Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border. The population within city limits was 332,458 in 2007, making it the state’s third largest city. Greater Cincinnati’s population is nearly 2.2 million and according to the census bureau is now the largest metropolitan statistical area in Ohio. Residents of Cincinnati are called Cincinnatians.

Cincinnati is considered to have been the first American boomtown in the heart of the country in the early nineteenth century to rival the larger coastal cities in size and wealth. As the first major inland city in the country, it is sometimes thought of as the first purely American city, lacking the heavy European influence that was present on the east coast. However, by the end of the nineteenth century, Cincinnati’s growth had slowed considerably, and the city was surpassed in population by many other inland cities.

Cincinnati is home to major sports teams including the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Bengals, as well as events like the Cincinnati Masters and the Thanksgiving Day race. The University of Cincinnati traces its foundation to the Medical College of Ohio, which was founded in 1819.

Cincinnati is also known for having one of the larger collections of nineteenth-century German architecture in the U.S., primarily concentrated just north of Downtown in an area known as Over-the-Rhine. Over-the-Rhine is one of the largest historic districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Cincinnati was recently listed on CNN’s Top 10 cities for new grads at #4.

History of Cincinnati

“With one hand he returns the fasces, symbol of power as appointed dictator of Rome. His other hand holds the plow, as he resumes the life of a citizen and farmer.” — Statue of Cincinnatus in Sawyer Point.Cincinnati was founded in 1788 by John Cleves Symmes and Colonel Robert Patterson.[9] Surveyor John Filson (also the author of The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boone) named it “Losantiville” from four terms, each of a different language, meaning “the city opposite the mouth of the Licking River.” Ville is French for “city,” anti is Greek for “opposite”, os is Latin for “mouth”, and “L” was all that was included of “Licking River”.

In 1790, Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory, changed the name of the settlement to “Cincinnati” in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which he was a member. The society honored General George Washington, who was considered a latter day Cincinnatus, the Roman who was called to serve Rome as dictator, an office which he immediately resigned after completing his task of defeating the Aequians. To this day, Cincinnati in particular, and Ohio in general, is home to a statistically significant number of descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers who were granted lands in the state.

In 1802, Cincinnati was chartered as a village. David Ziegler (1748-1811), a Revolutionary War veteran from Heidelberg, Germany, became the first mayor. Cincinnati was incorporated as a city in 1819. The introduction of steam navigation on the Ohio River in 1811 and the completion of the Miami and Erie Canal helped the city grow to 115,000 citizens by 1850.

Cincinnati in 1841 with the Miami and Erie Canal in the foreground.Construction on the Miami and Erie Canal began on July 21, 1825, when it was called the Miami Canal, a reference to the Little Miami River, which was its origin, and water was diverted into the canal bed in 1827. The canal began by connecting Cincinnati to nearby Middletown in 1827 and, by 1840, the canal had reached Toledo, changing the Miami Canal to the Miami and Erie Canal and signifying the connection between the Little Miami River and Lake Erie.

During this period of rapid expansion, citizens of Cincinnati began referring to the city as the “Queen” city. The phrase was cemented in the poem “Catawba Wine” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who wrote that the city was “the Queen of the West”, giving the city its nickname.

Railroads were the next major form of transportation to come to Cincinnati. In 1836, the Little Miami Railroad was chartered. Construction began soon after, to connect Cincinnati with the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, and thus the ports of the Sandusky Bay on Lake Erie.

In regard to Law enforcement: the first Sheriff John Brown appointed September 2, 1788; an Ohio Act of January 1, 1802 provided for Cincinnati to have a Village Marshall {James Smith appointed}; a “Night Watch” was established March 29, 1803; in 1819 when Cincinnati was incorporated as a city the First City Marshal William Ruffin was appointed. In May 1828 a Police force consisted of 1 captain; 1 assistant and 5 patrolmen; On April 22, 1850 a position of Police Chief and 6 Lieutenants were established; in 1853 the First Police Chief Jacob Keifer was appointed/dismissed after 3 weeks.

On April 1, 1853, Cincinnati’s Fire Department became a paid department, the first full-time paid fire department in the United States. It was the first in the world to use steam fire engines.

Six years later, in 1859, Cincinnati laid out six streetcar lines, making it easier for people to get around the city. By 1872, Cincinnatians could travel on the streetcar line within the city and then be transported by rail car to the hill communities. The Cincinnati Inclined Plane Company began transporting people to the top of Mount Auburn in that year.

Cincinnati in 1862, a lithograph in Harper’s Weekly.The Cincinnati Red Stockings, whose name and heritage inspired today’s Cincinnati Reds, began their career in the 1800s as well. In 1868, meetings were held at the law offices of Tilden, Sherman, and Moulton to make Cincinnati’s baseball team a professional one; it became the first regular professional team in the country, being organized formally in 1869.

During the American Civil War, Cincinnati played a key role as a major source of supplies and troops for the Union Army. It also served as the headquarters for much of the war for the Department of the Ohio, which was charged with the defense of the region, as well as directing the army’s offensives into Kentucky and Tennessee. Due to Cincinnati’s proximity to and commerce with slave states across the Ohio River, there was significant “Southern sympathy” in the Cincinnati area. This is evidenced by the history of the Copperhead movement in Ohio. In July 1863, Cincinnati was placed under martial law due to the imminent danger posed by the Confederate Morgan’s Raiders. They came close to Cincinnati but never actually attacked the city proper, although several outlying villages such as Cheviot and Montgomery were attacked.

In 1879, Procter & Gamble, one of Cincinnati’s major soap manufacturers, began marketing Ivory Soap. It was marketed as light enough to float. After a fire at the first factory, Procter & Gamble moved to a new factory on the Mill Creek and began soap production again. The area became known as Ivorydale.

The Tyler Davidson Fountain was dedicated in 1871 to Cincinnati by Henry Probasco and is a symbol for the city and the region.Cincinnati weathered the Great Depression better than most American cities of its size, largely because of a resurgence of inexpensive river trade. The rejuvenation of downtown began in the 1920s and continued into the next decade with the construction of Union Terminal, the post office, and a large Bell Telephone building.

The flood of 1937 was one of the worst in the nation’s history, resulting in the building of protective flood walls. After World War II, Cincinnati unveiled a master plan for urban renewal that resulted in modernization of the inner city. Like other older industrial cities, Cincinnati suffered from economic restructuring and loss of jobs following deindustrialization in the mid-century.

In the 1970s, the city completed Riverfront Stadium and Riverfront Coliseum, as the Cincinnati Reds baseball team emerged as one of the dominant teams of the decade. In 1989, the 200th anniversary of the city’s founding, much attention was focused on the city’s Year 2000 plan, which involved further revitalization.

The completion of several major new development projects enhance the city as it enters the early years of the new millennium. Cincinnati’s beloved Bengals and Reds teams both have new, state-of-the-art homes: Paul Brown Stadium, opened in 2000; and the Great American Ball Park, opened in 2003, respectively. Two new museums have opened: the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in 2003, and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in 2004.

The City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County are currently planning the Banks–a 24-hour urban neighborhood of restaurants, clubs, offices, and homes with sweeping skyline views, along the city’s riverfront. Cincinnati has received such accolades as “Most Liveable City” (1993), Partners for Livable Communities, April 2004; number five U.S. arts destination, American Style Magazine, Summer 2004; was the highest rated city in Ohio for “Best Cities For Young Professionals” and 18th overall, Forbes Magazine, June 2007;[15] and inclusion in the top ten “Cities that Rock,” Esquire Magazine, April 2004.

Geography

Cincinnati is in the bluegrass region of Ohio.Cincinnati is located at 39°8′10″N 84°30′11″W / 39.13611°N 84.50306°W / 39.13611; -84.50306 (39.136160, -84.503088)[17], with a core metro area spanning parts of Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 79.6 square miles (206.1 km²), of which, 78.0 square miles (201.9 km²) of it is land and 1.6 square miles (4.1 km²) of it (2.01%) is water. The city spreads over a number of hills, bluffs, and low ridges overlooking the Ohio River in the Bluegrass region of the country. Although sometimes referred to as part of the Midwest, Cincinnati is geographically located within the periphery of the Upland South.

Climate

Cincinnati is located within the northern limit of the humid subtropical climate and the southern limit of the humid continental climate zone, with average temperatures by U.S. standards. Summers are hot and humid with slightly cooler evenings. July is the warmest month, with an average high of 87°F (31°C) and an average low of 68°F (20°C). Winters are generally cool to cold, with occasional snowfall. January is the coldest month, with an average high of 38°F (3°C) and an average low of 21°F (-6°C). Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed each month, averaging 41 inches of rainfall and 23 inches of snowfall annually. The highest recorded temperature was 109 °F (43 °C) on July 21, 1934, and the lowest recorded temperature was -25°F (-32 °C) on January 18, 1977.

Cityscape of Cincinnati

Cincinnati is home to numerous structures that are noteworthy due to their architectural characteristics or historic associations including the Carew Tower, the Scripps Center, the Ingalls Building, Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, and the Isaac M. Wise Temple.

The city is undergoing significant changes due to an influx of new development and private investment as well as the construction of the long stalled Banks project. Currently, there has been nearly $3.5 billion invested in urban core of Cincinnati (including Northern Kentucky), and it is anticipated that even more investment will take place.

Construction has begun on a new building that will dominate the Cincinnati skyline. Queen City Square is scheduled to be open in 2011. The building will be the tallest in Cincinnati and the third tallest in Ohio, reaching a height of 660 feet.

In 2008 Cincinnati was ranked the 10th most walkable city in the United States, and the most walkable in Ohio.

Economy

Procter & Gamble is one of many corporations based in Cincinnati. Scripps Center in downtown Cincinnati.Cincinnati is home to major corporations such as Procter & Gamble, The Kroger Company, Sunny Delight Beverages Co., GE Aviation (suburb of Evendale), Macy’s, Inc. (owner of Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s), Convergys, Chiquita Brands International, Great American Insurance Company, Western & Southern Financial Group, The E. W. Scripps Company, the United States Playing Card Company (enclave of Norwood), and Fifth Third Bank. Kao Corporation’s United States headquarters are in Cincinnati as well. Altogether, ten Fortune 500 companies and eighteen Fortune 1000 companies are headquartered in the Cincinnati area. Statistically, Greater Cincinnati ranks sixth in the U.S. with 4.98 Fortune 500 companies per million residents and fourth in the U.S. with 8.96 Fortune 1000 companies per million residents. Cincinnati has three Fortune Global 500 companies; the most Global 500 companies in the state of Ohio.

Education

The Cincinnati Public School district includes 16 high schools, each accepting students on a city-wide basis. The district includes many public Montessori schools, one of which, Clark Montessori, was the first public Montessori high school established in the United States. Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) also boasts Walnut Hills High School, Newsweek’s 36 best public school, which offers 28 Advanced Placement courses and top athletic teams. In recent years, Walnut’s orchestra has been invited to Carnegie Hall in New York and St. Martin in the Fields, in London.

The city and region is also home to a variety of other schools, both public and private. In August 2007, Cincinnati Magazine published an article rating 36 private high schools in greater Cincinnati. According to the 2000 census, the Cincinnati area has some of the highest private school attendance rates in the United States, with Hamilton County ranking second only to St. Louis County, Missouri among the country’s 100 largest counties.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati accounts for several high schools in metro Cincinnati; ten of which are single-sex: four all-male, and six all-female. Cincinnati is also home to the all-girl RITSS (Regional Institute for Torah and Secular Studies) high school, a small Orthodox Jewish institution and the Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) founded by Isaac Mayer Wise.

Cincinnati is home to the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University, among other colleges and universities. The University of Cincinnati, often referred to informally as “UC,” is one of the United States’ major graduate research institutions (with prominence in engineering, architecture, and psychology). In addition, the University of Cincinnati Medical Center is very highly regarded. Xavier, which focuses primarily on undergraduate education, was at one time affiliated with The Athenaeum of Ohio, the seminary of the Cincinnati Archdiocese. Also in or near the Greater Cincinnati area are Miami University (one of the original “Public Ivies”), and Northern Kentucky University, among others. Cincinnati State is a vocational school which boasts the Midwest Culinary School, one of the best culinary institutes in the United States.

Culture in Cincinnati

Approximately 500,000 attend Taste of Cincinnati, making Taste one of the nation’s largest street festivals.Cincinnati is home to numerous festivals and events throughout the year, including:

• The Cincinnati Flower Show, organized by the Cincinnati Horticultural Society in late April. This floral event, endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society, is staged at Lake Como at Coney Island and claims to be the biggest outdoor flower show in the United States.
• Oktoberfest, celebrating Cincinnati’s German heritage, is the largest Oktoberfest in the US.
• Thanksgiving Day Race, the sixth-oldest race in the country.
• The Taste of Cincinnati and the Jazz Festival, held during the summer months.
• The Tall Stacks Festival, held every three or four years to celebrate Cincinnati’s riverboat history.
• The Festival of Lights, hosted by the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden during the year-end holiday season.
• The Cincinnati Bell/WEBN Riverfest fireworks display on Labor Day weekend, attracting annual crowds of over 400,000.

The city plays host to numerous musical and theater operations, operates a park system currently ranked 4th in the country boasting that any city resident is within a mile of a park, and has a diverse dining culture. Cincinnati’s Fountain Square serves as one of the cultural cornerstones of the region.

Findlay Market, Ohio’s oldest still-functioning marketCincinnati is identified with several unique foods. “Cincinnati chili” is commonly served by several independent chains, including Skyline Chili, Gold Star Chili, Empress Chili, Camp Washington Chili, and Dixie Chili and Deli. Goetta is a meat product popular in Cincinnati, usually eaten as a breakfast food. Cincinnati also has many gourmet restaurants. Until 2005, when the restaurant closed, The Maisonette carried the distinction of being Mobil Travel Guide’s longest running five-star restaurant in the country. Jean-Robert de Cavel has opened four new restaurants in the area since 2001, including Jean-Robert’s at Pigall’s which closed in March 2008. Cincinnati’s German heritage is evidenced by the many restaurants that specialize in schnitzels and Bavarian cooking. Another element of German culture remains audible in the local vernacular; some residents use the word please when asking a speaker to repeat a statement. This usage is taken from the German word for please, bitte (a shortening of the very formal, “Wie bitte ist es?” or “How, please is that?” in the literal), which is used in this sense.

Findlay Market is Ohio’s oldest continuously-operated public market and one of Cincinnati’s most famous institutions. The market is the last remaining market among the many that once served Cincinnati.

In August, 2008 Forbes magazine ranked Cincinnati as tenth in a list of “America’s Hard-Drinking Cities”.

Media and Music in Cincinnati

Cincinnati is served by The Cincinnati Enquirer, a daily newspaper. The city is home to several alternative, weekly, and monthly publications, as well as twelve television stations and many radio stations.

Free magazine publications include CinWeekly, CityBeat, and DERF Magazine.com. CinWeekly is a general interest weekly publication with a broad focus on light entertainment such as music, nightlife, dining, fashion, and art. CityBeat is also a weekly magazine with an entertainment focus but also a prominent editorial slant. DERF Magazine is monthly humor-based publication (similar in style to The Onion) featuring satirical and fake news in addition to local event listings and extensive nightlife photo galleries.

Movies that were filmed in part in Cincinnati include Fresh Horses, The Asphalt Jungle (open shot from the Public Landing, takes place in Cincinnati but only Boone County, KY is mentioned), Rain Man, Airborne, Grimm Reality, Little Man Tate, City of Hope (director: John Sayles), Milk Money, Batman Forever, Traffic, The Pride of Jesse Hallam, In Too Deep, Public Eye, The Last Late Night,[51] and The Mighty. In addition, Wild Hogs is set, though not filmed, in Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati skyline was prominently featured in the opening and closing sequences of the daytime drama The Edge of Night from its start in 1956 until 1980, when it was superseded by the Los Angeles skyline; the cityscape was the stand-in for the show’s setting, Monticello. Procter & Gamble, the show’s producer, is based in Cincinnati. The sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, and its sequel/spin-off The New WKRP in Cincinnati featured the city’s skyline and other exterior shots in its credits, as well as obviously being set, though not shot in, Cincinnati. The city’s skyline has also appeared in an April Fool’s episode of The Drew Carey Show, which was set in Carey’s hometown of Cleveland.

Cincinnati gave rise to many popular bands and musicians, including The Isley Brothers, James Brown, Mood, Calloway, The Afghan Whigs, Over the Rhine (which traces its roots to Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine district), Bootsy Collins, Blessid Union of Souls, 98 Degrees, The Greenhornes, The National, Enduser and Heartless Bastards. In addition, many other bands and musicians call the Greater Cincinnati region their home, including Adrian Belew, Peter Frampton and alternative Hip Hop DJ, DJ Hi-Tek, who is one half of Reflection Eternal and Traxxstarr.

3 Doors Down’s music video “It’s Not My Time” was filmed in Cincinnati showing parts of the skyline as well as Fountain Square.

Cincinnati is the broadcasting home of WEBN: The Future of Rock& Roll, woxy.com online and available on Cincinnati Public Radio Inc. HD Radio station 91.7-2.

The Cincinnati May Festival Chorus is a prestigious amateur choir that has been in existence since 1880. Music Director James Conlon and Chorus Director Robert Porco lead the Chorus through an extensive repertoire of classical music. The May Festival Chorus is the mainstay of the oldest continuous choral festival in the Western Hemisphere. Cincinnati’s Music Hall was built specifically to house the May Festival.

Cincinnati is home to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Boychoir and Cincinnati Ballet. The Greater Cincinnati area is also home to several regional orchestras and youth orchestras, including the Starling Chamber Orchestra.

Sports in Cincinnati

Cincinnati has seven major sports venues, two major league teams, six minor league teams, and five college institutions with their own sports teams. It is home to baseball’s Reds, who were named for America’s first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings; the Bengals of the National Football League; and the historic international men’s and women’s tennis tournament, The A.T.P. Masters Series Cincinnati Masters. It is also home to three professional soccer teams, two outdoor teams, the Cincinnati Kings (men’s) and Cincinnati LadyHawks (women’s), and one indoor team, the Cincinnati Excite (men’s).

Fans often refer to the city and its teams as “Cincy” for short. Even the Reds’ official website uses that name frequently.

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