Images of Historical Cincinnati Cincinnati's history extends back nearly two hundred years. Grasping an understanding of the city at various times in its history is inevitably illusive and abstract. The process, however, is aided immeasurably by studying visual as well as written artifacts. The Cincinnati Historical Society possesses a diverse array of materials that supports efforts to understand Cincinnati's history and some of the most useful are visual. Conversely, an awareness of events and basic trends in the history of the city frequently can enrich the enjoyment 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 images from CHS's collections of paintings, lithographs, etchings, maps, and photo- graphs. It is a sketchy, but a handsome, portrait of the Queen City made possible by the gifts of many donors over more than a century and made presentable in this 150th year of the Society by a gift from The First National Bank of Cincinnati that funded their conservation. William Louis Sonntag (attr.), View of the Ohio River at Maysville, Kentucky (c. 1850). Sonntag (1822-1900), born in Pennsylvania, came to Cincinnati with his family in 1823 and began to paint in the early 1840s. He frequently spent his summers traveling and sketching the wilderness of the Ohio River Valley. Oil on canvas. 32 x 42 in. Gift from the estate of Helen S. Knight, 1977. James Pierce Barton, Kentucky Landscape. The scene portrays Daniel Boone in 1769 pointing to the rich and fertile Kentucky wilderness. Barton C1817-1891), a portrait and landscape artist born in Zanesville, Ohio, painted this scene in the manner of the Hudson River School. Oil on canvas. 22 x 30 in. Gift of Mrs. W. R. Thrall, I9I3- In the 1780s, the settlers of Kentucky called the area of southwest Ohio where Cincinnati now stands the "Miami Slaughterhouse." This land was home for the people of the powerful Miami Indian Confederation who were determined to defend their land and their way of life from the intrusion of the white man. 234 Simon Kenton (1755-1836) fled west in 1771 Benjamin Logan (c. 1743-1802) was born and from his native Virginia believing he had killed raised in Virginia. In 1775 he joined a party to a rival in a love affair. He used the name Simon settle the Transylvania colony in the future state Butler and worked as a scout for more than ten of Kentucky. Logan fought Indians during the years before learning that his boyhood an- Revolution. In these years he was among the tagonist was living. Kenton lived in several most influential of Kentucky leaders. He re- Kentucky and Ohio towns and fought Indians mained politically active and served in the state in and out of wars up through the War of 1812. legislature during the 1790s. Unlike Kenton, His last years were spent in poverty, and he is Logan possessed a large estate at his death. buried at Urbana, Ohio. Oil on canvas. 29 x 25 Oil on canvas. 28% x zoVs in. Gift of Dwight in. Gift of Robert Clarke, 1885. Thomson, 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 newly formed United States government, eager to open the Northwest Territory, ignored the fact that no treaty had yet been signed with the Indians, and in 1788 sold a vast tract of land between the Great and Little Miami rivers to John Cleves Symmes. This land was known as the Miami Purchase. The villages of Columbia (located at the present site of Lunken Airport), Losanti- ville (present day Cincinnati), and North Bend (west of Cincinnati) were 235 A Map of part of the N: W: Territory of the United States: compiled from Actual Surveys, and the best Information, 1796. Samuel Lewis, cartographer. 21 x 27 in. Eugene F. Bliss fund purchase, 1949. John Cleves Symmes (1742-1814). While serv- ing in the Continental Congress from New Jersey, in 1787 Symmes became interested in the western lands on the Ohio River between the Great and Little Miami rivers. He was appointed a judge for the Northwest Territory in 1788 and moved to the region where, in January 1789, he founded North Bend. By 1794 he succeeded in purchasing slightly more than 300,000 acres in the region, though this was only a fraction of what the original Congressional grant had made available to him. The painting was copied from a portrait by Charles Willson Peale. Oil on canvas. 27 x 22 in. Permanent loan from Hamilton 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. 236 Fort Washington Garrison. The selection of Losantiville as the site for a fort helped the settlement eclipse those nearby. Initially built in 1789 and garrisoned with 300 soldiers, the fort was the site of training of soldiers for Indian battles. Following the Treaty of Green- ville in 1795, the security provided by the fort was a less significant factor in the community's growth. The garrison was moved across the river in 1803 and the fort itself was dismantled in 1809. Oil on canvas. 27 x 35 in. Gift of Clifford A. Wiltsee, 1966. Cincinnati — 1800. Strobridge Lithographing Company. After a painting by A.J. Swing (1880). An estimated 750 people lived in Cincinnati in 1800. Lithograph. 19V2 x 34V2 in. Gift from the estate of Grace F. Spiegel, 1955. 237 Benjamin (d. 1847) and Sarah B. (1758-1852) Mason, each born in England, were married in Baltimore, Maryland in 1799. They moved to Cincinnati in 1804 where Benjamin Mason was a carpenter and cabinetmaker. Each: Oil on board. 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, New Jersey in 1819. Lewis Baker was a merchant tailor on Fourth Street near Main. They lived at the southeast corner of Fourth and Walnut. Each: Oil on canvas. 30 x 24 in. Gifts of Edith A. Baker, i960. Cincinnati, located on the major artery into the western interior, the Ohio River, grew quickly in the early years of the nineteenth century. In 1811 the first steamboat on the western waters, the "Orleans," arrived at Cincin- nati, and for the first time goods could come easily upstream increasing the city's importance as a central shipping point. In these years men such as Dr. Daniel Drake and Martin Baum, promoters and visionaries, worked to develop the city's commercial and economic potential. But for Cincinnati to exploit fully the commercial advantages offered by the river and steamboat, 238 Martin (1765-1831) and Ann Wallace (1780-1864) Baum built "Belmont" as their home about 1820. Now the Taft Museum, the building remains among Cincinnati's most handsome structures. Martin Baum came to Cincinnati in 1795 from Maryland. In 1804, he married Ann Sommerville Wallace who, with her parents and family, had migrated to Ohio from Delaware. Martin Baum was involved in numerous business ventures that included founding the Miami Exporting Company (which operated the first bank in the West), a sugar refinery, iron foundry and flour mill. He also engaged in land speculation, the operation of riverboats and the promotion of diverse educational and literary organizations. Martin Baum: Oil on board. 29 x 22 in. Society Purchase, 1929. Ann Wallace Baum: 30 x 24 in. Society Purchase, 1929. Charles Meurer, Daniel Drake (1785-1852) was born in New Jersey but migrated to Maysville, Kentucky in 1788. In 1800 his family sent him to Cincinnati to study medicine with Dr. William Goforth. He supplemented his training by attending the University of Pennsylvania. In 1819 he obtained a charter and founded the Ohio Medical College (now the Medical College of the University of Cincinnati). During his adult life he lived intermittently in Cincinnati and was among the city's major promoters. He helped found a library, museum, debating club, hospital, medical journal, lunatic asylum, grocery store, and apothecary shop. Drake also wrote several scientific and medical books that contain historically valuable information. Charles Meurer (1865-1955) was raised in Clarksville, Tennessee before moving with his family to Cincinnati in 1881. He studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and in France. While best known for his still-lifes, Meurer also painted landscapes and portraits. Oil on canvas. 24V2 x 2o'/2 in. Gift of Mrs. Otto Juettner, 1953. a way had to be found to ship cheaply and conveniently the agricultural produce of the farms in the interior to Cincinnati and to supply these settlers in the back country with manufactured goods. The solution adopted was a system of canals focusing on Cincinnati. When the Miami-Erie Canal opened in 1830, Cincinnati ceased to be just another promising river town in the wilderness, and the nickname "Queen of the West" was heard and written with increasing frequency. 239 View of Cincinnati from Covington, Kentucky. Gouache on paper, ig x 25V2 in. Gift from the estate of Marion Rawson, 1980. John Caspar Wild (d. 1846) was born in Zurich, Public Landing. Gouache on paper. 18 x 25 in. Switzerland. He lived in Paris for fifteen years Gift of Mrs.