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OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest                    Volume 99 : Issue 374

Today's Topics:
  #1 HAMILTON COUNTY - PART 8             [AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M RE]

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X-Message: #1
Date: Wed,  9 Jun 1999 12:00:08, -0500
From: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M REASONER)
Subject: HAMILTON COUNTY - PART 8


HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF OHIO By Henry Howe, LL.D., 1898

                        HAMILTON COUNTY - part 8

        On the 9th of November, 1793, William Maxwell established at
Cincinnati The Centinel of the Northwestern Territory, with the motto,
"open to all parties - influenced by none." It was on half-sheet royal
quarto size, and was the first newspaper printed north of the Ohio river.
In 1796 Edward Freeman became the owner of the paper, which he changed to
Freeman's Journal, which he continued until the beginning of 1800, when he
removed to Chillicothe. On the 28th of May, 1799, Joseph Carpenter issued
the first number of a weekly paper entitled the Western Spy and Hamilton
Gazette. On the 11th of January, 1794, two keel-boats sailed from
Cincinnati to Pittsburg, each making a trip once in four weeks. Each boat
was so covered as to be protected against rifle - and musket-balls, and had
port-holes to fire out at, and was provided with six pieces carrying pound
balls, a number of muskets and ammunition, as a protection against the
Indians on the banks of the Ohio. In 1801 the first sea-vessel equipped for
sea - of 100 tons, built at Marietta passed down the Ohio, carrying
produce, and the banks of the river at Cincinnati were crowded with
spectators to witness this novel event. December 19, 1801, the Territorial
Legislature passed a bill removing the seat of government from Chillicothe
to Cincinnati.
        January 2, 1802, the Territorial legislature incorporated the town
of Cincinnati, and the following officers were appointed: David Ziegler,
President; Jacob Burnet, Recorder; Wm. Ramsay, David E. Wade, Chas. Avery,
John Reily, Wm. Stanley, Samuel Dick, and Wm. Ruffner, Trustees; Jo.
Prince, Assessor; Abram Cary, Collector; and James Smith, Town Marshal. In
1795 the town contained 94 cabins, 10 frame houses, and about 500
inhabitants. In 1800 the population was estimated at 750, and, in 1810, it
was 2,540.
        We give on an adjoining page a view of Cincinnati, taken by J.
Cutler, as it appeared about the year 1810. It is from an engraving in "the
Topographical Description of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana, by a
late officer of the army," and published in Boston, in 1812.
        In 1819 a charter was obtained from the State Legislature, by which
Cincinnati was incorporated as a city. This, since repeatedly amended and
altered, forms the basis of its present municipal authority.

                        DESCRIPTION OF CINCINNATI IN 1847
                          (From the Original Edition)

        Cincinnati is 116 miles southwest Columbus; 120 southeast
Indianapolis, Indiana; 90 north-northwest Lexington, Kentucky; 270
north-northeast Nashville, Tennessee; 455 below Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, by
the course of the river; 132 above Louisville, Kentucky; 494 above the
mouth of the Ohio river and 1,447 miles above New Orleans by the
Mississippi and Ohio rivers; 518 by postroute west of Baltimore; 617 miles
west by south of Philadelphia; 950 from New York by Lake Erie, Erie canal,
and Hudson river, and 492 from Washington City. It is in 39 deg. 6 minutes
30 seconds N. lat., and 7 deg. 24 minutes 25 seconds W. long. It is the
largest city of the West north of New Orleans, and the fifth in population
in the United States. It is situated on the north bank of the Ohio river,
opposite the mouth of Licking river, which enters the Ohio between Newport
and Covington, Kentucky. The Ohio here has a gradual bend towards the south.
        The city is near the eastern extremity of a valley about twelve
miles in circumference, surrounded by beautiful hills, which rise to the
height of 300 feet by gentle and varying slopes, and mostly covered with
native forest trees. The summit of these hills presents a beautiful and
picturesque view of the city and valley. The city is built on two
table-lands, the one elevated from forty to sixty feet above the other.
Low-water mark in the river, which is 108 below the upper part of the city,
is 432 feet above tide-water at Albany, and 133 feet below the level of
Lake Erie. The population in 1800 was 750; in 1810, 2,540; in 1820, 9,602;
in 1830, 24,831; in 1840, 46,338; and, in 1847 over 90,000. Employed in
commerce in 1840; 2,226; in manufactures and trades, 10,866; navigating
rivers and canals, 1,748; in the learned professions, 377. Covington and
Newport, opposite in Kentucky, and Fulton and the adjacent parts of Mill
Creek township on the north are, in fact, suburbs of Cincinnati, and if
added to the above population would extend it to 105,000. The shore of the
Ohio at the landing is substantially paved to low-water mark, and is
supplied with floating wharves, adapted to the great rise and fall of
river, which renders the landing and shipping of goods at all times convenient.
        Cincinnati seems to have been originally laid out on the model of
Philadelphia -with great regularity. North of Main street, between the
north side of Front street and the bank of the river, is the landing, an
open area of 10 acres, with about 1,000 feet front. This area is of great
importance to the business of the city, and generally presents a scene of
much activity. The corporate limits include about four square miles. The
central part is compactly and finely built, with spacious warehouses, large
stores, and handsome dwellings; but in its outer parts it is but partially
built up and the houses irregularly scattered. Many of them are of stone or
brick, but an equal or greater number are of wood, and are generally from
two to four stories high. The city contains over 11,000 edifices, public
and private; and of those recently erected, the number of brick exceeds
those of wood, and the style of architecture is constantly improving. Many
of the streets are well paved, extensively shaded with trees, and the
houses ornamented with shrubbery. The climate is more variable than on the
Atlantic coast in the same latitude. Snow rarely falls sufficiently deep or
lies long enough to furnish sleighing. Few places are more healthy, the
average annual mortality being 1 in 40. The inhabitants are from every
State in the Union, and from various countries in Europe. Besides natives
of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey have furnished the greatest number;
but many are from New York, Virginia, Maryland and New England. Nearly
one-fifth of the adult population are Germans. But England, Ireland,
Scotland, France, and Wales have furnished considerable numbers.
        The Ohio river at Cincinnati is 1,800 feet, or about one-third of a
mile wide, and its mean annual range from low to high water is about 50
feet; the extreme range may be about 10 feet more. The greatest depressions
are generally in August, September, and October, and the greatest rise in
December, March, May and June. The upward navigation is generally suspended
by floating ice for eight or ten weeks in the winter. Its current at its
mean height is about three miles an hour; when higher and rising, it is
more; and, when very low, it does not exceed two miles. The quantity of
rain and snow which falls annually at Cincinnati is near 3 feet 9 inches.
The wettest month is May, and the driest January. The average number of
clear and fair days in a year is 146; of variable, 114; of cloudy, 105.
There have been, since 1840, from thirty to thirty-eight steamboats annualy
built, with an average aggregate tonnage of 6,500 tons.
        Among the public buildings of Cincinnati is the court-house, on
Main street; it is a spacious building. The edifice of the Franklin and
Lafayette bank, of Cincinnati, on Third street, has a splendid portico of
Grecian Doric columns, 4 feet 6 inches in diameter, extending through the
entire front, was built after the model of the Parthenon, and is truly
classical and beautiful The First and Second Presbyterian churches are
beautiful edifices, and the Unitarian church is singularly neat. There are
several churches, built within the last three years, which possess great
beauty, either internally or externally. But the most impressive building
is the Catholic Cathedral, which, at far less cost, surpasses in beauty and
picturesque effect the metropolitan edifice at Baltimore. There are many
fine blocks of stores on Front, Walnut, Pearl, Main and Fourth streets, and
the eye is arrested by many beautiful private habitations. The most showy
quarters are Main street, Broadway, Pearl, and Fourth street west of its
intersection with Main.
        There are 76 churches in Cincinnati, viz: 7 Presbyterian (4 Old and
3 New School); 2 Congregational; 12 Episcopal Methodist; 2 Methodist
Protestant; 2 Wesleyan Methodist; 1 Methodist Episcopal South; 1 Bethel; 1
Associate Reformed; 1 Reformed Presbyterian; 6 Baptist; 5 Disciples; 1
Universalist; 1 Restorationist; 1 Christian; 8 German Lutheran and
Reformed; English Lutheran and Reformed, 1 each; 1 United Brethren; 1 Welsh
Calvinistic; 1 Welsh Congregational; 1 Unitarian; 2 Friends; 1 New
Jerusalem; 8 Catholic, 6 of which are for German; 2 Jewish synagogues; 5
Episcopal, and 1 Second Advent.
        There are 5 market-houses and 3 theatres, of which 1 is German.
        Cincinnati contains many literary and charitable institutions. The
Cincinnati College was founded in 1819. The building is in the centre of
the city, and is the most beautiful edifice of the kind in the State. It is
of the Grecian Doric order, with pilaster fronts and facade of Dayton
marble, and cost about $35,000. It has 7 professors or other instructors,
about 160 pupils, one-quarter of whom are in the collegiate department.
Woodward College, named from its founder, who gave a valuable block of
ground in the north part of the city, has a president and 5 professors or
other instructors, and, including its preparatory department, near 200
students, and near 5,000 volumes in it libraries. Lane Seminary, a
theological institution, is at Walnut Hills, two miles from the centre of
the city. It went into operation in 1833, has near 100 student, and over
10,000 volumes in its libraries. There is no charge for tuition. Rooms are
provided and furnished at $5 per annum, and the students boarded at 90 and
62 1/2 cents per week. The Medical College was charted and placed under
trustees in 1825. It has a large and commodious building, a library of over
2,000 volumes, 7 professors, and about 150 students. The Cincinnati Law
School is connected with Cincinnati College, has 3 professors and about 30
students. The Mechanics' Institute, chartered in 1828, has a valuable
philosophical and chemical apparatus, a library and a reading-room. The
common free schools of the city are of a high order, with fine buildings,
teachers, and apparatus. In the high schools there are not less than 1,500
pupils; in the common and private, 5,000; and, including the students in
the collegiate institutions, there are 7,000 persons in the various
departments of education. In 1831 a college of teachers was established,
having for its object the elevation of the profession, and the advancement
of the interest of schools in the Mississippi Valley, which hold an annual
meeting in Cincinnati in October. The Young Men's Mercantile Library
Association has a fine library and reading-rooms. The library contains over
4,800 volumes, and the institution promises to be an honor and a blessing
to the commercial community. The Apprentices Library, founded in 1821,
contains 2,200 volumes.

        -continued in part 9

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End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #374
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