EARLY CINCINNATI.
JOSEPH WILBY, CINCINNATI.
[The following article was written by
Mr. Joseph Wilby and read
before The Optimist Club, Cincinnati,
March 1st, 1902. Mr. Wilby is at
present the president of the Historical
and Philosophical Society of Ohio.
-EDITOR.]
The first council meeting of the town
of Cincinnati is said to
have been held on the 5th of March, 1802. The present
occasion
lacks a few days of being the one
hundredth anniversary of that
date, but affords a fitting opportunity
for us to recall the begin-
nings and growth of Cincinnati.
The southwest corner of Ohio was
fortunate in the character
of the men who chose it out of the
wilderness and peopled it, and
blessed by the conditions under which
these men laid the foun-
dations for a great city.
Where we now stand was, two centuries
ago, in the possess-
ion of the Indians, hardly known to the
white man, except to the
adventurous Jesuits from New France.
Marquette, descending
the Mississippi, had sailed by the mouth
of the Ohio, or, as he
called it, the Wabash, a name by which
it was known for many
years.
The French claim to all the vast region
north of the Ohio
and between the Mississippi and the
Alleghenies, was ceded to
England in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris.
Twenty years after-
ward, by the War of Independence, we
obtained from England
the right to all this country south of
the Great Lakes. It became
known as the Northwest Territory,
embracing what is now the
States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Wisconsin, and part
of Minnesota.
Though as colonies of England, Virginia
and Connecticut
claimed part of what is now Ohio, under
grants from the Crown,
Virginia, in 1781, gave up to Federal
control any rights she had
in this territory. Connecticut did the
same, reserving, however,
(448)
Early Cincinnati. 449
a little place in the northeastern
corner of Ohio, which has ever
since borne the name of the
"Connecticut Reserve." The Fed-
eral Congress, thereby enabled to make
laws for these new poss-
essions, 1787 enacted the famous
ordinance of that year. It had
many wise provisions; its most benign
was that excluding slavery
forever throughout the Northwest
Territory.
Tribes of Indians still claimed rights
of ownership in this
land. The Federal Government recognized
these rights, and, by
treaties made in 1785 and 1786, acquired
from the tribes claiming
it a large part of southwestern Ohio,
including what was known
as the Miami country, extending from the
Ohio River north be-
tween the two Miami Rivers.
Thereupon, in 1787, Col. John Cleves
Symmes, of New Jer-
sey, a member of the Colonial Congress,
a man of wealth and
education, who realized, as did
Washington, that this Ohio coun-
try, by reason of its climate, soil and
exemption from slavery
would attract settlers, contracted with
the Colonial Government
for the famous Symmes or Miami
Purchase. He thought he
bought 1,000,000 acres, but in fact, got
less than 600,000 acres,
bounded on the south by the Ohio, on the
west by the Great
Miami, on the east by the Little Miami,
and on the north by a
line drawn east and west between these
two rivers, somewhere in
the vicinity of Lebanon, in Warren
County. He paid, or prom-
ised to pay, the Federal Government
two-thirds of a dollar an
acre. He got his patent from the
Government in 1794. Some of
those who had purchased from him had
trouble in making title,
and it took an act of the Federal
Congress to secure to them lands
for which part payment had been made to
Symmes. Symmes
had his land surveyed into ranges,
townships and sections, terms
familiar to every property owner in
Cincinnati. The next year
Mathias Denman, another Jerseyman,
bought from Symmes,
Section 18 and Fractional Section 17,
being part of the fourth
township, in the first Fractional Range,
on the Ohio River. In
the contract of sale the land was simply
described as located as
nearly as possible opposite the mouth of
the Licking River, for
the survey had not yet been completed.
The tract was subse-
quently found to contain 740 acres,
which may be roughly said
to be part of Cincinnati as we know it
now, bounded on the north
Vol. XIV.-29.
(449)
450
Ohio. Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
by Liberty street, on the south by the
river, on the east by a line
drawn from a little east of where is now
the former homestead
of George H. Pendleton, at the top of
Liberty street hill, and on
the west by a line drawn from about the
corner of Liberty Street
and Central Avenue to the river at the
old Smith Street Landing.
The price paid by Denman is said to have
been $500, which was
about the price the Government had
charged Symmes.
Denman thought his land opposite the
Licking River a good
site for a town, as it was in the line
of the old trail from Ken-
tucky to Detroit. With him he associated
Col. Robert Patterson,
of Lexington, Ky., who took a share in
his purchase, and John
Filson, also of Lexington. Filson was
needed, because he was
a surveyor, to lay off the proposed town
into lots. Patterson was a
popular man, well known to the frontier,
and was to act as pro-
motor in advertising the enterprise.
Filson, who had been a
school teacher, proposed to call the
future town Losantiville, a
barbarous compound of Greek, Latin and
French, indicating, or
supposed to indicate, that it was the
"town opposite the mouth,"
that is, the month of the Licking. That
the town was ever called
Losantiville has been the subject of
much controversy, the weight
of evidence being, I believe, against
it, and in favor of the theory
that it was from the beginning known as
Cincinnati. The recent
founding of the Society of the
Cincinnati had made that name
popular and proper.
The owners and promoters of this Denman
Subdivision, as
it might be called, advertised it in the
Kentucky Gazette, at Lex-
ington, in September, 1788. In their
advertisement they said it
was proposed to have in-lots of a half
acre each, and out-lots of
four acres; every settler would be given
thirty of each of these
lots upon paying the cost of making
survey and deed for each lot,
and provided he took possession before
the 1st of April, 1789.
The original agreement between the
proprietors and the settlers
or lot takers is in the library of the
Historical Society.
In the same month, September, Denman,
Patterson, Filson
and their associates, including Israel
Ludlow and others not in-
terested with them in this particular
purchase, together with
Symmes, started out from Lexington to
reach this land opposite
the mouth of the Licking. Symmes decided
to go further down
Early Cincinnati. 451
the river before he selected a site for
settlement, and he and those
who were of his mind decided to start a
town at North Bend, at
the mouth of the Great Miami.
While engaged in measuring the distance
between the two
Miami rivers Filson disappeared, and it
was supposed that he was
killed by the Indians.
Israel Ludlow, who was a surveyor, then
took Filson's inter-
est, and began laying out the proposed
town site. The survey
reached from the river to Seventh
Street, between Broadway and
Central Avenue.
Meanwhile, Benjamin Stites had bought a
tract from
Symmes near the mouth of the Little
Miami, and began a settle-
ment which he called Columbia.
Patterson and Ludlow and those who had
joined in the pro-
ject of making a settlement opposite the
mouth of the Licking,
came down from Maysville, Ky., in
December, 1788, and, on a
date still in some doubt, landed near
the foot of Sycamore Street.
That may be said to have been the
beginning of Cincinnati.
By the terms under which lots were
disposed of to set-
tlers, the space south of Front Street
to the river, bounded on the
east by what we now call Broadway, then
laid out as Eastern
Row and Main Street, was made common or
public ground. We
know it now as the Public Landing.
Subsequently, Joel Williams undertook to
claim rights of in-
dividual ownership within this space,
but by decree in the case of
Cincinnati v. Williams, he was
perpetually enjoined, and it has
been a public common or landing ever
since.
So there were three settlements on the
Ohio River, in this
Miami country; that located by Symmes at
North Bend, at the
mouth of the Great Miami; that begun by
Stites at Columbia, near
the mouth of the Little Miami; and
Denman, Ludlow and Patter-
son's town of Cincinnati, about half way
between.
In those days, and, indeed, down to the
Treaty of Greenville,
in 1795, the Indians were a constant
menace to the settlers
through the Miami valleys. It was only
the most adventurous of
them who dared to take possession of
lands at a distance from the
river.
The Federal Government, therefore, to
encourage the settle-
452
Ohio. Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications.
ment of this new territory by affording
protection against the In-
dians, sent down from Marietta, or Fort
Harmar, a detachment of
soldiers, with instructions to build a
fort at North Bend, where
Symmes had laid out a promising town.
Emigrants naturally
would prefer that point to either
Columbia or Cincinnati, on ac-
count of protection by the fort.
Major Doughty, the officer commanding
the detachment,
was susceptible to the charms of women.
In looking around for
a suitable site for the proposed fort,
he became interested in a
young woman, who, as bad luck would have
it, had a husband.
The husband, noticing the flirtation,
and fearing the effect of mil-
itary buttons on his family peace,
removed thereupon from North
Bend to the new settlement opposite the
mouth of the Licking.
Major Doughty, discovering that the lady
had departed for Cin-
cinnati forthwith realized that
Cincinnati would be a more suitable
place than North Bend for locating a
fort, and accordingly or-
dered his detachment up the river to the
town site laid out by
Denman, Patterson and Ludlow. There he
located Fort Washing-
ton, on a plot of fifteen acres reserved
for the Federal Govern-
ment by the town owners. I wish I knew
more about what hap-
pened to Doughty, but the fort was
demolished and the fifteen
acres passed to private ownership in
1808. As you all know, the
exact location of the Fort has been
recently determined, on Third
Street between Broadway and Ludlow
Streets.
For fourteen years Cincinnati shared
with the rest of the
Northwest Territory that government
which the Federal Con-
gress provided under the ordinance of
1787. The population
within the limits of what is now Ohio
grew rapidly, so that in
1802, although the
territory had not yet acquired the population
of 60,000 required by the ordinance
before it could be entitled to
Statehood, yet it held between 40,000
and 45,000 people, and up-
on application to Congress, a law was
passed authorizing the in-
habitants of the eastern part of the
Northwest Territory to frame
a constitution and State government.
This act prescribed the
limits for what was to become the State
of Ohio, and its northern
boundary, separating it from what
afterward became the State of
Michigan, was declared to be Lake Erie
and a "line drawn east
and west through the southerly extremity
of Lake Michigan."
Early Cincinnati. 453
This language produced the celebrated
controversy which threat-
ened to include Detroit within the State
of Ohio, and to put To-
ledo within the State of Michigan. It
was the cause of many in-
teresting lawsuits, and was only settled
by an act of Congress al-
most forty years afterward. It seems
that the map of this wil-
derness available at that time to the
convention, made from crude
surveys, showed the lower extremity of
Lake Michigan as being
north of the latitude of Detroit. During
the controversy as to
where the true line should be drawn, a
hunter who was familiar
with the southern shores of Lake
Michigan brought it to the at-
tention of the convention that their map
did not correctly show
the location of Lake Michigan, for it
extended further south than
the latitude of Toledo. And thereupon
the settlers at Toledo be-
came disturbed for fear that they should
be left out of the new
State about to be carved out of the
Northwest Territory. A com-
promise was made by running the line
between the latitude of De-
troit and Toledo, so as to leave Toledo
within the new State, but
the line remained in doubt.
The act of 1802, permitting the
formation of the State of
Ohio, committed the making of a
constitution under which the
State could come into the Union, to
thirty-five delegates from
various settlements throughout the
territory comprised within
the proposed State of Ohio, all selected
by the Federal Govern-
ment. These delegates included men whose
names will always be
remembered in connection with the
history of Ohio-Jeremiah
Morrow, William Goforth, Edward Tiffin,
Nathaniel Massie,
Rufus Putnam and others familiar to you.
They met in conven-
tion at Chillicothe, in November, 1802,
and framed the constitu-
tion under which Ohio lived down to
1851, when the new and
present constitution was adopted. It is
a curious fact that this
constitution of 1802 was never
submitted to the people of the
State. The proposition was made in the
convention to let the
people approve it, but was rejected by a
large majority. It would
therefore seem as if in Ohio, for the
first fifty years of its exis-
tence as a State, there was government
without the consent of
the governed; that is to say, it was a
government under a funda-
mental code of principles, written by
persons selected by the Fed-
454 Ohio. Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
eral Congress, and in the making of
which the people to be gov-
erned were not consulted.
Thus, in 1803, Ohio was admitted to the
Union, as the fourth
State to be added to the original
thirteen colonies.
The name is from its Indian name,
Youghiogany, which the
French, leaving out the gutteral sounds,
softened into Ohio. It
is the Alleghany, not the Ohio, that by
its Indian derivation means
Belle Riviere.
But Cincinnati was an incorporated town
before Ohio was a
State; for the Territorial Legislature
made Cincinnati a town by
an act passsed January 1, 1802. The town then
incorporated
was thus bounded: On the north by the
township line, about a
mile from the river (this was Township
4), on the south by the
river, on the east by the east line of
Section 12, and on the west
by Millcreek.
It was not until 1815 that the town was
divided into wards-
four of them-by a new act of
incorporation, which took the
place of the act of 1802. The limit of
taxation on real estate was,
by the new charter, a half of one per
cent, and any increase there-
of was to be submitted to the people for
popular approval.
The difference between the grade of the
lower portion of the
town, towards the river, and the upper
portion, at Fourth or
Fifth Street, was probably even greater
then than now. Indeed,
there may be said to have been two
sudden changes in level, one
at the river, and one at about Third
Street; but this was slowly,
by grading, made a continuous ascent
from Front to Fourth
Street. There were in those days,
according to the account left
by Judge Jacob Burnet,, the grandfather
of Jacob Staats Burnet,
of Oak Street, Walnut Hills, four
mounds, possibly made by In-
dians, within the then city limits; two
circular mounds, one in-
tersecting Sycamore, Broadway, Fourth
and Fifth Streets, the
other intersecting Race, Vine, Fourth
and Fifth Streets; and
single-peaked mounds, one at the
northeast corner of Front and
Main Streets, and a larger one at the
northwest corner of Fifth
and Mound Streets, which gave its name
to the latter street.
At the northeast corner of Main and
Fifth Streets, opposite
the present Government Building, there
was, for some years into
the last century, a swamp filled with
alders, so that persons pass-
Early Cincinnati. 455
ing north on Main Street were obliged to
go over a wooden
causeway.
Lots on the principal streets for the
first five years after Cin-
cinnati became a town could be bought
for less than $100 each.
Thereafter they rose rapidly in value.
At the end of ten years
from that time the price of real estate
on Main Street, between
Front and Third Streets, was about $200
a front foot, diminishing
in value as one went north. This was
then the highest priced
property in the city. It kept rapidly
increasing in value with the
increase in population. It was on Main
Street below Fourth that
later stood the store of Tyler Davidson,
the hardware merchant,
whose memory is perpetuated by the
fountain in Fifth Street.
At the beginning of the last century,
that is, in 1800, there
are said to have been but 750 people in
Cincinnati. In 1810 the
population had increased to 2,500, and
in 1820,
it was nearly 10,-
000. Cincinnati was then growing more
rapidly than either of
its rivals, Louisville or Pittsburg.
Between 1820 and 1850, the
population showed a larger increase than
it ever has since fifty
years ago. It much more than doubled
between 1820 and 1830,
about doubled between 1830 and 1840, and by 1850 had
grown in
the then past decade from 46,000 to
115,000. It took more than
twenty years to double the population
again, for in 1870 it was
only a little over 216,000.
Almost all of the Germans, whose
descendants now constitute
so large and valued a part of our
population, came to Cincinnati
between 1820 and 1850.
The first census that was ever taken by
actual count of the
population of Cincinnati, was by
Benjamin Drake and E. D.
Mansfield, in 1826, at the request of a
committee of the City
Council, and for which the city paid
Drake and Mansfield an
agreed price of $75. The enumeration was
by wards, and showed
a total population in 1826 of 16,230 persons.
The slow growth of the town in its
earlier years was due
probably in part to losses by the Indian
wars and the deterrent
effect on immigration of the continued
depredations of the Indians.
Some idea of the rise in the value of
real estate may be had
from considering that the northwest
corner of Third and Main
Streets was bought, when the town was
laid out, for $2.00; forty
456
Ohio. Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
years afterward it was sold for $15,000.
The corner of Main
and Front Streets, 100 feet on Front and
200 feet on Main Street,
sold in 1789 for $2.00. It was thought
to be worth $100 in 1793.
Fifty years afterward it rented for
about $15,000 a year. In 1802
Ethan Stone paid for a lot 150 feet on Vine
Street by 200 feet
on Fourth Street, $220; and less than
forty years afterward 60
feet of the same property, not on the
corner, sold at $150 a front
foot on Vine Street. And 60 feet on the
next square west of this
has quite recently changed hands on a
basis of $4,015 a front foot.
The most valuable property in the city
just before the war was
probably on the Public Landing; that is,
on Front Street between
Broadway and Main Streets, where lots
were sold at the rate of
$1,000 a front foot.
Hamilton County was one of the four
counties established
as early as 1796, named of course, for
Alexander Hamilton, and
included about one-eighth of the whole
State. The other coun-
ties were Washington, St. Clair and
Knox, all also named after
distinguished early patriots. Hamilton
County was subsequently
divided into eleven counties - Clermont,
Warren, Butler, Preble,
Montgomery, Greene, Clinton, Champaign,
Miami, Darke and
Hamilton.
Having been a town for less than twenty
years, Cincinnati
became incorporated as a city by
an act of the General Assembly,
February 5, 1819, while Boston
was still the Town of Boston.
Our population was then 10,283. Our city
charter was amended
several times during the next eight
years. In 1827, the boundar-
ies of the city were defined by a new
charter, as beginning on the
Ohio River at the east corner of
Fractional Section No. 12, and
running west with the township line of
Cincinnati to Millcreek,
thence down Millcreek with its meanders
to the Ohio River,
thence eastwardly up said river with the
southern boundary of the
State of Ohio to the place of beginning.
For the next twenty years the city grew
toward the east, the
west and northwest, chiefly by gradual
accessions of territory
through subdivisions and additions made
by individuals owning
large tracts of land. Thereafter road
districts having been estab-
lished through Millcreek Township and
other neighboring town-
ships, and incorporated villages having
sprung up in the suburbs
Early Cincinnati. 457
of the city, a little more than fifty
years ago the process of annex-
ation by ordinance and agreement with
the newly acquired terri-
tory began to extend the city limits.
The first road district taken in became
the Eleventh Ward of
the city of Cincinnati, and one of the
commissioners for settling
the terms of that annexation on behalf
of the road district was
Michel Goepper.
The city then reached out toward the
east for more territory,
and in 1854 acquired the incorporated
village of Fulton. Then
annexation reached to the west, and in 1869 Storrs
Township, ex-
cept the village of Riverside, was made
part of the city. Later
in the same year Camp Washington and
Lick Run were annexed.
And, by an ordinance of the same date,
part of Walnut Hills, ad-
joining the village of Columbia, joined
the city. More of Walnut
Hills and Mt. Auburn came into
Cincinnati in 1870, after the
question of their annexation had been
submitted to popular vote.
The village of Columbia united with the
city in 1872, also after
popular vote on the question. The next
year the village of Cum-
minsville decided to extend the city
limits toward the north.
Cumminsville got its name in this way;
it had been known origi-
nally as Ludlow's Station, because one
of its earliest settlers, John
Ludlow-some relative, I believe, of
Israel Ludlow-who
laid out the city of Cincinnati - had
built a house and
established himself in the valley north
of Clifton, when the
place was considered unsafe on account
of the Indians. Later a
man by the name of John Cummins had a
tannery in the neighbor-
hood of Ludlow's farm, adjoining the
land of one Hutchinson.
Hutchinson's house, or rather tavern -
for he kept a tavern -
stood where afterward was built the
residence of the late John
Hoffner, now a landmark in that part of
the city. A stream of
water ran from Hutchinson's land, of
which Cummins, by his
deed, was entitled to use as much as
would flow through five
three-quarter inch auger holes. The
Hutchinsons kept a dairy
in connection with their tavern, and
needed water. One dry
summer they plugged up the holes of the
tannery supply pipe to
save water for the cows in their
dairy. The flow of water to
Cummins' tannery diminished. A lawsuit
followed. For the
purpose of raising money to carry on the
suit Cummins mort-
458
Ohio. Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
gaged his property; and it, being sold
on foreclosure, was bought
in by Ephraim Knowlton, whose stone
store on Spring Grove
Avenue, then the old Wayne Road, is
another landmark in that
part of the city. The store of
Knowlton's has given to its loca-
tion the name of "Knowlton's
Corner"; and Knowlton, having
bought this ground from the Cummins on
foreclosure, named the
settlement, which at that time numbered
many houses (built
mostly by Knowlton, himself, who was a
carpenter and builder)
"Cumminsville," by which name
it will probably be known as
long as any of us live. The city next,
in the same year as the an-
nexation of Cumminsville, went east for
more room, and took in
the incorporated village of Woodburn.
Then we were satisfied
with our size until we took a slice off
the west side of Avondale,
adjoining the Zoological Gardens, in
1888. Still the city was not
content with its border thus extended,
and in 1894, after some
controversy with one or more unwilling
suburbs, took within the
protection of its municipal police
Avondale, Clifton, Linwood,
Riverside and Westwood. Then three years
afterward a piece
of Millcreek Township adjoining
Avondale. And in the fall of
last year the city acquired an outlaying
tract adjoining Price Hill
on the west. Surely the Cincinnati of
to-day shows on the map
a wide-spreading territory. Yet I
understand that to this ex-
tended area is to be added still more
contiguous territory.
One of the first municipal ordinances
passed by the city of
Cincinnati was the one dated the 17th
day of November, 1824,
declaring it unlawful to play marbles
within the city limits on the
Sabbath day; and further imposing a fine
of ten dollars upon any
boy who played on any street or alley of
the city the game com-
monly called shinny, on any day.
Apparently the inhabitants of Cincinnati
carried the custom
of bathing in the river in front of the
city to an intolerable extent
in those days, for in 1826 an ordinance
was passed imposing a fine
of five dollars and the costs of
prosecution upon any one who
should bathe in the Ohio River within
the corporate limits, be-
tween sunrise and sunset.
Speaking of water, in the earliest times
in Cincinnati springs
in the hillside along the present line
of Third Street furnished
drinking water, and the Ohio River water
for washing. Later
Early Cincinnati. 459
wells were sunk, and water was carried
up in buckets from the
river on washing days. Still later an
enterprising citizen put a
cask on wheels, and filling it at the
river, made a business of sel-
ling water to the citizens. In 1817 a
still more enterprising cit-
izen constructed a tank near the foot of
Ludlow Street, into which
by horse power, he lifted water from the
river, and sold it to men
with carts, who in turn sold it again
throughout the town. In
the same year a corporation, having, for
a water company, the
rather curious name of the Cincinnati
Woolen Manufacturing
Company, acquired from the Town Council
of Cincinnati the ex-
clusive privilege of supplying the town
with water for the term
of ninety-nine years, for the sum of
$100 a year paid to the city.
The Woolen Company was bound by the
ordinance to fill, free of
expense, all reservoirs the town should
build, but no limit was
placed upon the price to be charged for
water supplied for pri-
vate consumption. Samuel W. Davies
bought this right from
the Woolen Company in 1820. He built a
plank-sided reservoir
on the site of the old reservoir on
Third and Martin Streets, into
which water was pumped from the river.
The pipes were of
wood, and the pumps worked by horse
power. A few years later
the engine and boiler of a steamboat
were bought by Davies, and
the pumping was thereafter done by steam
power. But the pipes
were still of wood. A part of one of
them, dug up from Fourth
Street, may be seen at the rooms of the
Historical Society. Dav-
ies tried to interest the citizens of
Cincinnati in his project of
distributing water liberally on modern
methods, but failed. He
then tried to sell back his plant and
privileges to the city at a loss.
The city declined to purchase. Then, in
1825, Davies procured
the incorporation of the Cincinnati
Water Company with a cap-
ital of $75,000. The company made
improvements; adopted iron
pipes; the reservoir was enlarged, and a
sufficient water supply
was obtained. In 1839 the waterworks,
and all its plants and
rights, were purchased from the company
by the city, and to the
city they have ever since belonged. A
new reservoir was com-
structed about fifty years ago on the
site of the former one, which
may now be seen on East Third Street,
just beyond the old Kil-
gour residence and the U. S. Marine
Hospital; and it is of inter-
est, to the writer at least, that this
reservoir was built under the
460
Ohio. Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
supervision, and bears on the stone
tablet on its south wall the
name of his grandfather, Ebenezer
Hinman, then superintendent
of the city waterworks. About the time
this reservoir was fin-
ished, in 1852, saw the completion of St.
Peter's Cathedral, cor-
ner of Eighth and Plum Streets. In 1874
the first section of
the new reservoir was completed in Eden
Park.
The paving of the streets in early days
was of limestone,
easily obtained in the neighborhood. It
made a poor surface,
and a little more than fifty years ago,
at the suggestion of Mr.
De Goyler, paving with round boulders
was adopted, which at
that time was considered, and probably
was, a great advance on
anything that had been previously used
in the making of streets.
It is only recently that Cincinnati
became dissatisfied with this
boulder paving.
The Gas Company was originally the
private enterprise of
J. F. Conover and J. H. Caldwell, to
whom the City Council gave
the privilege of supplying the city and
its citizens with gas in
June, 1841. Subsequently, the
Legislature granted to these gen-
tlemen and their associates a charter
under the name of The Cin-
cinnati Gas Light and Coke Company,
which, as I hope all of you
know by exchange of certificates, has
only recently ceased to be
its corporate name. It is, however, the
same old meter, with a
different colored bill.
The river of course was, from the
beginning, and particu-
larly after the introduction of steam,
the great highway of travel
and commerce. But in 1825 the
Legislature of Ohio, stimulated
its Erie Canal, provided by liberal
legislation for acquiring rights
of way and building of a system of
canals throughout the State.
The two canals in which Cincinnati was
interested were, first,
the Miami Canal, finished in 1827, and
formally opened at Lock-
land by Governor DeWitt Clinton, of New
York, whose name is
so closely connected with the Erie
Canal. This Miami Canal,
about sixty-seven miles in length,
extended at first from Cincin-
nati north to Dayton, near the mouth of
the Mad River. It was
afterward built to Piqua and later to
Defiance. It no doubt was
a great public work to have been
accomplished in those early
times; was a great convenience to the
commerce of the Miami
Valley, and, connected as it was with
the rest of the canal system
Early Cincinnati. 461
of the State of Ohio, deserves much that
has been said in its
favor in the past. Ever since the writer
can remember, however,
it has, by many reasonably sensible
people, been said to have out-
lived its usefulness. I am willing to
hazard the opinion that
part of it within the city limits has
certainly outlived its sweet-
ness-yes, I am ready to say that it is
an ill-smelling relic. It is
doubtful, however, if any of us here
present will live to see any
honest and rational disposition made of
it. The other canal re-
lated to the fortunes of Cincinnati is
the Cincinnati and White-
water Canal, or rather was, for so much
of it as came within the
neighborhood of Cincinnati has long
since been appropriated by
railroads, who have better served the
original purpose of its con-
struction.
The bridges across the Ohio, at
Cincinnati, deserve some
mention in this connection. Daniel
Drake, in his instructive and
entertaining account of Cincinnati,
published in 1815, says that
even at that date some enthusiactic
persons already spoke of a
bridge across the Ohio at Cincinnati.
Indeed, at that time Mr.
Drake was bold enough to suggest the
necessity of a bridge across
Deercreek at its mouth. He also pleaded
for the restoration of
a bridge that once existed over
Millcreek, but had been destroyed
by high water. As a matter of fact, it
was a long fifty years
before Mr. Drake's hopes of a bridge
across the Ohio were rea-
lized. The writer can well remember,
before the war, the short
stone tower on the bank of the river
which was then the promise
of the bridge which subsequently sprang
across to Covington
with its web of steel. The writer can
also remember, during the
Civil War, the bridge of boats, called,
I believe, a pontoon bridge,
stretched across the river. Over it
marched General Lew Wal-
lace and his troops to intercept Kirby
Smith's raiders. From
time to time thereafter, making peace
with the War Department
and the tall stacks of river steamboats,
four other bridges have,
within the memory of comparative youth,
spanned the Ohio in
front of Cincinnati.
The first railroad constructed out of
Cincinnati was the
"Little Miami," completed in
1846, as far as Springfield, O.,
eighty-four miles. The Cincinnati,
Hamilton & Dayton, and the
Ohio & Mississippi had been thought
of at that time, and indeed,
462 Ohio.
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
were soon in process of construction.
Other railroads followed.
But it is impossible to speak of
railroads in connection with Cin-
cinnati without giving prominent place
to our Southern Railway,
planned, possibly, sixty years ago,
under the name of the Cin-
cinnati & Charleston Railroad.
Ferguson's road, which was to
give us communication with the South,
but not constructed until,
by the indulgence of the Supreme Court
of Ohio kindly warping,
if it did not break, the Constitution of
the State, the city of Cin-
cinnati, after much wrangling, much
diversity of opinion and
grievous burden of taxation, built, with
bonded debt, the road
which it is now about, with wisdom and
good fortune, to place in
the hands of a responsible tenant by a
new lease on favorable
terms. The history of that railroad,
from the act of May 4, 1869,
down to the present day, is full of
interest to every Cincinnatian;
but that story has been so well told by
Mr. H. P. Boyden in his
recent pamphlet that there is nothing
left for me to say about it
than to notice a rather odd coincidence,
personal to myself. In
June, 1869, the people of Cincinnati,
under the act of the Legis-
lature, voted to build this road. The
preliminary survey was
immediately begun. In April, 1870, the
writer joined one of the
preliminary surveying parties at the
mouth of Fishing Creek, on
the Cumberland River, below Somerset,
and continued work with
that surveying party for six or seven
months in Kentucky and
Tennessee. In the same month, April,
1870, the writer's present
law partner, E. W. Kittredge, quite
unknown to the writer,
brought suit for Bryant Walker, city
solicitor and tax-payer, to
contest the constitutionality of the
Ferguson act which author-
ized the building of the road. After a
short term of use by the
Common Carrier Company, Mr. Kittredge,
in October, 1881,
drew the lease for twenty-five years to
its prsent lessee.
Nicholas Longworth, the
great-grandfather of the talented
Senator from this county, was a
Cincinnati lawyer in the early
part of the last century and practiced
his profession until 1819.
He invested his savings in lands and
lots in Cincinnati and vi-
cinity. He thought well of the future of
Cincinnati, and he was
not disappointed. He was a kind and
useful ancestor. The
story is told of him that a fee he got
for defending a man accused
of horse stealing consisted of two second-hand copper stills,
Early Cincinnati. 463
stored at the tavern of Joel Williams,
near the river. Mr. Long-
worth presented his order to Williams
for stills. Williams
was about to build a distillery, and
traded with Longworth for
the stills, giving him in exchange
thirty-three acres of land on
Western Row, now Central Avenue, on the
west side, from Sixth
to Seventh Streets, and extending west
for quantity. It has been
said that even fifty years ago the
advance in value of that real es-
tate had made it worth two million of
dollars, not counting im-
provements. Mr. Longworth probably
bought and sold more lots
of land in Cincinnati than any other one
individual. In 1850 he
paid for that year taxes amounting to
more than $17,000, which is
said to have been at that time the
largest amount paid for taxes
by any one individual in the United
States, except William B.
Astor, of New York.
The first bank in Cincinnati was the
Miami Exporting Com-
pany, which started in 1803. Its charter
permitted it to sell farm
products to New Orleans and issue bank
notes. Oliver Spencer
was its president, and it paid from 10
to 15 per
cent dividends.
Then came the branch of the United
States Bank, established
here in 1817. In 1826 it was the only bank in operation in Cin-
cinnati, and for years it played an
important part in local finance.
Afterward there was the Ohio Life
Insurance and Trust Com-
pany, with its office on the southwest
corner of Third and Main
Streets. This was long before the war
and the era of National
Banks. The failure of this company, in
1857, was a catastrophe
long remembered, and its trustee in
insolvency, the late James P.
Kilbreth, left at his death, a few years
ago, its affairs still un-
settled. For many years Adae's bank,
known as the German
Banking Institution, occupied this same
corner.
Sixty years ago Nicholas Longworth gave
a tract of land
near his Garden of Eden, now our Eden
Park, to furnish a site
for an observatory. A suitable building
and apparatus were
obtained, in part by popular
subscription, and John Quincy
Adams delivered the address on the
occasion of its dedication,
November 10, 1843. The hill thereafter took from him its
name
of Mt. Adams.
A quarter of a century afterward the Observatory was re-
moved to its present site on Mt.
Lookout, presented to it by John
464
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Kilgour; and immediately the old
Observatory building was ac-
quired by and used as the
"Monastery of the Sacred Cross."
About a year ago the building was
condemned as unsafe and
taken down.
Such of us who were born here take an
abiding and affec-
tionate interest in the city and its
history, which is undisturbed
by the Pessimists' statistics of
diminishing rank in population,
commerce or mannufactures. In the matter
of good people -
and they beyond all else make life worth
living-we need fear no
rival. As an Optimist among Optimists, I
offer to Cincinnati
the sentiment long ago addressed to
London:
"Dear, damned, distracted town;
with all thy faults, I love
thee still."