While generous vines the nectar yields Mid fragrance, insects happy hum, When evening's shadows solemn steal The valley sounds rise on the air, O, Makatewah! peaceful spot, My weary spirit finds repose, This region, like that of Athens of old, has the prime requisite for a perfect climate, being just in that latitude where one can remain out of doors in comfort the greatest number of days in the year. The time is not distant when this centre will number a million of people. Then Cincinnati on the Hills" will be one of the choice spots of this earth. This from the extraordinary resources and beauty of the country, combined with the extraordinary public spirit of her citizens the latter moving with an accelerated increase from the habits already established, all combining to render this a great art centre and focus of all which broadens life and renders it sweet and beneficent. CINCINNATI (STATISTICAL) IN 1888. CINCINNATI, County-seat of Hamilton, largest city in the State, is in a direct line about 100 miles from Columbus. It is on the north bank of the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Licking river, about midway between Pittsburg at the source, and Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio river. It is within a few miles of the centre of the population of the United States. Railroads entering the city are the O. & N. W.; C. H. & D.; C. I., St. L. & C.; C. L. & N.; C. G. & P.; C. C. C. & I.; C. S., B. & O.; C. W. & B.; N. Y. P. & O.; O. & M.; C. & M. V.; P. C. & St. L.; C. & W.; C. H.; K. C.; N. N. & M.; C. J. & M.; L. & N.; C. & O., and C. N. O. & T. P. County Officers in 1888.-Auditor, Frederick Raine; Clerk, Daniel J. Dalton, John B. Peaslee; Commissioners, William Anthony, Luke A. Staley, Herman H. Goesling; Coroner, John H. Rendigs; Infirmary Directors, Charles S. Dunn, John H. Penny, Tilden R. French; Probate Judge, Herman P. Goebel; Prosecuting Attorney, John C. Schwartz; Recorder, George Hobson; Sheriff, Leo Schott; Surveyor, Albert A. Brasher; Treasurer, John Zumstein. City Officers in 1888.-Amor Smith, Jr., Mayor; Edwin Henderson, Clerk; E. O. Eshelby, Comptroller; Albert F. Bohrer, Treasurer; Theo. Horstman, Solicitor; John A. Caldwell, Judge of Police Court; Emil Rense, Clerk of Police Court; John G. Schwartz, Prosecuting Attorney; Philip Deitsch, Supertendent of Police. Newspapers.-The number of periodicals of all kinds is 133, of which there are 14 dailies and 46 weeklies. The principal dailies are, Enquirer, Democratic, John R. M'Lean, Editor and Publisher; Commercial Gazette, Republican, Murat Halstead, Editor; Times Star, Independent; Evening Post; Evening Telegram; Sun, Democratic. German: Abend Presse, Independent; Freie Presse, Democratic; Volksblatt, Democratic, Henry Haacke, Editor and Publisher; Volksblatt, Republican. Religious Weeklies: American Christian Review, Disciples; American Israelite; Catholic Telegraph; Christliche Apologete; Christian Standard, Christian; Herald and Presbyter, Presbyterian; Journal and Messenger, Baptist; *The peacock on the place in 1874 lost its mate. A respectable period of mourning having been passed he suddenly disappeared. After over two years of absence he as unexpectedly returned, leading in stately procession on to the grounds two new-found wives. As there were none of his kind in that vicinity, the distance and direction of that matrimonial journey remain a mystery. That he should bring back two to replace the one he had lost, in view of his long abstinence from the companionship of any, was probably justifiable to the peacock judgment and the peacock morals. Sabbath Visitor, Jewish; Wahrheits Freund, Catholic; Western Christian Adrocate, Methodist. Churches. Cincinnati has over 200 churches, among which are Roman Catholic, 51; Methodists, 37; Presbyterian, 24: Congregational, 5; Protestant Episcopal, 19; Baptist, 18; German Evangelical, 15; Jewish Synagogue, 7; Disciples of Christ, 6; United Brethren, 3; Friends, 2; also 1 each Hollandische Reformed; Church of the New Jerusalem, Universalist and Unitarian. : Charities.-There are five hospitals, viz. the Cincinnati, two Catholic, one Jewish and one Homœopathic; and other charitable institutions are numerous, as Children's Home, Christian Association's Home of the Friendless, Orphan Asylums, the Widows' and Old Men's Home on Walnut Hills, the Relief Union, Board of Associations, and the Bethel on the River, where destitute and homeless people are temporarily fed and sheltered. With it is a church and Sunday-school for the children of the poor, which for many years has had an attendance of 3,000 and attracts many visitors. Banks.-Cincinnati National Bank, Joseph F. Larkin, president, Edgar Stark, cashier; Citizen's National Bank, B. S. Cunningham, president, George W. Forbes, cashier; Commercial Bank, Charles B. Foote, president, W. H. Campbell, cashier; Fidelity Safe Deposit and Trust Company, Briggs Swift, president, J. G. Brotherton, superintendent; First National Bank, L. B. Harrison, president, T. Stanwood, cashier; Fourth National Bank, M. M. White, president, H. P. Cooke, cashier; Franklin Bank, John Kilgour, president, H. B. Olmstead, cashier; German National Bank, John Hauck, president, Geo. H. Bohrer, cashier; Merchants' National Bank, D. J. Fallis, president, W. W. Brown, cashier; National Lafayette Bank, W. A. Goodman, president, J. V. Guthrie, cashier; Ohio Valley National Bank, James Espy, president, Theo. Baur, cashier; Queen City National Bank, John Cochnower, president, Samuel W. Ramp, cashier; Second National Bank, Charles Davis, president, Wm. S. Rowe, cashier; Third National Bank, J. D. Hearne, president, Wm. A. Lemmon, cashier; Union National Bank, Edward Weil, president, L. Kleybolte, cashier; S. Kuhn & Sons; Seasongood, Sons & Co.; A. Seinecke, Jr.; Simon & Huseman; A. C. Conklin & Co., brokers; Geo. Eustis & Co., brokers; H. B. Morehead & Co., brokers; Albert Netter, broker; Cincinnati Clearing House Association, James Espy, president, W. D. Duble, manager. Industries. For the year 1887, the report of Colonel Sidney D. Maxwell, superintendent of the Chamber of Commerce, gives the number of industrial establishments in Cincinnati as amounting to 6,774, employing 103,325 hands, and producing in value $203,459,396, viz.: Iron, $26,966,999, hands, 14,741; other Metals, $7,674,160, hands, 5,056; Wood, $20,440,182, hands, 12,589; Leather, $10,484,425, hands, 6,404; Food, $23,526,858, hands, 5,821; Soap, Candles and Oils, $11,165,200, hands, 1,845; Clothing, $23,202,769, hands, 21,951; Liquors, $29,012,711, hands, 2,242; Cotton, Wool, Hemp, etc., $2,258,983, hands, 1,968; Drugs, Chemicals, etc., $4,913,150, hands, 874; Stone and Earth, $4,972,730, hands, 3,384; Carriages, Cars, etc., $11,109,950, hands, 6,601; Paper, $6,670,986, hands, 2,976; Book Binding and Blank Books, $598,724, hands, 860; Printing and Publishing, $4,456,876, hands, 4,138; Tobacco, $3,784,868, hands, 3,305; Fine Arts, $1,046,250, hands, 756; Miscellaneous, $11,174,375, hands, 7,814. In 1860 the annual value was $46,995,062; in 1880, $163,351,497; since which last date as above shown there has been an increase of about one-quarter in value. The First Ohio Revenue district, in which is Cincinnati, in 1881 paid a larger revenue than any other in the Union, amounting to over $12,000,000, having been mainly from distilled liquors, tobacco and beer. Population in 1840, 46,338; 1850, 115,438; 1870, 216,239; 1880, 255,139; 1890, 296,908. LITERARY SYMPOSIUM ON CINCINNATI. In the New England Magazine for September, 1888, under the head of "Illustrated Literary Symposium on Cincinnati," was a series of ten articles by nine authors of the city. They were "Prehistoric Cincinnati," by M. F. Force; "Cincinnati, Historical and Descriptive," by W. H. Venable; "Education," by the same; "Newspapers and Literature," by George Mortimer Roe; and "The Art Museum and the Art Academy," by A. T. Goshorn; "Decorative Art," by Benn Pitman; "History of Cincinnati Expositions," by W. H. Chamberlain; "Clubs and Club Life," by Chas. Theodore Greve, and "Political Reminiscences of Cincinnati," by Job E. Stevenson. The object of these articles was to present to the public in the centennial year of Ohio's settlement a picture of the progress of the great city from its beginning, with a view of its present characteristics. Nothing can be so well adapted for our purpose to accomplish the same end as their review, with extracts, abridgments, itemized facts. We begin with PREHISTORIC CINCINNATI. Before the advent of the white man the "Mound Builders" had possession here. When the whites first came the plateau extending from near the present line of Third street to the hills was literally covered with low lines of embankments, and an almost endless variety and numbers of figures. Among them were several mounds, one large mound on the bluff at the intersection of Third and Main streets; the great mound at the intersection of Fifth and Mound streets, which, if mounds were really used for watch-towers and beacons, communicated by means of a system of such, not only with the little valley of Duck creek, lying behind the Walnut Hills, but also with the valleys of both the Miami rivers. Among the various articles found in these works were some very interesting, especially that from the great mound at the intersection of Fifth and Mound streets. That was the incised stone known to all archeologists as "the Cincinnati tablet." There were, in the year 1794, stumps of oak trees at the corner of Third and Main streets, showing that mound was over 400 years old. The site of Cincinnati was temporarily occupied by bands of the Miami Confederacy. CINCINNATI, HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE. Dr. Daniel Drake, in his "Picture of Cincinnati," published in 1815, called it the "metropolis of the Miami country." In 1824 its importance as a trade-centre became such that merchants distinguished it. as the "Tyre of the West." The unclassic name of "Porkopolis" clung to the place for many years until Chicago surpassed it in the pork industry. The poetical appellation, "Queen City," was proudly worn by this Ohio valley metropolis, and recognized gracefully in Longfellow's praiseful song "To the Queen of the West In her garlands dressed, On the banks of the beautiful river." The latest designation, the "Paris of America," the city earned from its reputation as a pleasure resort and a seat of the polite arts. A majority of the early settlers came from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Their religion was as austere as that of the Puritans, but not so aggressive. The New England and Virginia forces came only a little later with their powerful influences. The history of society presents no chapter more interesting than that which describes the interaction of ideas in Cincinnati from the close of the war of 1812-1815 to the end of the civil war. The three elements of population, and we might say of civilization, northern, central and southern, met together on the shores of the Ohio, and Cincinnati became a cauldron of boiling opinions, a crucible of ignited ideas. There was a time when Southern alkali seemed to prevail over the Northern oxide, and the aristocratic young city was dominated by cavalier sentiment; but the irrepressible Yankee was ever present with his propensity to speak out in town-meeting. One of the significant factors of culture was the class that organized the "New England Society," to which belonged Bellamy Storr, Lyman Beecher, Calvin Stowe, Salmon P. Chase and others. All sorts of questions, theological, political, social, came up for radical discussion in early Cincinnati. The foundations were taken up and examined. Every sentiment and every ism had its chance to be heard. Several new sects were differentiated. Scepticism, by the powerful voice of Robert Owen, challenged faith as held by Alexander Campbell; Protestantism encountered Romanism in hot debate. Religious controversies became involved with political (for if we dig deep we shall find the roots of all thought entangled together), and theoretical differences became practical issues at the polls. When the tide of emigration was swollen by a foreign flood then arose the "Know Nothing" movement, directed by powerful newspapers in Cincinnati and Louisville. The discussion of the status of foreigners was radical, and dealt with the primary rights of man, and with the most essential functions of government, education and society. The relations of Church and State were considered. The German population form a most important element, enough to make a large city--more than a hundred thousand. It is liberty-loving, and distinguished for thrift and intelligence. The Germans are devoted patrons of education and the arts, and especially music. German is taught in the public schools. The Irish element is also large and powerful. Cincinnati, by the accident of her geographical position, became the focus of Abolitionism, and also of the opposite sentiment. In this city Birney was mobbed; Phillips was egged; colored men persecuted. In this city "Uncle Tom's Cabin was planned, and here the Republican party was born. When the war came on Cincinnati did not waver. All sects and all parties, foreign and native, followed the Union flag. As soon as the war was over the citizens resumed their discussions. The Queen City is the arena of wrestling thoughts. Therefore it has become a city of practical toleration. Extreme radicalism lives side by side with extreme conservatism. Jew and Gentile are at peace. Orthodoxy fights heterodoxy, but each concedes to the other the right to exist The people like to read Ingersoll and Gladstone. The Prohibitionists have a strong party here, and the drinkers of beer have a hundred gardens on the hills. In politics, Republicans and Democrats are pretty equally divided, and there is a lively class of "scratchers" in each party. All things considered, there seems to be good ground for the opinion often expressed by enthusiastic Cincinnatians that their city is the freest city on the globe. This is a bold claim, but it would be difficult to name a city in which the rights of the private individual are less interfered with than they are in the Queen City. This status of its people is the best for an ultimate true result. It is only by agitation and experience that the race anywhere can advance; and nothing is a final settlement until it is settled right. The tract known as the Miami Purchase, on the north shore of the Ohio, was first settled at Cincinnati and Columbia (this last now in the city limits) in 1788. Surrounded by a region of unsurpassed fertility, and located on a stream which floated the principal commerce of the West, Cincinnati in a few decades naturally took the leading rank. The farm products of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, whether in the form of grain or live-stock, poured into her markets. The steamboat interest was vast and far-reaching, and until after the middle of the century Cincinnati profited greatly not only by river commerce but by boat-building. The river landing was then a scene of bustle and business, with the loading and unloading of goods and the movement of steamers; its varying stages and phases |