Cincinnati

The third largest city in Ohio, Cincinnati is the commercial, manufacturing, and cultural centre for a metropolitan area that includes parts of counties in Ohio and Kentucky. The city functions as a distributing point for coal, timber, iron, and salt, and manufactures aircraft engines, car parts, processed foods, metalworking and fabricated metal products, industrial machinery, soap products, chemicals, and printed materials. The city is home to several federal government regional offices.

Among the city's colleges and universities are the University of Cincinnati (1819), Xavier University (1831), The Athenaeum of Ohio (1829), and the Hebrew Union College (1875), the oldest Jewish theological school in the United States. Notable museums in Cincinnati are the Contemporary Art Center, the Taft Museum, and the Cincinnati Art Museum. Among the sports and recreation facilities in the area are Riverfront Stadium, home of the major league Reds baseball and Bengals American football teams.

The first permanent white settlement on the site of present-day Cincinnati was established in 1788. The community was called Losantiville, a name coined from French and Latin terms and referring to its location opposite the mouth of the Licking River. In 1789, Fort Washington was built by United States army troops. The following year the village was renamed Cincinnati in honour of the Society of Cincinnati, an organization of officers of the American War of Independence (1775-1783) and became the seat of newly established Hamilton County. The last of three campaigns launched from Fort Washington finally defeated the area's Native Americans, who relinquished most of their land in the Treaty of Greene Ville (1795). In the early 19th century shipping activities increased steadily particularly after the introduction in 1811 of steam navigation on the Ohio River. The first railway in the area began operation in 1843 and by 1850, with a population of about 115,000, Cincinnati was known as the Queen City of the West.

In the 1850s, Cincinnati was a station on the Underground Railroad—a network for helping slaves escape from the South—and during the American Civil War the majority of Cincinnati citizens remained loyal to the Union, though the city was located on the Mason-Dixon Line and was the scene of many conflicts over the issue of slavery. In 1884, public discontent with corrupt municipal officials led to an outbreak of mob violence; some 45 people were killed and much property was destroyed. A reform movement led to the establishment in 1924 of a city-manager type of government. Between 1910 and 1960 the population of Cincinnati increased from 363,591 to 502,550; since 1970, however, the population has declined sharply. Population (1980) 385,457; (1990) 364,040.