Hamilton County History and Information

County History | Court Records | Vital Records | CENSUS Records | TAX Records | Military Records | Church & Cemetery |
Maps & Atlases | Genealogy Addresses | Genealogy Related Sites |

Hamilton County was created on January 2, 1790 and was formed as an Original County. The County was named for United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. The County Seat is Cincinnati . Courthouse destroyed by fire in 1802, 1813, 1849 and 1884, Some records destroyed.

The first Courthouse was a 30x40 log cabin built in 1795, which was located in Public Square across from the present location of the U. S. Post Off ice and Federal Courthouse at 5th Street between Main and Walnut Streets. This original Courthouse was burned by Indians and replaced by a brick building in 1802. During the War of 1812, it was used as military barracks, and was set on fire in 1813 by the soldiers. Virtually all of the records were destroyed during this fire.

In 1819, the Courthouse was rebuilt and was again destroyed by fire in 1849. The Courthouse was rebuilt in 1851, but it too was consumed by fire during the riot of 1884. Occupancy of the present Courthouse commenced in 1886, and the final addition was completed in 1918.

After each fire, a notice was published in the newspaper for the benefit of any persons wishing to have their documents, such as marriage records and wills, restored and re-entered as public records. As the result of the four separate fires, the records prior to 1884 have been reconstructed but they are not all intact. Some of the records have been restored; some of the records have been reconstructed by affidavit; some records have been copied from the original records; and some records have been salvaged, but have been partially damaged by fire, water or smoke.

In your search of older records, you may not find that which you seek. The four Courthouse fires probably account for their absence. The records which have survived represent the labor and dedication of many employees and volunteers from past generations who diligently worked to preserve Courthouse records f or their posterity. Judge Wayne F. Wilke. See also County History for more historical details.

The Health Department has Birth & Death Records from 1908-Present, see the Vital Records section for more details. For birth and death records prior to Dec. 20, 1908, contact the Probate Court of this county.

Counties adjacent to Hamilton County are Butler County (north), Warren County (northeast), Clermont County (east), Boone County, Kentucky (southwest), Kenton County, Kentucky (south), Campbell County, Kentucky (southeast), Dearborn County, Indiana (west).

Hamilton County Municipalities Include Blue Ash, Cheviot, Cincinnati, Deer Park, Forest Park, Harrison, Indian Hill, Loveland, Madeira, Milford, Montgomery, Mount Healthy, North College Hill, Norwood, Reading, Sharonville, Silverton, Springdale, St. Bernard, Wyoming, Addyston, Amberley Village, Arlington Heights, Cleves, Elmwood Place, Evendale, Fairfax, Glendale, Golf Manor, Greenhills, Lincoln Heights, Lockland, Mariemont, Newtown, North Bend, Terrace Park, Woodlawn. Townships Include Anderson, Colerain, Columbia, Crosby, Delhi, Green, Harrison, Miami, Springfield, Sycamore, Symmes, Whitewater. Other localities Include Camp Dennison, Hooven, Miamitown, Mount Saint Joseph

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Records at the Hamilton County Courthouse
PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information. Courthouse destroyed by fire in 1802, 1813, 1849 and 1884, Some records destroyed

All Departments below are in the Hamilton County Courthouse 1000 Main Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202; Phone: +1-513-632-6500, unless otherwise noted below. The Official County website is located at http://www.hamilton-co.org/ . NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time.

   Hamilton County Clerk of Probate Court has Marriage Records from 1808, has Birth circa 1864 through 1908; Death 1882 through 1908, Naturalization 1864 through 1884 and Probate Records from 1797 and is located at 230 East Ninth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 . Probate: 513-946-3600, Marriage License: (513) 946-3589
   The Probate Court handles the following administrative functions: the probating of wills, estate administrations (full estates and releases from administration), trusts, guardianships of incompetent adults and minors, commitment hearings for the mentally ill and mentally challenged, adoptions, birth corrections, name changes, delayed birth registrations, custodial accounts, lost heir accounts, order disinterments, and issues marriage licenses. In addition, the Court tries litigation issues in all the above matters. A unique aspect of the Probate Court is that the Probate Judge is the ex-officio Clerk of Courts, thus, the Court performs all the duties as its own Clerk of Courts (indexing, filing, docketing, etc.).

   Hamilton County Recorder has Land Records from 1787 and is located at 138 East Court Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202; Phone: (513) 946-4570
    In Ohio, the Recorder, as an elected official, is charged by law with the exacting duty of keeping certain specific records which may include: deeds, mortgages, financing statements, easements, leases, federal tax liens, personal tax liens, military discharges, powers of attorney, mechanics liens, plats, recognizance liens, partnerships, living wills, zoning resolutions, etc.

   Hamilton County Clerk of Court of Common Pleas has Court Records from 1844 and is located in Room 410. Phone Number: (513)946-5800
   The Clerk of Courts of Common Pleas is responsible for various administrative and ministerial duties in conjunction with the Court of Common Pleas.  These duties include filing, docketing, indexing, and preserving all court pleadings for civil, felony criminal and domestic relations cases.  The Clerk of Courts must also follow procedure required by law and issues writs to carry out Court orders.  Some of these writs include summons, subpoenas, warrants to arrest and to convey to penal institutions, and signing the death warrant in capital cases.  The Clerk is responsible for the receipt and disbursement of all money paid into the court system. Other services provided by the Clerk of Court of Common Pleas are accepting bonds, recording notary commissions, administering oaths, keeping naturalization records, and recording and retention of coroner records.

There are a few online databases for Court, Land and Probate Records which include:Ohio Land Records and Ohio Early Land Ownership Records.


Search Online Click Here to Search Ohio Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

Below is a list of online resources for Hamilton County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Hamilton County Court Records by clicking the link below:

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Hamilton County Vital Records
Search Online Click Here to Search Ohio Birth, Marriage & Death Records! - Birth, marriage, and death records are connected with central life events. They are prime sources for genealogical information. Look also for baptism, christening, and burial records in this collection.

Ohio did not make it a law to keep birth records until 1867. Ohio made it a law to record births in 1867. County probate courts kept birth records between 1867 and December 19, 1908. There is no statewide index to birth records from 1867 through December 19, 1908. Go to the list of county probate court birth records held at the Ohio Historical Society. If the Ohio Historical Society does not hold a county's birth records, please contact the county's probate court.

    Ohio Department of Health, Vital Statistics, 225 Neilston Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215; (614) 466-2531. Same-day service available to walk-in customers (for Ohio birth and death records only)., P.O. Box 570, Jefferson City, MO 65102, Please allow up to approximately 3 weeks to 6 months for processing of all type of certificates when ordered through the mail. They have the following records:

  • Birth & Death Certificates: The state of Ohio began issuing certificates for births on December 20, 1908. The Ohio Department of Health holds birth certificates for the state of Ohio from December 20, 1908 to the present. The Vital Statistics Office maintains statewide Death Certificates from 1954 to the present. Individual health departments in the county or city where the death took place keep certificates for their local area (not statewide).
    • Cost: $16.50 per certificate, payment is payable to the Treasurer State of Ohio. The cost for each authentication is $5.00 payable to the Secretary of State of Ohio. If no record is found or no copy is made, state law requires that we keep $16.50 for a searching fee. Please do not send cash in the mail.
    • Processing Time: 3-6 weeks when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order ELECTRONICALLY
    • Click Here to Search the Social Security Death Index for FREE
  • Marriage & Divorce Certificates: The State of Ohio Vital Statistics Office maintains the abstracts of marriages and divorces that occurred in Ohio from January 1, 1954, to present.  Abstracts are brief forms that list limited information extracted from the original marriage licenses or divorce decrees.  This limited information is used for index purposes and the filing of the marriage or divorce within the State of Ohio. We do not have marriage licenses or divorce decrees on file, only abstracts. An abstract is not a marriage license or divorce decree. Please contact the following agencies: Marriage License - County Probate Court; Divorce – County Clerk of Court
  • To request a certified copy of a marriage license contact the Recorder of Deeds in the county where the license was obtained.To request a certified copy of a divorce decree contact the Circuit Clerk in the county where the decree was granted.
    • Cost: Include a fee of $3.00 per 10 year search per last name with request.  Allow 4 to 6 months for the search. Please do not send cash in the mail.
    • Processing Time: Allow 4 to 6 months for the search by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order ELECTRONICALLY. Mail your search request to: Ohio Department of Health, Vital Statistics, 246 N. High Street, 1st Floor, P.O. Box 15098, Columbus, Ohio 43215-0098

Order In Person:  Same day service is available to walk-in customers. This is the fastest way to obtain a birth certificate. When you arrive, you will complete an application and pay the $16.50 required fee. Walk-in address is Ohio Department of Health, Vital Statistics, 225 Neilston Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215
Phone: (614) 466-2531. You can also obtain the birth/death record from the city or county health department office where the event occurred, provided there is no court or legal action. You may download the application and submit it in person or by mail to the nearest local health department.
Order By Mail:  Turn around is estimated at 3 to 6 weeks from the day the request is received. However, people are urged to allow sufficient time for delivery for all birth/death records. Mail a check or money order of $16.50 for each certified certificate. Do not send cash. Mail to the following address: Ohio Department of Health, Vital Statistics, P.O. Box 15098, Columbus, Ohio 43215-0098. Please include return address on envelope and application form.
Order On-Line:  To obtain a certified copy of a vital record by on-line purchase with a credit card, please link to VitalChek

The Ohio Historical Society Archives/Library has most birth records before 1908 and copies of original death certificates on microfilm for the period December 20, 1908 through 1953.

Below is a list of online resources for Hamilton County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Hamilton County Vital Records by clicking the link below:

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Hamilton County Census Records
Search Online Click Here to Search Ohio Voter Lists & Census Records! - Few, if any, records reveal as many details about individuals and families as do government census records. Substitute records can be used when the official census is unavailable.

  Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Hamilton County, Ohio are 1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850 ,1860 ,1870, 1880, 1890 (fragment, see below), 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. Other Federal Schedules to look at when researching your Family Tree in Hamilton County, Ohio are Industry and Agriculture Schedules availible for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. The Mortality Schedules for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. There are free downloadable and printable Census forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms and U.K. Census Extraction Forms.

See Also Statewide Records that exist for Ohio

Below is a list of online resources for Hamilton County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Hamilton County Census Records by clicking the link below:

  • Ohio Census, 1790-1890: This collection contains the following indexes: 1790 (Northwest Territory) Federal Census Index; 1800 Federal Census Index (Washington County); 1810 Washington County Census Index; 1820 Federal Census Index; 1830 Federal Census Index; 1840 Federal Census Index; 1840 Pensioners List; 1850 Federal Census Index; 1860 Federal Census Index; 1870 Federal Census Index; Early Census Index; 1890 Veterans Schedule.
  • Hamilton County, Ohio Census Books at Amazon.com

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Hamilton County Maps & Atlases

   Genealogy Atlas has images of old American atlases during the years 1795, 1814, 1822, 1823, 1836, 1838, 1845, 1856, 1866, 1879 and 1897 for Ohio and other states.



Hamilton County, Ohio Township Map

  You can view rotating animated maps for Ohio showing all the county boundaries for each census year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states at Census Maps
   You can view rotating animated maps for Ohio showing all the county boundary changes for each year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries.

Below is a list of online resources for Hamilton County Maps. Email us with websites containing Hamilton County Maps by clicking the link below:

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Hamilton County Military Records
Search Online Click Here to Search Ohio Military Records! - Military and civil service records provide unique facts and insights into the lives of men and women who have served their country at home and abroad.

   The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design.

Below is a list of online resources for Hamilton County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Hamilton County Military Records by clicking the link below:

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Hamilton County Tax Records

   Tax records for Ohio began as early as 1800. The archives section of the Ohio Historical Society has a collection of original Ohio tax lists from the state auditor's office. They include lists from the county's organization to 1838, usually arranged by county and township. They are not indexed. County courthouses hold various tax records that have not been inventoried. They are in the office of the county auditor or the county records manager. The FHL has microfilm copies of all known extant tax records 1800-38 for Ohio.

The National Archives-Great Lakes Region retains numerous federal tax records for Ohio. These include assessment books for 1867-73 and corporate and personal records for District 10, Toledo, and District 11, Columbus.

Below is a list of online resources for Hamilton County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Hamilton County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

  • Hamilton County, Ohio Tax Books at Amazon.com

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Hamilton County Genealogical Addresses

   The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be more generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over.

Below is a list of online resources for Hamilton County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Hamilton County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

  • Hamilton County Chapter, OGS, PO Box 15865, Cincinnati, OH 45215-0865; meets at various times and places in September through November and January through May. Special Interest Groups: African-American, Computer, German, and Irish., E-mail: kburck@cinergy.com
  • Local Ohio Researchers, Find a local researcher or become a local researcher.
  • Ohio Historical Society, Archives-Library Division,1982 Velma Avenue, Columbus, OH 43211; Telephone: 614-297-2300
    The Ohio Historical Society Archives/Library is, by law, the archives for the State of Ohio. As such, we collect, preserve, and make available to the public, documents pertaining to the operation of state and local governments.
  • Ohio Genealogical Society, 713 S. Main St, Mansfield, OH 44907-1644;(419) 756-7294, [EMAIL]
  • Columbus Metropolitan Library, Genealogy Division, 96 S. Grant Ave., Columbus, OH 43215. 614-645-2ASK (2275);The Genealogy Division holds microfilm; printed, typescript, and manuscript collections, including family and local histories; atlases; cemetery records; city directories; military records; censuses and census indexes; and transcribed records provided by the Ohio chapters of the DAR.
  • Ohio Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
  • Ohio Genealogical Society Books at Amazon.com

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Hamilton County Church & Cemeteries
Search Online Click Here to Search Ohio Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.

   There are many churches and cemeteries in Hamilton County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Hamilton County Tombstone Transcription Project.

Religion in Ohio was an early and important factor in settlement. The first Moravian mission was established in 1772. Presbyterians and Quakers were in the state at an early date, the latter having established forty-three monthly meetings and settlements between 1801 and 1883. The Presbyterians founded seventeen towns between 1784 and 1799. Baptists, Congregationalists, several reformed groups, Lutherans, Disciples of Christ, United Brethren, Methodists, and Catholics arrived prior to 1850. By 1890 the latter two denominations were the largest in the state. The Methodist circuit in Ohio was organized in 1798, with circuit riders traveling from log cabins to camp meetings across the territory. In 1831 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints migrated from New York to Kirtland in Lake County. No thorough survey exists of any of the holdings of individual churches in Ohio, although many are on microfilm through the FHL. The Ohio Genealogical Society is presently undertaking a church records survey.

   According to the Ohio Genealogical Society, the majority of Ohio counties have published cemetery records in one form or another. They suggest contacting local societies or one of the major genealogical libraries in the state.

Below is a list of online resources for Hamilton County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Hamilton County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

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Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Search Online Click Here to Search Ohio Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

   When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Hamilton County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Hamilton County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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County History

Hamilton County, Ohio, was established on January 2, 1790. It was the second county formed in the Northwest Territory. Residents named the county in honor of Alexander Hamilton, who was the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States and a founder of the Federalist Party. The county consists of 407.4 square miles, with an average of 2,075 residents per square mile in 2000. Located in the southwestern corner of Ohio, the county's southern border helps form Ohio's boundary with Kentucky, while its western border helps form the state's boundary with Indiana. Cincinnati is the county's largest city and the county seat.
        
In 1788, Israel Ludlow, Matthias Denman, and Robert Patterson purchased eight hundred acres in Ohio from John Cleves Symmes across the Ohio River from the mouth of the Licking River. Symmes had purchased two million acres of land from the United States in 1787 and now hoped to become rich by selling parts of the Symmes Purchase to others. Denman provided the necessary cash; Patterson found settlers; and Ludlow surveyed the land to make sales and also to establish a town. By early January 1789, Ludlow had platted the town, dividing it into two types of lots. Near the town's center, lots were one-half acre in size. Outlying lots were four acres. Ludlow, Denman, and Patterson provided the first thirty settlers with two free lots, one of each type. The three men named the town Losantiville. The name of the town was a concoction of terms loosely meaning that this was a 'city across from the mouth of the Licking River'.

The town and the surrounding countryside grew slowly. One month after the men established the settlement, only three log cabins existed in Losantiville. On the outlying lots, settlers had constructed twenty cabins and one frame house. Eleven families and two dozen single men lived on the land. In August 1789, the village began to grow quickly. In that month, Josiah Harmar authorized the construction of Fort Washington to protect settlers in both the Symmes Purchase and the Miami Purchase, as well as in northern Kentucky. The fort was located just west of Denman's, Ludlow's, and Patterson's eight hundred acres of land. When completed in December 1789, Harmar made Fort Washington his headquarters. Usually three hundred soldiers lived in the fort, increasing Losantiville's population to nearly five hundred people. In 1790, the governor of the Northwest Territory, Arthur St. Clair, proceeded to establish Hamilton County and made Losantiville the county seat. St. Clair disliked the name Losantiville and changed the town's name to Cincinnati. An additional 250 families arrived later that year, swelling the town's population to nearly seven hundred people.

Law and order remained absent from Hamilton County during its early years. The settlers organized a court and hired a sheriff, but the soldiers routinely had to establish martial law in the area. This became especially common as tensions increased with local Native Americans, especially the Shawnee Indians. Contributing to the lawlessness, many residents grew corn, which they distilled into alcohol and sold to the soldiers. During 1790 and 1791, thousands of militiamen from Kentucky and Pennsylvania flooded Cincinnati as Harmar and eventually St. Clair planned expeditions against the Indians. St. Clair faced such a difficult time maintaining control of his men in Cincinnati, with its three taverns, that he moved his men to nearby Ludlow's Station.

After St. Clair's Defeat, at the hands of the Indians in 1791, many settlers fled Hamilton County, fearing that the natives would descend upon them. Despite the lack of order and the various safety concerns, hundreds of settlers continued to come to the region. They believed that they could make their fortunes providing the soldiers and people traveling down the Ohio River with supplies. By the summer of 1792, thirty warehouses existed in Cincinnati to meet these needs. With the success of Anthony Wayne against the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, more settlers arrived in Hamilton County. In 1803, the year that the United States Army abandoned Fort Washington, the county had roughly two thousand civilian residents. It continued to grow, reaching nearly fifteen thousand people by 1820.

During the nineteenth century, Hamilton County villages, especially Cincinnati, continued to grow. The Ohio River provided residents with numerous business opportunities. Hotels, restaurants, and taverns quickly opened to meet the needs of settlers traveling westward on the Ohio River. Steamboats were manufactured and repaired in Cincinnati. Farmers brought their crops to Hamilton County to send down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, Louisiana, one of Ohio's major markets. The Miami and Erie Canal made the trip from western Ohio to the Ohio River much easier and less expensive for local farmers. In the early 1800s, Cincinnati developed into an important meatpacking center. Farmers brought their livestock to the city, where it was then slaughtered, processed, and sold to western settlers or shipped to various markets. Because of Cincinnati's association with meatpacking, the city became known as the "Porkopolis" of the United States.

Hamilton County also played an important role in the intellectual and cultural development of Ohio during the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1819, Daniel Drake established the Medical College of Ohio, hoping to improve medical care on the frontier. Numerous literary figures, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, called the county home for at least part of their lives. Americans from both the North and the South settled in the community, creating a very diverse and worldly population.

Some residents opposed the activities of other people in the county and actively campaigned to reform their neighbors. The temperance movement targeted the Germans and the Irish, who were alleged to be well known for their supposedly heavy drinking. Ohio abolitionists campaigned against slavery. Located directly across the Ohio River from Kentucky, a slaveholding state, Hamilton County abolitionists published newspapers and anti-slavery tracts, hoping to convince their slaveholding neighbors to free their slaves. Participants in the Underground Railroad also smuggled runaway slaves across the Ohio River to possible freedom in the North. Not all white Ohioans supported the abolitionists. Many of these people feared that, if slavery ended, they would face competition from the freed African Americans. Race riots sometimes occurred, especially if whites feared that African Americans were gaining too much power or were infringing upon white opportunities. In 1829, one such riot occurred in Cincinnati, because Irish immigrants disliked competition from the African-American community.

During the Civil War, most residents supported the United States, but a sizable number of people went to the South to fight for the Confederacy. Hamilton County served as a major recruiting and training center for the United States military during the Civil War. Businesses and farmers thrived, as they provided supplies to the soldiers and housing for both the soldiers and their families.

By the late 1880s, Cincinnati was the largest city in Ohio, with almost 300,000 people. Cincinnati had the densest population of any city in the United States, with an average of 37,143 people per square mile. More than fifteen railroads connected Cincinnati to other parts of the United States. The major industry in Hamilton County was iron production, followed closely by meatpacking, cloth production, and woodworking. Cincinnati's industries employed 103,325 people in 1887, and produced more than 200 million dollars in goods. Roughly 130 newspapers and magazines met the literary needs of Hamilton County residents. The public library consisted of more than eighty thousand books. An art museum and art academy existed in Cincinnati, as well as an opera house and the Music Hall and Exposition Building. The University of Cincinnati provided residents with access to a college education. Hamilton County also played a major role in Ohio government as well. By the end of the 1880s, the city had provided Ohio with thirteen governors, including Othniel Looker, Ethan Allen Brown, Salmon Chase, William Dennison, John Brough, Charles Anderson, Jacob Cox, Rutherford Hayes, Edward Noyes, Richard Bishop, George Hoadley, Thomas Young, and Joseph Foraker. President of the United States William Henry Harrison was also from the county. By 1890, Hamilton County had become an important industrial, political, literary, and educational center in both Ohio and the United States.

For most of the twentieth century, Hamilton County has experienced continued growth both culturally and economically. Surprisingly, Cincinnati's population remained relatively constant since the 1880s with its population in 2000 at 365,000 people. Hamilton County contained 845,303 people. This marked a 2.4 percent decline between 1990 and 2000. Many of the people who left the county had simply moved to neighboring counties.

Today, many major corporations operate in the city, including Procter & Gamble, Kroger, Federated Department Stores, Ashland, Inc, CINergy, and American Financial Group. Several of these businesses and many others have their national or regional headquarters located in Cincinnati, including Chiquita, Star-Kist, Kroger, Federated Department Stores, Scripps-Howard, Totes, and Kenner. County residents enjoy diverse employment opportunities. This diversity has helped these people to weather economic downturns comparatively easily, as no single business employs more than three percent of the county's workforce. Illustrating the area's strong economy, the county's per capita income in 1999 was almost thirty-four thousand dollars, one of the highest averages in Ohio.

In the early 2000s, Hamilton County remains the cultural center of southwestern Ohio, northern Kentucky, and southern Indiana. The county boasts two major professional sports franchises, the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Bengals. Numerous theaters operate in the county, including the Aronoff Center for the Arts -- home of the Cincinnati Ballet and the Cincinnati Opera -- the Emery Theater, the Taft Theater, the Showboat Majestic, the Playhouse in the Park, the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and Music Hall. More than one hundred art galleries exist in Cincinnati and the surrounding area. The most prominent ones are the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Contemporary Arts Center, and the Taft Museum. The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden is known for its successful breeding programs.

Despite this tremendous cultural and economic growth, not all residents are able to enjoy the benefits of living within Hamilton County's borders. In 1997, 11.4 percent of the county's inhabitants lived in poverty. Many of these people lived in Cincinnati. Some residents enjoy life in upscale communities, but many residents live in lower-income areas, including Over-the-Rhine and the Laurel Homes, the largest public housing project in the United States. Many downtown businesses moved from Cincinnati to the suburbs beginning in the 1950s, and wealthier residents went with them. Residents who could not afford to move with the companies experienced a shortage of jobs. This made it difficult for some people to experience the county's numerous benefits. In recent years, Cincinnati officials have made dramatic efforts to revitalize the downtown area, providing local residents with additional opportunities.

In 1788, Israel Ludlow, Matthias Denman, and Robert Patterson purchased eight hundred acres from John Cleves Symmes along the Ohio River at the Licking River's mouth. Symmes had purchased two million acres of land from the Confederation Congress in 1787 and now hoped to become rich by selling parts of the Symmes Purchase to others. Denman provided the necessary cash; Patterson found settlers; and Ludlow surveyed the land to make sales and also establish a town. By early January 1789, Ludlow had platted the town, dividing it into two types of lots. Near the town's center, lots were one-half acre. Outlying lots were four acres. Ludlow, Denman, and Patterson provided the first thirty settlers with two free lots, one of each type. The three men named the town Losantiville. The name was a convoluted contraction of the idea that this was a "city across from the mouth of the Licking River."

The town grew slowly. One month after the settlement was established, only three log cabins existed in Losantiville. On the outlying lots, settlers had constructed twenty cabins and one frame house. Eleven families and two dozen single men lived on the land. In August 1789, the village began to grow quickly. In that month, Josiah Harmar authorized the construction of Fort Washington to protect settlers in both the Symmes Purchase and the Miami Purchase, as well as in northern Kentucky. The fort was located just west of Denman's, Ludlow's, and Patterson's eight hundred acres of land. When completed in December 1789, Harmar made Fort Washington his headquarters. Usually three hundred soldiers lived in the fort, increasing Losantiville's population to nearly five hundred people. In 1790, the governor of the Northwest Territory, Arthur St. Clair, proceeded to establish Hamilton County and made Losantiville the county seat. St. Clair disliked the name Losantiville and changed the town's name to Cincinnati. The town's name is recognition of the Roman citizen soldier Cincinnatus. It is also an acknowledgment of the Society of Cincinnati. General St. Clair was a member of this association of former officers of the Revolutionary War. An additional 250 families arrived later that year, swelling the town's population to nearly seven hundred people.

Law and order remained absent from Cincinnati during its early years. The settlers organized a court and hired a sheriff, but the soldiers routinely had to establish martial law in the community. This became especially common as tensions increased with local Native Americans, especially the Shawnee Indians. Contributing to the lawlessness, many residents grew corn, which they distilled into alcohol and sold to the soldiers. During 1790 and 1791, thousands of militiamen from Kentucky and Pennsylvania flooded Cincinnati as Harmar and eventually St. Clair planned expeditions against the Native Americans. St. Clair faced such a difficult time maintaining control of his men in the town, with its three taverns, that he moved his men to nearby Ludlow's Station. After St. Clair's Defeat, at the hands of the Indians in 1791, many settlers fled Cincinnati, fearing that the natives would descend upon them. Despite the lack of order and the various safety concerns, hundreds of settlers continued to come to the town. They believed that they could make their fortunes providing the soldiers and people traveling down the Ohio River with supplies. By the summer of 1792, thirty warehouses existed in Cincinnati to meet these needs. With the success of Anthony Wayne against the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, more settlers arrived in the community, including a French pastry chef and a hairdresser. By early 1795, a spinning wheel manufacturer, a brewer, a chair manufacturer, and a butcher all had opened up businesses. In 1803, the year that the United States Army abandoned Fort Washington, the city had roughly one thousand civilian residents. It continued to grow, reaching nearly ten thousand people by 1820. Cincinnati had emerged as a major city, primarily due to its strategic location on the Ohio River.

During the nineteenth century, Cincinnati continued to grow. The Ohio River provided Cincinnati residents with numerous business opportunities. Hotels, restaurants, and taverns quickly opened to meet the needs of settlers traveling westward on the Ohio River. Steamboats were manufactured and repaired in the city. Farmers brought their crops to the city to send down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, Louisiana, one of Ohio's major markets. The Miami and Erie Canal made the trip from western Ohio to Cincinnati much easier and less expensive for local farmers. In the early 1800s, Cincinnati developed into an important meatpacking center. Farmers brought their livestock to the city, where it was slaughtered, processed, and sold to western settlers or shipped to various markets. Beginning in the 1830s, ethnic Germans began to settle in Cincinnati. During this time period, Cincinnati was becoming the pork-processing center of the United States. Because of Cincinnati's association with meatpacking, the city became known as the "Porkopolis" of the United States.

Cincinnati also played an important role in the intellectual and cultural development of Ohio during the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1819, Daniel Drake established the Medical College of Ohio, hoping to improve medical care on the frontier. Numerous literary figures, including Harriet Beecher Stowe – The author of "Uncle tom's Cabin," called Cincinnati home for at least part of their lives. German and Irish immigrants mixed with Americans from both North and South to create a very diverse and worldly population.

Some residents opposed the activities of other people in the city and actively campaigned to reform the community. The temperance movement targeted the Germans and the Irish, who were alleged to be well-known for their supposedly heavy drinking. Ohio abolitionists utilized Cincinnati to campaign against slavery. Located directly across the Ohio River from Kentucky, a slaveholding state, Cincinnati abolitionists published newspapers and anti-slavery tracts, hoping to convince their slaveholding neighbors to free their slaves. Participants in the Underground Railroad also smuggled runaway slaves across the Ohio River to potential freedom in the North. Not all white Ohioans supported the abolitionists. Many of these people feared that, if slavery ended, they would face competition from the freed African Americans. Race riots sometimes occurred, especially if whites feared that African Americans were gaining too much power or were infringing upon white opportunities. In 1829, one such riot occurred in Cincinnati, because Irish immigrants disliked competition from the African-American community. During the Civil War, most residents supported the United States, but a sizable number of people went south to fight for the Confederacy. Cincinnati served as a major recruiting and organization center for the United States military during the Civil War. The city's businesses thrived, as they provided supplies to the soldiers and housing for both the soldiers and their families. Various charity organizations also were present in the city to help soldiers and their families, including the United States Sanitary Commission and the United States Christian Commission.

By the late 1880s, Cincinnati was the largest city in Ohio, with almost 300,000 people. Cincinnati had the densest population of any city in the United States, with an average of 37,143 people per square mile. More than fifteen railroads connected Cincinnati to other parts of the United States. The major industry in Cincinnati was iron production, followed closely by meatpacking, cloth production, and woodworking. Cincinnati's industries employed 103,325 people in 1887, and produced more than 200 million dollars in goods. Roughly 130 newspapers and magazines met the literary needs of the people. The public library consisted of more than eighty thousand books. An art museum and art academy existed in Cincinnati, as well as an opera house and the Music Hall and Exposition Building. The University of Cincinnati provided residents with access to a college education. The city contained more than two hundred churches. It also had five hospitals. Cincinnati played a major role in Ohio government as well. By the end of the 1880s, the city had provided Ohio with thirteen governors, including Othniel Looker, Ethan Allen Brown, Salmon Chase, William Dennison, John Brough, Charles Anderson, Jacob Cox, Rutherford Hayes, Edward Noyes, Richard Bishop, George Hoadley, Thomas Young, and Joseph Foraker. By 1890, Cincinnati had become an important industrial, political, literary, and educational center in both Ohio and the United States.

During the twentieth century, Cincinnati has experienced continued growth both culturally and economically. The city's population has remained relatively constant since the 1880s with its population in 2000 at 365,000 people. The city encompasses just seventy-seven square miles of land. That does not mean that the region has not experienced a population explosion since the late 1800s. While only 365,000 people reside within the city's borders, more than 1.8 million people live in surrounding communities, providing businesses with a readily available supply of workers.

Many major corporations operate in the city, including Procter & Gamble, Kroger, Federated Department Stores, Ashland, Inc, CINergy, and American Financial Group. Several of these businesses and many others have their national or regional headquarters located in Cincinnati, including Chiquita, Star-Kist, Kroger, Federated Department Stores, Scripps-Howard, Totes, and Kenner. Residents enjoy diverse employment opportunities. This diversity has helped Cincinnati residents to weather economic downturns comparatively easily, as no single business employs more than three percent of the city's workforce. When hard times have hit the community, local residents have persevered. During the Great Depression, many people found employment through various government programs, including the Works Progress Administration and the Public Works Administration. It was also during the Great Depression when the Carew Tower, Cincinnati's tallest building, was built.

These economic opportunities were one of the major reasons why Places Rated Almanac ranked Cincinnati as America's Most Livable City in 1993. The city's low crime rate, sixth lowest among major United States cities in 1993, also contributed to this prestigious ranking. However, concerns about racism in the city's police department led to a boycott by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons in the early 2000s. Despite this, Cincinnati remains the cultural center of southwestern Ohio, northern Kentucky, and southern Indiana. The city boasts two major professional sports franchises, the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Bengals. Numerous theaters operate in the city, including the Aronoff Center for the Arts -- home of the Cincinnati Ballet and the Cincinnati Opera, the Emery Theater, the Taft Theater, the Showboat Majestic, the Playhouse in the Park, the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and Music Hall. More than one hundred art galleries exist in the city and the surrounding area. The most prominent ones are the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Contemporary Arts Center, and the Taft Museum. The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden is known for its successful breeding programs.

Despite this cultural and economic growth, not all residents are able to enjoy the benefits of living within Cincinnati's borders. Within the city's boundaries reside people of all socio-economic backgrounds. Some residents enjoy life in upscale communities, but many residents live in lower-income areas, including Over-the-Rhine and the Laurel Homes, the largest public housing project in the United States. Many downtown businesses moved to the suburbs beginning in the 1950s, and wealthier residents went with them. Residents who could not afford to move with the companies experienced a shortage of jobs. This made it difficult for some people to experience the city's numerous benefits. In recent years, Cincinnati officials have made dramatic efforts to revitalize the downtown area, providing local residents with additional opportunities.

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