroad.[13]
• 1902 - First reinforced concrete skyscraper - the Ingalls Building.[14]
• 1905 - Daniel Carter Beard founded the Sons of Daniel Boone, later known as the Boy Scouts of America.[15]
• 1906 - First university to offer cooperative education, University of Cincinnati.[16]
• 1935 - First Major League Baseball night game.[17]
• 1952 - First heart-lung machine- makes open heart surgery possible. Developed at Children's Hospital Medical Center.[18]
• 1954 - First licensed public television station - WCET.[19]

See also

• Ohio in the Civil War
• Allen Temple AME Church ( Cincinnati, Ohio)

References

• Cincinnati Firsts. Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau.
• Evolution of the National Weather Service. 'National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

External links

• Cincinnati News
• The Filson Historical Society