EARLY NEWSPAPERS OF CINCINNATI
BY V. C. STUMP
The first newspaper was printed in
Cincinnati No-
vember 9, 1793.1 At that time
Cincinnati was a small
village in the wilderness. Only the
hardier pioneers had
dared to face the hardships and to
cross the Alleghany
Mountains in spite of the menace of the
British and
Indians on the North.
Among these few was one, William Maxwell, an
editor from New Jersey, who set up a
little printing
office in a log cabin which stood on
the corner of Front
and Sycamore streets. His Ramage press,
a primitive
affair, was fashioned after the one
first used by the
illustrious Dr. Franklin, and could
have been carried in
a large canoe. It, together with the
types, had been
brought from Pittsburgh by water, after
having been
carried over the mountains on pack
horses. Everything
being in readiness, the first number of
The Centinel of
the Northwestern Territory was issued November 9,
1793, a little over one hundred and
thirty years ago.2
The title of the paper was appropriate,
for Fort
Washington was virtually the gateway
through which
NOTE -- This paper was read before the
Cincinnati Chapter of the
D. A. R. March 10, 1924. It is based on
original research among the early
newspapers of Cincinnati. One of the
only two files in existence of The
Centinel was consulted in the Library of The Historical and
Philosophical
Society of Ohio. The Western Spy and
the Liberty Hall are in the archives
of the Mercantile Library of that city.
1 S. B. Nelson and J. M. Runk, History
of Cincinnati and Hamilton
County, Ohio. (Cincinnati,
1894) p. 234.
2 Ibid., p. 204.
(169)
170 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the early pioneers, seeking homes in
the mighty domain
beyond, had to pass. A Centinel,
therefore, on the outer
limits to sound the alarm of danger, or
to proclaim "All
is well," was of very great
importance to those who
were starting out to lay the
foundations of what has
proved to be a mighty Western Empire.3
The Centinel was a four page
weekly, printed on
grayish blue paper, and bearing the
motto, "Open to all
parties -- but influenced
by none." The size of the
page was small, being only about as
large as a sheet of
typewriter paper. In July 1794, the page was length-
ened, and fourteen months later it
measured eighteen
inches long by ten inches wide. The Centinel was not
only the first paper published in
Cincinnati, but it was
also the first one North of the Ohio
River, and the third
or fourth West of the Alleghany
Mountains.4
In 1794 the publisher of this pioneer
paper succeeded
Abner Dunn as postmaster. This greatly
increased his
responsibilities. As the only editor in
the Territory
his principal duty was. to publish the
Territorial Laws,
but being intrusted with the post
office, he could not well
carry on the paper, and in the summer
of 1796 he dis-
posed of the Centinel to Edmund
Freeman.5
The new editor changed the name of the
paper to
Freeman's Journal. It continued as a four page weekly,
but was slightly larger than the Centinel
and carried the
motto, "Free but not licentuous."
The name, Freeman's
Journal, served to set forth the name of the proprietor,
and also to furnish a fit and
significant title for an organ
3 Henry A. Ford and Mrs. Kate B. Ford, History
of Cincinnati, Ohio.
(Cleveland, Ohio, 1881) p. 47.
4 Ibid., p. 47.
5 Charles
Theodore Greve, Centennial History of Cincinnati and her
Representative Citizens, (2 vols., Chicago, Ill., 1904), Vol. 1, p. 406.
Early Newspapers of Cincinnati 171
of public opinion in the young
republic. The publica-
tion of the paper was continued at
Cincinnati until the
beginning of the year 1800, when it was
moved to the
new territorial capitol, Chillicothe.
Edmund Freeman
died in 1801 and his paper was merged
with another
publication and its identity was lost.6
But nevertheless, the first paper had
served its pur-
pose, and the way was opened for other
establishments.
Daniel Drake tells us in his book
published in 1815, that
a pioneer by the name of Joseph
Carpenter from Mas-
sachusetts founded the second paper.
The first issue
under the name of the Western
Spy and Hamilton
Gazette, was printed May 28, 1799. As the settlement
had had a Centinel it was
evidently deemed proper that
it should have a Spy. Cist
claims that this was the first
regularly printed journal in
Cincinnati. From this re-
mark we infer that he considered that
it possessed more
of the attributes of a newspaper than
had Maxwell's
publication. However, Carpenter had no
more time to
act as a reporter than had his
predecessors, and he, too,
devoted more space and time to laws and
ordinances
than to news.7
The paper changed hands many times
during the
first ten years of its existence. In 1806 the last half
of the title was changed from Hamilton
Gazette to
Miami Gazette, but
in a few months Carney and Morgan
became the owners and it was
rechristened, the Whig.
Only fifty-eight numbers were published
and it again
changed hands and became the Advertiser.
No copies
of either paper have been preserved.8
6 Henry
A. Ford and Mrs. Kate B. Ford, History of Cincinnati, Ohio,
p. 284.
7 Nelson and Runk, History of
Cincinnati and Hamilton County, p. 256.
8 Ibid., p. 256.
172 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
In September 1810 Joseph Carpenter
appeared in
journalism a second time as the editor
of a new Western
Spy. At the beginning of the War of 1812 he gave up
his duties as editor to serve his
country. He was made
captain of a company and for six months
served under
General Harrison. Captain Carpenter died from ex-
posure during a forced march in
midwinter 1814.9
The third paper made its appearance on
the ninth
of December 1804. It was called the Liberty Hall
and
Cincinnati Mercury, but the last half of that title was
soon dropped as it was deemed
unnecessary. A local
historian said, "The Reverend John
W. Brown, enter-
prising editor, publisher of almanacs,
preacher, town
recorder, bookseller, and vender of
patent medicines,
was the proprietor of the new
venture." He had a
troublesome time of it, and was once or
twice personally
attacked by citizens who were aggrieved
by his sheet.
The first number was issued in the loft
of a log cabin
which stood on the southeast corner of
Front and Syca-
more Streets. The plant was an
improvement upon
those of the earlier papers, and in
spite of the editor's
cynical attitude and caustic pen he
secured some 1400
subscribers.10
Sometime in June, 1814, a new paper
called the
Spirit of the West was started but only forty-four copies
were issued and none have been
preserved.11
In July 1815 Thomas Palmer and Company
set up
another paper called the Gazette. The
following De-
cember it consolidated with the Liberty
Hall under the
9 Ibid., p. 256.
10 Nelson and Runk, History of
Cincinnati and Hamilton County, p.
11 Ibid., p.
256.
Early Newspapers of Cincinnati 173
name
Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette. This was
the beginning of the present popular
morning paper
known as the Commercial Tribune.12
From the copies of these early
newspapers on file
at the Library of The Historical and
Philosophical So-
ciety of Ohio, and at the Mercantile
Library we are
able to get a very good idea of their
general appearance.
The paper is of a coarse, thick,
parchment-like quality.
Even today, after more than a hundred
years, though
somewhat yellowed with age, the print
is still legible
and, with the exception of a few
instances, is in an ex-
cellent state of preservation. The
spelling is old fash-
ioned, and some of the words are
spelled by sound. A
reader of today hardly understands what
is meant when
he reads in an advertisement that a
certain man had
some country produce for
"s-a-i-l." The long letter s
was used until about 1810, after which
it was discon-
tinued, and among the other
improvements was the use
of Old English type to head the most
important
columns.13
From the appearance and general content
of the
papers we know that the equipment was
limited in many
ways. The first illustrations or cuts
appeared about
1800, crude pictures carved from wood.
After 1810,
however, they became more elaborate,
and were used
in a greater variety of ways. Speaking
of the first
print-shop, C. B. Galbreath said,
"A wheelbarrow would
have moved all the types, cases, and
stands which the
pioneer establishment contained."
The press was con-
structed entirely of wood, and in order
that the paper
12 Ibid., p. 256.
13 The Western Spy, 1810.
174
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
might be impressed it was operated much
as a country
boy operates a ciderpress. The printer
daubs his buck-
skin roll into the ink, and then daubs
it on the face of
the type. The lever creaks and lo! born
to the light of
day is the Centinel of the
Northwestern Territory.14
The later shops were more elaborately
equipped, for
with the gradual increase in the number
of people
greater demands were made, and the
editors were forced
to enlarge their shops. By 1812 or 1813 some of them
even had separate presses for printing
books. How-
ever, despite this equipment printing
was limited because
of the scarcity of paper. For several
years the edi-
tors were forced to bring their paper
from Pennsyl-
vania. It was common in those days to
receive a very
much abbreviated edition of the regular
newspaper with
the explanation that regular supply of
paper had not
arrived, and that the advertisements
and other news
items would be put in the next issue.
In 1800 a paper
mill was built at Red Stone Old Fort on
the Mononga-
hela, and shortly afterwards another
mill was located
at Georgetown, Kentucky. About 1803, an
old Ger-
man paper maker moved to the Little
Miami. His
plant was crude, but it relieved the
pressing needs of the
printers and publishers.15
But the shortage of paper was not the
only diffi-
culty. There was little money in
circulation in these
settlements west of the Alleghanies,
and the editors
solved the problem of subscription by
accepting country
produce. The papers carried a printed
list of these
14 C. B. Galbreath, Newspapers and
Periodicals in Ohio (Columbus,
Ohio, 1902) p. 3.
15 Nelson and Runk, History of
Cincinnati and Hamilton County, p.
256.
Early Newspapers of Cincinnati 175
products with prices attached for the
benefit of their
subscribers. The subscription price in
money was 250
cents per year or 61/4 cents per copy.
A subscriber could
pay one-half down, and the other half
at the end of six
months. If the first half was paid by
the end of the
first two months it was considered in
advance.16 A
statement sometimes followed the
subscription price to
the effect that in no case would the
paper be discontinued
while any amount remained unpaid, but
by 1810 a new
policy had been instituted and all
subscriptions were
made payable in advance.17
When William Maxwell first established
his shop,
there was no post office in Cincinnati,
and other means
had to be provided for the delivery of
the paper. One
of the first items that he printed was
a statement of the
fact that he had mislaid his
subscription list, and he
asked the subscribers to call and get
their own paper.18
A little later he organized his own
delivery system and
advertised for a post boy for that
purpose. This system
was found to be necessary even after
the post office
was established as many of the
subscribers lived back
from the regular road.
The conditions in the backwoods
settlements were
such that it was almost impossible to
gather news. It
is interesting, therefore, to note just
what was printed.
The one thing in particular that is of
special interest be-
cause of its absence is the lack of
editorials, and general
expression of political sentiment. The
majority of the
editors were under contract to print
the laws and ordi-
nances, and they could hardly be
expected to bite the
16 The Centinel (any
issue).
17 The Western Spy (any issue).
18 The Centinel, Nov.
9, 1793.
176 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
hand that fed them. But in spite of the
fact that they
were governmental employees, we do find
from time to
time anonymous discussions of important
political ques-
tions signed by classical or assumed
names. In the Cen-
tinel these contributions were signed by the names,
Pleblius, and Manlius.19 The Spy
and Liberty Hall used
the names, Truth, and Vitrivius. However, these
anonymous contributions reached a
climax in the Liberty
Hall in 1812, when we find in large black figures the
title,
"6257, A real black list. One that
ought to rouse the in-
dignation of every American who values
his liberty." 20
The author of this contribution
criticized the govern-
ment for its failure to protect our
seamen from impress-
ment, and expressed fear that the
inability to cope with
the situation would eventually throw
the United States
into the hands of the British. These
articles seemed to
express the general attitude of the
people toward the
war.
The remaining items of the papers fell
into a number
of very clearly defined departments,
that corresponded
roughly with the number of pages. The
first page was
generally taken up by some public document,
speech, or
item that would be of interest to the
people. For ex-
ample, on October 8, 1794, William
Maxwell printed
the instructions to the Grand Jury.
November 16, 1800,
the editor of the Western Spy and
Hamilton Gazette
gave the same attention to a lengthy
address by Gov-
ernor St. Clair, February 20, 1802, the
same editor
printed a copy of the act to
incorporate the town of
Cincinnati. A number of such items
could be given but
it is sufficient to note their general
content. They were
19 The Centinel, Nov. 23 and 30, 1793.
20 Liberty Hall, April 29,
1812.
Early Newspapers of Cincinnati 177
chosen as articles that might be of
interest to a people
who had but little communication with
the outside world.
The next division of the papers, from
the standpoint
of importance, was that of Foreign
Intelligence. The
information in this department was not
necessarily re-
cent. Items from the Old World were
usually delayed,
often from six weeks to five months
elapsed before they
were printed in these papers. The earlier
editors, and
especially William Maxwell, were
partial to items con-
cerning France and the French
Revolution. They felt
that we should give our moral support
to that Young Re-
public, the organization of which was
another step
toward the overthrow of tyrannical
government.
The later editors, however, were not so
biased, and
were willing to print anything of a
foreign nature.
For instance, the editor of the Western
Spy and Hamil-
ton Gazette in the issue for July 9, 1800, printed a
graphic description of the appearance
of three suns
in Polish Prussia. A little over a year
later the same
paper quoted an extract from the London
Gazette in
which it was stated that Lord Hobart
had received
some dispatches from Egypt.21 What
such quotations
signified, I was unable to discover,
for no attempt was
made to explain them. Generally speaking, this mass
of material seems to have been chosen
with the idea in
mind that any newspaper should print
all the news
available concerning international affairs. The print-
ing of these items did not indicate,
however, that any
connection or significance should be
given to them.
They were mere space fillers, and items
of general in-
terest.
21 The Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette, July 29, 1801.
178
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
A third department was that of National
Intelli-
gence. It had no special position and
was crowded into
any place on the second or third
page. The contents
were not all that the name seemed to
imply, for be-
sides a few items concerning the
affairs at Washing-
ton and the Eastern States, there were
quotations of
foreign affairs copied from the various
Eastern papers.
However, the two divisions, Foreign,
and National In-
telligence, were not well defined, but
were different
phases of the same subject.
The next department in order, one of
little import-
ance, was that of Local
Intelligence. In this division,
it might almost be said that the editor
discriminated
against his own community, for, with
the exception of
an occasional death notice or marriage
announcement,
few items ever found their way into
this department.
One phase of the papers that was not
well defined,
but was too important to be overlooked,
was what might
be termed Miscellaneous Matter. This
material dealt
with a variety of subjects in the way
of advice, morals,
and religion. In the issue of the Western
Spy and Ham-
ilton Gazette for October 27, 1799, there was an article
headed The Farmers Museum, edited by
the lay
preacher. In fact, this article was a
sermon in which
the author attempted to moralize some
local or national
event. In the Western Spy for
July 5, 1802, farmers
were advised to burn hay taken from a
salt swamp, be-
neath their plum trees to prevent the
blossoms from fall-
ing. One paper had an item concerning
the Origin of
Love,22 another, contained a character
sketch of a mar-
ried man.23 While these
articles did not appear as a
22 The Centinel, Nov. 30, 1793.
23 The Western Spy and Hamilton
Gazette, Aug. 13, 1800.
Early Newspapers of Cincinnati 179
regular division of the papers, yet
they appeared to re-
flect to a large degree the seriousness
and religious
atmosphere that seemed to permeate the
pioneer settle-
ment.
There was another side to the nature of
the pioneer,
one which the editors tried to satisfy
by poetry. This
poetry did not appear at first as a
regular division of
the paper, but each succeeding editor
was willing to
print all the material that came his way.
There were
a few poems scattered through the Ccntinel,
but poetry
first appeared as a recognized division
of the papers
in the Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette in 1800,
where it was printed under the caption,
"The Seat of
the Muses." A few months later
this heading was
changed to "Parnassiad," but
by 1810 the classical names
had been dropped, and the column was
headed, "Poetry."
A great majority of subjects were
treated. March 8,
1794, William Maxwell printed a
Bachelor's Soliloquy
that was a parody on the well known
soliloquy of Ham-
let. December 1, 1802, the Western
Spy and Hamilton
Gazette had a similar composition on The Toothache, in
which the horrors of the forceps and
the possibilities of
a broken jaw were drawn out to some
length. August
6, 1800, in the same paper we find a
receipt for the
cure of a love fit which ends with the
direction to
* * * "let him take a fair swing
And leave all the rest to the work of
the string."
It is evident from this that the only
known cure for a
love fit at that time was hanging. In the issue of
August 27, of the same year there was
an extract from
a London paper on the death of General
Washington.
180
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
"Illustrious warrior; on thy
immortal base
By freedom reared, thy envied name shall
stand,
And fame by truth inspired shall fondly
trace
Thee, pride and guardian of thy native
land."
Other poems appeared from time to time, very few
of which were worth remembering. Taken
as a whole.
the department of poetry showed very
little originality.
Some of the poems were hardly more than
a collection
of rhymed sentences. There were,
however, a few clas-
sical forms, copies from the works of Milton, and
Shakespeare, but the subject matter was
so trivial and
unimportant that the poems became a
mere farce and
their significance lost.
Along with the poetry there developed a
column of
ancedotes that might be compared to the
wit and humor
in the Literary Digest or Ladies Home Journal. The
Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Mercury,
in the issue for
September 1, 1806, prints the
following:
"A knavish attorney asked a very
worthy gentleman, 'What
is honesty?' 'What is that to you,'
replied he, 'meddle with those
things that concern you.' "
The anecdotes could not be considered
clever, and at
times they were little better than rude
stories. The
pioneer lived a rough life, and it is
not surprising that
he was unable to appreciate wit and
humor of the finer
type.
The last, but not the least important
division of
these papers, was the advertisements.
From them we
are able to get more information
concerning pioneer
life than from all the news items
combined The
earlier papers did not give much space
to this depart-
ment, but by 1810 it had become more
important, and
Early Newspapers of Cincinnati 181
occupied a part of almost every
page. The few ad-
vertisements in the Centinel usually
dealt with lost or
stolen property, deserters from the
army, or notices
concerning some faithless wife who had
abandoned her
husband's bed and board without due
provocation. The
wilderness was vast and there were few
settlers, there-
fore, it is not at all strange that the
soldiers at Fort
Washington sometimes grew tired of the
monotony of
army life and deserted. The settlers did
not find life to
be any easier than did the soldiers.
The building of
homes and the subduing of the country
was necessary,
and very often the brunt of the
hardships fell to the lot
of the woman. And like the soldier,
sometimes she
grew tired of her lot, and sought new
adventures farther
West with some man other than her
husband.
By 1813 or 1814 Cincinnati had become
more than
a thriving village. She could boast of
the fact that her
merchants received their goods from
Pittsburgh by boat,
and with the later development of the
then "marvelous
elastic vapor" or steam,
Cincinnati rapidly became the
central city in western commerce. As
early as 1793 or
1794, the Centinel carried a
list of the Packet boats, and
schedule of their movements for the
benefit of the sub-
scribers.
By 1800 more effort was put forth to
draw settlers
from the East. The various papers made
every effort
possible to show what a wonderful
country there was on
the west side of the Alleghanies. One
paper went so
far as to print an article concerning
the probabilities that
the Garden of Eden had been located in
the Ohio Valley.24
As far back as 1802 we find traces of
slaves escaping
24 The Western Spy and Miami Gazette, Jan. 6, 1807.
182
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
from their masters and fleeing
North. In that year
one of the papers printed an offer of
fifty dollars made
by Andrew Jackson, who afterwards
became president
of the United States, for the recovery
of a negro slave
who had escaped from his plantation on
the Cumber-
land River.25 This might be
called the beginning of
what afterwards became famous as the
underground
railway.
By 1810 Cincinnati had become a thriving
little
town with a number of industries. As
labor was scarce,
it was customary for the master of a
craft to take some
young lad as an apprentice. It is
evident that the ap-
prentice and the master did not always
get on well, for
frequently the lad would run away, and
there would
appear an advertisement of one cent
reward for his
return.26
We also find a number of schools
advertised to
teach reading, writing, drawing, and
fine sewing, or
drawing and fine sewing for so much per
quarter. It
is probable that the drawing and fine
sewing were offered
to meet the needs of certain
fashionable young women.
We find that in 1806 Garret Lane
advertised to teach
the most fashionable mode of dancing
for three dollars
per quarter.27 Doubtless drawing,
fine sewing, and
dancing completed the higher education
of the young
women of that day. Further attempts
were made in
the direction of higher education, for
in 1807 a move-
ment was instituted to raise by lottery
a sum of money
to found "The Cincinnati
University." Tickets were
on sale at the Liberty Hall office
at five dollars each.28
25 The Western Spy and Hamilton
Gazette, April 26, 1802
26 The Liberty Hall, Oct. 22, 1805.
27 The Western Spy and Miami Gazette, Aug. 26, 1806.
28 The Liberty Hall, Dec. 1, 1807.
Early Newspapers of Cincinnati 183
By this time Cincinnati was beyond the
village stage
and was rapidly approaching what Daniel
Drake, in
Pictures of Cincinnati, published in 1815, termed The
Infant City. For in addition to the
trade with the out-
side world there were some thriving
industries at home.
In a few short years Cincinnati was
destined to be-
come The Queen City of the West. The War of 1812
had crushed the menace of the British
and Indians on
the North, and all the vast wilderness
was open to set-
tlers from the East.
The newspaper records close with the
year 1814.
That year also marked the close of an
epoch in the his-
tory of the West. The enemy on the North
had been
crushed, and the initial settlements had
been founded.
Henceforth without hindrance, progress
and civilization
would travel Westward.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Newspapers.
Liberty Hall and
Cincinnati Mercury, 1804-1814. Cincin-
nati, Ohio.
The Centinel of the Northwestern
Territory, 1793-1796. Cin-
cinnati, Ohio.
The Western Spy, 1799-1811. Cincinnati, Ohio.
Books, Secondary Authorities.
C. B. Galbreath, Newspapers and
Periodicals in Ohio, Colum-
bus, Ohio, 1902.
Henry A. Ford and Mrs. Kate B. Ford, History
of Cincin-
nati, Ohio. Cleveland, Ohio, 1881.
Charles Theodore Greve, Centennial
History of Cincinnati.
and Representative Citizens, 2 vols.,
Chicago, Illinois, 1904.
S. B. Nelson and J. M. Runk, History
of Cincinnati and
Hamilton County, Ohio, Cincinnati,
Ohio, 1894.