Cincinnati - geography.

« building is the library of the Cincinnati Historical Society.

Eden Park is the location of the Cincinnati Art Museum, which contains among its many collections a number ofpaintings by American and European masters.

The birthplace and early home of the 27th president of the United States is preserved at the William Howard Taft NationalHistoric Site.

Closer to downtown is the Taft Museum.

Located in the Taft family’s home, it has an outstanding art collection assembled by Charles P.

and Annie Taft.

TheCincinnati Music Hall, located near Washington Park, is the home of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the city supports opera and ballet companies.

Manyperformances are given in the Riverbend Music Center, an amphitheater on the bank of the Ohio River. The largest of Cincinnati’s many parks and playgrounds is Mount Airy Forest Park, occupying 5.9 sq km (2.3 sq mi) in the northwestern part of the city.

Krohn Conservatory,located in Eden Park, is one of the nation’s largest public greenhouses.

It exhibits hundreds of rare and exotic plants.

The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens is one of thelargest in the United States.

The zoo was among the first to house animals in natural surroundings.

To the northeast of the city is Kings Island, a large theme park. Cincinnati is home to two major professional sports teams, the Cincinnati Reds (baseball) and the Cincinnati Bengals (football).

The Reds play at the Great American BallPark, which opened in 2003.

In 2000 the Bengals began play in the newly constructed Paul Brown Stadium.

Because the Reds are the oldest professional baseball team, theseason’s opening day game has traditionally been played in Cincinnati.

One of baseball’s greatest players, Pete Rose, who was born in Cincinnati, both played for andmanaged the Reds.

The University of Cincinnati men’s basketball team enjoyed considerable success in the 1990s. IV ECONOMY Cincinnati, from its earliest beginnings, has functioned as a major port on the Ohio River.

Distribution of raw materials as well as manufactured goods is one of the city’schief economic activities.

Although Cincinnati remains one of the world’s leading centers for the distribution of bituminous (soft) coal, this trade is gradually declining.

Coal from Kentucky and West Virginia is shipped by rivercraft to Cincinnati and is then distributed to industrial centers along the Great Lakes, as well as to Cincinnati’s ownplants.

In addition, the city serves as a distribution point for numerous manufactured goods sold in surrounding regions. Diversified manufacturing is also important to Cincinnati’s economy, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the labor force.

Major employers in the metropolitan region includeProctor and Gamble (soaps, foods, toiletries), The Kroger Company (food processing as well as retail food sales), General Electric (aircraft engines), Cincinnati Milicron(machine tools and plastics-processing machinery), AK Steel (carbon steel), Ford Motor Company (vehicle transmissions), Champion International (paper products), GibsonGreetings (greeting cards), and Steelcraft (metal doors).

Each of these companies employed over 1000 people in the mid-1990s.

Trade and services each account for aboutone-fourth of the labor force. Cincinnati is a crossroads of many of the nation’s primary transportation routes.

Three major interstate freeways intersect in the city: Interstate 75, one of the nation’sleading north-south routes; Interstate 71, connecting the city to Ohio’s other largest urban centers and to Louisville, Kentucky; and Interstate 74, tying the city toIndianapolis, Indiana.

Three leading railroad lines also converge on Cincinnati.

The city is served by Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, a major airline hub,located on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. V GOVERNMENT Cincinnati has been governed by a council-manager form of government since the 1920s.

The council consists of nine members elected to two-year terms.

The councilmember garnering the largest number of votes serves as mayor, a largely ceremonial post.

The city council also appoints a city manager, who acts as the administrativehead of government.

Hamilton County is governed by a three-member elected commission. VI HISTORY Shipping on the Ohio RiverThe development of steam navigation at the beginning of the 19th century added greatly to Cincinnati’s stature as a majorcommercial and trading port.

This painting, The Public Landing by John Child, shows the city in 1835.Cincinnati Hist.

Society Losantiville, one of the first permanent European settlements in Ohio, was established on the site of present-day Cincinnati in 1788.

It began to attract settlers after 1789,when an army post named Fort Washington was built nearby.

In 1790 the community was renamed Cincinnati.

The settlement was recognized as a village in 1802 andincorporated as a city in 1819. Not only was Cincinnati strategically situated to benefit from westward migrations, it also became a major center for north-south commerce, both overland and by water.The Ohio River was a primary route connecting the East with the nation’s growing frontier, particularly after steamboat travel began in 1811.

The Miami and Erie Canal latertied the city to Great Lakes shipping.

It has been aptly remarked that Cincinnati is the “northernmost southern city and the southernmost northern city.” Cincinnati’s extensive ties to the South provoked a mixed reaction to the American Civil War (1861-1865).

The city was a center of activity by the Copperheads, a nameapplied to people who for a variety of reasons opposed fighting the war.

At the same time, the city was a major point on the Underground Railroad, the informal system tomove slaves from the South to freedom in the North. During and immediately after the Civil War, the economy of the city suffered as trade with the South was disrupted.

At the same time, westward traffic began to bypass thecity as new railroads made Chicago the region’s principal crossroads.

The city’s economy revived only slowly.

In an attempt to reinvigorate trade with the mid-South, thecity constructed a railroad to Chattanooga, Tennessee.

This railroad, the Southern, is the only long-distance line ever owned by an American municipality. The late-19th century was characterized by municipal corruption.

A series of notorious bosses—the leaders of the city’s political party organizations—manipulated citycontracts and services for their own monetary gain.

The power of the organizations, called political machines because of their ability to create large numbers of votes forselected candidates, was not broken until the mid-1920s when a city-manager form of government was introduced.

In a different political direction, the public service recordof the Taft family stretches over four generations.

Alphonso Taft served in several federal political positions, including attorney general and secretary of war under PresidentUlysses S.

Grant.

His descendants include William Howard Taft, 27th president of the United States and later chief justice of the United States Supreme Court; and his son. »