(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 200 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. with prescience. It gave shape and consistency to the school law passed by the general assembly, and many of his suggestions have stood well the test of time, and are, to-day, in active operation. In 1839 he resigned his place because of failing health. The temperance and anti-slavery causes both received a large share of his time in the latter years of his life. His death occurred in 1854. NATHAN GUILFORD. In the winter of 1821-2, the Ohio house of representatives of the general assembly appointed a committee on schools and school lands. In their report the appointment of seven commissioners was recommended, who should devise and report upon a common school system. The report having been accepted, Governor Trimble appointed seven men, one of whom was Nathan Guilford. Mr. Guilford declined to co-operate with the other commissioners, however, claiming that their proposed plans were inadequate for the needs of the State. He published a letter on free education, in which he urged a general county ad valorem tax, but the assembly was. not wise enough to risk advanced school legislation. An appeal to the people resulted in the election of wiser men, among whom was Nathan Guilford as senator from Cincinnati. Having been made chairman of a joint committee on school legislation, he made an able report, accompanied by a bill which required a tax of one-half mill on the dollar for school purposes; which bill passed both houses without amendment. In 1850 Mr. Guilford was elected superintendent of the Cincinnati public schools. CALVIN E. STOWE. Professor Stowe was born at Natick, Massachusetts, in 1802. Like many New England boys, his early life had a record of many and continued struggles to satisfy an overpowering thirst for knowledge. He finally graduated at Bowdoin college, Maine, in 1824. Succeeding this, he finished a theological course at Andover, and afterward filled the chair of professor of languages at Dartmouth. In 1833 he became professor of Biblical literature in Lane theological seminary; and here his connection with Cincinnati begins. In common with Samuel Lewis, Dr. McGuffey, and other public-spirited citizens, he set himself to work to advance the cause of the common schools. In 1836, while on a visit to Europe on business connected with the seminary, he received an official appointment by the legislature to examine into the system and management of European schools, particularly those of Prussia. On his return he submitted his noted report on elementary education in Europe. A copy was sent to every school district in the State, and it was republished and circulated by the legislatures of other States. In this report he urged freedom from routine and from slavish subservience to text books. At the State educational convention of 1838 he delivered an able address upon the training or normal schools. He was a valued member of the Western college of teachers. In 1850 he returned to Andover, Massachusetts, where the greater part of his life has since been passed. DR. WILLIAM H. M'GUFFEY. Dr. McGuffey, the well known author of the Eclectic series of readers, was born in 1800, in Trumbull county, Ohio. By most severe and unrelenting toil he succeeded in graduating from Washington college, Pennsylvania, in 1825. Soon after he became professor of ancient languages in Miami university, and remained until 1836, when he was called to the presidency of Cincinnati college. Three years after this time he accepted a similar position in the Ohio university. In 1845 he removed to the university of Virginia, where he remained till his death, which occurred in 1873. During his life he was always active in the cause of popular education, rendering efficient aid in teachers' conventions, both by his presence and pen. DR. JOSEPH RAY. —The name of Dr. Ray is held in grateful remembrance by many for his mathematical works, which made simple and attractive what had been only a terror to the young beginner. He was born in Ohio county, Virginia, in November, 1807. From early youth he showed a great fondness for study. Supporting himself by teaching at intervals, he passed some months at Washington college, Pennsylvania, but left without taking a degree. Devoting his attention finally to medicine, he became a graduate of the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati; but in October of the same year began teaching and continued through life. He was first professor and then president of the Woodward college, afterward Woodward high school, which position he held till the time of his death in April, 1856. He was prominently identified with the leading teachers of the State, and became president of the State Association in 1852. RUFUS KING was born in 1817. His father, Edward King, coming to Ohio at an early day, became a leading lawyer at Chillicothe, and then at Cincinnati. His grandfather's name, also Rufus King, is found among those of eminent statesmen and earnest patriots of the revolutionary times. The subject of our sketch graduated at Har yard university, and has for many years been a leading lawyer in Cincinnati. For fifteen years. Mr. King was a member of the board of education of this city, and for twelve was its president. He gave material aid in the reorganization of the public schools, and also in the formation of a great central school library. He was for some time president of the board of trustees of the Cincinnati university, which has under its care the McMicken fund, the school of art and design, and the Cincinnati observatory. ALBERT PICKET began in New York City, early in r 811, a periodical called the Juvenile Monitor, or Educational Magazine. It is thought to have been the first periodical of the kind published in the United States. Through the exertions of Mr. Picket and Alexander Kinmont, there was organized in Cincinnati, in the year 1829, the western academic institute and board of education, before spoken of, from which originated the famous western literary institute and college of professional teachers. Before the latter, in 1834, he delivered the opening address. He afterwards delivered addresses on such subjects as Education, Parents, Teachers, and HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 201 Schools, Formation of Character in Individuals, Reforms in Education, Qualifications of Teachers, and the Want of Education. He was at one time president of the Cincinnati Female seminary; afterward he became a resident of Delaware, Ohio. The following is found in The Ohio School Journal of September, 1848, edited in Columbus, Ohio, by Dr. Lord: Albert Picket, sen., for many years principal of the Manhattan school in this CITY [New York], one of the most efficient and enterprising teachers of our country, is still at Delaware, in Ohio. This gentleman, now in his seventy-ninth year, taught half a century, and was always twenty years in advance of the profession. He is still quickening and comforting those who labor for the cause of education.—[Teachers' Advocate, New York]. We rejoice to meet, from the scene of his former toils, this just tribute to a veteran teacher. It has been our privilege, in addition to occasional correspondence, to enjoy the privilege of several cheering interviews with Father Picket, as he is affectionately and reverently styled here in Ohio, and, last autumn, to labor with him for a week in the instruction of a class of some hundred teachers. . . . Let others wear laurels and receive the plaudits of mankind, but give me the retrospect of the famous teacher. JOHN L. TALBOT was born October 20, 1800, near Winchester, Frederic county, Virginia. With his parents he emigrated to the Redstone settlement, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1806, from which place he removed to Mount Pleasant, Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1816. Three years after he descended the Ohio river on a raft and took up his permanent abode in Cincinnati. During his residence in Pennsylvania he usually attended school one quarter each year, studying mainly spelling and arithmetic. In Cincinnati he attended a night-school while serving an apprenticeship to the carpenter's and joiner's trade. Here he studied arithmetic, trigonometry, surveying, and navigation. Subsequently he became an assistant teacher in the school which was taught by Cornelius King. In 1822, having made his school furniture, he opened a school of his own, which was largely attended, and not a few of his pupils in subsequent years filled honorable and important public positions. In 1823 he aided in forming a society for the elevation of teaching as a profession, and in 1828 in founding the Ohio Mechanics' institute. About the same time he took active part in the establishment of the Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Natural Sciences. In all these organizations Mr. Talbot was an active member, and, much of the time, an officer. From 1829 to 1845 he was a member of the Academic institute and its successor, the College of Professional Teachers. Mr. Talbot was the author of an arithmetic, with the title, The Western Practical Arithmetic. He long since retired fom the teacher's life. MILD G. WILLIAMS was born in Cincinnati April to, 1804. His career as a teacher began in 1820, and ended in 1870. His early education was limited to the merest elements of learning. His first efforts at teaching were made in the village school where he had been a pupil. At this early period he began to think earnestly on the practical education of the people at large. Here, too, he became conscious of his own deficiencies. In his nineteenth year Mr. Williams began a private school in Cincinnati, which grew to be such a success that he finally graded his classes, organized four departments, and procured assistant teachers. The study of constitutional law was successfully introduced into his school. In 1833 he accepted the position of general supervisor of a manual-labor institution at Dayton. At the end of the second year it was deemed expedient to close this school, and Mr. Williams became principal of the Springfield High school. About 1840 he was made principal of a school in Cincinnati, opened by the friends of the New Jerusalem church (Swedenborgian). Subsequent to this time he was successively professor in the Cincinnati college, principal of the Dayton academy, and president of the faculty of Urbana college, filling at the same time the chair of science. In 1829 Mr. Williams aided in organizing the Academic institute, which became, mainly through his effort, the College of Professional Teachers. For ten years he was corresponding secretary, and took an active part in its proceedings. He was prominent also at the educational conventions held at Columbus, beginning in 1836, up to 1852, when his duties at the Urbana university made regular attendance impracticable. He is still a resident of Urbana. STATE SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS. It seems not to be forgotten that Cincinnati furnished the State with two of its earliest and ablest chief superintendents of education. Mr. Samuel Lewis, of the city bar and also a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church, a speaker of no ordinary force, had evinced a very active interest in popular education, several times addressed the Western College of Teachers, and was mainly instrumental in securing from Mr. Woodward the large pecuniary foundation of Woodward college, now part of the consolidated fund supporting the Woodward and Hughes high schools. Such was the confidence reposed in him as a practical educator that although not a teacher or even a "liberally educated man," his education in the schools having ceased when he was ten years old, he was elected by the legislature as the first superintendent of common schools in Ohio, when that office was created in 1837. He began with a salary of five hundred dollars per annum, which was presently increased to one thousand two hundred dollars, but at this rate no more than paid his official expenses. Hon. John Hancock, in his lucid and instructive chapter on school supervision, in the Centennial volume we so often cite, gives this testimony to Mr. Lewis' service: His work was severe enough. Almost all his journeying was done on horseback, most of it on bad roads and through, a sparsely settled country. After averaging twenty-six miles per day of travel, he spent, as he tells us in one of his letters, three or four hours a day in conversation on school matters, and frequently spoke, in addition to all this, at night. Much of his work, too, was done with the drawback of impaired health. Everywhere, as he says, men agreed with him, applauded his, speeches, but did nothing. The first year of his superintendency he traveled more than one thousand five hundred miles, and visited three hundred schools and forty country seats. Much time and zeal were also devoted to the organization of associations of teachers. In reading over his reports, one is surprised at the breadth and comprehensiveness of the views entertained by this pioneer in western education. Nothing seemed to escape his attention ; and almost all the plans for the improvement of common schools since advocated were distinctly enunciated by him. Mr. Lewis' sympathies were always with the poor, and he heartily enlisted in the scheme of establishing a system of schools which should 202 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. give these children a fair chance in life with the children of the rich. He was utterly opposed to the idea of having one kind of education for those favored by fortune and another kind for those who earn `their bread by the sweat of the brow. He labored not only to make the schools entirely free, but to make them good enough for all ; "for," said he, "a school not good enough for the rich will never excite much interest with the poor. They will receive its benefits, if at all, with jealousy, and the effect will be to build still higher the wall that separates the sympathies of different classes of society." Like Horace Mann, Mr. Lewis placed high among the functions of the common school the duty of instructing youth in sound principles of Christian morality. He seemed, too, to have little faith in the final success of the schools, unless teaching was made a profession. He advocated such an education for women "as would be adapted to their sphere in life, and be likely to elevate their views, refine their tastes, and cultivate that delicacy of sentiment and propriety of conduct which the good of the country, no less than their own happiness, requires." He recommended the appointment of county superintendents to look after school property, 'to visit all the districts, examine teachers, and settle controversies. He recognized also the value of libraries as instrumentalities for educating the people, and recommended the establishment of a free library in every township, the State giving a certain amount on condition that the township should raise an equal sum. He pointed out, too, the advantages of union graded schools for towns and cities, years before anything of the kind had been attempted in the State outside of Cincinnati; and township high schools were one of his favorite measures for, promoting educational progress. His eye seemed to cover the whole field. He was not satisfied to restrict his attention to the organization of a school system and the furnishing of the necessary means for carrying it into operation. Methods of instruction did not escape his animadversion. He condemned most forcibly that exclusive reliance on the memory, to the neglect of the cultivation of the reasoning powers, then almost universal with teachers in all classes of schools. Finally, Mr. Lewis still further exhibited the breadth and comprehension of his educational views by his advocacy of a State university and a State normal school. Mr. Lewis left the office with high honor. By his investigations of the management of school lands he had saved enough money to the State to pay his salary many 'times over—indeed, his friends claimed that sixty thousand dollars had been thus secured. The number of schools during his three years of service had risen from four thousand three hundred and thirty-six to seven thousand two hundred and ninety-five; the number of scholars from one hundred and fifty thousand four hundred and two to two hundred and fifty-four thousand six hundred and twelve; the amount paid for tuition from three hundred and seventeen thousand seven hundred and thirty dollars ,to seven hundred and one thousand and ninety-one dollars; and the cost of school-houses, from sixty-one thousand-eight hundred and ninety to two hundred and six thousand four hundred and forty-five. When the office held fourteen to sixteen years before by Mr. Lewis was revived by the legislature, under the present title, of State school commissioner, and made elective by the people, Professor H. H. Barney, first principal of the old Central High school in Cincinnati, was placed in nomination and elected the ensuing fall, and served until 1856. Says Mr. Hancock: Mr. Barney was largely occupied during his administration in executive work and in explaining for the benefit of school officers the meaning of the new law and the best methods of executing it, giving special consideration to those features of the law which differed from those of preceding acts. Of these district school libraries were the most important and gave most care. The distribution of good books over the whole State is an object of importance as an educational agency second only to the schools themselves. That district school libraries did much good cannot be questioned; but had the law provided for township libraries instead, as recommended by Samuel Lewis, there can be but-little doubt that the results would have been far more satisfactory, and the permanency of the law have been secured. No adequate provision was made under the law for taking care of the books, and the few that came to the rural sub-districts one year were scattered and gone by the time the next year's supply came to hand. This arose from the difficulty of finding a suitable place in each sub-district for a library and a qualified person to take charge of it. In addition to this many of the books were never called for at the office of the county auditors, and others remained unused in the hands of the township clerks. The fate of this feature of the law, with all these defects and difficulties hanging about it, notwithstanding its excellent design, was pre-ordained. Mr. Barney decided, at an early period in his administration, that the books for cities might be collected into one library, instead of being scattered among the several districts. Boards acting on this wise decision then formed collections of books, that have been the foundation for those notable institutions in cities called public libraries, and which are doing so much for the culture of the people. Not long after Mr. Barney had entered upon the duties of his office, decided hostility began to exhibit itself in the legislature against many of the most valuable features of the new law, the commissionership among them. He was indefatigable in his efforts to prevent the passage of any amendment that would embarrass the successful working of the act. In these efforts, with the aid of educators and the petitions of the people from all parts of the State that the law should be left untouched, he was completely successful. By the time Mr. Barney had fairly established himself in his new position, he had so far secured the confidence of educators in his ability and prudence that the agent of the State Teachers' association was withdrawn from the field, as being no longer necessary to the interests of the schools. CHAPTER XXII. PUBLIC CHARITIE THE institutions supported by the city first claim attention under this head. THE CITY INFIRMARY. This institution was built in 1851-2, and was opened for the reception of inmates in 1852. Before that the paupers of the city were provided for, under the law of January 22, 1821, at the old Commercial hospital, and by a costly system of out-door relief. In the financial year 1849-50, the cost of provisions, medicine and medical attendance furnished the poor was $10,197.60, and of firewood $11,124,75, making a total of $21;322.35. In 1851-2, while the new plan under directors had not yet come into operation, the several sums, corresponding to the above, were $10,- 486.12, $11,115.40 and $21,601.52. Under the new system, introduced the next year, and directed to the same objects and the same class of persons, they were respectively but $3,920.58, $2,815.34, and $6,735.,95. The original board of directors, in their first annual re- port, make an equally economical showing, in a comparison between the old and new systems of in-door relief. For the two years designated, the expenses of the hospital, including provisions, medicines ($1,483.13 for wines and liquors under this head), dry goods, fuel, groceries, and oil, but excluding cost of pest house, orphan asylum, interments, salaries, and other wages, were severally, $24,411.31, and $20,432.70. For the next year the cost of the city infirmary, including, also, sums paid to the Commercial hospital, and expenses of conveyance to infirmary, furnishing it with stoves, iron bedsteads, bell, etc., (these items alone amounting to $4,785.66), was but $ 13,271.7 I. Thus auspiciously, in HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 203 point of economical management, at least, did the first board of directors open their work under the new arrangements. The old system had secured, by taxation and duties imposed upon auctioneers, the following amounts for a series of years, for use in relieving the poor of Cincinnati : In 1844-5, $29,965.27 ; 1845-6, $30,609.80 ; 1846-7, $33,422.60; 1847-8, $39,174.02; 1848-9, $61,998.74 ; 1849-50, $61,074.09; 1850-1, $65,570. In the year 1852-3, when the new plans were in full operation, the entire expenses of in-door and out-door relief, at both the hospital and the infirmary, excluding cost of permanent improvements, were but $25,892.57. For a number of years the Cincinnati orphan asylum, mentioned in the above statistics, had received, annually, a liberal grant from the poor fund of the city, although the charter of that institution was silent concerning such subsidies, from and after the year 1840. The tenor of the charter, as explained by the infirmary directors, was "that said institution should maintain itself, like similar institutions, by private enterprise and benevolence." In 1849-5o the orphan asylum drew $2,214.21 from the poor fund of the city, and $1,498.64 from the auction duties, the next year $3,801.44, and $7,832.03 from these sources, respectively. The claim of the asylum to a share of the funds continued to be set up after the infirmary directors came into office, but was not allowed by those authorities, for the reason given above—the absence of legal authority in the asylum to make the demand. The infirmary board of directors came in under an act of the general assembly, dated March 23, 1850, entitled "Au Act to authorize the City of Cincinnati to erect a Poor-house, and for other purposes." Their duties were further prescribed by the law of March 1 r, 1853, "to provide for the organization of cities and incorporated villages," which abolished in such corporations the offices of township trustees and township clerk. January 14, 1857, the city council passed an ordinance "to regulate the management of the City Infirmary, Commercial Hospital, Pest-house, City Burying-ground, and the granting of out-door relief to the poor." It prescribed that the directors of the infirmary should be elected in conformity with the legislative acts before mentioned; that they should give bonds, in the sum of five thousand dollars each, for the faithful performance of their duties; that they should have charge of the charities specified in the title of the ordinance; and made sundry other provisions in regard to their duties—among them that they should appoint the officers of these institutions and others deemed necessary, subject to the approval of the city council. April 15, 1864, a similar ordinance, but restricting the authority of the directors to the management of the city infirmary, city burying-ground, and the granting of outdoor relief to the poor, was passed by the council. Under such enactment by-laws and regulations were adopted by the board for the government of the institutions under their charge and the grant of out-door relief. In the regulations of 1852-3, each ward of the city was made a district for providing victuals for the poor, and one grocer from whom provisions were to be purchased for that purpose was contracted with in each ward. He was to be paid the usual prices, charged to his regular cash customers. For medicinal purposes the city was divided into six districts, each comprising two or more physicians appointed therein for visitation of the sick poor, one of whom must be a German. Each was to receive twenty-five cents for every necessary professional visit. Two or more apothecaries in each district were also to be contracted with, prescriptions to be paid for at two-thirds the usual rates. Two medical districts constituted one directorial district, to be tinder the especial care of one of the infirmary directors, who were three in number. Each of these districts should have an undertaker, for the burial of the pauper dead; and the prices of the undertakers were to be uniform in all the districts. The regulations of 1857, under the ordinance of that year, were identically the same, as regards this scheme of organization. Those of 1864 divided the city into seven districts, each with one overseer of the poor, who must devote all his time to the duties of his office, and was net allowed to prosecute any other business; one district physician—if practicable, a man who could speak both English and German, and he must speak both if a majority of the population in his district speak the German language; also as many apothecaries as were willing to comply with the rates regulating the furnishing of medicine for the out-door poor. From the seven districts were formed three directorial districts, in each of which, if possible, one undertaker for the burial of the dead poor was to be secured. In these regulations provision was made for a soup-house, to "be kept in operation as long as economy and circumstances warrant it." A soup-house was opened by the board in 1861, by virtue of a resolution of the council May 29th of the same year, and supplied within eight months three thousand and forty-nine families with wholesome food, to the amount of six hundred and thirty-one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three rations, at an expense of about one and a half cents per ration, or ten thousand seven hundred and eighteen dollars and eighty-one cents for the whole. The number of overseers' districts ultimately became twelve, with the growth of the city; but in 188o it was reduced to six, the first district comprising the First, Second, Third, and Fourth wards, and being in charge of Mr. H. H. Goesling as overseer; the Second, being the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eleventh wards, in charge of Frank Rhein; Third—the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Thirteenth, and Eighteenth wards—J. F. Leuchtenburg, overseer; Fourth—the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Nineteenth wards—F. W. Ferris, overseer; Fifth—the. Fourteenth and Twentieth to Twenty-third wards, inclusive—William C. Hill, overseer; Sixth—Twelfth, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-fifth wards—Charles Nordeck, overseer. But one undertaker—John B. Habig, No. 183 West Sixth street—has been provided for some years for the whole city. Having thus, in a rapid way, brought down the history of out-door relief to the present day, we return to a 204 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. sketch of the infirmary proper. This institution is located near Hartwell, a village on the Cincinnati, Hamilton, & Dayton and the Dayton Short Line Railroads, about eight miles from Fountain Square, in the city. It is removed by only little over a mile from the county infirmary, near Carthage. The city infirmary farm comprises a quarter-section of land, in the form of a parallelogram, west of the Carthage turnpike, and fronting on the Springfield pike, half a mile from Mill creek. In former days it was the property of Major Daniel Gano. The labor upon the farm is performed by the inmates of the infirmary, and it is made to produce a large part of the supplies needed by the institution for the table. The latest report we have seen of the storekeeper of the infirmary, that of 1879, exhibits the produce of the farm for that year as amounting in value to seven thousand two hundred and thirty-eight dollars and sixty-seven cents, and of the garden to three thousand eight hundred and forty-one dollars and eighty-eight cents—a total of eleveh thousand and eighty dollars and fifty-five cents. In addition, a large number of articles, as brooms, mops, etc., were made by the inmates, and six thousand six hundred and twenty-seven articles of clothing, being almost all that is required by the institution. The farm stock comprised eighty-four animals, with a full equipment of farm tools and necessaries for the dairy. In 1869, the County Agricultural society awarded premiums to the infirmary farm for one bull and for the best farm team. The building constructed in 1851 is thus described in the annual report of the superintendent of the infirmary, for the year ending March 1, 1856: The house is constructed of gray limestone. It is situated seven miles north of Cincinnati, upon a slight eminence, near the Carthage and Hamilton turnpike, and when viewed from this point presents a very beautiful and substantial architectural appearance. The centre and ends of the building are four stories high, while the main or connecting part is but three. The whole presents a front of three hundred and four and one-third feet in length, with a depth of forty-seven feet. It has a wing extending back from the centre a distance of one hundred and thirty-three feet. This part is only two stories high, and is thirty-two feet in width. The entire building is divided into one hundred and fifty-five rooms, which are used for the following purposes, viz.: The centre for the officers' apartments, offices, apothecary shop, store-rooms, etc. ; the first story of north and south wings are the male and female sick wards; the second and third stories of the same are the dormitories for the male and female inmates not under medical treatment; the fourth story of the end building is occupied as a basket shop and for store-rooms for the finished baskets; the first story of the rear building is used for the male and female dining-rooms, kitchen, and wash-house; the second story for school-room and chapel, children's dormitories, nursery, ironing and drying rooms. A hall, nine feet in width, runs through the entire length of the front building, in all the stories, dividing the rooms, which are well lighted and ventilated. In connection with the main building we have an ice-house built with brick, thirty feet square and fifteen feet deep, which is well adapted to the uses for which it was erected. Over the ice-house we have a fine, large room for storing and keeping our fresh meats in summer. The water supply was at first derived from two wells, about fifty barrels per day, and six cisterns, holding together about six thousand gallons. This supply soon proved insufficient, and has been increased and made permanent by the construction of water works, including, in 1867, a reservoir on the hillside, capable of containing two thousand gallons, and of supplying water to the highest part of the building. Gas works were added in 1859, and minor improvements have been made from time to time pretty nearly as needed, including a nursery for the children, built in 1867-8. Certain important departments of the household service remained deficient, however; and in 188o Mayor Jacob remarked of the infirmary in his message: "It is the only public building under the control of the city not provided with the latest improvements for heating and washing." This defect has since been partially removed by the introduction of washing machines. In 1855, the religious opportunities of the infirmary were increased by a donation from the Young Men's Bible society of Cincinnati, of fifty English Testaments and twenty-five English and twelve German Bibles. An infirmary school was started early after the opening of the institution, and was regularly maintained until November, 1877. For a time it was under the charge of the "board of trustees and visitors of the common schools of Cincinnati," but was generally controlled by the board of directors. In 1858 an arrangement was made with the authorities of the Catholic orphan asylum at Cumminsville, to take under their charge the eighteen children in the infirmary from Catholic families, with the promise that they would thereafter take and support all that were of that faith. When the infirmary was turned over to the directors, in 1852, and opened for the reception of inmates, it had accommodations for only about fifty paupers. These were speedily increased by the supply of iron bedsteads and of bedding sufficient for two hundred and seventy-five persons, and it was calculated that seven hundred inmates could be provided for in the institution. At times, however, of late years, over two hundred more than that number have been crowded within its walls, as many as five or six being compelled to occupy one room in numerous cases; and an addition to the main building was repeatedly and loudly called for by the directors. In their report of 1872 they pressed it with especial force upon the attention of the city authorities; and a grant was made of the credit of the city, and in bonded indebtedness, to the amount of fifty thousand dollars, which enabled the directors, within a year or two thereafter, to add two wings to the main building, make an alteration of the upper story, repair the roof of the old farm building, which had been in use for many years for colored paupers, and make other needed improvements, together costing about twenty-six thousand dollars. The institution has now abundant accommodations for all present demands. Under a legislative act of May 17, 1878, passed during one of the spasms of "re-organization" that so often afflict the general assembly, the control of the infirmary was turned over to the police commissioners of the city—to whom, after a protest on behalf of the directors, the books and papers of the institution were delivered. The commissioners appointed Mr. John E. McGranahan general superintendent of the department, and made a thorough change in the official corps of the infirmary. Their reign was short-lived, and March 15, 1880, the HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 205 board of directors was returned to authority, under another act of assembly. While the commissioners were in power, however, the infirmary was cleared of debt, with which it had been hampered for a number of years (one year the debt amounted to sixty thousand dollars), and a surplus was accumulated for future use. The poor authorities of the city and county have always been much embarrassed by the influx of nonresident paupers, natural to a large commercial city and favorably situated county. Especially were unfortunate girls, about to experience the shame and pains of illegitimate child-birth, liable to be inflicted upon the public charities of this region, some of them being sent long distances for the purpose, even from Missouri and New York. From New York city numbers of indigent immigrants were, it is alleged, regularly forwarded to Cincinnati. In some cases, where betrayed ones were sent to the city with the early prospect of illicit offspring, the responsible parties, being within the State, were prosecuted by the directors with success, made to pay damages to the city and provide security for the maintenance of their ill-begotten children. In the official year of 1851-2, the total number of non-resident poor relieved at the Commercial Hospital was one thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine-nearly seven times as many as the resident paupers relieved, who numbered but two hundred and ninety-five. Under the new administration, in 1852 and subsequently, the directors considerably reduced abuses, and the number of non-residents and unknown persons who received indoor relief during the year 1852-3 was but two hundred and eighty-seven, against four hundred and sixty-five residents; while outdoor relief was extended to four hundred and seventy-one non-residents and two thousand and forty-six resident paupers. The city council had no power, under the charter, to levy taxes for the benefit of poor not belonging to the city; but nevertheless allowed the directors to grant such relief in cases of severe sickness. March 14, 1853, the county commissioners were empowered by the legislature to levy a sufficient tax for the relief of this class of beneficiaries, leaving the city council still no care of non-resident paupers. The following are the numbers received into the infirmary from year to year since its opening: 1852-3, 581; 1853-4, 465; 1854-5, 660; 1855-6, 595; 1856-7, 360; 1857-8, 285; 1858-9, 380; 1859-60, 444; 1860-1, 464; 1861-2, 228; 1862-3, 159; 1863-4, 210; 2864-5, 282; 1865-6, 370; 1866-7, 297; 1867-8, 323; 1868-9, 290; 1869-70, 257; 1870-1, 245; 1871-2, 228; 1872 (ten months), 179; 1873, 330; 1874, 459; 1875, 311; 1876, 362; 1877, 245; 1878, 373; 1879, 429. At the close of the last named year there were five hundred and eighty-seven remaining in the institution. The total number of names upon the register for the year was one thousand and thirty-five; discharged during the year, three hundred and forty-seven; died, one hundred and one; daily average for the year, five hundred and seventy-six. At the close of 1879, one inmate was remaining for each of the years 1852, 1855, 1856, 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, as the several dates of their admis sion into the infirmary. Out-door relief had been extended during the year to the amount of fifteen thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight dollars and eighty-nine cents-provision account, six thousand and seven dollars and eighty-two cents; fuel, eight thousand two hundred and fifty-five dollars and thirty-two cents; wages, four hundred and fifty dollars; transportation, twenty-seven dollars and fifty cents; coffins and interments, one thousand one hundred and forty-eight dollars and twenty cents. Relief had been extended to nearly a thousand more applicants than in any previous year. The institution was out of debt and had a balance to its credit sufficient to meet its running expenses for 1880. The directors of the city infirmary, from its establishment to 1880, have been, at various times, Charles Ross, Gottfried 'Koehler, Henry Roedter (the first board), Adam Hornung, Jacob Gossin, William Crossman, Arthur Hill, George A. Peter, Joseph Draper, Jacob B. Wyman, George Lindemann, James Ayres, L. L. Armstrong, M. B. Masson, M. Straub, Henry Weist, Ira Wood, John Martin, W. H. Watters, Charles Zielinski, Henry Zopfi, Jacob Ernst (died in office), John Kirchner, Robert Buchanan, George H. Schoonmaker, M. Lichtendahl, George F. Feid, William Ohmann; police commissioners, 1878-C. Kinsinger, J. P. Carbery, Daniel Weber, W. W. Sutton, John Dorsch; 1879, S. S. Davis, H. C. Young, Ephraim Morgan, A. R. Von Martels, John Dorsch; 1880, Arthur Hill, George F. Feid, William Ohmann. Clerks of the Board-William Swift Gossin, Adam S. Hornung, jr., Thomas Winter, Abijah Watson, James F. Irwin (died in office), A. H. Andress, R. M. Courtney, 0. T. Shepard, Charles H. Moorman. The following named gentlemen have been superintendents of the infirmary. It is difficult to fix, in all cases, exactly the year in which each entered upon service, but these dates are believed to be approximately correct, as gathered from the annual reports. Each of the incumbents served until his immediate successor was appointed: 1852, Dr. Nathan B. Marsh; 1855, James McCord; 1856, John Young; 1857, Colonel A. M. Robinson; 1860, Stephen S. Ayres; 1862, Colonel A. M. Robinson; 1865, S. P. Coleman; 1867, Abijah Watson ; 1870, Arthur Hill; 1874, Captain Robinson Whitney; 1877, John P. Decker; 1879, S. W. Bell and Arthur Hill; 1880, John P. Decker. The periods of the matrons correspond to those of the superintendents: Mrs. Mary Young, Mrs. Mary Robinson, Mrs. Elizabeth Ayres, Mrs. Angelina Coleman, Mrs. Phebe S. Watson, Mrs. Matilda Hill, Mrs. Nancy Whitney, Mrs. Elizabeth Decker, Mrs. S. W. Bell. Physicians-Professor James Graham, H. C. Lassing, D. S. Young, T. L. Neal, N. S. Armstrong, A. P. Esselborn, W. H. Bunker, G. W. Highlands, F. L. Emmert. Teachers-Misses Hannah P. Eaton, Ellen F. Kendall, Mollie E. Cox, Sally F. Wyman, Mollie Hoyt, Clara B. Carnes, and Sallie Clarke; Mr. F. W. Hess; Misses Louisa Emery, Katie Whitney, Anna G. Curtis, Mollie Burnett. While the last named lady was teaching, about the 206 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. middle of November, 1877, all the children of the infirmary were transferred to the Children's Home, in Cincinnati, and the school was closed. The school-room has since been used for holding religious services. Store-keepers--Charles H. Giller, Albert Denerlich, John C. Hill, Alexander Jacoby, Isaac B. Stevens, F. A. Herbolsheimer, Charles 0. Spiegel, William Spiegel, LeMaire Knotzer. THE COMMERCIAL HOSPITAL. was the creation, on paper, of an act of the legislature, bearing date January 22, 1821, and entitled "An act establishing a commercial hospital and lunatic asylum for the State of Ohio," Ohio," its scope then being as stated in the title. Governor Brown, in his annual message, had recommended to the legislature the chartering of such an institution in Cincinnati. Dr. Daniel Drake suggested to the trustees of the township, who were to be in charge of the hospital, the advisability of uniting the State and local funds, and establishing an infirmary for the poor and likewise for the deceased boatmen of Ohio and of such other western States as might similarly afford Ohio boatmen relief. His plan was adopted, and the doctor was made the bearer of an accordant petition to the legislature, in pursuance of which and of the governor's recommendation the charter was obtained. Upon Dr. Drake's sole petition, it is said, the proviso for a lunatic department was added. Besides the ten thousand dollars granted, one-half the auction dues collected in the city were appropriated to the use of the asylum. The financial provisions of the act at once effected a signal reduction in the amount of city taxation for the benefit of the poor. Very soon after the act of incorporation was obtained, a suitable tract for the site of the hospital was purchased, in the then outskirts of the city, now in its very heart—a tract of four acres, being that upon which the great Cincinnati hospital, in part, now stands. Some delay was experienced in putting a building upon it; but in 1823 a brick edifice was erected, of fifty-three feet front by forty-two feet depth, and three stories in height, with a tenantable basement. Ten thousand dollars had been appropriated by the general assembly toward its erection; which, although received in depreciated bank notes, yielding in specie but thirty-five hundred dollars, was a material and welcome aid to the building fund. In all but seven thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven dollars were expended at the time upon the buildings and ward furniture and the improvement of the grounds—about one-hundredth part of the total cost of the magnificent institution established upon its site forty-five years later. Besides the regular wards, the upper story, originally designed for the residence of the superintendent, was remodeled for a lecture-room, with seats for nearly one hundred students. This was lighted by front windows and rough dormer windows set in a rather pointed roof. An additional building was erected upon the grounds in 1827, forty-four feet long, twenty-eight feet wide, and two stories high. It was designed rather as a place of confinement than a hospital for the cure of the insane. The lower story was for male lunatics, the upper for females. Each was partitioned into eleven rooms or cells. An addition was made to the main hospital building a few years afterwards, with a capacity for one hundred and fifty patients. The basement, was turned into a poorhouse, and was also to some extent an orphan asylum. Still another building was connected with the hospital; and, being used for contagious diseases, and especially small-pox, it was situated some distance from it, in an isolated spot six or seven long squares west of the hospital, in the northwest corner of the then "potter's field," now the beautiful Lincoln park. This was destroyed after a time, and the patients afflicted with infectious diseases were treated in a building nearer the hospital, which presently became too small for the purpose, and, after a debate among the hospital authorities, whether patients of this class might not be safely admitted to the main building, the decision was against the proposal, and the late Dr. Wright was made a committee to select a site for another pest-house. His mission became known to the community, and was not received with signal favor in localities eligible for such location. After one excursion to the hills to examine sites, he received the following note: "DR. WRIGHT:—If you are again seen prowling about our hillsides, you may prepare to have a ball sent through your skull." The hospital was relieved of its poor-house feature when the county infirmary was established, and by and by the founding of an orphan asylum in the city, mainly by the efforts of a few benevolent ladies, relieved it also of the few destitute orphans it contained. From the beginning, the Commercial hospital and the Medical College of Ohio were substantially identical. The officers of the one were the officers of the other, and the same building was occupied for both purposes. One important departure taken by the law of 1861, for the establishment of the Cincinnati hospital, was the statutory separation of the two institutions. Instead of appointing physicians to the hospital altogether from the staff of the medical college, they are selected at large by the trustees of the institution, without special reference to their connection with the college. On the twentieth of June, 1855, the board of directors effected an arrangement with the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, by which sick and dis abled boatmen could be cared for in the hospital, at the rate of five dollars per week, for board' and medical attendance. This arrangement yielded a small revenue the first year; but afterwards the receipts from this source were quite large, one year (186o-61) amounting to eight thousand, five hundred and twenty-two dollars and two cents. About the same time an arrangement was entered into with the faculty of the Ohio medical college, whereby the directors were allowed to dispose of "hospital tickets," or permits for clinical practice, to students of other medical schools, on equal terms with those enjoyed by the students of that college. A fund of some size was HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 207 obtained from this source, also, and turned into the city treasury, for the benefit of the infirmary department. March 11, 1861, another law of the legislature provided that the public infirmary established in the hospital by the law of 1821 should be thereafter called simply "the Commercial Hospital of Cincinnati," to remain upon the hospital lot before occupied, and to be "used for the reception and care of such sick persons as may by law be entitled to admission therein for treatment as patients." The control of the hospital was transferred from the board of infirmary directors to a board of seven trustees, of which, however, the infirmary directors, together with the mayor of the city, were ex-officio members. The faculty of the Medical College of Ohio were to attend patients in the hospital without compensation, except in the privilege to introduce their pupils into the hospital, to witness the medical and surgical treatment of patients. THE CINCINNATI HOSPITAL. In 1861, soon after the appointment of a new board of trustees, some preparations were made for the erection of a fine new building, to displace the old Commercial hospital, which had become somewhat dilapidated and unsafe, and was no longer adequate to the wants of the great city. Plans had been prepared a year or two before by the most noted firm of architects in the city, and steps had been taken to secure the necessary funds; but the outbreak of the war at once destroyed the hope of consummating the scheme at that time. The old building had long been condemned as unfit for its purposes; but there seemed no choice but to use it while it remained upright; so the most urgent repairs were made upon it, and its occupation continued a few years longer. In this year (1861) gas was introduced into the hospital. By 1864 many cases of sick and destitute persons had to be turned away. March 1st of that year, the hospital was permanently divorced from the city infirmary. The next year, in accordance with a unanimous vote of the city council, supported by the trustees and medical staff of the hospital and other influential citizens, the legislature passed an act authorizing the creation of a municipal debt for a new hospital, if the people should approve it by vote. In March, 1865, a branch hospital for female patients was opened on Elm street, above Twelfth, and was soon crowded. About this time the pest-house was removed from the tract now Lincoln park, to Roh's hill, west of the Bellevue house. On the twelfth of December, 1866, the necessary funds having been voted by the people, the hospital commissioners notified the trustees of the Commercial hospital to vacate that lot and buildings, preparatory to the construction of new edifices. Temporary quarters were secured at the corner of Third and Plum streets, and the demolition of the old structures and erection of the new proceeded rapidly. In 1868, a popular vote authorized the raising of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the hospital, by the issue of bonds. April 3d of that year, the name of the institution was changed by an act of the legislature to Cincinnati hospital. It was occupied in January, 1869. The fame of this great public charity, as one of the finest institutions of the kind in the world, warrants our use here of the entire description of the hospital, as published annually in its reports: This institution completely fulfills all the conditions of a general hospital to a large city. It is emphatically a city hospital, accessible to all on accommodating terms. Strangers or other persons of means, overtaken by illness, and wishing to avail themselves of the best appointments for proper care, can here find refuge without the sacrifice of any of their liberties. They can not only obtain appropriate private rooms and trained nurses, but they can choose their own medical attendants without being restricted to the medical staff of the hospital. This, to many persons, is an estimable privilege ; for, however well chosen the staff of a hospital may be, and distinguished as the visiting physicians and surgeons of most of our hospitals usually are, for superior skill, notwithstanding, many persons so much prefer choosing for themselves as to make the denial of this privilege an inseparable objection to hospital patronage. The Cincinnati hospital occupies the square bounded by Twelfth street, Central avenue, Ann and Plum streets, being four hundred and forty-eight feet front from north to south, and three hundred and forty from east to west. The structure consists of eight distinct buildings, placed en echelon, and connected by corridors, surrounding an extensive centre yard or court. The central portion and main entrance are situated on. Twelfth street, midway between Central avenue and Plum street, and are termed the Administrative Department. This contains offices, superintendent's and officers' apartments, kitchen, and dining-rooms. There are six pavilions three stories in height. Three of the pavilions are on the eastern or Plum street side, and three on the western or Central avenue side. Each pavilion contains three wards, one on each floor, of which those in the central pavilions contain thirty-six beds each, and the rest twenty-four each, allowing eighteen hundred feet of space in the wards to each bed. The pavilions contain also thirty-six private rooms. At one end of the wards are situated the nurses' rooms, diet kitchen, dining-rooms for convalescents, closets for bedding and clothing, dumb waiters, and elevators for patients. At the other end are located the bath-rooms, water-closets, and reading-rooms. In the basement of the pavilions are store-rooms, baggage-rooms, heating-chambers, etc., and a passage-way around the entire establishment. In the central building on Ann street is situated the Amphitheatre, with a capacity for five hundred students, pathological museum, mortuary, etc., conveniently arranged in proximity to each other, and isolated from all other departments of the house. In the same building is the accident ward, convenient of access, and completely equipped for cases of accident or emergency, at all hours of the day and night. South of this building and at the north end of the court, is the Domestic Department, containing the main kitchen, laundry, domestics' dormitories, dining-room, etc. Connected with the Domestic Department are the engine- and boiler-rooms, gas-works, and storage for fuel. The establishment is heated throughout by steam. Heat for the wards is supplied from coils of steam-pipe, placed in chambers in the basement. From these chambers pure air warmed to the proper temperature passes into the wards, while the halls and other rooms of the institution are heated by direct radiation from the steam-coils placed therein. In the wards are also open fire-grates for ventilation and heating when required. Portions of the buildings are ventilated by a downward draught into a large airduct tinder the pavilions, which terminates in a large chimney of the engine-room. The remaining portions are ventilated through ventilating chambers in the towers and attics. The walls of the entire building are composed of brick, with freestone finishing around the angles, etc. The upper stories are finished in French style, with Mansard roof of slate of variegated colors. The administrative department is surmounted by a dome and spire that reaches one hundred and ten feet from the pavement, and each of the outer ends of the pavilion is surmounted by turrets that serve as ornaments as well as promoters of ventilation. The wards of the hospital are divided into surgical, medical, obstetrical, opthalmological, and venereal ; and in attendance upom them are four surgeons, six physicians, two obstetricians, two opthalmologists, and two pathologists. One half of this number are on duty at the same time, and alternate every four months. Clinical lectures are delivered in the amphitheatre two hours each working day, commencing in October and ending with February. All 208 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. medical students are entitled to admission to the clinical lectures by the payment of a fee of five dollars. The fund thus created is applied to the purchase of books, instruments, and the enlargement of the cabinet. In aid of the staff, seven undergraduates are selected, after a competitive examination, whose designations are " resident physicians." Entering upon duty, they are distributed to different wards, where they remain two months ; they then exchange places, so that each one, during the year, has an opportunity of witnessing the practice of the entire hospital. They accompany the staff in their daily visits to the sick, receive their orders, keep a record of the cases and their treatment, report all violations of medical discipline, and have a general supervision over their respective wards. For the accommodation of persons visiting Cincinnati in search of medical or surgical aid, and those who may not receive necessary attention in hotels and boarding houses, a pay department has been established, consisting of thirty rooms, all comfortably and neatly furnished. Regular nurses are engaged by the hospital to attend the sick in this department, but each patient is at liberty to employ any physician he or she may choose. Every part of the hospital is in direct telegraphic communication with the superintendent's apartment in the central building. In a moment the messages are sent to and fro, thus saving the annoyance and delay of foot messengers. The hospital is connected by telephone with the police stations throughout the city, and with the branch hospital, more than five miles distant. A message is received from one of the stations: "Send your ambulance." And speedily the ambulance is sent. Another is transmitted through the wire: "How is the small pox patient, Smith?" And in a moment the answer comes back: " Better"—"worse" —"ready to leave"—" dead." The hospital is managed by a board of trustees, seven in number. Two are appointed by the superior court, two by the common pleas court, and one by the governor of the State. The mayor of Cincinnati, and a director of the city infirmary, eldest in office, are ex officio members of the board. The hospital is supported by a tax, annually levied by the city council upon the whole taxable property of the city—not exceeding forty-eight hundredths of a mill. The cost of the buildings, including the purchase of some additional ground, was about three-quarters of a million. The gas made in the institution costs only one dollar per thousand, less than half the usual charge of the city gas and coke company. The hospital also compounds its own drugs, thus effecting a saving of about fifty per cent.,. In 1879 a new hospital for contagious diseases, or "pest house," a branch of the Cincinnati hospital, was built upon an isolated tract in the Lick Run valley, near the potters' field, and the older branch building on Roh's hill was abandoned and sold. The new buildings are on the pavilion plan, arranged and fitted up according to the best ideas of hospital equipment, and will accommodate about one hundred patients. The grounds they occupy are elevated and broad and command fine views. Much of the time no patient occupies them. During 1879 the number of patients admitted to the hospital was four thousand one hundred and twenty, against three thousand four hundred and thirty-seven the year before. Of those admitted two hundred and seventy-six died, and three thousand seven hundred were discharged during the year. During the year 1880 three thousand six hundred and nineteen patients were admitted, of whom three thousand five hundred and eighty-two were discharged, three hundred and thirty-two died, and three hundred and fifty-one were remaining at the close of the year. The total number of patients treated was four thousand two hundred and sixty-five; daily average of patients, three hundred and seventy and one-half; average time in hospital, thirty-three days; private patients, three hundred and eight. None were in the branch or small-pox hospital. The expenditures of the year were seventy-six thousand one hundred and seventy-three dollars and thirty cents. Receipts—from the city treasury, eighty thousand three hundred and eighty-two dollars and thirty-five cents; pay patients, six thousand eight hundred and seventy dollars and sixty-seven cents; sale of refuse matter, sixty-one dollars and ninety-five cents; total, eighty-seven thousand three hundred and fifteen dollars and ninety-seven cents. The average cost of maintenance of each patient per day was forty-seven and thirty-seven hundredths cents. The gas used (one million eight hundred and seventy-six thousand three hundred and forty-eight feet) was made in the institution at a cost, exclusive of labor, of thirty-six and one-half cents per thousand. The following named gentlemen have served the hospital as trustees since its organization: By appointment of the superior court—David Judkins, M. D., 1861 to date; F. J. Mayer, 1861-7o and 1871 to date; John Ballance, 1870-7 I. By the court of common pleas—J. J. Quinn, M. D., 1861-9; W. B. Davis, M. D., 1869-72; Abner L. Frazier, 1872-4; A. 'L. Dandridge, M. D., 1874—; Hon. Alexander Long, 1861-2; B. F. Brannan, 1862-73; Colonel L. A. Harris, 1873-. By the governor—N. W. Thomas, 1861-4; M. D. Potter, 1864-5; John Carlisle, 1865-75; M. B. Hagans, 1875-80; B. F. Brannan, 1880—. The superintendent of the hospital is H. M. Jones; matron, Mrs. Agnes Rose; clerk, T. E. H. McLean. ST. MARY'S HOSPITAL. This extensive institution is in charge of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis, a Catholic order; but its beneficence is not confined to the poor and suffering of its own faith, and it is especially useful in caring for those who are non-residents, and who are debarred thereby from admission to other charitable institutions. Six sisters of this order came to America in September, 1838, upon the invitation of Archbishop Purcell, and fixed upon Cincinnati as their field. At first they occupied as a hospital the Boys' Orphan asylum on Fourth street, which was in charge of a German Catholic society, and very soon had forty patients on their hands. In March, 1859, they purchased the ground on the corner of Betts and Linn streets, upon which their institution was founded. The corner-stone was laid May loth, of the same year, and it was ready for occupation by Christmas next ensuing, when it was consecrated by the archbishop. It is a spacious building, ninety by sixty feet, and four stories high, divided into two parts by a large chapel. In the second story rooms were provided during the first year for patients afflicted with contagious diseases; but their occupation in this way was not afterwards allowed by the authorities. After a few years the accommodations were enlarged, and about five hundred charity patients can now be received, besides a number of pay patients. From time to time, by fairs, lotteries, subscriptions, etc., the hospital has re- HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 209 ceived liberal donations, by which it has been enabled to extend its grounds and buildings. In the fall of 1875 a new building was consecrated by Archbishop Purcell. It is built in admirable form for its purposes, and heated throughout by steam. The chapel, upon the lower floor, is in the Gothic style, and has sittings for three hundred persons. It is now one of the largest and best-ordered institutions of the kind in the country, and represents a cost of ninety thousand dollars. During 1879 it had one thousand one hundred and forty-nine patients under treatment, of whom eight hundred and sixty-six were discharged and one hundred and fourteen died. The Catholic patients numbered nine hundred and nineteen; non-Catholics, two hundred and thirty. Germans, four hundred and eighty-seven; Americans, three hundred and fifty; Irish, two hundred and fifty; other nationalities, sixty-two. The two Charles S. Muscrofts, senior and junior, are surgeons to the hospital; J. H. Buckner, oculist and aurist; George C. Werner, gynaecologist; William H. Weming and J. C. McMechan, physicians. THE JEWISH HOSPITAL has been noticed in our chapter on religion. It can hardly be called a public charity, though an admirable and most beneficent institution for the suffering of the Hebrew faith. DISPENSARIES. An out-door dispensary was established by the Cincinnati hospital October 1, 1871; and in ten months its physicians treated four thousand and eighty-four cases, without expense to the patients or to the city. The Ohio Medical College dispensary is justly reckoned one of the great charities of the city. The faculty of the college devote a portion of their time to it every day of the year, in the gratuitous treatment of applicants and the free dispensing of medicines. From six to eight thousand persons are treated every year. The Miami Medical College dispensary does a work of similar magnitude and beneficence. An hour every morning is given to eye and ear diseases, and an hour in the afternoon to all other ailments. The Homoeopathic Free dispensary, corner of Seventh and Mound streets, has three departments—the medical, that of surgery and diseases of women, and the eye and ear. The lady physicians of the same practice have a free dispensary for the treatment of female and children's diseases open daily at 306 Linn street. It was organized May 14, 1879, with a membership of thirty-five, and the dispensary was opened four weeks thereafter. The membership now numbers about one hundred and fifty. During the first year eight hundred and sixty-five patients were treated and three thousand six hundred and seventy-two prescriptions given. The Ohio College of Dental Surgery, on College street, near the public library, affords in its clinical lectures and practice ample opportunities for the free treatment of dental diseases and effects. THE UNION BETHEL. This institution was organized, so far at least' as its mission work is concerned, in January, 1839, and had their headquarters in old "Commercial Row," near the river bank. It was started under the patronage of the Western Seamen's Friend society. The Boatmen's Bethel society was formed soon afterwards, and the school of the Bethel was removed to East Front street, near Pike, to a building known as the old Museum; but returned to the former place in about three years. A meeting of citizens was held in February, 1865, to consider the expediency of organizing an independent Bethel society for the city; which was done, and an act of incorporation secured, with the full accord of the Seaman's Friend society, which readily surrendered all its rights in the institution. A Bethel church was organized in the fore part of 1867; and in May of the same year the Newsboy's home was transferred from its place on Longworth street, near Central avenue, to the Bethel building, and placed in charge of the Bethel society with certain specified conditions. Under its management a most excellent work has been done for the newsboys and bootblacks of the city. They receive meals at the lowest possible prices, say ten cents a meal, and are charged nothing for lodgings; while they have the privileges of the bath roon and such instruction and opportunities for reading and moral culture as the institution affords. In February, 1871, the "Old Museum" building went up in smoke and flame. A committee solicited subscriptions for a new building; a great fair realized forty thousand and thirty-five dollars for the same purpose; and in March, 1874, a splendid new building was occupied by the Bethel at Nos. 3o to 36 Public Landing, east of Sycamore street. The main building cost thirty-five thousand dollars, and the whole property one hundred and thirty-four thousand dollars. Mr. David Sinton, the well known philanthropic millionaire, has proved a great benefactor to the Bethel, giving it one hundred thousand dollars as an endowment fund in 1874, when it was laboring under great pecuniary embarrassment, and other gifts, amounting to more than one hundred and thirteen thousand dollars. Another fair netted for it a profit of more than thirty thousand dollars. The institution is mainly supported by contributions and subscriptions. The following extracts from its constitution indicate the purpose and some features of the organization: The object shall be to provide for the spiritual and temporal welfare Of river-men and their families,. and all others who may be unreached by regular church organizations ; to gather in and furnish religious instructions and material aid to the poor and neglected children of Cincinnati and vicinity ; and to make such provisions as may be deemed best for their social elevation ; also to provide homes and employment for the destitute. Any person paying into the treasury of the corporation the sum of ten dollars, shall be a member for one year, and of fifty dollars a member for life. The various arms of the work of the Union Bethel are the river mission among boatmen and others; systematic visitation of families; the Bethel church and Sabbath school; the relief department; a sewing school; the young men's home, including free reading-room and cheap dining hall and lodging rooms; and the newsboys' -home. The Sabbath-school is the largest in the world, except, perhaps, that at Stockport, England. The average during six months of 1879-80 was three thousand one hun- 27 210 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. dred and fifty-four, and on one Sabbath, December 21, 1879, the attendance was four thousand two hundred and mighty. The expenditures during the year ending March 31, 1880, were eight thousand nine hundred and forty-two dollars and seventy-nine cents. Seven thousand dollars were derived from the avails of the Sinton fund, and eight hundred and twenty-two dollars and fourteen cents were received in the dining room. There had been given free during the year to deserving applicants, two thousand seven hundred and eighty-five meals, three thousand seven hundred and fifty-six lodgings, six thousand eight hundred and ten loaves of bread, thirty-five sugar, twelve of coffee, and eight of tea, and a number of articles had been distributed through department proper. An average of ten homeless per day had been cared for during the year. The Bethel church edifice, in rear of the main building, was built in 1869, at a cost of thirty-five thousand dollars. A regular church organization, but undenominational, is maintained here, and with great success. It has a membership of more than six hundred. The ladies' Bethel aid society has maintained its work in conjunction with the Union Bethel for twenty-one years, and its managers conduct much of the general relief work, which provides meals and beds for the worthy poor, and confers many other benefactions. The Rev. Thomas Lee has been superintendent of the Bethel for nearly thirteen years; and to his efficiency and executive ability are due much of its success and signal beneficence. He has been identified with the Bethel work in Cincinnati for sixteen years. THE WIDOW'S HOME. A few public-spirited citizens of Cincinnati, during the severe winter of 1850-1, had their sympathies strongly drawn out by the forlorn condition of old, infirm, and indigent women in the city, and their claims upon the charities of the public. Two years before this, a similar feeling had resulted in the formation of an association, and a subscription of one thousand five hundred dollars for a lot upon which to place an asylum for this class of the poor; but now a philanthropic banker, Mr. Wesley Smead, taking vigorous hold of the project, and making it his business for a month, secured contributions to the amount of sixteen thousand dollars, which assured the erection of "The Widows' Home and Asylum for Aged and Indigent Females." A sufficient lot on Mount Auburn, worth four thousand dollars or more, in the square now bounded by Bellevue, Stetson, Highland, and Market streets, was presented by Messrs. Burnet, McLain, Shillito, and Reader, and a building one hundred and thirty by fifty feet, three stories high in the main building and two stories in each wing, with a neat Grecian front, was soon in progress, and was occupied in 1851. Mr. Smead himself gave six thousand dollars, which, with the one thousand five hundred dollars previously raised, were invested at annual interest of ten per cent., as an endowment fund for the institution. Four hundred annual subscribers, at three dollars each, yielded a further revenue of one thousand two hundred dollars; and an act of incorporation, obtained in 1851 from the State legislature, required the trustees of Cincinnati township to pay annually five hundred dollars into the treasury of the home. Under present regulations, widows of good character, over sixty years of age, and indigent, are admitted for life upon the payment of one hundred dollars. Some of the inmates have given all their possessions to the home. There were in 1879 forty-six inmates, one of them ninety-seven years old; and a number had been there twenty-five years. The home is controlled and managed by a board of ladies as trustees, with some gentlemen as counsellors. Its property, before the removal to Walnut Hills, was valued at seventy-five thousand dollars. In 1879 an arrangement was made with the trustees of the Old Men's Home, also on Mount Auburn, by which a single new building was erected on Walnut Hills, McMillan street, near Park avenue, for joint use by both institutions—one wing being occupied by the Widow's Home, and the other by the Old Men's Home. The corner-stone of the building—two hundred and thirty-seven by one hundred and eighty-one feet, three stories high, and to cost about eighty thousand dollars—was laid July 2, 1879, and the building was completed and occupied in the fall of the next year. OLD MEN'S HOME. The pecuniary foundation of this was a bequest of ten thousand dollars, left by Mr. A. Taylor, of New Jersey, to found an asylum for aged and indigent men in Cincinnati, conditioned upon the raising of fifty thousand dollars more for the same purpose. Mr. Edward Sargent generously took upon himself almost the entire work of raising this fund, in which he finally succeeded, through the subscriptions of business men of the city ; an organization was effected, suitable grounds or Mount Auburn procured, and a building erected, which was occupied until the union with the Widows' Home was effected, and both institutions were removed to Walnut Hills. The Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic order, who have their novitiate on the Montgomery road, also devote themselves, in large part, to the care of destitute old' people, and meet the wants of about two hundred on an average. By the will of the late Mr. John T. Crawford, the avails of all his property are to be devoted to the founding of a home for the aged and indigent colored people of Cincinnati, upon a tract of eighteen and a half acres near College Hill, which he directed to be reserved for the purpose. CHILDREN'S HOME. In 1860 Mr. Murray Shipley took the first steps toward the founding of this institution. It was first located in a basement room on Mill street, below Third, where the Penn Mission Sabbath-school was held. All the room would hold, about seventy, were here accommodated after a fashion—the children of the rudest and roughest classes of the community, and many of them waifs from other. places. In November, 1863, the home was removed to a building on Third street, near Park. In HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 211 December of the next year an act of incorporation was obtained; a superintendent and matron were regularly employed; and funds were ultimately obtained for the fine building and spacious grounds now used on West Ninth street, which cost one hundred and forty thousand dollars. In January, 1868, a branch was established on East Sixth street. In the spring of the year before a farm of seventy-five acres was purchased on College Hill, for the uses of the institution, and entitled, "The Children's Home School Farm." The home was formerly in the care of the Young Men's Christian Association; but has now its own governing board. It is supported by voluntary contributions and subscriptions, and issues a neat little monthly paper, called The Children's Home Record. Nearly four thousand neglected and homeless children have been received into it, of whom five to six hundred have been placed in Christian family homes in the country. About one hundred are usually in the home at one time. A fair held for its benefit April 15-19,1876, netted the handsome sum of twenty-seven thousand dollars. Within a few months a handsome benefaction has been made to the home by Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Patterson, of Cincinnati, in the shape of a country-seat at Remington, on the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, worth twenty-five thousand dollars, and a life-insurance policy of five thousand dollars from Mr. Patterson. HOME OF THE FRIENDLESS. This was incorporated in 1860, under the cumbrous title of the Protestant Home for the Friendless and Female Guardian society, which was afterwards much simplified. Its object is the reclamation of fallen women and the temporary care of abandoned infants, and a board of Christian women, representing various sects in the city, control its interests. A building was erected for it on Court street, South Side, between Central avenue and John street, where about five hundred women, young girls committed by the police court and too old to go to the House of Refuge, and infants, are cared for during the year. The corner-stone of this edifice was laid in September, 1868, and it was occupied in April of the next year. It has four stories and a capacity for one hundred and fifty inmates. ORPHAN ASYLUMS. The city had three orphan asylums by 1841—St. Peter's, on Thirteenth and Plum streets, with fifty-one inmates, controlled by the Sisters of Charity ; St. Aloysius' Orphan House, north of Sixth street, opposite John, managed by the St. Aloysius society; and the Cin- cinnati Orphan Asylum, on Elm street, north of Thirteenth. The last named had its origin about 1830, in a fund placed in the hands of the Female Bible society, for the benefit of the poor. A meeting of ladies was held, at which it was resolved to apply a small residue of the sum for the relief of orphans. The asylum was chartered in 1833, a house and lot were given, and the institution opened. It was speedily crowded to overflowing by the orphaned of the cholera years, 1832-3, and a removal was made to larger accommodations on Elm street, where the asylum remained for thirty years. The building here erected was four stories high; sixty-four by fifty-four on the ground, and was very well adapted in its internal arrangements for its purposes. It cost about eighteen thousand dollars, and accommodated sixty children, though sixty-seven were inmates in 1841. This property was sold for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and in 1861 the present building was erected. It is situated on the corner of Sycamore and Summit streets, Mount Auburn, in a healthful and beautiful location—a spacious three-story edifice, with basement and towers, commanding a superb view of the western districts of the city, the Ohio river, and the highlands. It is supported by private beneficence, and accommodates a general average of two hundred children at one time. The German Protestant Orphan asylum is also on Mount Auburn, on Highland avenue, opposite the former Widows' home. It was projected by a German Protestant association during the cholera year of 1849, which left many orphans upon the hands of the charitable. A charter was obtained in December of that year, and funds were raised to erect a large three-story brick building, with basement, and grounds of seven acres about it. A large addition was made in 1868, at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, and the institution can now receive two hundred orphans. A large dining-hall, separate from the main building, is used every May and October for a festival of the Germans, which is sometimes attended by twenty thousand people. Each of the visitors making a contribution, the sums realized are very handsome, in one instance reaching ten thousand dollars. The asylum authorities co-operate with the Ladies' Protestant Orphan association, which provides clothing for the children. These are placed, as opportunities offer, in good families, where they are expected to remain until of age, when the boys receive two hundred dollars apiece, and the girls each one hundred dollars, for a start in the world. The asylum is managed by a board of trustees representing the German Protestant denominations of the city. The average of inmates is about one hundred Branches have been established in Covington and Newport. The Roman Catholics have two orphan asylums, one a very large affair, at Cumminsville, accommodating about four hundred children, in care of the St. Peter's, St. Joseph's, and St. Xavier's Orphan associations, and under the immediate charge of twenty Sisters of Charity. Another of these beneficent institutions is situated on the Reading road. The colored orphan asylum was incorporated in 1845. For twenty years it occupied an old building on Ninth street, between Elm and Plum, where sixty or seventy children were crowded in, but were placed in families as rapidly as possible. About 1865 the society in charge bought four acres in an eligible situation in Avondale, north of the city, and there founded the present asylum. It differs from most other orphan asylums in receving children who cannot be retained at home by their parents; but for the care of these a small compensation 212 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. is required. Thirty to forty inmates is the usual average. THE RELIEF UNION. This is one of the oldest and worthiest of the great charities of the city. Its object is systematic and general organization of the charitable for the relief of the poor, in grants of provisions, clothing, and occasionally money. It was established in 1848, and has had a highly honorable and useful career, though now its glory is dimmed some by the recent organization Of the Associated with similar intents. The annual report at the of November 13, 188o, made the following ex- the work of the year: Groceries furnished by the managers of respective wards, $2,763.37; shoes $1,153.72; dry goods, $865.83; fuel, $166.06; cash, necessitous cases, $224.41; rent, necessitous cases, $161.23; transportation and removals, $96; funeral expenses, $65.82; bread, $107.34; meals and lodgings, transient persons, $75.45; medicines, $24.25; school-books, $22; assistance in redeeming working tools and wearing apparel, $27. Amount of relief as per cash payment of bills, $5,752.48. Voluntary contributions, mainly from business men of the city, keep the treasury supplied. Two managers of the union in each ward are the chief almoners of the society. THE ASSOCIATED CHARITIES. This is a charitable guild of late formation; and, as it has some original features, and is mentioned by the secretary of the State board of charities, in his annual report, "as a practical method of solving the difficulties of our present system of out-door relief, and of other not less important questions involved in the dispensation of charity, whether public or private," it seems well worth while to present here its terse and pointed constitution in full: ARTICLE I—TITLE. The title of this society shall be "The Associated Charities of Cincinnati." ARTICLE II—OBJECTS. Its object shall be the improvement of the condition of the poor. It will aim: 1. To secure the proper relief of all deserving cases of destitution. 2. To protect the community from imposture and fraudulent begging. 3. To prevent indiscriminate and duplicate giving. 4. To make employment the basis of relief, when practicable. 5. To reduce vagrancy and pauperism, and ascertain their true causes. ARTICLE III—METHODS. The objects of this society shall be attained as follows: 1. By bringing into harmonious co-operation with each other and with the municipal charities the various benevolent societies, churches, and individuals in the city. 2. By providing that the case of every applicant 'for relief shall be thoroughly investigated. 3. By placing the results of such investigation at the disposal of the overseers of the poor, of charitable societies and agencies, and of private persons of benevolence. 4. By obtaining help for every deserving applicant, as far as possible, from the public authorities, from the proper charitable societies, or from benevolent individuals, or, failing in this, by furnishing relief from its own funds. 5. By exerting all its influence for the prevention of begging, the diminution of pauperism, and the encouragement of habits of thrift and self-dependence, and better and more sanitary modes of living among the poor. 6. By insisting on the complete severance of charitable relief from all questions of religion, politics or nationality. ARTICLE IV—ORGANIZATION. 1. The society shall consist of the members of the twelve district associations hereinafter provided for, and such other persons as shall have contributed not less than five dollars to the funds of the society in the current fiscal year. 2. The officers of this society shall be as follows: The mayor of the city shall be ex officio president; the presidents of its district associations shall be ex officio vice-presidents, and the general secretary and treasurer, chosen by its central board, shall be the corresponding officers of the society. 3. Stated meetings of the society shall be held annually, on the third Tuesday in November, and special meetings may be held at the call of its central board. The twelve district associations provided for cover the whole city in their scope. Committees are appointed on district organization, visitation, employment, means of promoting provident habits, medical charities, care of the defective classes, hygienic and sanitary measures and the dwellings of the poor, penal and reform institutions and their methods, legislation and the legislative protection of the poor, vagabondage and its causes, etc. It has gone into operation under very hopeful auspices. At the annual meeting of the Relief Union, above noticed, the Rev. Charles W. Wendte, president of the new association, in answer to a call, said among other things: "It is an ideal plan, but is in active operation in many eastern cities. We have districts organized in this city, and are about to organize three more. The expense has been small—only eight hundred dollars—and this includes money spent in preparing for the work, in buying books, etc., and in paying office rent. We pay the superintendent of one district one dollar a -day, and his office rent is but nine dollars per month. In another district we pay the superintendent but three dollars and fifty cents per week; office rent perhaps eight dollars per month. We have seventy-five directors all engaged in this work, and their wives and daughters assist them. Our members now aggregate about six hundred. Our plan is going all over the country like wildfire, because it commends itself to the good sense of the charitable." THE FLOWER MISSIONS. One of these is an organization of ladies of the city and suburbs who send flowers weekly to the Young Men's Christian Association building, corner of Sixth and Elm streets, where they are arranged by a committee of the society, and distributed to the patients in the hospitals, and to other sick poor. Although thoroughly modest and quiet in its workings, it is accounted one of the most delightful and useful of the local charities. The Episcopal ladies' flower mission undertakes similar duties in the distribution of fruit and flowers to the sick of the hospitals. It meets every Saturday morning, in the warm season, at St. John's church, corner of Seventh and Plum streets, to engage in this beneficent work. HISTORICAL NOTES. In 1812 it was the habit of a few ladies of the First Presbyterian church to meet regularly for prayer and religious conversation. Two years thereafter they regularly associated themselves for other and kindred objects, and adopted a constitution, giving their organization the name of the Cincinnati female society for charitable purposes. It consisted of fifty members—quite as many, in HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 213 proportion to the population of the village, as its sister societies nowadays comprise. Ample funds were raised through a system of annual subscriptions, contributions, and charitable sermons preached quarterly. In the year 1814-15 moneys were spared for a mission enterprise in Louisiana, the theological seminary at Princeton, and for Bible distribution. Careful attention was also paid to the relief of indigent women in the village. Mrs. S. M. Wilson was first president ; Mrs. J. Wheeler, secretary; Miss Yeatman, treasurer. In the First Baptist church there was a very early society of both sexes for the support of foreign missionaries, chiefly in India. October 11, 1814, the Cincinnati Miami Bible society was formed by members of all the religious sects in town, to distribute the Scriptures among the poor of the Miami country, particularly on the frontiers. It began its operations early in 1815. The Rev. 0. M. Spencer was its first president. In 1814 the Cincinnati Benevolent society was constituted, to aid newly arrived and needy persons, who, under the law, might not be entitled to public relief. The erection of a charity workhouse was a part of its plan. When the village was divided into wards, two managers were appointed in each, to disburse the funds of the society. It was well supported, for a time at least, by voluntary contributions. In 1816 a few ladies and gentlemen organized the Dorcas society. John H. Piatt subscribed two hundred dollars to it annually, and others contributed freely. It met with some opposition, but had the general support of the community. In March, 1818, the board of managers appointed a committee of ladies to hold regular services in the county jail. Mrs. Colonel Ludllow, then Mrs. Riske, records in her journal that "the prisoners, from quarreling, rioting, and gambling, became orderly, reading the Scriptures, and frequently expressing their sense of our kindness." Mrs. H. Kinney was the first directress of the society; Mrs. S. Strong, secretary; Mrs. Zeigler, treasurer. The same year the Female Auxiliary Bible society (auxiliary to the Miami Bible society), was founded. The next year the Female association for the benefit of the Africans, before noticed, was organized; also the Cincinnati Union Sunday-school society. The Navigators' Bible and Tract society dates from 1818. In 1819 an association was formed by leading citizens of the place, in which a very lively interest was manifested—the Humane society, for the resuscitation of drowned persons. It subsisted for a number of years, and had three hundred members in 1826. It owned a good set of apparatus, including three boats, with four sets of drags for each; a movable bed, and stove for heating it; a pair of bellows with nozzles of different sizes; and various other contrivances. These were kept at three separate houses convenient to the river-bank, and always ready on occasions of need. Galvanism was sometimes applied in efforts to restore the apparently drowned. General William Lytle was the first president of the society. Judge Jacob Burnet, Dr. Daniel Drake, and Rev. William Burke, vice presidents; and Benjamin Drake, secretary; Peyton S. Symmes, treasurer. These were the representative men of the society, which was composed of the very best elements in the place. In 1826 a local Colonization society was formed, auxiliary to the American Colonization society; but its funds were to be specially applied to promote the emigration to Africa of free blacks from Cincinnati who expressed a willingness to go. About one hundred members formed the society. In 1827 Dr. Drake opened an eye infirmary as a public charity, to which over one hundred citizens became annual subscribers. An applicant for relief was obliged to go to a visitor and give evidence of poverty; if approved, Dr. Drake gave the case gratuitous treatment. Rev. Joshua L. Wilson was president of the infirmary; Davis B. Lawler, secretary ; William W. Walker, treasurer; Rev. William Burke, Martin Baum, Peyton S. Symmes, and John P. Foote, visitors. The institution was maintained with much usefulness until a multiplicity of other duties compelled Dr. Drake to abandon it. Nearly half a century ago, by the close of the year 1833, the benevolence of the city had blossomed out in quite numerous organizations. Among these were the Erin Benevolent society, for the relief of distressed Irishmen, of which John McCormick was president, Robert Buchanan vice president, John Beggs treasurer; the Scots' Benevolent society—Peter McNicol president, Arthur Harvie vice president, Thomas McGechin treasurer, and John Douglas secretary; the Franklin Benevolent society; the House of Employment for female poor—Mrs. Dr. Lyman Beecher first directress, Mrs. Finley second directress; the Miami and the Cincinnati Colonization societies; the Caledonian society, Lafayette Benefit society, St. George's society, and the various philanthropic enterprises connected with the churches of the city or the great religious movements of the day, which are properly noticed in another chapter. In 1840, the House of Employment for the female poor was still maintained, and was on the west side of Vine street, between Second and Third. The charity intelligence office was also on Vine street, between Third and Baker. By this time the Cincinnati Total Abstinence society, which founded the Western Temperance Journal, was in existence; also the Anti-Slavery society, and the Typographical association. CHAPTER XXIII. BENEVOLENT AND OTHER SOCIETIES. UNDER this head will be noticed some representative organizations for charitable and other purposes, which can hardly be called public in their character, since their benefits are open to but limited classes of the community. Many which have special objects, as scientific, musical, and the like, will be noticed in subsequent chapters. 214 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. THE AMERICAN PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION. This a secret society, with objects mainly political, and directed against the principles and policy of the Roman Catholic church, so far at least as they trench upon affairs of state. There are said to be fifteen to twenty lodges and encampments in Cincinnati, with a membership of about three thousand. THE B'NAI B'RITH is a beneficiary order, composed, as the name indicates, altogether of believers in the Hebrew faith. It is a powerful organization, extending through many States, and is the founder and benefactor of the splendid Jewish orphan asylum in Cleveland, upon which large sums have been expended. It provides benefits to the sick to the amount of four dollars a week, with an endowment insurance of one thousand dollars, payable to heirs after death. These features are obligatory; but an additional one, providing two thousand dollars life insurance, is not. In case of a death, an assessment is made of seventy-five cents upon each member ; and regular dues are also payable, but not exceeding twenty-five dollars a year. THE HEBREW GENERAL RELIEF ASSOCIATION is another organization of Israelites, whose average annual donations during the decade 1867-77 were ten thousand, raised altogether from private contributions. The directors meet every Sunday morning on the corner of Central avenue and Fifth street, to apportion grants to the poor, especially to indigent widows and disabled workmen, and the transient poor from other places. The operations of the society are so efficient that it is a very rare sight to see a Jew begging upon the streets of Cincinnati. The association also looks to the support of the Jewish hospital. The Young Men's Hebrew Association is a kind of club, occupying handsome rooms on the corner of Eighth street and Central avenue, where it has a library and reading-room. It gives occasional literary and musical entertainments, and aids in securing employment for its members. THE NATIONALITIES, as well as religion, are represented in somewhat numerous societies, most of which present social as well as beneficiary features. Among them are the Caledonian society, incorporated February 6, 1832, composed of a limited number of leading Scotchmen in the city; the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which has several divisions in the city, and also a county organization, the first of the kind in the country; the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, of somewhat similar character; the Bohemian Benevolent Association, which has one hundred and fifty to two hundred members; and numerous German societies, among which is conspicuous the Turnverein, a society to promote athletic exercises, formed in 1848, and now having over five hundred members. This body owns the fine Turner hall, 513-9 Walnut street, built in 1859, and costing thirty-five thousand dollars, in which is the German or Stadt theatre. The Cincinnati Hibernian Society was incorporated in 1828, to provide for the relief of cases of distress from sickness and disease, and for the relief of widows of those deceased members who may be left in indigent circumstances. George Lee was president ; Peter Britt, vice-president ; John Tuttle, treasurer; Philip Skinner, secretary. THE SECRET BENEVOLENT ORDERS, of course, muster very strong in Cincinnati. Masonry got in very early, the Nova Caesarea Harmony Lodge, No. 2, being formed December 27, 1794. A charter was obtained for it August 8, 1791, from the grand lodge of New Jersey ; but, owing mainly to the absence of Dr. Burnet, who procured the charter, its organization was delayed till the time first named. Dr. William Burnet, Master; John S. Ludlow, S. W.; Dr. Calvin Morrell, J. W., were the officers named in the charter. The first officers-elect were Edward Day, M.; Dr. Morrell, S. W.; General John S. Gano, J. W. This society still flourishes in great strength and prosperity. In 1804 it received lot one hundred and thirty-five, upon the old town site, by will from a prominent member, Judge William McMillan. It was esteemed of little value, and was allowed to be sold for taxes; but was afterwards redeemed, and is now the site of the splendid Masonic temple, on the northeast corner of Third and Walnut streets, erected at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars. Two Masonic halls previously stood there; one erected in 1818, the other in 1846. A monument in honor of Mr. McMillan's memory has been erected by this lodge. He is accounted to have been the foremost benefactor of Masonry in the west. In 1879 the members of the order in this city, according to Mr. King's admirable pocketbook of Cincinnati, from which we derive invaluable aid in the preparation of these chapters, were estimated at three thousand. There were then sixteen lodges of Master Masons, including three colored lodges, and a number of chapters, councils, commanderies, etc. Lafayette Lodge No. 81, was instituted May 16, 1825, in view of General Lafayette's visit to Cincinnati that year, during which he was made an honorary member and personally signed its by-laws May 19. The first lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in the State (Ohio Lodge No. r) was instituted in Cincinnati December 23, 1830, under a charter from the grand lodge of the United States. The order spread rapidly, and had 1,420 members in the State by 1841. There were then four lodges in this city, and the grand lodge (incorporated by the legislature February 4, 1839) met here regularly on the first Saturdays of September, December, March, and June. The semi-centennial of the foundation of this lodge was duly and handsomely celebrated December 23, 1880, in the lodge hall, within a square of the room where the lodge of 1830 was formed. On this occasion one of the original members was present, and the following interesting account of the genesis of the lodge was given by Mr. A. B. Champion: Fifty years ago, in the month of June, of the year 1830, after weary travel from New Orleans, Jacob W. Holt, a member of Washington lodge, Philadelphia, landed in this city. By accident he selected as a boarding place a respectable house on Vine street, near the river, kept by a gentleman named Hiram Fraser. In course of conversation be- HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 215 tween the two, Mr. Fraser one day spoke of a letter he had received from his brother in Philadelphia, advising him to become an Odd Fellow if a lodge of that order existed in Cincinnati. None did exist, but Mr. Holt informed him lie was a member of the same in good standing, and upon inquiry no doubt enough members could be found in the city to institute a lodge. Energetic search was made by both the gentlemen, and resulted in finding but two others—James W. Brice and Nathaniel Estling. A meeting of the three members was held at Mr. Fraser's, and they determined to prosecute with vigor a search for other members. Accordingly written notices were posted by Messrs. Estling and Holt at the post office, a porter-house corner Third and Walnut streets, and several other points in the town, asking all members in good standing then in the place to assemble in a room over that saloon at a certain time therein named. On the evening appointed a number of brothers assembled, of whom the names are known of Nathaniel Estling, C. Haskin, J. Brice, J. W. Holt, Thomas S. Bedford, and J. Gill. After considerable discussion it was deemed advisable to establish a lodge of Odd Fellows in this city, and after many names therefor suggested and rejected, that of Ohio was chosen, and, it being the first in the State, was No. 1. The before-named brothers immediately made out and signed the necessary petition and papers, and the same were at once forwarded to the Grand lodge of the United States, then always convening at Baltimore. September 25th of the same year a special session of the Grand lodge convened in that city for the express purpose of considering the petition for establishing a lodge to be named "Ohio, No. r." This petition showed that five of the six petitioners were members of lodges in Pennsylvania, and the grand secretary was directed to obtain their standing from the Grand lodge of that State, and, should this report be favorable, to appoint District Deputy Grand Master James Paul, of Mechanics' lodge, No. 9, Pittsburgh, as representative of Pennsylvania in the Grand lodge of the United States. November 2, 1830, Samuel Pryor, grand secretary of Pennsylvania, wrote to John Boyd, who was proxy representative from that State, to the United States Grand lodge, saying : "October 31, 1830, the Grand lodge of the United States was again convened for the special purpose of again considering the petition from Cincinnati for the establishing of a lodge. A favorable report of the petitioners was made from the Grand lodge of Pennsylvania, and after full consideration a charter was granted." The credentials of Deputy Grand Master Paul, of Pittsburgh, to the Grand lodge, being found to be correct, Grand Sir Wildey announced his appointment to institute Ohio lodge, No. 1, at Cincinnati, and he was authorized to draw upon the petitioners for the lodge to reimburse him for his expenses. The Grand lodge, finding it more blessed to give than to receive, had conferred upon Brother Paul a post and work of honor without his knowledge, and it was only after lengthy consideration he concluded to accept; for a journey from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati was the work of several days, the expenses would not be light, and the brethren there were poor. A messenger conveyed the necessary papers and charter from the Grand lodge to Brother Paul at Wheeling, and from thence he journeyed "down the river, down the Ohio," to Cincinnati, where he was kindly received by the expectant brothers. After much anxious inquiry and solicitations, and many emphatic refusals, (for the order as well as the brothers were both almost unknown), a room for meeting purposes was rented in the second story of the old Johnson row, on Fifth street, between Walnut and Vine—recently supplanted by the beautiful Johnston building—the necessary paraphernalia and furniture of the plainest description and scantiest quantity were purchased. The organizers, of the project in all these months of waiting had not been idle, and they had found a number of other Odd Fellows in the city, who were anxious to unite with the new lodge. Accordingly, on the night of December 23, 1830, within a block of this room, the brethren assembled to meet Brother Paul, and then and there was instituted Ohio lodge, No. 1. The story goes that when the cards of the brothers present were demanded at the meeting, the respected chairman of the meeting solemnly presented his, which, upon examination, turned out to be the Declaration of Independence. This document, splendid as it is, hardly answered the purpose, and the lodge kindly waited until a trip could be made to his home by Brother Thomas and the needed card procured. The Knights of Pythias have fifteen lodges and one uniformed division in the city, and a membership of fifteen hundred. Cincinnati leads the great cities of the west in the local strength of this order. The Ancient Order of Good Fellows, established in Cincinnati about 1859, has also about fifteen lodges, with a membership of eleven to twelve hundred, mostly Germans. The sick benefit of this order is five dollars a week. The Sons of Temperance had recently five divisions, and the Order of Good Templars six lodges in the city. The Templars of Honor are also represented. There are a number of 'open temperance societies, chief among which is the Woman's Christian Temperance union, which has public meetings every Sunday afternoon, at its hall on Sixth street. The Ancient Order of United Workmen has about twenty-five lodges in Cincinnati. It is a mutual benefit and life insurance association. The Workingmen's Benevolent association, like this, includes members of all trades, and was organized here in 1857. The Independent Order of Foresters is an organization of similar character; but its benefits are not confined to workingmen. It had seven courts (or lodges) here in 1879. The Druids meet in "Groves," of which at least six have been founded in the city. It is also a mutual benefit secret order. The United and Improved Orders of Red Men, and many other societies of the kind, are also amply represented here. Most of them are beneficiary organizations. MORAL REFORM SOCIETIES. The principal of these, besides the temperance societies, is the Ohio State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Animals, which was organized in Cincinnati May, 1873, and has since had headquarters here. It was re-organized in 1875, under the new State law to prevent cruelty to animals and children. Over two thousand cases of cruelty have been investigated by it, and more than four thousand dollars collected in fines. In the year 188o six hundred and sixty-three cases of cruelty to animals were investigated, and nearly as many arrests were made. In the matter of cruelty to children, two hundred and forty complaints were received, all of which were investigated; forty-two cases were prosecuted, and thirty convictions secured; one hundred and sixty-six children were placed in the Home or other institutions, and forty-five were returned to their parents. Receipts of the year, one thousand four hundred and thirty dollars and ninety-seven cents; expenditures, one thousand three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and twenty-eight cents. No salaries are paid, except to the officer who does the police work of the society. Dr. A. T. Keckeler is its president. The society publishes a monthly paper called the Humane Appeal. The Western Society for the Suppression of Vice has also an office in Cincinnati. Its object, says Mr. King, is "the enforcement of all laws for the suppression of the trade in and circulation of obscene printed matter and pictures and articles of indecent and immoral use." THE OHIO HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. This is wholly a Cincinnati society, and its collections represent much history and little philosophy, notwithstanding its comprehensive geographical and other des- 216 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. ignation. A Cincinnati Historical society was organized in 1844, with Rev. James H. Perkins as president, and E. D. Mansfield and many other leading citizens as members. Five years after, it was consolidated with the first named organization, which was formed at Columbus in 1831, incorporated February II, of the same year, and met annually with good results for eighteen years. It was before this society at Columbus that General Harrison delivered his famous address on the Aborigines in the Valley of the Ohio, which was published in several forms. In 1849 it was removed to Cincinnati. where it flourished for several years, made valuable collections of books and relics, and published some volumes of Transactions. It fell into neglect, however, for several years; and much of its property became dispersed and lost. In. May, 1868, steps were taken towards its revival; and it was re-organized in December of that year. The remains of its collection were removed from the Public library to the Literary club rooms in the Apollo building, at the northwest corner of Vine and Fifth streets; but the cost of removal and other expenses brought the society, which then had less than fifty members, about two hundred. and fifty dollars in debt. This was cleared presently, however; and in two or three years it had one thousand dollars invested in bank stock. In 1871 another removal was made--this time to the fourth story of the College building on Walnut street, where it has since remained. March 31, 1871, the library and other collections were there opened to the public, to which their use has been free-tendered for all legitimate purposes. Its materials have been found invaluable in the preparation of this History, several hundred books, pamphlets, etc., having been consulted in the compilation of these pages. It has a library of about seven thousand volumes, and thirty thousand pamphlets, besides an interesting museum of historical curiosities. Its early presidents were: Benjamin Tappan, 1831-6; Ebenezer Lane, 1836-8; Jacob Burnet, 183840; John C. Wright, 1841-4. General M. F. Force has been president since the re-organization; Julius Dexter, first librarian, and now secretary; Miss Elizabeth H. Appleton has been librarian since 1874. Among the publications of the society, besides its early volumes of Transactions, are Dr. S. P. Hildreth's two books on Pioneer History and Biographical and Historical Memoirs of the Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio; also Judge Burnet's large volume of Notes on the Early Settlement of the. Northwestern Territory. Some years ago Mr. George T. Williamson presented to it Lord Kingsborough's massive and costly work on Mexican Antiquities; and when the New England society was disbanded its literary collection went to the shelves of the Historical society. After it ceased to publish volumes of Transactions, its proceed- ings were published for several years in the Cincinnatus, a monthly periodical issued at College Hill, and which was selected as the organ of the society. THE CINCINNATI PIONEER ASSOCIATION. This society was organized on the twenty-third day of November, 1856, at the Dennison house, by a considerable number of representatives of the old families of the city and county—"men and women," as they have been described in an address by one of them, "of worth and service in building up business and manufactures." Its object was "to promote a social feeling favorable to the early emigrants," and to perpetuate the memories of the past. Persons who were in this State prior to Independence day, 1812, were entitled to become members simply on the payment of one dollar. This provision was subsequently modified so as to admit those who were in Ohio before July 4, 1815, on payment of two dollars. The society, for many years, observed annually, in a social way, and with fitting sentiments and speeches, the twenty-eighth day of December, as the birthday of the city; the seventh of April, the birthday of the State; and the Fourth of July, as the birthday of the Federal union. Some other pleasant reminiscences were given by Mr. John D. Caldwell, secretary of the association, at its celebration, in 1874, of the eighty-sixth anniversary of the settlement of the Northwest territory: We had an excursion to Columbus, at the dedication of the new State-house, to Cleveland by facilities furnished by the railroads, and a formal reception and entertainment by the Forest City municipal authorities. Through, the courtesies of Messrs. Sherwood and Pierce, the association was conveyed on the magnificent steamer United States, and were most hospitably feted. at Louisville, Kentucky, by its citizens and council. We were, by the courtesy of our public-spirited citizen, Hon. George H. Pendleton, in control of the Kentucky Central railroad, conveyed to Lexington, Kentucky, where true Southern hospitality was extended to us. We were royally provided for it) a railroad excursion to. Marietta, the pilgrim home of the buckeye pioneers, and there we renewed our earnest devotion to the memory of the brave and good of auld lang syne days, who made Washington county a brilliant example as the pioneer county of the territory and State. Courtesies were extended to the association in a visit to the State fair, at Springfield; and the trip we made to the Soldiers' home, near Dayton, will long be remembered as the reunion of the Montgomery, Butler, and Hamilton county pioneers. On our lists of the living or dead are names of the worthiest in war or peace—Territorial, State, and National—who have been identified with the Miami valley. We buried the daughter of John Cleves Symmes, the patentee of the whole Miami purchase, and wife of General William Henry Harrison, whose name as defender of the homes of the West is dearer to us than even his national fame as President of the United States. We still have on our rolls the name of Hon. John Scott Harrison, son of these sainted worthies. The name of the father of General Grant is inscribed on the roll of our deceased members. Our list included those of the family of Benjamin Stites, also of General John Stites Gano, who were pioneer settlers and proprietors of Columbia ; and of the Pattersons and Israel Ludlow, proprietors of the town-site of Cincinnati. We had enrolled with us the names of Governor Tod, Governor Thomas Corwin, Governor Brownlow, of Tennessee, and some of the families of Governors Tiffin, Trimble, Looker, Brown and Dennison. Governors Hayes and Noyes have been hearty cc-operators with us in several meetings, and only imperative public business prevented Governor William Allen from being with us to-day. The early newspapers have all been represented ; the first paper in the Northwest Territory, the Centinel, by the son of William Maxwell ; by Joseph Carpenter, of the Spy and Freeman's Journal; Samuel J. Browne, of the old Liberty Hall, also of the Emporium; William J. Ferris, S. S. L'Hommedien, Sacket Reynolds, William B. Stratton, E. D. Mansfield, and William D. Gallagher, of the Cincinnati Gazette,. and S. S. Smith, of the Independent Press. Of the five hundred and forty members enrolled, one-third have passed away ; three hundred and sixty survive, many of them aged and feeble. The kindest remembrances and cordial sympathies are extended to those unable to be present. Six of the presidents of this association are numbered with the one hundred and eighty members dead, namely : William Perry, Nicholas Longworth, Colonel John Johnston (a pioneer Indian factor and agent, one of the noble in fidelity of public men), Stephen Wheeler, Samuel J. Browne, and Daniel Gano. HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 217 Ten of our past presiding officers still survive,—the venerable John Whetstone, very feeble ; William B. Dodson, blind for several years, Jacob Hoffner, Eden B. Reeder, John Ludlow, Robert Buchanan, Thomas Henry Yeatman, Joseph S. Ross, Rees E. Price, Judge D. K. Este. The Hon. Stephen S. L'Hommedieu, who died thirteen months thereafter (in May, 1875), was president of the association at this reunion. He was succeeded by the Hon. Edward D. Mansfield, who had for his associate officers Isaac McFarland, vice president; Adolphus Carnes, treasurer; J. M. Clark, corresponding secretary; John D. Caldwell, recording secretary; William Moody, sergeant-at-arms; executive committee, W. B. Dennis, J. K. Coolidge, Hiram DeCamp, J. M. Clark, H. M. Bates. The society has not manifested much vitality of late, and for some years almost ceased to hold reunions or other meetings. Its recording secretary, Mr. Caldwell, published in 1873-75 several numbers of an interesting and valuable periodical called the American Pioneer; but was not encouraged pecuniarily to continue it, and it presently ceased to exist. January 23, 1858, Mr. Joseph Coppin, one of the oldest pioneers in the association, moved a resolution for a committee to confer with the trustees of Spring Grove cemetery, in order to secure a lot therein for the burial of members of the society. The result was the gift of a beautiful lot, oval in shape, its diameters being sixty and ninety feet, respectively, with a gravelled walk around it, and in plain view of Spring Grove avenue and the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad. Here it is proposed to erect a pioneer monument, which has been designed by Mr. Coppin, with appropriate emblems and statues thereon. The model for this monument was exhibited by Mr. Coppin at the industrial exposition of 1880. Its construction and erection await the raising of an adequate subscription and final adoption by the society. The presidents of the society, of late years, have been David K. Este, Isaac McFarland, Jeremiah M. Clark, Nicholas Goshorn, Joseph Coppin, and James F. Cunningham (present incumbent.) THE GERMAN PIONEER ASSOCIATION. May 11 and 12, 1868, a notice appeared in the Cincinnati papers, calling for a meeting of the Germans at Geyer's assembly-room, to organize a pioneer society. The meeting was held May r 2th, and an organization effected, with Dr. Joseph H. Pulte, founder of the medical college bearing his name, for president; Joseph Siefert, vice-president; Christopher von Leggern, secretary. The committee on constitution were Messrs. F. H. Rowekamp, Joseph A. Hermann, Dr. J. H. Pulte, Joseph Sie, Nicholas Pfau, and Nicholas Hoeffer. Their report was received and adopted May 26. A committee .was appointed to nominate officers, upon whose report, June 2d, the nominees were elected: President, C. F. Hanselmann; vice-president, Joseph Darr; secretary, F. X. Dengler; treasurer, George Klotter; executive committee, General Augustus Moor, Nicholas Hoeffer, Joseph Sie, Nicholas Pfau, and John Geyer. About a year later the publication of Der Deutsch Pionier (the German Pioneer) was begun; and twelve noble volumes of that magazine are now in print. It is devoted to the history and biography of the German pioneers, not only in Cincinnati, but in all North America; and has been mainly under the editorial care of Herr H. A. Rattermann, the accomplished secretary of the German-American insurance company, and one of the best local historians in Cincinnati. The periodical is a financial as well as literary success, and the society is every way in good condition. It meets monthly, and observes the twenty-sixth day of May as the anniversary of its formation. Through its efforts much valuable matter relating to the Teutonic element in Cincinnati has been rescued from oblivion, and permanently preserved in the pages of the Pionier. THE CINCINNATI HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. A meeting of persons interested in horticulture and kindred subjects was held at the house of Robert Buchanan, in Cincinnati, February 14,1843, with reference to the formation of a society to promote these interests. There were present at this meeting Mr. Buchanan, Messrs. A. H. Ernst, M. Flagg, S. C. Parkhurst, J. B. Russell, Henry Probasco, George Graham, John Locke, V. C. Marshall, and Thomas Winter. Mr. Ernst was made chairman of the meeting, Mr. Russell secretary, and Messrs. Buchanan, Flagg and Russell a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws. The report of this committee, at a meeting shortly after, was accepted and adopted; and under it the following named gentlemen were elected officers or committeemen: President, Robert Buchanan; first vice-president, Dr. Melzer Flagg; second vice-president, Andrew H. Ernst; third vice-president, L. G. Brigham; treasurer, S. C. Parkhurst; corresponding secretary, John B. Russell; recording secretary, J. G. Anthony; council, Elisha Brigham, George Graham, George W. Neff, Jacob Hoffner, Thomas Winter, William Smith, John Sayers. Standing Committees: On the character of fruits, and their synonyms—Messrs. Ernst, Flagg, Smith, Sayers, and Stephen Mosher. On Flowers—Messrs. Buchanan, Hoffner, Gabriel Sleath and S. S. Jackson. Vegetables—Messrs. Neff, Russell, E. B. Reeder, Charles W. Elliott, and John Frazer. Entomology, as connected with insect depredations on fruit and shade trees—John P. Foote, J. A. Warder, Charles Cheney, Charles W. Elliot, E. J. Hooper, Daniel Gano, William Price, James H. Perkins, Dr. N. B. Shaler, and Messrs. Buchanan, Flagg, Anthony and Graham. A committee on library was afterwards added. It will be seen from the composition of the committees, by those who remember the several residences of these gentlemen at that time, that, while the society, in its name and the residence of those who held the original meeting, seemed to be local in its character, it comprised, to some extent, the county of Hamilton in its scene of operations. This idea has since been embodied in various ways; so that the association, although still retaining a local name, is to most intents and purposes a county society. During the remainder of 1843, the year of organization, the new society met on Saturdays, with occasional 218 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. interruptions, in a lower room on Third street, between Vine and Walnut, once occupied as the post office. The interest in the organization continued and deepened; and a charter was presently (February 27, 1845) obtained from the general assembly, which named Messrs. Buchanan, Neff, Frazer, Samuel Medary, Parkhurst, Ewing, Governor Reuben Wood, Ernst, Flagg, S. S. Smith, Hoffner, Graham, Jackson, Sayers, Russell and Elliott, with their associates and successors, as corporators of the "Cincinnati Horticultural Society, for the purpose of encouraging and improving the science and practice of horticulture, and "1 promoting the amelioration of the various species of trees, trees, fruits, plants, and vegetables, and the introduction of new species and varieties, and for no other purpose whatever." The society was authorized to purchase and hold any property that might be suitable to its purposes; and might use any of its real estate for a cemetery or for the erection of tombs or monuments. Mr. Charles Cist, writing in 1851, says of the society: The number of its members increased very fast, and a great interest in its objects was created. A correspondence was opened with distinguished horticulturalists in different parts of the Union; new fruits were thus brought to light, and seeds and scions of superior varieties were exchanged and disseminated. The exhibitions of flowers in the spring, and of fruits, vegetables, and American wine in the autumn, were crowded with visitors, and a great impulse thus given to the culture of fruits and flowers. From this humble beginning it has prospered beyond the fondest anticipations of its most ardent friends, and now, in the eighth year, numbers near seven hundred members. Its receipts for the past year were over one thousand nine hundred dollars, and expenditures near one thousand eight hundred dollars, about one thousand two hundred dollars being paid out in premiums for fruit and flowers, and horticultural designs and decorations. That the society has been productive of much good, there can be no doubt; the great improvement in our fruit and flower market, which we notice every year, is the strongest evidence of its utility, while the growing taste for the beautiful and innocent pursuits of horticulture gives pleasing occupation and a delightful hobby to the leisure hours of many an amateur in our city and vicinity, affording at the same time an extensive and liberal market for the nurseryman and florist. The semi-annual exhibitions of this society, particularly the autumnal, have been rich and varied, and highly creditable to our infant western institutions. Gentlemen 'from the east have acknowledged that our exhibitions compare favorably with the best of those across the mountains, and in many fruits even excel them. Strong efforts are now being made to erect a horticultural hall upon so enlarged a scale and in a style which shall be a credit to the society and an ornament to the city ; and from the liberal encouragement already met with, the object* will, no doubt, be accomplished. Long may our citizens continue to cultivate a taste for those useful and ennobling pursuits, so eminently calculated to mend the manners and improve the heart. One interesting practical result of the society's operations was early noticed in the improvement of the strawberry, especially in size. Specimens of five to five and one-quarter inches in circumference were frequently exhibited by its members, and in one or two cases berries were shown that measured five and three-quarters. Notwithstanding the enthusiasm with which the society was organized and maintained for a time, the interest in it finally fell off; and for about fifteen years it was comparatively quiescent. Meetings were resumed in 1869, and the society was reorganized January 18, 1879. The standing committees are now but two—one on fruits, flowers, and vegetables, of seven members, and one on forestry, of three members. Membership is open to any person, on payment of one dollar; but honorary and corresponding members are elected only from nonresidents of Cincinnati, who are distinguished for their practical skill and attainments in horticulture. The officers for 188o were: Dr. A. E. Heighway, president; Stanley Hatch, vice-president; Frederick P. Wolcott, recording secretary and treasurer; Mortimer Whitehead, corresponding secretary; Miss Lemmie Wolf, librarian; George W. Trowbridge, M. Whitehead, J. T. Harrison, council; G. W. Trowbridge, S. S. Jackson, S. Hatch, Francis Pentland, E. C. Ellis, W. T. Keller, Lewis Finch, fruit, flower, and vegetable committee; Dr. John A. Warder, Professor Leue, Hermann Haerlin, forestry committee. The society has not yet built a horticultural hall of its own, but has one in hopeful prospect. Its meetings are held weekly, on Saturdays, in the office of the Grange Bulletin, No. 148 West Fourth street. A library of about five hundred volumes has been collected. The Young Men's Gymnastic association was formed in the summer of 1853, by a number of members of Barrett's gymnasium, then on Third street, near Broadway. They secured rooms in the Apollo building, on the corner of Fifth and Walnut streets, supplied them abundantly with apparatus, and awakened much enthusiasm in the local public, especially among the boys and young men, in the success of their enterprise. Two years after organization a system of free bathing was introduced, and five years thereafter, in May, 186o, the society moved its gymnasium into better rooms in a new structure called the Commercial building, on the corner of Fourth and Race streets. The membership largely increased, and the depression of the war years, so fatal to many other societies, was safely passed by this association. Indeed, in 1864 subscriptions were obtained for nearly the entire amount necessary to erect a building purposely for the gymnasium. The plan was abandoned, however ; but disappointment was relieved a few years after by removal to the elegant edifice on Fourth street, between Vine and Race, called the Lawrence building, admirably suited for the purposes of the association. A satisfactory lease was negotiated, and in March, 1869, the rooms were opened with much eclat and a large increase in membership. There the society has since remained, constituting one of the notable institutions of the city. The Cincinnati Society of ex-Army and Navy officers had its preliminary meeting September 2, 1874. A call was issued for another meeting October 2, when the society was fully organized, with Colonel Stanley Matthews for president, General A. Hickenlooper and Colonel L. M. Dayton, vice-presidents; Major Frank J. Jones, secretary; Major William M. Este, treasurer. The first reunion was held in October, 1875, at the Burnet House, at which place annual reunions have since been had. Visits have also been made by the society, in a body, to the Soldiers' Home at Dayton. CLUBS. The spirit of association and associated effort, which the reader by this time will conclude has been rife in HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 219 Cincinnati, almost from its earliest day, has in no other way shown itself more remarkably than in the formation of clubs. Some scores of these are now in existence ; several hundred have undoubtedly risen, flourished, and fallen during the ninety-one years of Cincinnati. A large number of the earlier clubs, and some of the later, were simply literary societies, with the customary objects of such institutions. The century had advanced but a little way when, in 1806, an excellent debating society was formed, which was attended by the most talented and brilliant young men of Cincinnati. It was eulogized by Dr. Drake, many years afterwards, in the warmest manner. Seven years after the founding of this society another was instituted, which took the pretentious title of the School of Literature and Arts. It seems, however, to have been worthy of its name. It was formed considerably of young men, and its first president was Josiah Meigs, then surveyor-general of the United States and in 1815 commissioner of the general land office. The exercises at each meeting were : A lecture from the president, an essay by one member, and a poetical recitation by another. An excellent report was made of the society at its first anniversary, November 23, 1814; and high commendation is given it by Dr. Drake, which is embodied in an address of his, quoted by his son, in the biography of Dr. Drake, prefixed to his volume of letters concerning Pioneer Life in Kentucky. Says Mr. Charles D. Drake: That there should have been a School of Literature and Arts organized in Cincinnati in 1813, when its population could not probably have exceeded four thousand, and it was still in the Far West, will be regarded as a fact of interest by those who have known that place only as a central object in a region inhabited by millions, among whom knowledge and intelligence are well nigh universally diffused. It is curious to know what, in that early period, the School of Literature and the Arts did. It appears from this address that during the first year of its existence it had assembled more than twenty times for literary exercises. He [Dr. Drake] says: "The essays of the members equalled all reasonable expectation. Some of them consisted chiefly of original matter, while others manifested a degree of research which is honorable to their authors and auspicious to the school. It would be amusing to review their contents; but, being restricted to limits too narrow for the undertaking, I will substitute a catalogue of their titles, that by a single glance we can see the number and diversity of the subjects to which our attention has been directed. I shall enumerate them in the order of their delivery: " 1, An Essay on Education ; 2, On the Earthquakes of 1811, 1812, 1813; 3, On Light; 4, On Carbon; 5, On Air; 6, On the Mind; 7, On Agriculture; 8, On Caloric; 9. On Gravitation; to, On Instinct; II, Notices of the Aurora Borealis of the 17th of April and 11th of September, 1814; Is, An Essay on Water, considered chemically and hydrostatically; 13, On Common Sense; 14, On Heat; 15, On the Mechanical Powers; 16, On the Theory of Earthquakes; 17, On Enthusiasm; 18, On the Geology of Cincinnati and its vicinity, illustrated with mineral specimens and a vertical map; 19, On the Internal Commerce of the United States; 20, On Hydrogen; 21, On Rural Economy; 22, On the Geology of some parts of New York; 23, On General Commerce. "The third and subordinate portion of our exercises, poetical recitations, has been strictly performed, and our album of poetry already exhibits specimens indicative of a cultivated taste. The proposition to connect with the pieces recited such critical remarks as they may suggest, has received some attention, and promises to give to this branch an interest and dignity which were not originally anticipated." A number of clubs, and societies in the nature of clubs, were undoubtedly organized during the next fifteen years; but not until about 1829 do we come upon the traces of the Cincinnati Angling club, which seems to have been a rather fine affair in its way. It had but twenty-five members, of whom four were living forty years after—Messrs. George Graham and Robert Buchanan, of Cincinnati; A. L. Moore, of Washington city ; and William Green, of Rhode Island—and one of these, Mr. George Graham, died so lately as March, 1881. Mr. Buchanan was the first secretary of the club, and long remained in that position. The Cincinnati Lyceum was an association for scientific and literary improvement, with the founding of a public library among its objects. It was formed in October, 183o, and incorporated the succeeding winter, during which a course of lectures was delivered by various members, in the hall of the Mechanics' institute. Its officers at the time were all well and honorably known in the affairs of the city, and several of them came afterwards to wear State and national honors. Morgan Neville was president ; Timothy Flint, William Greene, Henry Starr, were vice-presidents; and Salmon P. Chase, Timothy Walker, H. H. Goodman, Nathan Guilford, J. W. Gazlay, John Locke, M. G. Williams, and Calvin Fletcher, composed the executive committee. The Inquisition was one of the literary features in the early part of the '30's. It was a society for the public discussion of questions, orally and through papers submitted. The members presided in alphabetical succession at the weekly meetings. The more permanent officers were a secretary (Mr. Ellwood Fisher in 1833-4), and a committee of questors, consisting of W. M. Corry and Timothy Walker, esqs. A little later, perhaps, came what was doubtless the most interesting and remarkable literary society during the midmost era ab urbe condita —the Semi-colon club. In the Memoir of Samuel E. Foote, a resident here in those days, by his brother, the well-known John P. Foote, some pleasant reminiscences of this coterie are recalled, which we cannot refrain from quoting at length: The elegant mansion, built by Mr. Foote, on the corner of Vine and Third streets, was for many years, and until the fatal commercial crisis of 1837, the seat of a liberal hospitality, where the visits of relatives and friends formed a prominent portion of the enjoyments of social life. Those pleasant reunions, established under the title of the Semi-colon club, held their sessions there, and alternately at the adjoining residences of Charles Stetson and William Green. At these meetings a number of persons of both sexes, of the highest order of intellect and cultivation, assembled for the enjoyment of evenings of social relaxation and rational amusement. Their mode of proceeding was to read such literary contributions as were sent in for the purpose by the members of the club, after which such discussions ensued as might be elicited by what had been read or by any other literary matter of interest at the time ; music, sometimes alternated with readings and discussions, generally closed the sessions. Among the founders of the club were the Rev. E. B. Hall and his highly accomplished lady, who had jointly and severally contributed valuable aid to the educational literature of our time; and also Judge Timothy Walker, whose contributions to educational, mathematical, and legal science contrasted strongly with his humorous contributions to the literature of the club. His death, in the prime of a most useful and laborious life, disappointed high hopes of future usefulness, and was considered, like that of James H. Perkins a few years afterwards, a public calamity. Nathan Guilford, also the distinguished advocate of popular education whose exertions in the cause of the public-school system obtained for him the designation of the father of that system. Other contributors included names of high eminence, among them Har- 220 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. riet Beecher, afterwards Stowe, whose papers have since been published in a volume entitled The May Flower, and dedicated to the club. Judge James Hall, whose reputation was already established as an author of high and varied talents. His articles were published in the magazine of which he was at that time the editor. Miss Catharine Beecher, whose fame and literary works have been widely disseminated before and since, some of whose contributions to the Semi-colons have been published in annuals and magazines. Professor Hentz, an accomplished naturalist, and his wife, Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, who became a very popular novelist; Rev. Professor Stowe, already established as one of the most learned scholars of our country; E. P. Cranch and U. T. Howe, some of whose very amusing articles were published in a newspaper which they conducted, but the best and wittiest of which are still inedited—some of them had their attractions increased by exquisitely humorous illustrations from the pencil of the former; Professor O. M. Mitchel, now of world-wide celebrity as an astronomer; Charles W. Elliott, historian of New England, and author of various other works of Dr. Daniel Drake, of extensive and established fame as a medical author and professor; Benjamin Drake, his brother, author of the Lives of Tecumseh and Black Hawk, and other works, mostly on western statistics and history; E. D. Mansfield, his associate in his statistical works, and author of many biographical and other works of great merit; Professor James W. Ward, poet and naturalist of fine and varied talents; Davis B. Lawler, James F. Meline, Judge Charles P. James, Dr. Wolcott Richards, D. Thew Wright, Joseph Longworth, J. Newton Perkins, Edward King, Charles Stetson, T. D. Lincoln, William P. Steele, George C. Davis, and some other gentlemen whose contributions are still in manuscript, James H. Perkins, whose extraordinary and versatile talents were as much admired as their possessor was beloved, and whose untimely death shed a gloom over the city, over the poor to whom he was a missionary, carrying in his visits temporal relief and spiritual instruction, as well as over an admiring and extensive circle of friends in the highest classes of society; William Green, eminent as a political writer and expositor of the principles of our constitution; Charles D. Drake and C. B. Brush, whose poetical contributions graced some of the periodicals of the period; three Misses Blackwell, two of whom have since become eminent M. D.'s, and all of them valuable contributors to the literature and science of the age; three other ladies, whose names have since been changed, with others distinguished for intellectual qualities;—constituted a literary galaxy which could scarcely have been equalled at that time in any city of our country. The cultivation of musical taste and talent has always been a prominent portion of female education in Cincinnati. From the earliest period of its history this has been remarked by travellers and visitors, and among the Semi-colon ladies it was a matter of course that there should be those whose excellence in that department was equal to that of the best of the literary contributors. These reunions began and terminated at early hours, and expensive luxuries in food and drink being rigidly prohibited, the health of the members was not endangered (nor the reputation of their neighbors); —intellectual food, of a quality superior to anything afforded by the highest style of cookery, and more wholesome than personal gossip, not only for the mind, but for the body also, being served up. Visitors of congenial minds and talents were frequent guests, the members of the club having the privilege of inviting friends to accompany them to the meetings. Among those visitors who gave and received much gratification by their attendance, Hoffman, the highly gifted and unfortunate, is remembered as one whose company was peculiarly pleasing, who gave no reason from any peculiarity in his actions or conversation to apprehend the approach of the melancholy calamity that afterwards destroyed the early promise of a mind of talents and accomplishments of the highest order, and overwhelmed one who had given testimony of his desire and power to aid in the elevation of the literary reputation of his country, with the heaviest of human calamities. Other visitors of varied talents and accomplishments were occasional guests, and added to the amusement and instruction derived from such meetings. Sumptuary laws, it was well understood, could not be enforced by private associations any better than by governments and lawgivers. It was, however, understood to be one of the principles of the club to discountenance extravagance in dress and luxury in entertainments, both by example and by avoiding discussions in which they might form a prominent subject. The club continued in existence many years, and until the fearful commercial catastrophe of /837 swept like a flood over the country and occasioned a domestic revolution proportionate in its effects to those crises, as they are styled, which, since 1789 (and before) have been historical events in the annals of commerce, both in Europe and America. The losses and misfortunes inflicted upon individuals and families at that period were no respecters of persons. Like hurricanes, earthquakes, and conquerors, they carried desolation very impartially to all in their course, especially to all commercial cities. The banks failed, and individuals were compelled to follow their example. Sometime during the years 1833-5, Dr. Daniel Drake, upon the completion of his house on Vine street and removal into it, organized in an informal way a social and literary reunion, which met statedly with his family. Mr. E. D. Mansfield, in his Memoir of Drake, has given a charming picture of this coterie, with honorable mention of its leading members. He says: Those meetings are indelibly impressed upon my memory, and though others of similar character have been made memorable by literary, fame, I am well persuaded that they were neither more instructive nor more pleasing than those which Dr. Drake gathered around him in his Vine street home. His plan of entertainment and instruction was peculiar. It was to avoid the rigidity and awkwardness of a mere literary party, and yet to keep the mind of the company occupied with questions for discussion or topics for reading and composition. Thus the conversation never degenerated into mere gossip, nor was it ever forced into an unpleasant and unwilling gravity. We used to assemble early, about half-past seven; and when fully collected the doctor, who was the acknowledged chairman, rang his little bell for general attention. This caused no constraint, but simply brought us to a common point, which was to be the topic of the evening. Sometimes this was appointed beforehand, sometimes it arose out of what was said or proposed on the occasion. Some evenings compositions were read on topics selected at the last meeting. On other evenings nothing was read, and the time was passed in a general discussion of some interesting question. Occasionally a piece of poetry or a story came in, to diversify and enliven the conversation. These, however, were rather interludes than parts of the general plan, whose main object was the discussion of interesting questions belonging to society, literature, education, and religion. The subjects were always of the suggestive or problematical kind, so that the ideas were fresh, the debate animated, and the utterance of opinions frank and spontaneous. There, in that 'little circle of ladies and gentlemen, I have heard many of the questions which have since occupied the public mind talked over with an ability and a fullness of information which is seldom possessed by larger and more authoritative bodies. To the members of that circle these meetings and discussions were invaluable. They were excited to think deeply of what the many think of superficially. They heard the ring of the doctor's bell with the pleasure of those who delight in the communion of spirits and revel in intellectual wealth. Nor was that meeting an unimportant affair; for nothing can be unimportant which directs minds whose influence spreads over a country—and such were here. I do not say what impressions they received; but I know that persons were assembled there, in pleasant converse, such as seldom meet in one place, and who since, going out into the world, have signalized their names in the annals of letters, science and benevolence. I shall violate no propriety by naming some of them, for those whom I shall name have been long known to the public. Dr. Drake was himself the head of the circle, whose suggestive mind furnished topics for others, and was ever ready to incite their energies and enliven the flagging conversation. General Edward King was another who, in spirit, manners, and elocution, was a superior man, having the dignity of the old school, with the life of the new. His wife, since Mrs. Peters, and widely known for her active benevolence and as the founder of the Philadelphia School of Design, contributed several interesting articles for the circle, and was a most instructive member. Judge James Hall, then editor of the Western Monthly Magazine, whose name is known in both Europe and America, was also there. Professor Stowe, unsurpassed in Biblical learning, contributed his share to the conversation. Miss Harriet Beecher, now Mrs. Stowe, was just beginning to be known for her literary articles, and about that time contributed several of her best stories to the press. She was not a ready talker, but when she spoke or wrote showed both the strength and the power of her mind. Her sister, Miss Catharine Beecher, so well known for her labors and usefulness in the cause of female education, was a more easy and fluent conversationalist. Indeed, few people have more talent to entertain a company or keep the ball of conversation going, than Miss Beecher ; and she was as willing as she was able. Conspicuous, HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 221 in both person and manners, was Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, whom none saw without admiring. She was what the world calls charming, and, though since better known as an authoress, was personally quite remarkable. She and her highly educated husband—a man on some subjects quite learned, but of such retiring habits as hid him from the public view—were then keeping a popular female seminary in Cincinnati. They were among the most active and interesting members of our coterie. I might name others whose wit or information contributed to the charms of our intercourse ; but I should want the apology which public fame has given to the mention of these. In the current of private life, it often happens that those unknown to the public are the most genial and inspiring spirits of the social circle. Like the little stream which flows among the lofty hills, they sparkle as they flow, and shine in the shade. We had more than one such ; and while memory sees first the fame covered hill, it dwells longest and closest with those who cast sunshine on our path and made life happy as it was bright. The Literary Club of Cincinnati was organized October 29, 1849, when a constitution reported by a committee appointed at a preliminary meeting was adopted. The club was subsequently incorporated under the general State law. Weekly meetings were held on Monday evenings until December, 1849, when Saturday became the club-night, as it has since remained. The club-rooms were first on the southwest corner of Vine and Longworth streets; then, successively, in Gundry's Commercial College, old Apollo building, corner Fifth and Walnut; over Gordon's drug-store, corner Eighth and Central avenue; over Dr. Weed's book-store, on Fourth, between Main and Walnut ; the law-school rooms in the college building; from September, 1855, for a time, in the Morselle building on Seventh, near Vine; over the old engine-house, No. 6o East Fourth; the Morselle building again; a room on the third floor of the Apollo building; the rooms of the Bar Association, in the college building; and finally its present home at No. 23912 West Fifth street, during and after September, 1875. The membership was at first limited to twenty-five. It was enlarged in 1851 to thirty-five, in 1853 to fifty, 1873 to eighty, and in 1875 to one hundred. April 15, 1861, directly after the outbreak of the war, a special meeting of the club was held and a military company formed, called the Burnet Rifles, from Mr. R. W. Burnet, drill-master of the company, of which fifty members afterwards regularly enlisted in the northern armies. This meeting was called to order by R. B. Hayes, esq., since governor of Ohio and President of the United States, who remains to this day a member of the club. Of the original members of the Burnet Rifles who went into the army, one became a major-general, five brigadiers, eight colonels, four lieutenant-colonels, eleven majors, fourteen captains, five first-lieutenants, and two second lieutenants—every one thus becoming a commissioned officer. In consequence of military and political excitement and movements, no meetings of the club were held from October 8, 1862, to February 19, 1864. Meetings were then resumed, and have since been prosperously maintained. The whole number of members, since the organization of the society, has been about five hundred, including many of the most eminent men of .the city. Strangers distinguished in literature or fine art may be invited by the board of management to the privileges of the club, and any one may be introduced by a member to the rooms or the regular meetings. The presidents of the club, since 1864, have been Charles Dexter, E. W. Kittredge, Rev. A. D. Mayo, M. F. Force, Dr. C. G. Comegys, J. W. Herron, J. Eggers, P. S. Conner, J. R. Sayler, T. M. Hinkle, John Hancock, Julius Dexter, E. F. Bliss, and Herbert Jenney. The club-rooms are beautifully furnished, and contain many fine engravings and paintings, busts, and statuettes. The Shakspeare club, organized in 1851 and still in existence, gives weekly readings from Shakspeare and other dramatists, and also gives admirable amateur theatrical entertainments. The Wallack and two or three others are more strictly dramatic clubs, for practice in the histrionic art. A number of the large universities and colleges of this country give name to clubs organized in Cincinnati by their graduates; as the Harvard, formed in 1869, which has an annual dinner for its members; and the Yale, organized in 1863, and reputed to be the oldest alumni society of the kind in the country. The "old Woodward boys," or graduates of Woodward college, organized a club in November, 1855, which was once quite large, but is now small. Formerly a game of foot-ball was enjoyed annually, on the last Thursday of September. The Woodward Alumni association is composed of graduates of the high school which succeeded the college, and has an annual reunion. Both societies joined in the erection of the statue of Mr. Woodward, upon the grounds of the school, on Franklin street. There is also the University club, which has one hundred and twenty-five members, many of whom take lunch together daily, Its first anniversary was handsomely celebrated December 2o, 1880. The Williams, Princeton, Marietta, and other college clubs are well known here. The Cuvier club, founded in 1874, has for its object the protection of fish and game, the enforcement of the law concerning them, and the promotion of field sports. It has a superb collection of more than three thousand specimens in ichthyology and ornithology at its rooms, No. 200 West Fourth street. The Athletic club is a product of that prolific year for clubs, 1879. Its object is to promote manly sports and physical culture, and it naturally makes headquarters at the Gymnasium on Fourth street. There are also several boat-clubs—as the Cincinnati, organized in 1872; the Americus, of 1874; the Dauntless; and others. The Musical club, organized 1879; the Etching club, also of 1879; and the Pottery club, which dates from the same year, have objects sufficiently defined in their titles. They will, however, receive further notice in future chapters. The Lincoln club, incorporated February 12, 1879, is a society of members of the Republican party, formed for political and social purposes. It occupies the fine building on the southwest corner of Race and Eighth streets, formerly a private residence, and has about five hundred members. The leading clubs more purely social in their character are the famous Queen City, an organization of August, 1874, owning the splendid club-house on the corner of Seventh and Elm streets, built expressly for its 222 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. purposes at a cost of one hundred and seventy thousand dollars, and occupied in August, 1876; the Elm-street, organized in 1877 by brewers and those associated with them, but later made up largely of local politicians; the Phoenix, a large and fashionable Hebrew club, with its building since March, 1874, on the corner of Court street and Central avenue; and the Allemania, also with a Jewish membership, formed in December, 1849, and occupying a beautiful freestone club-house opposite the Grand hotel, on Fourth street and Central avenue, built at a cost of on hundred thousand dollars. TRADES UNIONS. These began to be formed at a very early day. No doubt there were such guilds before 1819, when we find the Master Cat penters and Joiners' society, with Richard L. Coleman president, Isaac Poinier vice-president, John Tuttle secretary, John Wood treasurer, Edward Dodson and William Crossman trustees, and Peter Britt, John Tuttle, John Stout, and R. L. Coleman, measurers of work. Also the Mutual Relief society of Journeymen Hatters; James Smith president, William Nikerson secretary. Also the Society of Master Taylors (sic), organized 1818; William Lynes, sen., president; James Comly vice-president, Thomas Tueder secretary, Israel Byers treasurer. Also the Union Benevolent society of Journeymen Taylors; James Masten president, Nehemiah Russel vice-president, William Atkin secretary. And the Journeymen Cabinet-makers' society; John Fuller president, James McLean vice-president, George G. Rosette treasurer. The strength of these societies at a very early day may be inferred from the fact that, at the Fourth of July celebration of 1821, no less than thirty-one associations of mechanics, besides the college societies, were in the procession. There was also a procession of mechanics' guilds in Cincinnati the year before, but we are not told of their number. Fourteen years afterwards, in the procession of 1834, there were forty-five of these societies. The Franklin Typographical society in Cincinnati was formed in 1829. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, which has a numerous branch in Cincinnati, was organized in 1855. The Expressman's Aid society, a cooperative life insurance association, dates its existence from March, 1874. The Butchers' Melting association, which is commercial in its character, buys the surplusage of fat from the butchers' stalls, and renders it into lard and tallow, and also buys and utilizes the bones and scraps. There is also a Pilots' association, with an office at the northwest corner of Sycamore and the Public landing, where contracts for river-service are made and information exchanged concerning the channels in the western rivers and other matters of professional interest. It has also offices in St. Louis and New Orleans. The Trades' assembly is the central organization of a small part, about fifteen, of the many trades unions of the city. It holds semi-monthly meetings, composed of three delegates from each of the unions in its membership. The other trades unions of the city, or a considerable number of them, make up the Combined Trades Unions, a compact and powerful organization. The societies comprising it are the stove manufacturers', the machinists' and blacksmiths', the moulders' (Nos. 3 and 4 of Cincinnati and 4 of Covington), the printers', painters', carpenters', shoemakers', furniture workers', cigar makers', cigar workers', tinsmiths', bristle counters', hair spinners', butchers', bricklayers', pastry cooks', masons', plasterers', brewers', tailors', and N. A. M. C. and P. C. unions, and perhaps others. The officers of the combined unions are : W. B. Wilson, president; Mr. Clemmer, vice president; W. B. Root, recording secretary; Joseph N. Glenn, corresponding secretary; James Roach, treasurer; Edward Phelan, sergeant-at-arms. A monster ball was given by the unions on the night of the thirteenth of December, 188o, for which six of the largest halls in the city were occupied, and which we believed to have been attended by not less than ten thousand people. May 1, 1880, a movement was started for a company or society to organize a co-operative store on the Rochdale plan, and two hundred and fifty subscribers to its capital stock were obtained. BUILDING ASSOCIATIONS. These constitute a remarkable feature of real estate operations in and about Cincinnati; and some hundreds of them must exist in various parts of Hamilton county —mostly, of course, in Cincinnati. Seventeen in this city filed their certificates of incorporation in 1871; fourteen the next year ; thirty-six in 1875 ; and the number has rapidly increased since. The names of many of them savor strongly of nationalities ; as the Irish building association, the Bismarck, etc. Some of these societies furnish their subscribers with a home at once, on which weekly payments are to be made till all is paid; others supply the means, at a small premium, by which members may purchase a home ; and still others constitute savings banks, in which weekly deposits are made and draw interest, and the whole is repaid, with interest and earnings of the capital, at a time stipulated when the association is formed. It is affirmed that many neat homes in the environs of the city have been built by the aid of these organizations. CHAPTER XXIV. SCIENCE. In no city in this country is a more hearty and healthy interest taken in scientific matters than in Cincinnati. The peculiarities of the rock formations in this part of the Valley of the Ohio, and their richness in fossils, have greatly stimulated the practical study of geology and palaeontology, and specialists of high attainments in other branches have not been wanting, as well as many careful general students in science, in both its facts and prin- HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 223 ciples. It is said that in no other city in the land are there so many private collections in mineralogy and conchology as here; and the collections made by the Society of Natural History, the university, and other schools of learning, although not yet long in making, are already very respectable, and bid fair to reach great extent and excellence in the fullness of time. The good will of the community toward scientific enterprises has been manifest in many ways; but in none more, probably, than in the founding of the Cincinnati observatory, and in the bequest more recently made by Mr. Charles Bodman, of fifty thousand dollars to the Society of Natural History. The beginnings of scientific observation and study in the Miami country and of popular sympathy with them were very early, dating back at least to the decade from 1800 to 1810—that is, from the time when young Daniel Drake came to the village, a boy of fifteen, to study medicine with Dr. Goforth, to the year when Dr. Daniel Drake published his first book, Notices concerning Cincinnati, in which many results of his youthful enthusiasm for and ability in the study of science appeared. Even before his day, Colonel Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the territory, had made observations in meteorology and archaeology, some of which have proved permanently useful. THE MUSEUM. In the opening of the Western museum, in 1820, Dr. Drake took a cordial interest, and delivered an address upon the occasion, in which he gave utterance to the hope of scientific benefits to be derived from its existence: The plan of our establishment embraces nearly the whole of those parts of the great circle of knowledge which require material objects, either natural or artificial, for their illustration. It has, of course, a variety of subdivisions, and in its execution will call for very different architects, as its consummation will afford instruction and delight to persons of very opposite tastes. Already, indeed, in possession of many specimens in zoology, mineralogy, antiquities, and the fine and useful arts, we venture to indulge the hope that even at this time we can afford something to interest the naturalist, the antiquary and the mechanician. To establish in this new region a scientific cabinet, on a plan so varied and extensive, may be considered by some as premature and impracticable. It is not difficult to show, however, that this objection is rather specious than solid. For an obvious reason, it is a new country in which such a multifarious assemblage is most proper. Ancient communities, only, exhibit a perfect separation of kindred trades and occupations, and a divorcement of the extraneous branches of science from the learned professions, to which in young societies we find them closely united. Old communities, therefore, are the only ones which can successfully establish cabinets and museums for particular classes of objects, and destined for the benefit and amusement of particular orders of men. Let no one, then, charge our society with temerity for aiming at a general collection, nor regard as an evidence of vain glory and undisciplined ambition what, in reality, is both the effect and indication of our recent settlement in a new region. THE ACADEMY. The Western Academy of Natural Sciences was organized in Cincinnati in April, 1835, and incorporated in 1838. Within a very few years, by 1841, it had collected two hundred specimens in mineralogy and fossils, three hundred shells and two hundred plants. About fifty persons, mainly leading citizens, were members, and the young society had also many correspondents. Mr. Robert Buchanan was president, and made important additions to a catalogue of the flowering plants and ferns found in the vicinity of Cincinnati, which was prepared by Joseph Clarke and published by the society. For some years the society held out the hope of a prosperous career. Its earlier meetings were in the college building, but it soon went to the Trollopean Bazaar, where convenient rooms were furnished it by the Mechanics' institute, then occupying the building, free of expense. One of the fire companies, No. 4, upon its disbandment, gave its furniture to the academy, and offered it also the perpetual and free use of its hall; but the city council held that the company had exceeded its powers in making this offer, and the hall was not occupied. In 1855 we find the academy back in the college building. During these years of wandering its collections and library increased but slowly; yet some valuable private cabinets were formed, and the general influence of the organization upon the community was stimulating. Mr. Anthony published a monograph during its existence upon the Melesina, which contained the description of many new species. The academy had the high honor of a warm compliment from Professor Agassiz, at the close of the session of the American association for the advancement of science, in Cincinnati; but it was nevertheless on the wane, and its life by and by went out altogether. PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. The society for the promotion of useful knowledge was originally the educational society of Hamilton county, intended to be auxiliary to the Western Literary Institute and College of Teachers. The plan was subsequently changed, and in March, 184o, a constitution was adopted giving the name to the new society, and electing a corps of officers. At this meeting an eloquent address was delivered by Dr. Lyman Beecher, and a general discussion of the plans and purposes of the society also lent interest to the occasion. It was not purely a scientific society; but as natural, political, and mental science were prominent in its organization and transactions, a notice of it finds fitting place here. The sections contemplated in its scheme were organized as follows: Practical teaching; exact and mixed sciences; natural science; the practical arts; the fine arts; medicine; law; political economy and political science; moral and intellectual philosophy; history; language; commerce and agriculture; polite literature; statistics. Every member was expected to attach himself to as many of these sections as he could attend. Each section operated in its own way and under its own officers, and reported its transactions to the general society, to which it was expected to supply lecturers in its own department. These gave their services without fee, and their lectures were freely open to all who chose to attend. The comprehensive plan of the society also looked to a public library, a scientific museum, an art gallery, and the publication of useful works. An encouraging report was made at the close of its first year; but the society was complex and cumbersome in its organization, and lacked pecuniary endowment; so it soon went to join the innumerable caravan. Its first officers were: John P. Foote, president; Elam P. Lang-don, vice-president; Milo G. Williams, recording secre- 224 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. tary; E. D. Mansfield, corresponding secretary; James H. Perkins, treasurer; N. Holley, librarian. THE OHIO MECHANICS' INSTITUTE. Dr. John M. Craig, a citizen of Cincinnati, at the close of a course of lectures on natural and experimental philosophy delivered by him in 1828, suggested to the class the desirability and propriety of a permanent organization for the mental and social improvement of the mechanics of the city. A number of influential residents seconded his suggestion, and a meeting was held October 25th of that year, convened under a public notice issued by W. Disney, Luman Watson, John P. Foote, and Professor John Locke, at which it was formally resolved “that it is expedient for a Mechanics' institute to be formed in this city; that the gentlemen making the call, with the addition of Mr. J. Bonsall, should be a committee to report a plan for the institute; and that Dr. Craig should be requested to address the next meeting, November 2o, 1828, on the general subject of mechanics' institutes." He did so; the constitution reported by the committee was adopted, with some amendments; and the Ohio mechanics' institute, of Cincinnati, was ushered into being. A charter was obtained February 9, 1829, which was renewed and amended with the grant of enlarged powers, by the legislature of 1846-7. The founders of the institute are named in these instruments as John D. Craig, John P. Foote, Thomas Riley, human Watson, William C. Anderson, David T. Disney, George Graham, jr., Calvin Fletcher, Clement Dare, William Disney, William Greene, Tunis Brewer, Jeffrey Seymour, Israel Schooley, and Elisha Bingham, "with their associates." Their institution was characterized as "for advancing the best interests of the mechanics, manufacturers, and artisans, by the more general diffusion of useful knowledge in those important classes of the community." The institute began operations at once after completing Organization. Classes were formed for instruction in chemistry under Dr. Cleveland, geometry by Professor Locke, and arithmetic by Mr. John L. Talbot. They were well attended, and gave excellent satisfaction. Mr. Talbot taught in his own school room, without charge, and the lectures on chemistry were delivered in College hall, and partly in the old city council chamber, on Fourth street, between Walnut and Main. The institute was encouraged to purchase the Enon Baptist church property, on Walnut, between Third and Fourth streets, at four thousand dollars, in easy payments. The ground floor was partitioned off to afford a library room, reading-room, and class-room. In 1831 the valuable mathematical and philosophical apparatus of Dr. Craig was bought from him by Mr. Jephtha D. Garrard, and presented to the institute. During the winter of 1833-4 an effort was made, but without success, to unite the interests of the Cincinnati college and the institute. The latter had been unable to meet its payments upon the building purchased, which had only been kept for use by the appointment of four members as trustees, who made the first payment from their own funds and took a title-deed in their own names. An effort to raise a stock subscription of sixteen thousand dollars, in shares of twenty-five dollars each, also failed; and the institute got deeper into debt every year. So great was its pecuniary embarrassment and discouragement in that year of financial disaster, 1837, that a proposal to dissolve the organization was seriously entertained. In November, 1835, its building was necessarily abandoned to the trustees, and the hall and some front rooms of the college building were hired at a rent of one hundred dollars per annum. Dr. Craig took charge as actuary, librarian, and general factotum of the institute. This temporary home had also to be abandoned after one year's occupancy, when a building was rented on the south side of Fifth street, first door east of Vine. The lectures before the institute were still delivered in college hall. In February, 1839, the Trollopean Bazaar, on Third street, was purchased of Messrs. Blachly & Longworth for ten thousand dollars, of which about two thousand five hundred dollars were paid in cash and the rest secured by mortgage. The amount of the first payment was raised by a citizens' ball at the National theatre; but no more could be paid, and in May, 1843, the building on Walnut street, opposite the college, afterwards occupied by U. P. James' bookstore, was leased at three hundred and fifty dollars per year, while the Bazaar, still nominally in the possession of the institute, was rented to Dr. Curtiss for five hundred dollars. The removal was much to the advantage of the society, owing to the then remote situation of the Bazaar building from the business and social centres and possibly a limited attraction at what was then known as "Trollope's Folly." Remaining on Walnut street about two years and a half, the peripatetic institute, in November, 1845, took up its quarters in the old post office building on Third street, between Walnut and Vine. At the same time a lot on the west side of Walnut, between Third and Fourth, was taken on perpetual lease from the trustees of Lane Seminary, at four hundred dollars a year, conditioned that a five thousand dollar building should be erected thereon within eighteen months. After costing the institute near five hundred dollars, the lot was re-conveyed to the seminary, and, about November, 1848, the society moved further up Walnut street, to a location between Fifth and Sixth. Meanwhile, in February, 1847, the Blachly & Longworth mortgage had been foreclosed, and the Bazaar forever lost to the institute, after costing it about four thousand five hundred dollars. A subscription was soon afterwards set on foot for erecting a building for the institute. The amounts pledged for a building on Walnut street presently reached three thousand five hundred dollars, and those for one somewhere else amounted to five thousand dollars. The trustees—Messrs. Miles Greenwood, Charles Sellers, and Daniel F. Meader, who had been appointed September 7, 1847, to raise funds, buv a lot, and erect a building—but principally Mr. Greenwood, raised the subscriptions by their personal exertions to near eighteen thousand dollars. The lot on the corner of Sixth and Vine streets, now occupied by the institute, was bought for fifteen thousand dollars, on