Cincinnati, Ohio! Another stop on our scenic drive around the country. Cincinnati is another place I went for work...fifteen years ago! That was a bit of a stunner when I realized it had been that long since I'd been here. I had a little time to walk around back then but not much.
The city was founded on the Ohio River at the mouth of the Licking River in 1788 and was originally named Losantiville. In 1790, the city was renamed Cincinnati in honor of the Society of Cincinnatus, which was a club whose members were Revolutionary War officers.
One of the many nicknames of the city is "Queen City". This came from a newspaper article written in 1819 and was then memorialized in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In 1811, the steamboat became a popular mode of transportation. With Cincinnati being right on the river, that helped the growth of the city's commerce.
Cincinnati sits across the river from Covington, Kentucky. Kentucky was a slave state and Ohio was a free state. Enslaved people would try to escape across the river. There were plenty of stops on the Underground Railroad to assisted the escapees. When the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act was passed, it required citizens in free states to assist in the recapture of enslaved people. In downtown Cincinnati, they have the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center which is definitely worth a visit.
I was hoping that it was more focused on the Underground Railroad itself and the people that were "conductors". It was more about slavery and lack of freedom, not just of enslaved people but of those in other minority groups. The main exhibit describes how slavery started and how it evolved.
This is a house on the underground railroad. It demonstrates all the places that the "conductors" could hide escapees. None of these hideouts looks very comfortable and I can only wonder how long people had to stay hidden in these little cubbies. I'm very fascinated by the Underground Railroad and would be very interested in following it to see how it worked.
I thought this brought up a very valid point. It's explaining fear from the vantage point of the escapee. You had to put your life in the conductor's hands. What if your trust was misplaced? Overall, the museum was very interesting and informative.
This is the John A. Roebling Bridge. He's the guy that designed this bridge as well as the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge links the city of Covington, KY to Cincinnati, OH. It spans 1057 feet. Construction began in 1856 with the two towers. In 1858, they ran out of money and construction was halted. In 1861, the Civil War started. Pontoon bridges were used to transport men and supplies across the river. In 1863, interest in the Roebling bridge inspired the sale of additional stock. The bridge was opened to foot traffic in December of 1866 and to road traffic on January 1, 1867. When I was here in 2010, the bridge was being renovated. It's beautiful.
One of the many presidents from Ohio is William Howard Taft. His childhood home is a National Historic Site and it's located not far from downtown Cincinnati in a neighborhood called Mount Auburn. William's dad, Alphonso, bought this house in 1851.
This is a view from the front door. The original house went as far as the doorframe behind the stairs. It was eight rooms, four upstairs and four downstairs. Alphonso had a lot of people living here including his parents, his wife, six children, two nurses, two maids, a cook, a laundress and a coachman for a total of 16! He enlarged the house to have 16 rooms plus a basement.
Alphonso and his first wife, Fanny, had five children but only one of them survived. That was Charles Phelps Taft. Alphonso remarried to a woman named Louise. Their first child died. It is assumed their second child, William Howard Taft, was born in this nursery in 1857. This is one of the original rooms on the first floor. This room was on the second left when you walk in the front door. This is our guide. She was awesome!
On the first door on the left is the study. Not all the furniture belonged to the Taft family but all if it is of that time. I really like that old desk. That actually did belong to the Taft family.
On the table in the middle of the room is this box. It's a rotating frame! Kind of like the video frames we have today. You put the photo into the cardboard envelope/holder. It holds up to 7 photos. When you want to change the photo that is displayed, you roll the knobs in the front. The only issue is that due to the rolling, the photos would become torn or bent.
On the first floor to the right was the parlor. This was originally two rooms but when the addition was done to the house by Alphonso, the wall between these rooms was removed so they could have one big room. The two photos facing us are of William's grandparents. The oval frame on the left is his mother, Louise.
This is where the upstairs originally ended. It's a little weird how it worked after the renovation. The stairs go down to a small landing. Then you go down the stairs to the first floor. I'm standing on the landing from the add-on. So to get to the front of the house from here, I'd have to go down a short set of steps and then up that short set to continue on.
The rest of the rooms had various displays about William's life. This was his desk when he was an attorney. The rounded pieces opened up and contained his files. Then that flat piece came down to form a desk. It's very cool. William Howard Taft was the 27the president and also the chief justice on the Supreme Court, which was his dream job. The house is part of the National Park system so it's free to go and check it out. The tour is free as well and very interesting.
While in Cincinnati, we stayed at the Cincinnatian, which is a historic hotel managed by Hilton. It was built in 1882 as the Palace Hotel and for a long time it was the tallest building in Cincinnati. It had 300 guestrooms and on each floor, there was a bathroom on either end of the hall.
In 1951, it was renamed Hotel Cincinnatian. In 1987, it underwent a $25M renovation and the rooms were reduced from 300 to 146. Then in 2018, it underwent another remodel and this marble staircase is the only thing that remains from the original hotel.
Something you should know about Cincinnati...like St. Louis, they too are a baseball town! The Cincinnati Reds have a long history. We learned some of it when we visited the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. It's right out side the baseball stadium.
Inside they had tons of memorabilia from the team's past. Famous players include Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Ken Griffey and Tony Perez among others. The Cincinnati Reds started in 1869 and claim to be the first "All Professional Baseball Team".
They joined the National League in 1876 but were kicked out because they were selling beer during the games. Their real story begins in 1881 when they joined the American Association as the Cincinnati Red Stockings. In 1890, they joined the National League.
They won their first World Series in 1919 against the Chicago White Sox. This was the year of the infamous Black Sox Scandal. The Chicago White Sox were accused of losing on purpose! Back then there was no trophy. This one was made for the museum to hold that baseball. It's the ball used in the last out of that World Series. Shoeless Joe Jackson hit the ball to second base and was thrown out at first. These are the teams that appear on the trophy: Chicago White Sox; Cleveland Indians; New York Yankees; Detroit Tigers; St. Louis Browns; Boston Red Sox; Washington Senators; Philadelphia Athletics; Philadelphia Phillies; St. Louis Cardinals; Pittsburgh Pirates; Chicago Cubs; New York Giants; Boston Braves; Brooklyn Robins; Cincinnati Reds.
The museum is cool and has a lot of interesting information about the history of the team. Here, John is on television!
The Reds currently play at the Great American Ballpark. It's right on the Ohio River. They've had seven, yes, SEVEN parks. They started at a place called Bank Street Grounds where they played until 1883. They they moved to League Park I where they played until 1893. They played at League Park II until 1901 and then a place called Palace of the Fans until 1911. From 1912 to 2002, they shared Riverfront Stadium with the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Great American Ballpark opened in 2003. The team started going by the "Reds" as far back as 1882. Then in the 1950s, due to the "Red Scare" aka communism, they started going by the Redlegs. In 1959 they went back to the Reds.
The mascots for the Reds. From L to R: Mr Red, Mr. Redlegs and Rosie Red. Not pictured is a goofy looking muppet like guy called Gapper.
When the reds win or they hit a home, fireworks are shot from those two smokestacks. They are reminiscent of the old steamboat days. The Reds have won five World Series. They won back to back in 1975 and 1976. In 1976, they swept the NY Yankees. The last time they won was in 1990 when they swept the Oakland Athletics.
One of the concessions at the game. Porkopolis is another nickname for the city of Cincinnati. It has to do with their large interest in pork. I'm not sure what that means but the dogs from here were good.
Another Cincinnati thing is Skyline Chili. This is a bizarre combination of spaghetti noodles covered with chili, beans and a mountain of cheese. Note the chili and the beans are two separate items. I tried it back in 2010 and was not impressed but the line for this place was crazy!
The Reds won. They beat their rivals, the LA Dodgers 5 - 2.
The Cincinnati Museum of Art is really cool. It's free and it's huge! The building itself is a work of art. The original building was built in 1886 specifically to be an art museum, which was unusual for the time.
It's huge! We were there for a few hours and we didn't scratch the surface. In this gallery, even the furniture is art. This palace bench is from Florence, Italy and was made in the 15th century! While you are allowed to sit on it, I didn't dare.
This Andy Warhol painting of Pete Rose was actually commissioned by the museum.
I love this staircase! It's beautiful.
While the museum was full of paintings by the masters, this one was one of my favorites. It's called "Two Girls Fishing" and it's by John Singer Sargent.
As you leave the museum and drive around to the exit ramp, this is your view of Cincinnati. Wow!
This building is interesting. It's called the "Queen City Club". It was considered, “the first business professional men’s club of a modern sort, with its own quarters”. They met on November 12, 1874 & put together the first officers of the Queen City Club. It was started by the men who built this city; Longworth, Probasco, Ramsey, Sinton, Anderson, Taft, & Shillito. The requirement of membership for the club would be to purchase a share of stock for $250. At the very beginning the club occupied the “gentleman’s parlor” of the Grand Hotel for the first two years. In 1876, the club then moved & came underway in a newly built building on Seventh & Elm Street. After many years on Seventh & Elm it was time to move. On June 28, 1927, the Queen City Club moved to Fourth & Broadway where it is still located today.
This is the Taft Museum of Art. Built in 1820, it was initially the home of Martin Baum. In 1830, he sold the house to Nicholas Longfellow who eventually sold the house to David Sinton and his daughter Anna. Anna married Charles Phelps Taft in 1873 and lived there with David Sinton. When Sinton died in 1900, Anna inherited his great fortune and the Tafts spent the money on art. This place opened as a museum in 1932.
When the house was owned by Nicholas Longfellow, he hired Robert Duncanson, a Black artist, to paint these murals in the front entryway. This would have been in the 1830s, which was probably unheard of at the time. Duncanson was the first Black artist to achieve international acclaim. Plus these murals were painted in the 1830s!
There weren't many people there. One of the docents was chatting with us. He mentioned this painting, called "Changing Pasture" by Anton Mauve. It looks like they are heading straight to the back of the painting but if you stand to either side, the road curves and it looks like they are headed in a different direction. The museum had tons of cool art but I would have liked more of a history of the house.
I liked walking around downtown and just looking at all the cool old buildings. This is the Guilford building. Built in 1914, this place used to be a school until 1973. Now it's owned by Western & Southern Life. It looks like it's getting some love in the form of rehab. Now it's an office building. I love that they don't just tear stuff down here.
This was one of the pieces of art in our hotel room. I thought it looked so cool that I wanted to go see the building in person.
It's the Cincinnati Music Hall built in 1878 and restored in 2017. I would love to have gone inside or to see a performance here. It's the home of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Ballet and other performing groups. I read that Ella Fitzgerald performed here. Wouldn't that have been amazing to see?
This is the First Lutheran Church in Cincinnati. It was formed in 1841! They were a very progressive institution from the start, being supportive of women's suffrage. This current building, a Romanesque Revival structure dedicated in 1895, is a prominent landmark in Over-the-Rhine.
I thought this looked really cool. The mural is called "An homage to Cincinnatus" by Richard Haas. It looks like you could walk right up that staircase!
One thing we did most every night while here in Cincinnati is walk down by the River. I loved it down there. There is a walking trail, historical statues and this maze. It's based on a thirteenth century design from the Chartres Cathedral, the labyrinth is designed to be a peaceful place of quiet meditation. It is different from a maze in that there is only one path in and out. It has been said that you enter a maze to get lost and a labyrinth to find yourself. Cool no?
We enjoyed our time in Cincinnati. About 309K people live there. I think they've really cleaned up the city since I was there in 2010. I never felt unsafe walking around at anytime. There are several companies that have a presence here. Kroger, Proctor & Gamble, Western & Southern Life and Fifth Third Bank to name a few. Next time you're nearby, stop in and check it out!
