The Founding of Cincinnati, Ohio

The city of Cincinnati, Ohio was founded in 1789 and was actually first named Losantiville when Israel Pudlow, Matthias Denman and Robert Patterson worked together to form the town. They choose the location due to its potential for trade and transportation potential since it was located off of the Ohio River at the mouth of the Licking River.¹ With the slow migration of settlers to the area, a fort was built, Fort Washington, to protect would be settlers in the area from Native American attacks.¹ In 1870 Arthur St. Clair, the-then Governor of the Northwest Territory, decided to change the name of the city to Cincinnati after a Roman farmer, Cincinnatus, that became Emperor and back to farmer when Rome needed him honorably giving up his power. After the United States Army won the Battle of Fallen Timbers, Native American raids were no longer a major threat so many settlers began to come the area.

With its location off of the Ohio River and the United States quest to move west, Cincinnati became a boomtown with many people using the city as a stopping point. The city also began to see a large influx of immigrants in the mid-1800s with Germans become the population to migrate there. By 1890, Cincinnati had become an important industrial, political, literary, and educational center in both Ohio and the United States. Cincinnati was the largest city in Ohio, with almost 300,000 people. The major industry in Cincinnati was iron production, followed closely by meatpacking, cloth production, and woodworking.² Cincinnati, like the other Ohio cities, has great history that needs to be told.

Works Cited:

1. “Cincinnati, Ohio,” (Ohio History Central), accessed April 8, 2019, http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Cincinnati,_Ohio.

2. “Cincinnati, Ohio,” (Ohio History Central), accessed April 8, 2019, http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Cincinnati,_Ohio.

Bibliography

“Cincinnati, Ohio.” Ohio History Central. Accessed April 8, 2019. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Cincinnati,_Ohio.