Cincinnati

Cincinnati, city, seat of Hamilton county, southwestern Ohio, U.S. It lies along the Ohio River opposite the suburbs of Covington and Newport, Kentucky, 15 miles (24 km) east of the Indiana border and about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Dayton. Cincinnati is Ohio’s third largest city, after Columbus and Cleveland. Other suburban communities include Norwood and Forest Park in Ohio and Florence in Kentucky.

Picturesquely situated between the Little Miami and Great Miami rivers at their confluences with the Ohio, it is encircled by hills rising 400–600 feet (120–180 metres) above the river. It is the hub of a metropolitan area that includes portions of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. Inc. town, 1802; city, 1819. Area city, 80 square miles (206 square km). Pop. (2010) 296, 943; Cincinnati-Middletown Metro Area, 2,130,151; (2020) 309,317; Cincinnati Metro Area, 2,256,884.

History

Shawnee peoples were early inhabitants of the region. Columbia, the first settlement, was founded by Benjamin Stites of Pennsylvania near the mouth of the Little Miami in 1788. Another settlement was laid out and called Losantiville, and a third, North Bend, was established a short distance down the Ohio. Fort Washington was built near Losantiville in 1789. In the following year, General Arthur St. Clair, newly appointed governor of the Northwest Territory, renamed the town to honour the Revolutionary War officers’ Society of the Cincinnati and made it the county seat. Growth began after General Anthony Wayne’s victory (1794) at Fallen Timbers lessened the threat of Indian attacks. Cincinnati emerged as a river port after 1811, when the first steamboat west of the Allegheny Mountains, the New Orleans, arrived on its downriver voyage from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Miami and Erie Canal was completed to Dayton in 1829, and the first section of the Little Miami Railway was laid in 1843. River commerce, which reached its height in 1852, stimulated steamboat building and industry. At that time, because of its renown as a pork-packing centre, the city was often called “Porkopolis.” Other titles, such as “Queen City” and “Queen of the West,” were embraced by Cincinnatians in the early 19th century—the latter nickname, which first appeared in print in 1819, was immortalized in a poem (1854) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

In 1842 Cincinnati was one of the few American cities admired by the British author Charles Dickens. The city grew rapidly before the American Civil War, largely through an influx of German and Irish immigrants. Cincinnati had close commercial and cultural ties with the South, and, when war broke out, many sympathized with the Southern cause. However, the city had been the home of such prominent abolitionists as Henry Ward Beecher and Levi Coffin and an important station on the Underground Railroad. Cincinnati remained loyal to the Union, and citizens rallied to the city’s defense when it was threatened by a Confederate force in September 1862.

Cincinnati’s economy flourished during and after the war as new markets in the North were established, and rail connections to the South revived trade there in the 1880s. The population grew steadily, and many civic and cultural institutions were founded. A long period of government corruption was followed by one of reform and civic rejuvenation in the 1920s. Flooding in 1937 devastated low-lying areas of the city, but flood-control measures taken since then have reduced the threat. Beginning in the last decades of the 20th century, the central city was revitalized through a combination of historic preservation and restoration and new civic and commercial construction.

The city’s population peaked at 504,000 in 1950 and thereafter declined, which was mirrored by steady population growth in the metropolitan area. Concurrently, the proportion of people of European ancestry dropped considerably, and that for African Americans rose to more than two-fifths of the total.

The contemporary city

Services (wholesale and retail trade, government, education) constitute the main component of Cincinnati’s economy. The city’s highly diversified manufactures include food products, transportation equipment, soap products, chemicals, industrial machinery, pharmaceuticals, metal products, textiles, furniture, and cosmetics; printing is also important. The city remains a national transportation hub that includes one of the country’s largest inland coal ports and an international airport located to the southwest in Kentucky.

A noted cultural centre, Cincinnati has a symphony orchestra and ballet and theatre ensembles. The Cincinnati Opera, founded in 1920, is the second oldest opera company in the country. Cincinnati Museum Center, located in the renovated Union Terminal railway station, includes a children’s museum and museums of history and of natural history and science. The Cincinnati Art Museum and Taft Museum of Art have noted collections. In 2003 the Contemporary Arts Center (founded in 1939 as the Modern Art Society) moved into a new building designed by Zaha Hadid. The city is the seat of the University of Cincinnati (1819), the Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (1969), and the Union Institute and University (1964). There are two Roman Catholic institutes of higher education—Xavier University (1831) and the College of Mount St. Joseph (1920)—and the Athenaeum of Ohio (1829), a seminary. Other religious institutions include Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (1875), the oldest rabbinic college in the United States, and Cincinnati Christian University (1924; Churches of Christ).

Also of interest are the birthplace of President William Howard Taft (at Mount Auburn, designated a national historic site in 1969), the Harriet Beecher Stowe House (1833), and the Tyler-Davidson Fountain (1871) by the sculptor August von Kreling. The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (1856–67), designed by Roebling, has a main span of 1,057 feet (322 metres) and links Cincinnati and Covington; it was the second bridge across the Ohio. The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, the second oldest zoo in the United States, is notable for its successful breeding of animals in captivity and for its use of naturalistic surroundings.

The Great American Ball Park (opened 2003), built to resemble ballparks of the early 20th century, is the home of the Cincinnati Reds (1869), the country’s oldest professional baseball team; the Bengals (football) play at nearby Paul Brown Stadium (2000). Both venues are located along the river and flank the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (2004), which offers exhibits and educational programs. The Showboat Majestic, a historic monument, stages popular theatre productions on the riverfront, and renovated stern-wheelers are based across the Ohio River at Covington. Northeast of Cincinnati is a popular theme amusement park. The birthplace of President Ulysses S. Grant (restored as a museum) is along the Ohio at Point Pleasant, about 20 miles (32 km) southeast.