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OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest                    Volume 99 : Issue 412

Today's Topics:
  #1 HAMILTON COUNTY - PART 24            [AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M RE]

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X-Message: #1
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 11:26:01, -0500
From: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M REASONER)
Subject: HAMILTON COUNTY - PART 24


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

                        HAMILTON COUNTY - part 24

        THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING is on the same street near it, and is a
magnificent and convenient structure. Herein are the custom house, court
rooms and post office. It is built of gray stone, and cost $5,000,000, the
most expensive building in the city. Close by it also is the EMORY ARCADE,
one of the largest in the world; extends between two streets, a passage way
of 400 feet protected by a glass roof. It is lined with varied shops, and
is decidedly Parisian in character. A few squares from the fountain, near
the Lincoln Club House, is the colossal statue of Garfield, by Niedhaus, a
Cincinnati artist.
        The Broadway of the city is Fourth street, the aristocratic East
end -where faces the once famous Longworth mansion and garden -to the
railroad environed West end. Several blocks on Fourth street are solid,
lofty structures. Among these is PIKE'S OPERA HOUSE and the new CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE, dedicated January 30, 1889, ex-Gov. Edward F. Noyes being the
orator of the occasion. It is a most striking work of art in Roman
Provencal style, one of the best designs of the celebrated Richardson -its
cost was over $700,000. Two other remarkably fine structures, both designed
by Hannaford, are now in the course of construction -the New City Hall and
a City Armory.
        Two admirable buildings of stone stand high upon a hill in Eden
Park. They are the ART MUSEUM and the ART ACADEMY, designed by McLaughlin.
The first of these cost nearly $400,000, and the other is correspondingly
costly. These building were bestowed upon the the city by the munificence
of several liberal individuals. Charles W. West gave $150,000, David Sinton
$75,000, Joseph Longworth $37,100. Reuben Opringer and Julius Dexter then
subscribed largely. Over a million of dollars have been given to the museum
since 1880, and the art school is the best endowed in the United States.
        The Art Academy building, completed in October, 1887, was entirely
the gift of David Sinton. The Art Academy is an outgrowth of the old
"School of Design," a branch of the McMicken University. In 1887 it had 400
students and twelve instructors, teaching and lecturing. Excepting an
initiation fee of $10, the institution if free.
        The greatest pride of the city and its greatest ornament is the
MUSIC HALL AND EXPOSITION BUILDING. It occupies most of a block and faces
Washington Park. Its architect was McLaughlin. The building is brick and in
the modernized Gothic style. The whole front on Elm street is 402 feet; 95
feet being given to each of the exposition buildings and 178 1/2 feet to
the music hall. The widest part of the building is 316 feet. The buildings
are so arranged that they can be used separately or together, and the upper
stories so they can be connected by bridges. In these buildings is the
grand music hall. It will hold 8,728 persons -seat 4,228, give standing
room for 3,000, while the stage will accommodate 1,500. The GREAT ORGAN is
one of the largest in the world. It was built in Boston, but the artistic
screen of wild cherry was designed and carved by residents of Cincinnati.
it has 96 registers, 6,237 pipes, 32 bells, 42 pedal movements, and 4
keyboards of 61 notes each. Its cash cost was $32,000.
        The College buildings, adjoining the magnificent Music Hall,
contain forty class and study rooms, libraries, waiting-rooms, offices and
a large and beautiful concert hall, "THE ODEON," seating 1,200 persons,
with a stage thoroughly equipped for operatic and dramatic performances.
The Cincinnati College of Music is open throughout the year, Peter Rudolph
Neff, president; Professor Schradieck, musical director.
        The amount of taxable property in Cincinnati is over one hundred
and seventy-two millions. Next to Chicago this is the chief pork-packing
place in the world. The brewing of lager beer is an industry that ranks
next to the pork business. Over twenty million gallons of beer are produced
annually in its breweries; distilling; heavy capital is engaged in the
manufacture of iron, stone and wood; other important lines of manufacture
are clothing, and in food products it is the largest mart in the world. For
over half a century Cincinnati has held a leading rank as a printing,
publishing and lithographing centre. It has the largest school-book house
in the world -that of Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., publishers of the eclectic
series of text-books.
        The public-school system embraces schools of every grade, from
kindergarten to university; the number of pupils enrolled in 1887 was
53,402. The schools are celebrated for their general excellence and for
several special features of reform. They made a famous exhibit in the
Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia. They set the example now so widely
followed of celebrating Arbor Day and Author Day.
        The Public Library is under the management of the Board of
Education, and free to the people. It is in a spacious and elegant
building, has 164,000 volumes and an annual circulation of about 400,000
volumes; it is under the charge of A.W. Whepley. Beside this is the
Mercantile and other public libraries, and some fine private libraries. The
most noteworthy of the latter is that of A.T. Goshorn, in consequence of
its peculiarly honorable history. He had been director-general of the
National Exposition of 1876 at Philadelphia, and refusing pecuniary
compensation for his services, the citizens presented him with $10,000 in
value in books of his choice, and sent on a committee to fit up a room in
his residence for their reception; this was done in exquisite taste. The
library of Enoch I. Carson, burned some years since, was extraordinary as
the most complete Masonic collection in the world, beside a fine
Shakespearian collection.
        The University of Cincinnati is a municipal institution, forming
part of the system of public instruction. It was founded on a bequest of
Charles McMicken; is endowment is over $750,000; its faculty numbers
fifteen professors, Hon. J. D. Cox, ex-governor of Ohio, being president.
Both sexes are admitted and college degrees conferred. The Cincinnati
Observatory, on Mount Lookout, four miles in a direct line from the city,
founded by Gen. O.M. Mitchell, belongs to the university; there is also an
organic connection between the university and the medical colleges - the
Miami and the Ohio -and also with the College of Dental Surgery and that of
Pharmacy.
        The Medical College of Ohio was established in 1819, and has ten
professors; the Miami Medical College has twelve professors. The
homeopathists have an excellent institution, the Pulte College; and there
is an Eclectic College, a Physico-Medical Institute and other schools. The
city hospitals are large and admirably conducted; the Cincinnati Law
School, founded in 1833, J.D. Cox, dean, is a flourishing institution, with
many pupils; the Ohio Mechanics' Institute, the Cincinnati Technical
School, the Society of Natural History with its museums and lectures, the
system of kindergartens and the kitchen garden are all of high order of
efficiency.
        As a centre of musical education the Queen City claims to be
without a rival on the continent. The College of Music, with splendid
quarters in Music Hall and the Odeon, draws students in all departments of
the art, from all parts of the Untied States. The famous opera festivals
and May musical festivals of the city are visited annually by thousands and
thousands of people. Miss Clara Bauer's conservatory is also widely known;
there are other music schools, especially piano schools. Beside the Art
Academy, the arts of drawing and design are well taught in the public
schools, in the Technical school and in many private schools, and by
special teachers of art in their studios.
        Lane Theological Seminary, on Walnut Hills, went into operation in
1832, under the presidency of Lyman Beecher, D.D., and has since graduated
about 700 students. It is well endowed, and has a fine library. St. Xavier
College, on Sycamore street, is the great Roman Catholic institution of the
Ohio valley. The Catholics possess a powerful system of public schools in
connection with their many churches, and have a monastery near the city for
the training of priests.
        The Jews are numerous and influential in Cincinnati, possessing
several synagogues of striking architectural beauty. The American
Israelite, the organ of liberal Judaism, is conducted by Dr. I. M. Wise,
who is also President of the Hebrew Union College, a flourishing
institution for the education of rabbis. The Wesleyan Female College was
founded in 1842, and is controlled by the Methodist Episcopal Church. Many
Cincinnati ladies, prominent in charitable and educational works, are
alumni of this college, among them the wife of President Hayes.
        Business education is a prominent feature; commercial colleges are
numerous, and there are schools of type-writing, telegraphy and all the
graphic arts; among them the Cincinnati School of Phonography, which enjoys
the hearty recommendation of Mr. Benn Pitman, so favorably known for his
discriminating lectures on Art in the Art Academy. Cincinnati has been a
centre for short-hand since 1849. Benn Pitman came from England to America
in 1853, and settled here to advance his brother's system of short-hand,
invented in 1837.
        Fry's Carving School is one of the unique institutions of the city.
it is conducted by Henry L. and W. H. Fry, father and son, and
granddaughter, Laura H. fry. Some of the most exquisite wood carving ever
executed in the country is by them. The Frys did a large part of the
elaborate carving in Henry Probasco's residence, in Clifton, and of the
casement of the great organ in Music Hall. Art furniture of all kinds is
made to order, and many specimens of their handiwork are to be found in
various parts of the Union.
        Clays for the manufacture of tiles and the finer grades of pottery
are plentiful in the vicinity of Cincinnati. The artistic ceramic wars made
here have a high reputation. The Rookwood Pottery, founded by Mrs. Maria
Longworth Storer, daughter of Joseph Longworth, was designed to advance
artistic culture in the line of ceramics. The establishment is an admirable
one, managed wholly by ladies, and its products are chiefly sold at the
East and in Europe. Its directors were mostly educated at the Cincinnati
Art Academy. The wares are unique, resembling Limoges. They display unusual
richness and harmony of coloring. In style of decoration they are
peculiarly American, the native plants, flowers and other objects having
been much used in the designs. Carving in clay is a feature in the
ornamentation. A specialty of this establishment is that the color of the
body is utilized as a part of the decoration.

        -continued in part 25

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End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #412
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