Images ofHistoricalCincinnati

Cincinnati's history extends back nearly two hundred years. Grasping anunderstanding of the city at various times in its history is inevitably illusiveand abstract. The process, however, is aided immeasurably by studyingvisual as well as written artifacts. The Cincinnati Historical Society possessesa diverse array of materials that supports efforts to understand Cincinnati'shistory and some of the most useful are visual. Conversely, an awareness ofevents and basic trends in the history of the city frequently can enrich theenjoyment of art works and other visual materials. In the pages that follow,a brief overview of the city's history is coupled with a sampling of imagesfrom CHS's collections of paintings, lithographs, etchings, maps, and photo-graphs. It is a sketchy, but a handsome, portrait of the Queen City madepossible by the gifts of many donors over more than a century and madepresentable in this 150th year of the Society by a gift from The First NationalBank of Cincinnati that funded their conservation.

William Louis Sonntag (attr.), View of the OhioRiver at Maysville, Kentucky (c. 1850). Sonntag(1822-1900), born in Pennsylvania, came toCincinnati with his family in 1823 and began topaint in the early 1840s. He frequently spent hissummers traveling and sketching the wildernessof the Ohio River Valley. Oil on canvas. 32 x 42in. Gift from the estate of Helen S. Knight, 1977.

James Pierce Barton, Kentucky Landscape. Thescene portrays Daniel Boone in 1769 pointing tothe rich and fertile Kentucky wilderness. BartonC1817-1891), a portrait and landscape artistborn in Zanesville, Ohio, painted this scene inthe manner of the Hudson River School. Oil oncanvas. 22 x 30 in. Gift of Mrs. W. R. Thrall,I9I3-

In the 1780s, the settlers of Kentucky called the area of southwest Ohiowhere Cincinnati now stands the "Miami Slaughterhouse." This land washome for the people of the powerful Miami Indian Confederation who weredetermined to defend their land and their way of life from the intrusion ofthe white man.

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Simon Kenton (1755-1836) fled west in 1771from his native Virginia believing he had killeda rival in a love affair. He used the name SimonButler and worked as a scout for more than tenyears before learning that his boyhood an-tagonist was living. Kenton lived in severalKentucky and Ohio towns and fought Indiansin and out of wars up through the War of 1812.His last years were spent in poverty, and he isburied at Urbana, Ohio. Oil on canvas. 29 x 25in. Gift of Robert Clarke, 1885.

Benjamin Logan (c. 1743-1802) was born andraised in Virginia. In 1775 he joined a party tosettle the Transylvania colony in the future stateof Kentucky. Logan fought Indians during theRevolution. In these years he was among themost influential of Kentucky leaders. He re-mained politically active and served in the statelegislature during the 1790s. Unlike Kenton,Logan possessed a large estate at his death.Oil on canvas. 28% x zoVs in. Gift of DwightThomson, 1967.

By the close of the Revolutionary War, Kentucky already had 70,000 set-tlers, but few white men dared to venture north of the Ohio River. The newlyformed United States government, eager to open the Northwest Territory,ignored the fact that no treaty had yet been signed with the Indians, andin 1788 sold a vast tract of land between the Great and Little Miami riversto John Cleves Symmes. This land was known as the Miami Purchase. Thevillages of Columbia (located at the present site of Lunken Airport), Losanti-ville (present day Cincinnati), and North Bend (west of Cincinnati) were

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A Map of part of the N: W: Territory of theUnited States: compiled from Actual Surveys,and the best Information, 1796. Samuel Lewis,cartographer. 21 x 27 in. Eugene F. Bliss fundpurchase, 1949.

John Cleves Symmes (1742-1814). While serv-ing in the Continental Congress from NewJersey, in 1787 Symmes became interested inthe western lands on the Ohio River between theGreat and Little Miami rivers. He was appointeda judge for the Northwest Territory in 1788 andmoved to the region where, in January 1789, hefounded North Bend. By 1794 he succeeded inpurchasing slightly more than 300,000 acres inthe region, though this was only a fraction ofwhat the original Congressional grant had madeavailable to him. The painting was copied froma portrait by Charles Willson Peale. Oil oncanvas. 27 x 22 in. Permanent loan fromHamilton County, 1975.

quickly settled signalling the beginning of the end of Indian domination.In August 1794 at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, General Anthony Wayne de-feated the Indians, and with the signing of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795,the way was cleared for the rapid settlement of the rich lands of the North-west Territory.

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Fort Washington Garrison. The selection ofLosantiville as the site for a fort helped thesettlement eclipse those nearby. Initially builtin 1789 and garrisoned with 300 soldiers, thefort was the site of training of soldiers forIndian battles. Following the Treaty of Green-ville in 1795, the security provided by the fortwas a less significant factor in the community'sgrowth. The garrison was moved across the riverin 1803 and the fort itself was dismantled in1809. Oil on canvas. 27 x 35 in. Gift of CliffordA. Wiltsee, 1966.

Cincinnati — 1800. Strobridge LithographingCompany. After a painting by A.J. Swing (1880).An estimated 750 people lived in Cincinnati in1800. Lithograph. 19V2 x 34V2 in. Gift from theestate of Grace F. Spiegel, 1955.

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Benjamin (d. 1847) and Sarah B. (1758-1852)Mason, each born in England, were married inBaltimore, Maryland in 1799. They moved toCincinnati in 1804 where Benjamin Mason wasa carpenter and cabinetmaker. Each: Oil onboard. 29 x 25 in. Gifts of Mrs. John H. Woods,192-3-

Lewis (1795-1884) and Margaret Place (1802-1836) Baker migrated west from Newark, NewJersey in 1819. Lewis Baker was a merchanttailor on Fourth Street near Main. They lived atthe southeast corner of Fourth and Walnut.Each: Oil on canvas. 30 x 24 in. Gifts of EdithA. Baker, i960.

Cincinnati, located on the major artery into the western interior, the OhioRiver, grew quickly in the early years of the nineteenth century. In 1811the first steamboat on the western waters, the "Orleans," arrived at Cincin-nati, and for the first time goods could come easily upstream increasing thecity's importance as a central shipping point. In these years men such asDr. Daniel Drake and Martin Baum, promoters and visionaries, worked todevelop the city's commercial and economic potential. But for Cincinnati toexploit fully the commercial advantages offered by the river and steamboat,

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Martin (1765-1831) and Ann Wallace(1780-1864) Baum built "Belmont" as theirhome about 1820. Now the Taft Museum, thebuilding remains among Cincinnati's mosthandsome structures. Martin Baum came toCincinnati in 1795 from Maryland. In 1804,he married Ann Sommerville Wallace who,with her parents and family, had migrated toOhio from Delaware. Martin Baum wasinvolved in numerous business ventures thatincluded founding the Miami ExportingCompany (which operated the first bank in theWest), a sugar refinery, iron foundry andflour mill. He also engaged in landspeculation, the operation of riverboats and thepromotion of diverse educational and literaryorganizations. Martin Baum: Oil on board.29 x 22 in. Society Purchase, 1929. Ann WallaceBaum: 30 x 24 in. Society Purchase, 1929.

Charles Meurer, Daniel Drake (1785-1852) wasborn in New Jersey but migrated to Maysville,Kentucky in 1788. In 1800 his family sent himto Cincinnati to study medicine with Dr.William Goforth. He supplemented his trainingby attending the University of Pennsylvania.In 1819 he obtained a charter and founded theOhio Medical College (now the Medical Collegeof the University of Cincinnati). During hisadult life he lived intermittently in Cincinnatiand was among the city's major promoters. Hehelped found a library, museum, debating club,hospital, medical journal, lunatic asylum,grocery store, and apothecary shop. Drake alsowrote several scientific and medical books thatcontain historically valuable information.

Charles Meurer (1865-1955) was raised inClarksville, Tennessee before moving with hisfamily to Cincinnati in 1881. He studied at theArt Academy of Cincinnati and in France.While best known for his still-lifes, Meureralso painted landscapes and portraits. Oil oncanvas. 24V2 x 2o'/2 in. Gift of Mrs. OttoJuettner, 1953.

a way had to be found to ship cheaply and conveniently the agriculturalproduce of the farms in the interior to Cincinnati and to supply these settlersin the back country with manufactured goods. The solution adopted was asystem of canals focusing on Cincinnati. When the Miami-Erie Canal openedin 1830, Cincinnati ceased to be just another promising river town in thewilderness, and the nickname "Queen of the West" was heard and writtenwith increasing frequency.

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View of Cincinnati from Covington, Kentucky.Gouache on paper, ig x 25V2 in. Gift from theestate of Marion Rawson, 1980.

John Caspar Wild (d. 1846) was born in Zurich,Switzerland. He lived in Paris for fifteen yearsbefore coming to Philadelphia in the early1830s, where he established a reputation as alandscape painter and lithographer. By the latesummer or early fall of 1835 he was in Cin-cinnati. He painted in watercolor, or gouache,two views of the city from the Kentucky shore,one of the Public Landing, and four scenesalong residential Third and Fourth streets. Hestayed in Cincinnati for no longer than twoyears; by 1838 he was again in Philadelphia.Later that year he moved to St. Louis and dur-ing the next five years painted and publishedprints of towns along the Mississippi River.In 1845 Wild moved to Davenport where hedied the following year.

Public Landing. Gouache on paper. 18 x 25 in.Gift of Mrs. Charles Graham, 1880.

Fourth Street West of Vine. Gouache on paper.18 x 25 in. Gift of Mrs. Charles Graham, 1880.

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Henry Mosler, Canal Street Market (i860). TheCanal Street Market, located between Vine andWalnut at present day Court Street, was typicalof several that operated in mid-nineteenth cen-tury Cincinnati. In 1851, Mosler (1841-1920)moved to Cincinnati with his parents. From1859 to 1861 he worked under James H. Beard.He painted in Cincinnati from 1866 to 1874.He also studied in Europe and, in 1894, settledin New York for the remainder of his career.Mosler acquired an international reputation forhis genre scenes of peasant life. Oil on canvas.2.5V2 x 36 in. Eugene F. Bliss fund purchase,1955-

The canal system stimulated a period of incredible growth, so the 1830swere years of great optimism for the young, bustling river town. Cincinnatitook full advantage of her location and resources. Her residents constructedmany of the steamboats that operated on the Ohio. Each year the cityslaughtered, packed, and shipped the meat and by-products of thousandsof hogs raised in the surrounding fertile agricultural region, making Cin-cinnati famous, or infamous, as "Porkopolis." Businesses were formed tomanufacture diverse commodities, such as furniture, beer and liquor, books,soap and candles, and even prefabricated houses. In addition, provisioningsettlers flooding into the western states and territories stimulated the growthof numerous other businesses and industries.

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By the mid-nineteenth century Cincinnati had become the second largestmanufacturing center in the country, surpassed only by Philadelphia. Thesixth largest city in the country, Cincinnati attracted tens of thousands ofEuropeans to her shores on the Ohio. Irish, Germans, and southern blackscrowded into Cincinnati to share with settlers from the East—primarily fromNew England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—in the commercialand industrial boom. But the phenomenal growth brought problems as wellas advantages. Cincinnati had become a complex city with complex prob-lems of public services —such as police, fire, and sanitation protection —andof racial, ethnic, and religious conflict and competition.

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Robert S. Duncanson, Cincinnati FromCovington, Kentucky (1848-1850). By mid-century Cincinnati had grown to a populationof over 115,000, was the nation's sixth largestcity and the second largest manufacturingcenter. Duncanson (1817-22 to 1872) wasCincinnati's first notable black artist. Born inNew York and raised in Canada, from the early1840s he spent most of his time in Cincinnati.He also worked in Detroit and traveled exten-sively, including several trips to Europe. Oil oncanvas. 25 x 36 in. Chalmers Hadley memorialfundpurchase, 1959.

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Aetna Insurance of Hartford (c. 1854). This 1854fire was an early test of Cincinnati's new paidfire department that had been organized in1853. Though still using some hand pumpers,the department was the first in the nation tocombine paid firemen, horse drawn vehicles andsteam pumpers—a model for the modern urbanfire department over the next sixty years.Lithograph. 15V2 x 22% in. Permanent loan bythe Ohio Mechanics Institute, 1936.

John Aubery, Miles Greenwood (1807-1885)was a machinery and iron products manufac-turer. His Eagle Iron Works became an impor-tant munitions center during the Civil War. Inthe 1850s Greenwood was a principal proponentfor the establishment of a paid fire departmentto replace volunteer organizations. He sub-sequently served the new department as its firstChief Engineer. Aubery (1810-1893), who cameto Cincinnati about 1853, was known as areligious, historical and portrait painter. Oil oncanvas. 54 x 42. in. Gift of Mrs. FranklinGreenwood, 1971.

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Henri Lovie, View from Bold Face Creek,located in the Sedamsville area, providesa study in mid-nineteenth century modes oftransportation. The painting shows a riverboat,a canal boat, a railroad train, and a horse-drawncarriage. Lovie was a portrait and landscapepainter, designer and illustrator who worked inCincinnati during the late 1850s. Oil on canvas.35 x 48 in. Gift of Roger Ailing, 1971.

Joseph Oriel Eaton (attr.), Jacob Strader(1795-1860) was born in New Jersey. He cameto Cincinnati in 1816 and soon began to learnabout riverboating. He became engaged in boatbuilding in 1824 and over the next twenty yearsbuilt twenty-three boats. In the 1840s CaptainStrader shifted much of his interest to railroadsand banking. He became President of the LittleMiami Railroad in 1846 and served as Presidentof the Commercial Bank for many years. Eaton(1829-1875 ) was born in Newark, Ohio andmoved to Cincinnati in 1846 after working inIndianapolis. Though traveling frequently, heremained in the city until about 1864 when hemoved to New York, where he maintained hisstudio to the end of his life. Oil on canvas.48 x 38 in. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Strader,1948.

By mid-century, Cincinnati was truly one of the most important cities inthe West. She was approaching earlier promoters' dreams of greatness.Forces were at work, however, that changed Cincinnati's destiny forever:she neglected to build —or was unable to attract—railroads. Without a net-work of rails reaching out in all directions, her hopes for becoming the tradecenter of the nation were lost.

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Charles T. Webber, Slave Auction. Born inwestern New York, Webber (1825-1911) movedto Springfield, Ohio in 1844 where he workedas an artist before settling in Cincinnati abouti860. This portrayal of a slave auction is, in somerespects, a companion piece to his The Under-ground Railroad in the Cincinnati Art Museum.The model in the red scarf appears in bothworks. For a time Webber shared a studio withJ. O. Eaton where he produced portraits andpainted photographs. Oil on canvas. 52 x 31 in.Society purchase, 192.8.

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Thomas Corwin Lindsay, The Hornets' Nest(1895). This painting depicts a division of Uniontroops including the 5th Independent Battery ofOhio Volunteer Light Artillery under Cin-cinnatian Captain Andrew Hickenlooper (onhorseback). Despite heavy casualties, they de-layed the Confederate attack during the Battleof Shiloh on April 6, 1862 until General Granthad enough time to establish a defensive linethat the Confederates could not break. T. C.Lindsay (1839-1907) was born in Cincinnatiwhere he opened a studio in 1856 or 1857. Hewas well known as a landscape and animalpainter. Oil on canvas. 54V2 x 35V2 in. Gift ofMrs. Eugene R. Farny, ig8o.

View of Camp Dennison: 16 miles northeast ofCincinnati, Ohio. Middleton, Strobridqe andCompany (1865). A vast tract near Madisonvillewas arranged for military instruction andnamed Camp Dennison in honor of Ohio'sgovernor, William Dennison, Jr.

Middleton, Strobridge and Company (1858-1865) was founded by E. C. Middleton (1847-1849) and was later Middleton and Wallace(1849-1858). Hines Strobridge, who had joinedthe firm in 1854, became a partner with Middle-ton when Wallace left the firm in 1858. Underthe names Strobridge and Company (1867-1880) and The Strobridge LithographingCompany (1880-1971) the company becameCincinnati's most widely renowned lithog-rapher, particularly for its theatrical, circusand commercial advertising posters. Althoughhaving offices in New York and London, thefirm also produced prints depicting local events,portraits and views. Lithograph. 24V2 x32V2 in. Gift of Henry M. Pinkvoss, 1966.

The Civil War also affected Cincinnati. While at first the war cost the cityits lucrative Southern markets, soon the demand for war materiel broughtnew prosperity to Cincinnati's economy. The war also spread a blanket offear over the border city, already intellectually divided over the issues thatsplit the nation. Although the battles of the war did not touch the city,seemingly serious threats twice aroused Cincinnatians to states of alertness,and her soldiers fought—and died—in many of the war's most famous battles.

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South Side Fourth Street Between Walnut andVine, Cincinnati, Ohio. Ehrgott, Forbriger andCompany (c. 1871). Fourth Street, which JohnCaspar Wild had depicted as a residential areain the mid-i83os, was a bustling shopping,business, and entertainment area by the 1860s.Pike's Opera House first opened in 1859, wasdestroyed by fire in 1866, and reopened in 1871.Lithograph, ig x 32 in. Gift of P. W. Schath,1958.

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Cincinnati Music Hall and Exposition Buildings.Russell, Morgan and Company (iSyg). Musicfestivals were annual spring events in Cin-cinnati by the 1870s. In an effort to providespace for their performances the city con-structed Sangerfest Halle, but the building wasinadequate. After the 1873 Cincinnati MusicFestival, Reuben R. Springer offered to con-tribute $125,000 for a building if the city wouldcommit the property tax free in perpetuity anda matching $125,000 was raised from thegeneral public. The new and permanent MusicHall complex, which opened for the 1878 Maymusic festival, was designed to provide spacenot only for music festivals but also for con-ventions, industrial expositions and other publiccelebrations. Lithograph. 2.4 x 36V2 in.

In the post war era, Cincinnati was only one of several large Americancities. Still competitive, however, Cincinnati's leaders looked for differentways to make the city important in national affairs and to sustain her growth.They turned to improving the quality of life in the city. The 1870s and 1880ssaw the creation of cultural attractions such as the Cincinnati Zoo and theSpring Music Festival; the carving out of green spaces such as Eden Park

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Cincinnati Zoological Garden. Krebs Litho-graphic Company. Cincinnati's opening for theZoological Garden came on September 18,1875,only fourteen months after Philadelphia hadopened the first such zoo in the country. TheKrebs Lithographic Company had absorbed theEhrgott and Forbriger Lithographing Company(founded in 1856). The company was itselfabsorbed by the Henderson and Achert Companyin 1890. Lithograph, 29 x 14 in.

Edward Timothy Hurley, The Blizzard, FountainSquare (1Q14). The Tyler Davidson MemorialFountain was a gift to the people of Cincinnatifrom Henry Probasco in honor of his brother-in-law, Tyler Davidson, in 1871. For nearly acentury the fountain faced east towards MainStreet, the historic center of the city. In 1971 itwas moved fifty-five feet west and placed in anew setting facing west towards Vine Street.E. T. Hurley (1869-1950) grew up in Cincinnati,graduated from Xavier University, and attendedthe Art Academy. While best known for hisetchings of the Cincinnati area, Hurley was alsoa decorator for Rookwood Pottery from 1896 to1948. Etching i75/s x 13V8 in. Gift of Mrs.Russell Wilson, 1949.

and Burnet Woods; the building of Music Hall and the Art Museum; and thecreation of her enduring physical symbol, the Tyler Davidson MemorialFountain. Though dating to the 1830s, industrial expositions (related to thelater fall festivals) were vastly expanded in the 1870s as a means for bring-ing visitors —and possibly customers—from surrounding states to the "Parisof America."

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CHEAP EXCURSION RATES CONSOIT Y O l l f RA11ROAQ A&EHT

Thirteenth Cincinnati Industrial Exposition(1886). The Henderson-Achert Company.Lithograph. 80 x 40 in.

Cincinnati Fall Festival (1902). StrobridgeLithographing Company. Watercolor.33V2 x 17V2 in.

Over many years Cincinnati employed fairs andexpositions to attract attention for the city andto provide entertainment for visitors. Between1838 and i860 the Ohio Mechanics Institutesponsored eighteen trade fairs. Beginning in1870, the city's Chamber of Commerce andBoard of Trade joined the Institute in sponsoringnational exhibitions. The fourteenth in thisseries, in 1888, was also the Centennial Exposi-tion of the Ohio Valley and Central States. In1900, yet another series of industrial pageantsbegan under the sponsorship of the CincinnatiBusiness Men's Club, the Fall Festival Associa-tion and the Chamber of Commerce. The sixthin this series, in 191 o, was also known as theOhio Valley Exposition celebrating the com-pletion of a dam on the Ohio River and theformation of the Ohio Valley ImprovementAssociation, an organization formed to makethe Ohio River navigable the year around fromPittsburgh to Cairo.

The Ohio Valley Exposition (1910). StrobridgeLithographing Company. Lithograph.21V2 x 13 in. •

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Cincinnati and Covington Suspension Bridge.Strobridge and Company, Lithographers(1866). Several years before he began buildingthe Brooklyn Bridge, architect John A. Roeblingdesigned a suspension bridge to span the OhioRiver at Cincinnati. Work began in 1856, but theCivil War interrupted construction, and it wasnot completed until ten years later. Lithograph.18 x 25 in.

Through most of the nineteenth century, Cincinnati was a "walking city."Everyone lived within easy walking distance of work, shopping and church.All nineteenth century cities were walking cities, but the effects were morepronounced in Cincinnati because the city was closed in by hills and theOhio River. In 1870 virtually everyone still lived in downtown, or the basinarea, making Cincinnati one of the most densely populated cities in the en-tire country: 32,000 people were crammed into each square mile of thebasin. The city was running out of room and had to find a solution.

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Louis Charles Vogt, Mt. Adams Incline. Com-pleted in 1876, the Mt. Adams incline was one offive built to carry wagons, streetcars and peoplefrom the basin to the hilltops. These inclinedplanes facilitated the development of new sub-urbs atop Cincinnati's hills. They also promptedthe building of large, resort-type structures,called belvederes, at the top of several hillswhere food, drink, music and a view of the citycould be enjoyed. Vogt (1864-1939) was born inCincinnati and worked in the city intermittentlythroughout his career. Oil on canvas. 61V2 x 42,in. Gift of the Ohio Mechanics Institute, 1956.

The natural barrier to the south, the Ohio River, had been overcome in1867 by the opening of the Suspension Bridge. But the real breakthroughto the overcrowded city came in 1873 when the first of five inclined planerailways opened. The hills were no longer insurmountable and thousands

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Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad.F. Tuchfarber and Company. The railroad, ,which first opened in 1851, constructed its newdepot in 1864 near where Freeman Avenuecrosses the Sixth Street expressway inthe West End. Tuchfarber began business in1869 and specialized in advertising signspainted on metal and glass. Oil on iron. 22 x 14in. Eugene F. Bliss fund purchase, 1952.

View of Glendale, Near Cincinnati. Middleton,Strobridge and Company (c. i860). Until theinclines created a new type of suburb, mosttowns near Cincinnati had begun as auto-nomous villages and became suburbs only asthe city expanded in the twentieth century.Glendale's origins were different. In 1851,several people formed the Glendale Associationand purchased lands from Edmund R. Glenn(from whom the name was obtained) andothers along the line of the Cincinnati,Hamilton and Dayton Railroad then under con-struction. Glendale, thus, was planned as acommunity in a rural setting whose residentswould work in Cincinnati. Lithograph.20 x 32 in.

of Cincinnatians, especially the wealthy and middle class, began to scrambleup the hills into the newly created suburbs leaving behind the poor to moldthe racial and economic ghettoes of the modern city.

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CINCINNATI RIOT B SScenes From Cincinnati Riot, March 1884. Thebloodiest outbreak of civil unrest in Cincinnatioccurred in the closing days of March 1884.Although rooted in more longterm and complexcauses, the conviction of William Berner of man-slaughter rather than murder for killing hisemployer provided a spark that led to mob vio-lence. Fifty-seven died in the riot that ensued.Lithograph. 21 x 26% in. Gift of Mrs. AlbertL. Russel, 1949.

Soon the city government could no longer supply the fresh water, police,and fire protection needed by a population that had grown beyond the reachof its city services. The changing patterns of life also created frustrationand conflict that found expression in the Riot of 1884 in which severalpeople were killed and the courthouse burned. From the ashes came thepolitical machine of George Cox, who was to shape the course of Cincinnatifor the next generation. His organization provided a strong hand to guideCincinnati similar to the political machines that sprang up in many Ameri-can cities. Cox directed the city's affairs through ward bosses whose personalfavors for their constituents guaranteed votes on election day. Eventually, ofcourse, a reform movement rose to topple the aging machine, tentatively inthe years just before World War I and permanently in the early 1920s.

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Henry Mosler, George B. Cox (1853-1916). From1886, when he was recognized as the strongestRepublican leader in the city, to his retirementtwenty-five years later, Boss Cox dominatedCincinnati's public life. He had begun poor,worked his way up the political ladder, andbuilt one of the strongest political machines inthe country. At the height of its power in theearly 1900s, the Cox machine controlled about25,000 votes through political patronage. At-tempts by reformers to destroy the machine werenot successful until the 1920s —several yearsafter Cox's death. Oil on canvas. 27 x 22 in.Gift of Shubert-Cox Theaters, 1972.

Harvey Joiner (1852-1932), W. W. O'Neil (1885).After the Civil War, Cincinnati's economy con-tinued to rely heavily on steamboats such as theW. W. O'Neil, which moved coal barges for thirtyyears before it was scrapped in 1913- The boatwas built in Pittsburgh for W. W. O'Neil andCompany, a coal shipping and mining concern.The towboat was one of the greats, being knownto rivermen as the "Wild Bill." Oil on canvas.28V2 x 53 in. Permanent loan from Mrs. CharlesS. Millard, 1945.

While Cincinnati's history had always been influenced by external eventsand developments —such as the introduction of the steamboat, the flood ofEuropean immigrants, and the technological innovations in urban transit—in the nineteenth century, people had an opportunity to shape the basic wayin which these developments would affect Cincinnati. This proved less truein the twentieth century.

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tbe USAKeep These Off the U.S.A.: Buy More LibertyBonds. The Strobridge Lithographing Company(c. 1917). In an effort to generate support forWorld War I, the government sponsored thepublication of many posters. Some contained ananti-German theme that also created a reactionagainst Americans of German ancestry. Suchpropaganda had an especially profound impacton Cincinnati. Lithograph. 40 x 28 in.

Welcome Home Our Gallant Boys. Henneganand Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. (igi8). TheHennegan Company dates to 1885. At first thecompany produced letterheads, bills and post-cards. Later, it printed color illustrated postersfor billboards. Shortly after the turn of thecentury, however, the company began to spe-cialize in posters, ranging in size from windowcards to fifteen foot cloth banners, for the infantmotion picture industry. Lithograph. 41V2 x28 in. Gift of the Hennegan Company, 1979.

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Compliments of the Bellevue Brewing Company,Cincinnati, Ohio. Louis J. Porr, New York. TheBellevue Brewing Company was formed about1878 and continued until prohibition. A numberof Cincinnati breweries made or distributed a"near-beer" during prohibition and returned tobeer making in the 1930s. Most companies, how-ever, simply disappeared: there were more thantwo dozen local breweries before World War I,but fewer than one dozen in the mid-ig3os.Lithograph. 14 x Q.1V2 in. Society purchase,1958.

The First World War, for example, arose from forces over which Cincin-natians had no control, but which enormously affected the life in this heavilyGerman city. The German community had flowered in the late nineteenthcentury, stimulating much of the city's cultural life, but had begun to weakenin the early twentieth century as the rush to the suburbs diluted theirnumbers. When war initially broke out in Europe in 1914, leaders of thecommunity rallied in support of the Fatherland during a time of Americanneutrality. But when the United States entered the war in 1917, Germandomin Cincinnati came under bitter attack. People changed their names, Germanbooks disappeared from library shelves, and several German street nameswere altered to honor more "American" people and places. Initially imple-mented as a war conservation measure, prohibition became "permanent" forfourteen years with a constitutional amendment in 1919 that forced breweriesout of business and closed the doors of hundreds of small German saloons.Yet another manifestation of the German influence on Cincinnati was sup-pressed, robbing the city of one of its richest inheritances.

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William Harry Gothard, Cincinnati Industries(1Q34). One part of the Civil Works Administra-tion, a short-lived New Deal agency establishedin the fall of 1933, was the Public Works of ArtProject. It was inaugurated in December andterminated in April 1934, but provided employ-ment that winter for thirty-eight artists in theCincinnati area who earned from $26.50 to$42.50 a week. Cincinnati Industries portrayssome of the fundamental industries of theregion. Gothard (1908-1968) was raised inSpringfield, Ohio, studied at the Arts StudentsLeague, New York, and the Art Academy inCincinnati. From the late 1930s until his death,he worked in the restoration department of theCincinnati Art Museum. Oil on canvas. 41 x73 in. Gift of Walter A. Draper, 1953.

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Louis Conrad Rosenberg, Cincinnati UnionTerminal: East Perspective. (1930). The buildingof Union Terminal between 1930 and 1933,along with rail yards and viaducts, cost over $40million and helped many Cincinnatians stave offthe effects of the Great Depression for a fewyears. The building was the last of the greatrailway terminals constructed in the nation.Known for his portrayal of the picturesque as-pects of architecture, Oregon architect andetcher, Louis C. Rosenberg (1890- ) wascommissioned by the Cincinnati Union Ter-minal Company to execute a series of etchingsshowing the construction of the terminal. Work-ing from photographs and architectural render-ings, Rosenberg produced eight plates between1930 and 1932. Etching. 10 x 16V2 in. Gift of theCincinnati Union Terminal Company, 1938-

The Twenties saw the further expansion of the physical city through wide-spread adoption of the automobile and major reforms in city governmentthat helped Cincinnati become one of the best, instead of one of the worst,governed cities in the nation. Before long, however, the city was jolted byanother of the century's tidal waves: the Great Depression. Through suchprograms as the Works Progress Administration and the building of Green-hills, the federal government became a more active participant in localaffairs. The city's diversified economy, the savings habits of its thrifty citi-zens, and the rippling effects of two large private, pre-New Deal construc-tion projects —Carew Tower and Union Terminal —all helped Cincinnatiwithstand the depression better than most American cities. Like the rest ofthe nation, however, only another war really put the region back on itseconomic feet.

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Paui BrioZ (1890-1969) came to Cincinnati afterWorld War I as a photographer and columnistfor the Commercial Tribune and, later, theCincinnati Enquirer. He left the Enquirer in1920 to work as a free-lance photographer andto manage The Bookshelf, a bookstore located onGarfield Place. In 1930, the depression forcedBriol to close the store. Briol thereafter concen-trated on the commercial, industrial, and land-scape photography for which he would gaininternational recognition.

In the post war era, Cincinnati underwent sweeping changes. As thenational economy boomed, Cincinnati entered a new period of rapid growth.The movement to the suburbs, which had decreased markedly during thedepression, began again and seemed a permanent trend until soaring energyprices raised doubts. A new type of resident, the Appalachian, joined earlierwaves of immigrants to help shape the Queen City and to share in its pros-perity. Possibly the most significant development of the era, however, was

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the city's efforts to plan and shape its future. With an aging urban core,Cincinnatians attempted to build a city that would be attractive to newbusinesses and their prospective employees. Principally through the 1948Master Plan and its subsequent adjustments and refinements, the city workedto redevelop the downtown and riverfront areas, construct a transportationsystem, and reorganize its residential patterns.

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Martin Rogers, An October Morning. NationalGeographic Magazine (1977). Color photograph.14 x 20 in. Gift of National GeographicMagazine, 1977.

By the time the nation celebrated its bicentennial, Cincinnati had becomeone of the most livable cities in the country. Its residents effused great pridein their city—perhaps because they found the city an understandable and amanageable place in which to live; perhaps because of the renewed vitalityof many of its neighborhoods whose organizations emerged as powerfulforces at City Hall in the 1970s and which helped give the city a small townfeeling. But undoubtedly, part of the pride stemmed from the city's greatestconstant over its long history of growth and change: its physical beauty—the river, the hills, the rising and the setting sun. Cincinnatians continuedto agree with the nineteenth century visitor who observed and appreciated"that melting beauty which dims the eyes and fills the heart—that magicalcombination of hill, wood, lawn, river, with a picturesque city steeped inevening sunshine, the impression of which can never be lost nor even com-municated."

Note on sources. The scripts for a series of tele-vision programs written by Daniel Hurley andfirst broadcast in March and April 1981 pro-vided the basis for the brief overview of thecity's history. Laura Chace consulted diversesources in the Society's library to documentartists and their work, particularly The GoldenAge: Cincinnati Painters of the NineteenthCentury Represented in the Cincinnati ArtMuseum (1979). Gale E. Peterson, Editor.

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