Local city information for Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border. The population within city limits was 332,458 in 2007, making it the state's third largest city. Greater Cincinnati's population is nearly 2.2 million and according to the census bureau is now the largest metropolitan statistical area in Ohio. Residents of Cincinnati are called Cincinnatians.

Cincinnati is considered to have been the first American boomtown in the heart of the country in the early nineteenth century to rival the larger coastal cities in size and wealth. As the first major inland city in the country, it is sometimes thought of as the first purely American city, lacking the heavy European influence that was present on the east coast. However, by the end of the nineteenth century, Cincinnati's growth had slowed considerably, and the city was surpassed in population by many other inland cities.

Cincinnati is home to major sports teams including the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Bengals, as well as events like the Cincinnati Masters and the Thanksgiving Day race. The University of Cincinnati traces its foundation to the Medical College of Ohio, which was founded in 1819.

Cincinnati is also known for having one of the larger collections of nineteenth-century German architecture in the U.S., primarily concentrated just north of Downtown, one of the largest historic districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places.It's also home to Macy's, Inc.(formerly Federated Department Stores,Inc.,who moved from Columbus, Ohio in 1994)

Cincinnati was recently listed on CNN's Top 10 cities for new grads at #4.
.

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 Boone) named it "Losantiville" from four terms, each of a 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".

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 a member. The society honored General George Washington, who was considered a latter day Cincinnatus, the Roman who was called to serve Rome as dictator, an office which he immediately resigned after completing his task of defeating the Aequians. To this day, Cincinnati in particular, and Ohio in general, is home to a statistically significant number of descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers who were granted lands in the state.

In 1802, Cincinnati was chartered as a village. David Ziegler (1748-1811), a Revolutionary War veteran from Heidelberg, Germany, became the first mayor. Cincinnati was incorporated as a city in 1819. 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.

Construction on the Miami and Erie Canal began on July 21, 1825, when it was called the Miami Canal, a reference to the Little Miami River, which was its origin, and water was diverted into the canal bed in 1827. The canal began by connecting Cincinnati to nearby Middletown in 1827 and, by 1840, the canal had reached Toledo, changing the Miami Canal to the Miami and Erie Canal and signifying the connection between the Little Miami River and Lake Erie.

During this period of rapid expansion, citizens of Cincinnati began referring to the city as the "Queen" city. The phrase was cemented in the poem "Catawba Wine" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who wrote that the city was "the Queen of the West", giving the city its nickname.

Railroads were the next major form of transportation to come to Cincinnati. In 1836, the Little Miami Railroad was chartered. Construction began soon after, to connect Cincinnati with the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, and thus the ports of the Sandusky Bay on Lake Erie.

In regard to Law enforcement: the first Sheriff John Brown appointed September 2, 1788; an Ohio Act of January 1, 1802 provided for Cincinnati to have a Village Marshall {James Smith appointed}; a "Night Watch" was established March 29, 1803; in 1819 when Cincinnati was incorporated as a city the First City Marshal William Ruffin was appointed. In May 1828 a Police force consisted of 1 captain; 1 assistant and 5 patrolmen; On April 22, 1850 a position of Police Chief and 6 Lieutenants were established; in 1853 the First Police Chief Jacob Keifer was appointed/dismissed after 3 weeks.

On April 1, 1853, Cincinnati's Fire Department became a paid department, the first full-time paid fire department in the United States. It was the first in the world to use steam fire engines.

Six years later, in 1859, Cincinnati laid out six streetcar lines, making it easier for people to get around the city. By 1872, Cincinnatians could travel on the streetcar line within the city and then be transported by rail car to the hill communities. The Cincinnati Inclined Plane Company began transporting people to the top of Mount Auburn in that year.

The Cincinnati Red Stockings, whose name and heritage inspired today's Cincinnati Reds, began their career in the 1800s as well. In 1868, meetings were held at the law offices of Tilden, Sherman, and Moulton to make Cincinnati’s baseball team a professional one; it became the first regular professional team in the country, being organized formally in 1869.

During the American Civil War, Cincinnati played a key role as a major source of supplies and troops for the Union Army. It also served as the headquarters for much of the war for the Department of the Ohio, which was charged with the defense of the region, as well as directing the army's offensives into Kentucky and Tennessee. Due to Cincinnati's proximity to and commerce with slave states across the Ohio River, there was significant "Southern sympathy" in the Cincinnati area. This is evidenced by the history of the Copperhead movement in Ohio. In July 1863, Cincinnati was placed under martial law due to the imminent danger posed by the Confederate Morgan's Raiders. They came close to Cincinnati but never actually attacked the city proper, although several outlying villages such as Cheviot and Montgomery were attacked.

In 1879, Procter & Gamble, one of Cincinnati's major soap manufacturers, began marketing Ivory Soap. It was marketed as light enough to float. After a fire at the first factory, Procter & Gamble moved to a new factory on the Mill Creek and began soap production again. The area became known as Ivorydale.

Cincinnati weathered the Great Depression better than most American cities of its size, largely because of a resurgence of inexpensive river trade. The rejuvenation of downtown began in the 1920s and continued into the next decade with the construction of Union Terminal, the post office, and a large Bell Telephone building.

The flood of 1937 was one of the worst in the nation's history, resulting in the building of protective flood walls. After World War II, Cincinnati unveiled a master plan for urban renewal that resulted in modernization of the inner city. Like other older industrial cities, Cincinnati suffered from economic restructuring and loss of jobs following deindustrialization in the mid-century.

In the 1970s, the city completed Riverfront Stadium and Riverfront Coliseum, as the Cincinnati Reds baseball team emerged as one of the dominant teams of the decade. In 1989, the 200th anniversary of the city's founding, much attention was focused on the city's Year 2000 plan, which involved further revitalization.

The completion of several major new development projects enhance the city as it enters the early years of the new millennium. Cincinnati's beloved Bengals and Reds teams both have new, state-of-the-art homes: Paul Brown Stadium, opened in 2000; and the Great American Ball Park, opened in 2003, respectively. Two new museums have opened: the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in 2003, and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in 2004.

The City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County are currently planning the Banks--a 24-hour urban neighborhood of restaurants, clubs, offices, and homes with sweeping skyline views, along the city's riverfront. Cincinnati has received such accolades as "Most Liveable City" (1993), Partners for Livable Communities, April 2004; number five U.S. arts destination, American Style Magazine, Summer 2004; was the highest rated city in Ohio for "Best Cities For Young Professionals" and 18th overall, Forbes Magazine, June 2007; and inclusion in the top ten "Cities that Rock," Esquire Magazine, April 2004.

List your home on the MLS in Cincinnati, Ohio

Copyright © Owners.com 2012. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy • Terms & Conditions • Site Map

Equal Housing Opportunity