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119-521: First Transit was an American transportation company. Headquartered in Cincinnati , Ohio , it operated over 300 locations, carrying more than 350 million passengers annually throughout the United States in 41 states, Puerto Rico, Panama, India and four Canadian provinces. In 2023 it was purchased by Transdev with the brand retired. American Transportation Enterprises was founded in 1955. It

238-616: A 45-foot (14-meter) steamboat on the Delaware River on 22 August 1787, in the presence of members of the United States Constitutional Convention . Fitch later (1790) built a larger vessel that carried passengers and freight between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey on the Delaware. His steamboat was not a financial success and was shut down after a few months service, however this marks

357-472: A Confederate prison camp, blew up, causing more than 1,700 deaths. For most of the 19th century and part of the early 20th century, trade on the Mississippi River was dominated by paddle-wheel steamboats. Their use generated rapid development of economies of port cities; the exploitation of agricultural and commodity products, which could be more easily transported to markets; and prosperity along

476-478: A Seine steamboat service. In 1818, Ferdinando I , the first Italian steamboat, left the port of Naples , where it had been built. The first sea-going steamboat was Richard Wright's first steamboat "Experiment", an ex-French lugger ; she steamed from Leeds to Yarmouth , arriving Yarmouth 19 July 1813. "Tug", the first tugboat, was launched by the Woods Brothers, Port Glasgow, on 5 November 1817; in

595-474: A century and a half, Cincinnati went unchallenged as the most prominent of Ohio's cities, a role that earned it the nickname of "chief city of Ohio" in the 1879 New American Cyclopædia . In addition to this book, countless other books have documented the social history of both the city and its frontier people. The city fathers, of Anglo-American families of prominence, were Episcopalian . Inspired by its earlier horseback circuit preachers , early Methodism

714-519: A crank. He got support from Lord Dundas to build a second steamboat, which became famous as the Charlotte Dundas , named in honour of Lord Dundas's daughter. Symington designed a new hull around his powerful horizontal engine, with the crank driving a large paddle wheel in a central upstand in the hull, aimed at avoiding damage to the canal banks. The new boat was 56 ft (17.1 m) long, 18 ft (5.5 m) wide and 8 ft (2.4 m) depth, with

833-424: A crescent around the city: Mount Adams , Walnut Hills , Mount Auburn , Vine Street Hill , College Hill , Fairmont (now rendered Fairmount ), and Mount Harrison (now known as Price Hill ). The name refers to ancient Rome, reputed to be built on seven hills. "Queen City" is taken from an 1819 newspaper article and further immortalized by the 1854 poem "Catawba Wine". In it, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote of

952-414: A giant warship version, 246 feet (75 m) long. Miller sent King Gustav III of Sweden an actual small-scale version, 100 feet (30 m) long, called Experiment . Miller then engaged engineer William Symington to build his patent steam engine that drove a stern-mounted paddle wheel in a boat in 1785. The boat was successfully tried out on Dalswinton Loch in 1788 and was followed by a larger steamboat

1071-591: A keystone of civic history; and among Methodist institutions were The Christ Hospital as well as projects of the German Methodist Church . One of Cincinnati's biggest proponents of Methodism was the Irish immigrant James Gamble , who together with William Procter founded Procter & Gamble ; in addition to being a devout Methodist, Gamble and his estate donated money to construct Methodist churches throughout Greater Cincinnati. Cincinnati, being

1190-541: A lot of stress on the rear of the ships and would not see widespread use till the conversion from wood boats to iron boats was complete—well underway by 1860. By the 1840s the ocean-going steam ship industry was well established as the Cunard Line and others demonstrated. The last sailing frigate of the US Navy, Santee , had been launched in 1855. In the mid-1840s the acquisition of Oregon and California opened up

1309-510: A male householder with no wife present, and 53.3% were non-families. 43.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.09 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age in the city was 32.5 years. 21.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 14.6% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 28.4% were from 25 to 44; 24.1% were from 45 to 64; and 10.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of

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1428-704: A number of hills, bluffs, and low ridges overlooking the Ohio in the Bluegrass region of the country. The tristate is geographically located within the Midwest at the far northern extremity of the Upland South . Three municipalities are enveloped by the city: Norwood , Elmwood Place , and Saint Bernard . Norwood is a business and industrial city, while Elmwood Place and Saint Bernard are small, primarily residential, villages. Cincinnati does not have an exclave, but

1547-651: A partial load of her about 60 saloon (about $ 300 fare) and 150 steerage (about $ 150 fare) passenger capacity. Only a few were going all the way to California. Her crew numbered about 36 men. She left New York well before confirmed word of the California Gold Rush had reached the East Coast. Once the California Gold Rush was confirmed by President James Polk in his State of the Union address on 5 December 1848 people started rushing to Panama City to catch

1666-458: A population growth, marking the first such increase since the 1950 census. On January 4, 2022, Aftab Pureval assumed office as the 70th mayor of Cincinnati. Cincinnati has many nicknames , including Cincy, The Queen City, The Queen of the West, The Blue Chip City, and The City of Seven Hills. These are more typically associated with professional, academic, and public relations references to

1785-933: A rivertown crossroads, depended on trade with the slave states south of the Ohio River at a time when thousands of black people were settling in the free state of Ohio. Most of them came after the American Civil War and were from Kentucky and Virginia with many of them fugitives who had sought freedom and work in the North. In the antebellum years, the majority of native-born whites in the city came from northern states, primarily Pennsylvania . Though 57 percent of whites migrated from free states, 26 percent were from southern states and they retained their cultural support for slavery. This quickly led to tensions between pro-slavery residents and abolitionists who sought lifting restrictions on free black people, as codified in

1904-419: A second boat made 30-mile (48 km) excursions, and in 1790, a third boat ran a series of trials on the Delaware River before patent disputes dissuaded Fitch from continuing. Meanwhile, Patrick Miller of Dalswinton , near Dumfries , Scotland , had developed double-hulled boats propelled by manually cranked paddle wheels placed between the hulls, even attempting to interest various European governments in

2023-632: A spot at the northern bank of the Ohio opposite the mouth of the Licking and decided to settle there. The original surveyor, John Filson , named it "Losantiville", a combination of syllables drawn from French and Latin words, intended to mean "town opposite the mouth of the Licking". On January 4, 1790, St. Clair changed the name of the settlement to honor the Society of the Cincinnati. In 1811,

2142-687: A steamboat to ply a route between New York City and Albany, New York on the Hudson River . He successfully obtained a monopoly on Hudson River traffic after terminating a prior 1797 agreement with John Stevens , who owned extensive land on the Hudson River in New Jersey. The former agreement had partitioned northern Hudson River traffic to Livingston and southern to Stevens, agreeing to use ships designed by Stevens for both operations. With their new monopoly, Fulton and Livingston's boat, named

2261-646: A trip around Cape Horn . About 20–30% of the California Argonauts are thought to have returned to their homes, mostly on the East Coast of the United States via Panama—the fastest way home. Many returned to California after settling their business in the East with their wives, family and/or sweethearts. Most used the Panama or Nicaragua route till 1855 when the completion of the Panama Railroad made

2380-483: A visit to England, made his own engine, and put it in a boat. The boat sank, and while Henry made an improved model, he did not appear to have much success, though he may have inspired others. The first steam-powered ship, Pyroscaphe , was a paddle steamer powered by a double-acting steam engine ; it was built in France in 1783 by Marquis Claude de Jouffroy and his colleagues as an improvement of an earlier attempt,

2499-645: A wooden hull. The boat was built by John Allan and the engine by the Carron Company . The first sailing was on the canal in Glasgow on 4 January 1803, with Lord Dundas and a few of his relatives and friends on board. The crowd were pleased with what they saw, but Symington wanted to make improvements and another more ambitious trial was made on 28 March. On this occasion, the Charlotte Dundas towed two 70 ton barges 30 km (almost 20 miles) along

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2618-578: Is 79 feet 11 + 7 ⁄ 8  inches (24.381 m), having crested January 26, 1937. Various parts of Cincinnati flood at different points: Riverbend Music Center in the California neighborhood floods at 42 feet (13 m), while Sayler Park floods at 71 feet (22 m) and the Freeman Avenue flood gate closes at 75 feet (23 m). Frequent flooding has hampered the growth of Cincinnati's municipal airport at Lunken Field and

2737-476: Is $ 158,200, and the cost of living in Cincinnati is 8% below the national average. As of September 2022, the unemployment rate is 3.3%, below the national average. Several Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Cincinnati, such as Kroger , Procter & Gamble , Western & Southern Financial Group , Fifth Third Bank , American Financial Group , and Cintas . General Electric has headquartered their Global Operations Center in Cincinnati; GE Aerospace

2856-738: Is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power , typically driving propellers or paddlewheels . The term steamboat is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels working on lakes, rivers, and in short-sea shipping . The development of the steamboat led to the larger steamship , which is a seaworthy and often ocean-going ship . Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS , S.S. or S/S (for 'Screw Steamer') or PS (for 'Paddle Steamer'); however, these designations are most often used for steamships. The first steamboat designs used Newcomen steam engines . These engines were large, heavy, and produced little power, which resulted in an unfavorable power-to-weight ratio. The heavy weight of

2975-458: Is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Ohio , United States. Settled by Europeans in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line with Kentucky . The population of Cincinnati was 309,317 in 2020, making it the third-most populous city in Ohio after Columbus and Cleveland and 64th in

3094-477: Is already complete and 100 percent occupied as of early 2013. Smale Riverfront Park is being developed along with The Banks, and is Cincinnati's newest park. Nearly $ 3.5 billion have been invested in the urban core of Cincinnati (including Northern Kentucky). Much of this development has been undertaken by 3CDC . The Cincinnati Bell Connector began in September 2016. Cincinnati is midway by river between

3213-462: Is among the largest, most intact urban historic districts in the United States. Most of Over-the-Rhine's ornate brick buildings were built by German immigrants from 1865 to the 1880s. The neighborhood has been intensely redeveloped in the 21st century, with a focus on fostering small businesses. Cincinnati is at the southern limit (considering the 0 °C or 32 °F isotherm ) of the humid continental climate zone ( Köppen : Dfa ), bordering

3332-677: Is based in Evendale . The Kroger Company employs over 20,000 people locally, making it the largest employer in the city; the other four largest employers are Cincinnati Children's Hospital , TriHealth , the University of Cincinnati , and St. Elizabeth Healthcare . Cincinnati is home to a branch office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland . Cincinnati was platted and proliferated by American settlers , including Scotch Irish , frontiersmen , and keelboaters . For over

3451-690: Is home to numerous structures that are noteworthy due to their architectural characteristics or historic associations, including the aforementioned Carew Tower , the Scripps Center, the Ingalls Building , Cincinnati Union Terminal , and the Isaac M. Wise Temple . Queen City Square opened in January 2011. The building is the tallest in Cincinnati and the third tallest in Ohio, reaching a height of 665 feet (203 m). Since April 1, 1922,

3570-686: Is home to three professional sports teams: the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball ; the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League ; and FC Cincinnati of Major League Soccer ; it is also home to the Cincinnati Cyclones , a minor league ice hockey team. The city's largest institution of higher education, the University of Cincinnati , was founded in 1819 as a municipal college and

3689-537: Is now ranked as one of the 50 largest in the United States. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is based in the city. Two years after the founding of the settlement then known as "Losantiville", Arthur St. Clair , the governor of the Northwest Territory , changed its name to "Cincinnati", possibly at the suggestion of the surveyor Israel Ludlow , in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati . St. Clair

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3808-504: The Phoenix , which used a high-pressure engine in combination with a low-pressure condensing engine. The first steamboats powered only by high pressure were the Aetna and Pennsylvania , designed and built by Oliver Evans . In October 1811 a ship designed by John Stevens , Little Juliana , would operate as the first steam-powered ferry between Hoboken and New York City. Stevens' ship

3927-890: The A-train for the Denton County Transportation Authority for a period of nine years. In December 2016, First Transit began operating the first SAV passenger shuttle route in North America, using the EasyMile EZ10 to loop through Bishop Ranch Office Park in San Ramon, California . Since then, First Transit has gone on to operate many SAV initiatives including a Minnesota SAV Roadshow with stops at Minnesota State Capitol and 3M Global Headquarters and Milo in Arlington, Texas . Milo

4046-739: The Chagres River in Panama was won by the United States Mail Steamship Company whose first paddle wheel steamship, the SS Falcon (1848) was dispatched on 1 December 1848 to the Caribbean (Atlantic) terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail—the Chagres River . The SS California (1848) , the first Pacific Mail Steamship Company paddle wheel steamship, left New York City on 6 October 1848 with only

4165-497: The Clermont after Livingston's estate, could make a profit. The Clermont was nicknamed "Fulton's Folly" by doubters. On Monday, 17 August 1807, the memorable first voyage of the Clermont up the Hudson River was begun. She traveled the 150 miles (240 km) trip to Albany in a little over 32 hours and made the return trip in about eight hours. The use of steamboats on major US rivers soon followed Fulton's 1807 success. In 1811,

4284-592: The Coney Island amusement park. Downtown Cincinnati is protected from flooding by the Serpentine Wall at Yeatman's Cove and another flood wall built into Fort Washington Way . Parts of Cincinnati also experience flooding from the Little Miami River and Mill Creek . Cincinnati consists of fifty-two neighborhoods. Many of these neighborhoods were once villages that have been annexed by

4403-412: The Delaware River between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, carrying as many as 30 passengers. This boat could typically make 7 to 8 miles per hour (11 to 13 km/h) and travelled more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a commercial success, as this travel route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. The following year,

4522-497: The Forth and Clyde Canal to Glasgow , and despite "a strong breeze right ahead" that stopped all other canal boats it took only nine and a quarter hours, giving an average speed of about 3 km/h (2 mph). The Charlotte Dundas was the first practical steamboat, in that it demonstrated the practicality of steam power for ships, and was the first to be followed by continuous development of steamboats. The American Robert Fulton

4641-561: The Indiana counties of Dearborn , Franklin , Union , and Ohio . Metropolitan Cincinnati has the twenty-eighth largest economy in the United States and the fifth largest in the Midwest , after Chicago , Minneapolis–St. Paul , Detroit , and St. Louis . In 2016, it had the fastest-growing Midwestern economic capital. The gross domestic product for the region was $ 127 billion (~$ 160 billion in 2023) in 2015. The median home price

4760-424: The Isthmus of Panama or Nicaragua typically took about one week by native canoe and mule back. The 4,000 miles (6,400 km) trip to or from San Francisco to Panama City could be done by paddle wheel steamer in about three weeks. In addition to this, travel time via the Panama route typically had a two- to four-week waiting period to find a ship going from Panama City, Panama to San Francisco before 1850. It

4879-675: The Miami and Erie Canal began on July 21, 1825, when it was called the Miami Canal, related to its origin at the Great Miami River . The first section of the canal was opened for business in 1827. In 1827, the canal connected Cincinnati to nearby Middletown ; by 1840, it had reached Toledo . Railroads were the next major form of commercial transportation to come to Cincinnati. In 1836, the Little Miami Railroad

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4998-464: The Northern and Southern United States, with fewer immigrants and less influence from Europe than East Coast cities in the same period. However, it received a significant number of German-speaking immigrants , who founded many of the city's cultural institutions. It later developed an industrialized economy in manufacturing. Many structures in the urban core have remained intact for 200 years; in

5117-735: The Panic of 1857 . Steamboat traffic including passenger and freight business grew exponentially in the decades before the Civil War. So too did the economic and human losses inflicted by snags, shoals, boiler explosions, and human error. During the US Civil War the Battle of Hampton Roads , often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads ,

5236-759: The River Clyde in Scotland. The Margery , launched in Dumbarton in 1814, in January 1815 became the first steamboat on the River Thames, much to the amazement of Londoners. She operated a London-to-Gravesend river service until 1816, when she was sold to the French and became the first steamboat to cross the English Channel. When she reached Paris, the new owners renamed her Elise and inaugurated

5355-637: The Steamboat Iowa (1838) is incorporated in the Seal of Iowa because it represented speed, power, and progress. At the same time, the expanding steamboat traffic had severe adverse environmental effects, in the Middle Mississippi Valley especially, between St. Louis and the river's confluence with the Ohio . The steamboats consumed much wood for fuel, and the river floodplain and banks became deforested. This led to instability in

5474-602: The humid subtropical climate zone ( Cfa ). Summers are hot and humid, with significant rainfall in each month and highs reaching 90 °F (32 °C) or above on 21 days per year, often with high dew points and humidity. July is the warmest month, with a daily average temperature of 75.9 °F (24.4 °C). Winters tend to be cold and moderately snowy, with January, the coldest month, averaging at 30.8 °F (−0.7 °C). Lows reach 0 °F (−18 °C) on an average 2.6 nights yearly. An average winter will see around 22.1 inches (56 cm) of snowfall, contributing to

5593-412: The steam engine power and provide power for occasions when the steam engine needed repair or maintenance. These steamships typically concentrated on high value cargo, mail and passengers and only had moderate cargo capabilities because of their required loads of coal. The typical paddle wheel steamship was powered by a coal burning engine that required firemen to shovel the coal to the burners. By 1849

5712-419: The "Black Code" of 1804. In the pre-Civil War period, Cincinnati had been called "a Southern city on free soil". Volatile social conditions saw riots in 1829 , when many black people lost their homes and property. As the Irish entered the city in the late 1840s, they competed with black people at the lower levels of the economy. White-led riots against black people occurred in 1836 , when an abolitionist press

5831-436: The 1776 Palmipède . At its first demonstration on 15 July 1783, Pyroscaphe travelled upstream on the river Saône for some fifteen minutes before the engine failed. Presumably this was easily repaired as the boat is said to have made several such journeys. Following this, De Jouffroy attempted to get the government interested in his work, but for political reasons was instructed that he would have to build another version on

5950-468: The 1890s, the steamship technology so improved that steamships became economically viable even on long-distance voyages such as linking Great Britain with its Pacific Asian colonies, such as Singapore and Hong Kong . This resulted in the downfall of sailing. The era of the steamboat in the United States began in Philadelphia in 1787 when John Fitch (1743–1798) made the first successful trial of

6069-531: The 19th century, the flooding of the Mississippi became a more severe problem than when the floodplain was filled with trees and brush. Most steamboats were destroyed by boiler explosions or fires—and many sank in the river, with some of those buried in silt as the river changed course. From 1811 to 1899, 156 steamboats were lost to snags or rocks between St. Louis and the Ohio River. Another 411 were damaged by fire, explosions or ice during that period. One of

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6188-481: The 49- story Carew Tower , which was the city's tallest building upon its completion. Cincinnati weathered the Great Depression better than most American cities of its size, largely due to a resurgence in river trade, which was less expensive than transporting goods by rail. The Ohio River flood of 1937 was one of the worst in the nation's history and destroyed many areas along the Ohio valley. Afterward

6307-515: The Arkansas River on 16 July 1863 demonstrated this. The steamboat was destroyed, the cargo was lost, and the tiny Union escort was run off. The loss did not affect the Union war effort, however. The worst of all steamboat accidents occurred at the end of the Civil War in April 1865, when the steamboat Sultana , carrying an over-capacity load of returning Union soldiers recently freed from

6426-449: The Mississippi , river pilot and author Mark Twain described much of the operation of such vessels. By 1849 the shipping industry was in transition from sail-powered boats to steam-powered boats and from wood construction to an ever-increasing metal construction. There were basically three different types of ships being used: standard sailing ships of several different types , clippers , and paddle steamers with paddles mounted on

6545-424: The Newcomen engine required a structurally strong boat, and the reciprocating motion of the engine beam required a complicated mechanism to produce propulsion. James Watt 's design improvements increased the efficiency of the steam engine, improving the power-to-weight ratio, and created an engine capable of rotary motion by using a double-acting cylinder which injected steam at each end of the piston stroke to move

6664-459: The Ohio flood stage at Cincinnati has officially been set at 52 feet (16 m), as measured from the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge . At this depth, the pumping station at the mouth of Mill Creek is activated. From 1873 to 1898, the flood stage was 45 feet (14 m). From 1899 to March 31, 1922, it was 50 feet (15 m). The Ohio reached its lowest level, less than 2 feet (0.61 m), in 1881; conversely, its all-time high water mark

6783-460: The Panama Railroad was completed the Panama Route was by far the quickest and easiest way to get to or from California from the East Coast of the U.S. or Europe. Most California bound merchandise still used the slower but cheaper Cape Horn sailing ship route. The sinking of the paddle steamer SS  Central America (the Ship of Gold ) in a hurricane on 12 September 1857 and the loss of about $ 2 million in California gold indirectly led to

6902-426: The Panama Route much easier, faster and more reliable. Between 1849 and 1869 when the first transcontinental railroad was completed across the United States about 800,000 travelers had used the Panama route. Most of the roughly $ 50,000,000 of gold found each year in California were shipped East via the Panama route on paddle steamers, mule trains and canoes and later the Panama Railroad across Panama. After 1855 when

7021-707: The SS California. The SS  California picked up more passengers in Valparaiso , Chile and Panama City , Panama and showed up in San Francisco, loaded with about 400 passengers—twice the passengers it had been designed for—on 28 February 1849. She had left behind about another 400–600 potential passengers still looking for passage from Panama City. The SS California had made the trip from Panama and Mexico after steaming around Cape Horn from New York—see SS California (1848) . The trips by paddle wheel steamship to Panama and Nicaragua from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, via New Orleans and Havana were about 2,600 miles (4,200 km) long and took about two weeks. Trips across

7140-413: The Seine in Paris. De Jouffroy did not have the funds for this, and, following the events of the French revolution, work on the project was discontinued after he left the country. Similar boats were made in 1785 by John Fitch in Philadelphia and William Symington in Dumfries , Scotland. Fitch successfully trialled his boat in 1787, and in 1788, he began operating a regular commercial service along

7259-409: The United States . The city is the economic and cultural hub of the Cincinnati metropolitan area , Ohio's most populous metro area, and the nation's 30th-largest , with over 2.265 million residents. Throughout much of the 19th century, Cincinnati was among the top 10 U.S. cities by population . The city developed as a river town for cargo shipping by steamboats , located at the crossroads of

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7378-419: The United States until its sale to Norfolk Southern in March 2024. In 1884, outrage over a manslaughter verdict in what many observers thought was a clear case of murder triggered the Courthouse riots , one of the most destructive riots in American history. Over the course of three days, 56 people were killed and over 300 were injured. The riots ended the regime of Republican boss Thomas C. Campbell . At

7497-508: The West Coast to American steamboat traffic. Starting in 1848 Congress subsidized the Pacific Mail Steamship Company with $ 199,999 to set up regular packet ship , mail, passenger, and cargo routes in the Pacific Ocean. This regular scheduled route went from Panama City , Nicaragua and Mexico to and from San Francisco and Oregon . Panama City was the Pacific terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail across Panama. The Atlantic Ocean mail contract from East Coast cities and New Orleans to and from

7616-429: The West was fought to control major rivers, especially the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers using paddlewheelers. Only the Union had them (the Confederacy captured a few, but were unable to use them.) The Battle of Vicksburg involved monitors and ironclad riverboats. The USS Cairo is a survivor of the Vicksburg battle. Trade on the river was suspended for two years because of a Confederate's Mississippi blockade before

7735-412: The banks, addition of silt to the water, making the river both shallower and hence wider and causing unpredictable, lateral movement of the river channel across the wide, ten-mile floodplain, endangering navigation. Boats designated as snagpullers to keep the channels free had crews that sometimes cut remaining large trees 100–200 feet (30–61 m) or more back from the banks, exacerbating the problems. In

7854-424: The beginning of the 20th century, Cincinnati had a population of 325,902. The city completed many ambitious projects in the 20th century starting with the Ingalls Building which was completed in 1903. An early rejuvenation of downtown began into the 1920s and continued into the next decade with the construction of Cincinnati Union Terminal , the United States Courthouse and Post Office , the Cincinnati Subway , and

7973-591: The business to EQT AB . The sale completed later in 2021. In October 2022, Transdev agreed terms to purchase First Transit. The transaction was completed on March 7, 2023, with all operations rebranded as Transdev and the First Transit brand retired. First Transit had more than 19,000 employees and operated and maintains more than 49,000 vehicles and pieces of equipment. [REDACTED] Media related to First Transit at Wikimedia Commons Cincinnati Cincinnati ( / ˌ s ɪ n s ɪ ˈ n æ t i / SIN -si- NAT -ee ; nicknamed Cincy )

8092-468: The cities of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , and Cairo, Illinois . The downtown lies near the mouth of the Licking , a confluence where the first settlement occurred. Metro Cincinnati spans southern Ohio, southeastern Indiana, and northern Kentucky; the census bureau has measured the city proper at 79.54 square miles (206.01 km ), of which 77.94 square miles (201.86 km ) are land and 1.60 square miles (4.14 km ) are water. The city spreads over

8211-410: The city as the Queen City. Cincinnati's location, on the border between the free state of Ohio and the slave state of Kentucky , made it a prominent location for slaves to escape the slave-owning south. Many prominent abolitionists also called Cincinnati their home during this period, and made it a popular stop on the Underground Railroad . In 2004, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

8330-415: The city built protective flood walls . After World War II , Cincinnati unveiled a master plan for urban renewal that resulted in modernization of the inner city. During the 1950s, Cincinnati's population peaked at 509,998. Since the 1950s, $ 250 million has been spent on improving neighborhoods, building clean and safe low- and moderate-income housing, providing jobs and stimulating economic growth. At

8449-493: The city government does own several properties outside the corporation limits: French Park in Amberley Village and the disused runway at the former Blue Ash Airport in Blue Ash . Cincinnati has many landmarks across its area. Some of these landmarks are recognized nationwide, others are more recognized among locals. These landmarks include: Union Terminal , Carew Tower , Great American Tower , Fountain Square , Washington Park , and Great American Ballpark . Cincinnati

8568-504: The city itself. Subsequently, substantial transformations unfolded, particularly in the process of gentrification within the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. In 2018, MLS announced the inclusion of FC Cincinnati , becoming the city's third professional sports team. TQL Stadium , located on Cincinnati's west end, was subsequently constructed and opened its doors in 2021. Notably, the 2020 census revealed that Cincinnati had witnessed

8687-500: The city was 48.4% male and 51.6% female. As of the 2022 census estimates , the Cincinnati metropolitan area had a population of 2,265,051, making it the 30th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the country. It includes the Ohio counties of Hamilton , Butler , Warren , Clermont , Clinton , and Brown , as well as the Kentucky counties of Boone , Bracken , Campbell , Gallatin , Grant , Kenton , and Pendleton , and

8806-446: The city was 50.3% White , 41.4% African American , 0.1% Native American , 2.2% Asian , 0.1% Pacific Islander , 1.2% from other races , and 4.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.2% of the population. There were 138,696 households, of which 25.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 23.2% were married couples living together, 19.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.4% had

8925-747: The city's dockyards, and in 1805 Evans convinced them to contract with him for a steam-powered dredge, which he called the Oruktor Amphibolos . It was built but was only marginally successful. Evans's high-pressure steam engine had a much higher power-to-weight ratio , making it practical to apply it in locomotives and steamboats. Evans became so depressed with the poor protection that the US patent law gave inventors that he eventually took all his engineering drawings and invention ideas and destroyed them to prevent his children wasting their time in court fighting patent infringements. Robert Fulton constructed

9044-549: The city, including restaurant names such as Blue Chip Cookies , and are not commonly used by locals in casual conversation, with the exception of Cincy, which is often used to refer to the city in absentia. "The City of Seven Hills" stems from the June 1853 edition of the West American Review , "Article III—Cincinnati: Its Relations to the West and South", which described and named seven specific hills. The hills form

9163-580: The city, with many retaining their former names, such as Walnut Hills and Mount Auburn . Westwood is the city's most populous neighborhood, with other significant neighborhoods including CUF (home to the University of Cincinnati ) and Price Hill . Downtown Cincinnati is the city's central business district and contains a number of neighborhoods in the flat land between the Ohio River and uptown. These neighborhoods include Over-the-Rhine , Pendleton , Queensgate , and West End . Over-the-Rhine

9282-611: The city: And this Song of the Vine, This greeting of mine, The winds and the birds shall deliver, To the Queen of the West, In her garlands dressed, On the banks of the Beautiful River. For many years, Cincinnati was also known as "Porkopolis"; this nickname came from the city's large pork interests. Newer nicknames such as "The 'Nati" are emerging and are attempted to be used in different cultural contexts. For example,

9401-541: The dawn of the 2000s, Cincinnati's population stood at 331,285. The construction of Paul Brown Stadium (currently known as Paycor Stadium) in the year 2000 resulted from a sales tax increase in Hamilton County , as did the commencement of construction for Great American Ball Park , which later opened its doors in 2003. The city experienced the 2001 Cincinnati riots , causing an estimated $ 3.6 million in damage to businesses and $ 1.5–2 million in damage to

9520-507: The design of boilers and engine components so that they could withstand internal pressure, although boiler explosions were common due to lack of instrumentation like pressure gauges. Attempts at making high-pressure engines had to wait until the expiration of the Boulton and Watt patent in 1800. Shortly thereafter high-pressure engines by Richard Trevithick and Oliver Evans were introduced. The compound steam engine became widespread in

9639-640: The first in a continuous (still in commercial passenger operation as of 2007 ) line of river steamboats left the dock at Pittsburgh to steam down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and on to New Orleans. In 1817 a consortium in Sackets Harbor, New York , funded the construction of the first US steamboat, Ontario , to run on Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes, beginning the growth of lake commercial and passenger traffic . In his book Life on

9758-456: The first use of marine steam propulsion in scheduled regular passenger transport service. Oliver Evans (1755–1819) was a Philadelphian inventor born in Newport, Delaware , to a family of Welsh settlers. He designed an improved high-pressure steam engine in 1801 but did not build it (patented 1804). The Philadelphia Board of Health was concerned with the problem of dredging and cleaning

9877-700: The gold fields. Steam-powered tugboats and towboats started working in the San Francisco Bay soon after this to expedite shipping in and out of the bay. As the passenger, mail and high value freight business to and from California boomed more and more paddle steamers were brought into service—eleven by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company alone. The trip to and from California via Panama and paddle wheeled steamers could be done, if there were no waits for shipping, in about 40 days—over 100 days less than by wagon or 160 days less than

9996-438: The introduction of steamboats on the Ohio River opened up the city's trade to more rapid shipping, and the city established commercial ties with St. Louis, Missouri , and New Orleans downriver. Cincinnati was incorporated as a city on March 1, 1819. Exporting pork products and hay, it became a center of pork processing in the region. From 1810 to 1830, the city's population nearly tripled, from 9,642 to 24,831. Construction on

10115-482: The late 1800s, Cincinnati was commonly referred to as the " Paris of America" due mainly to ambitious architectural projects such as the Music Hall , Cincinnatian Hotel , and Roebling Bridge . Cincinnati has the twenty-eighth largest economy in the United States and the fifth largest in the Midwest , home to several Fortune 500 companies including Kroger , Procter & Gamble , and Fifth Third Bank . It

10234-418: The late 19th century. Compounding uses exhaust steam from a high pressure cylinder to a lower pressure cylinder and greatly improves efficiency. With compound engines it was possible for trans ocean steamers to carry less coal than freight. Compound steam engine powered ships enabled a great increase in international trade. The most efficient steam engine used for marine propulsion is the steam turbine . It

10353-535: The loads and strains imposed by the paddle wheels when they encountered rough water. The first paddle-steamer to make a long ocean voyage was the 320-ton 98-foot-long (30 m) SS  Savannah , built in 1819 expressly for packet ship mail and passenger service to and from Liverpool , England. On 22 May 1819, the watch on the Savannah sighted Ireland after 23 days at sea. The Allaire Iron Works of New York supplied Savannah's 's engine cylinder , while

10472-474: The local Keep America Beautiful affiliate, Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, introduced the catchphrase "Don't Trash the 'Nati" in 1998 as part of a litter -prevention campaign. The city is undergoing significant changes due to new development and private investment. This includes buildings of the long-stalled Banks project that includes apartments, retail, restaurants, and offices, which will stretch from Great American Ball Park to Paycor Stadium . Phase 1A

10591-547: The major rivers. Their success led to penetration deep into the continent, where Anson Northup in 1859 became first steamer to cross the Canada–US border on the Red River . They would also be involved in major political events, as when Louis Riel seized International at Fort Garry , or Gabriel Dumont was engaged by Northcote at Batoche . Steamboats were held in such high esteem that they could become state symbols;

10710-452: The next year. Miller then abandoned the project. The failed project of Patrick Miller caught the attention of Lord Dundas , Governor of the Forth and Clyde Canal Company, and at a meeting with the canal company's directors on 5 June 1800, they approved his proposals for the use of "a model of a boat by Captain Schank to be worked by a steam engine by Mr Symington" on the canal. The boat

10829-462: The piston back and forth. The rotary steam engine simplified the mechanism required to turn a paddle wheel to propel a boat. Despite the improved efficiency and rotary motion, the power-to-weight ratio of Boulton and Watt steam engine was still low. The high-pressure steam engine was the development that made the steamboat practical. It had a high power-to-weight ratio and was fuel efficient. High pressure engines were made possible by improvements in

10948-569: The population has begun recovering: the 2020 census reports a population of 309,317, representing a 4.2% increase from 296,943 in 2010. This marked the first increase in population recorded since the 1950 Census, reversing a 60-year trend of population decline. At the 2020 census, there were 309,317 people, 138,696 households, and 62,319 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,809.9 inhabitants per square mile (1,471.0/km ). There were 161,095 housing units at an average density of 2,066.9 per square mile (798.0/km ). The racial makeup of

11067-540: The rest of the engine components and running gear were manufactured by the Speedwell Ironworks of New Jersey . The 90-horsepower (67 kW) low-pressure engine was of the inclined direct-acting type, with a single 40-inch-diameter (100 cm) cylinder and a 5-foot (1.5 m) stroke. Savannah 's engine and machinery were unusually large for their time. The ship's wrought-iron paddlewheels were 16 feet in diameter with eight buckets per wheel. For fuel,

11186-578: The same quantity of fuel and longer distances could be traveled. A steamship built in 1855 required about 40% of its available cargo space to store enough coal to cross the Atlantic, but by the 1860s, transatlantic steamship services became cost-effective and steamships began to dominate these routes. By the 1870s, particularly in conjunction with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, South Asia became economically accessible for steamships from Europe. By

11305-467: The screw propeller had been invented and was slowly being introduced as iron increasingly was used in ship construction and the stress introduced by propellers could be compensated for. As the 1800s progressed the timber and lumber needed to make wooden ships got ever more expensive, and the iron plate needed for iron ship construction got much cheaper as the massive iron works at Merthyr Tydfil , Wales, for example, got ever more efficient. The propeller put

11424-451: The side or rear. River steamboats typically used rear-mounted paddles and had flat bottoms and shallow hulls designed to carry large loads on generally smooth and occasionally shallow rivers. Ocean-going paddle steamers typically used side-wheeled paddles and used narrower, deeper hulls designed to travel in the often stormy weather encountered at sea. The ship hull design was often based on the clipper ship design with extra bracing to support

11543-751: The summer of 1818 she was the first steamboat to travel round the North of Scotland to the East Coast. By 1826, steamboats were employed on a large number of inland and coastal shipping lines in the United Kingdom. Some of the latter crossed the Irish Sea , others crossed the English Channel to Calais or Boulogne-sur-Mer , or crossed the North Sea to Rotterdam. At the time, the General Steam Navigation Company

11662-616: The top of Mount Auburn that year.   In 1889, the Cincinnati streetcar system began converting its horse-drawn cars to electric streetcars . The Second Annual Meeting of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was held in Cincinnati in November 1875. In 1880, the city government completed the Cincinnati Southern Railway to Chattanooga, Tennessee . It was the only municipally-owned interstate railway in

11781-551: The union victory at Vicksburg reopened the river on 4 July 1863. The triumph of Eads ironclads, and Farragut's seizure of New Orleans, secured the river for the Union North. Although Union forces gained control of Mississippi River tributaries, travel there was still subject to interdiction by the Confederates. The Ambush of the steamboat J. R. Williams , which was carrying supplies from Fort Smith to Fort Gibson along

11900-414: The vessel carried 75 short tons (68 t) of coal and 25 cords (91  m ) of wood. The SS Savannah was too small to carry much fuel, and the engine was intended only for use in calm weather and to get in and out of harbors. Under favorable winds the sails alone were able to provide a speed of at least four knots. The Savannah was judged not a commercial success, and its engine was removed and it

12019-494: The warmer months, and tornadoes , while infrequent, are not unknown, with such events striking the Metro Cincinnati area most recently in 1974, 1999, 2012, and 2017. See or edit raw graph data . In 1950, Cincinnati reached its peak population of 503,998; thereafter, it lost population in every census count from 1960 to 2010. In the late 20th century, industrial restructuring caused a loss of jobs. More recently,

12138-573: The yearly 42.5 inches (1,080 mm) of precipitation, with rainfall peaking in spring. Extremes range from −25 °F (−32 °C) on January 18, 1977, up to 108 °F (42 °C) on July 21 and 22, 1934. While snow in Cincinnati is not as intense as many of the cities located closer to the Great Lakes, there have been notable cases of severe snowfall, including the Great Blizzard of 1978 , and more notable snowstorms in 1994, 1999 , 2007 , and 2021 . Severe thunderstorms are common in

12257-529: Was acquired by Ryder in 1986. First Transit was formed in 1999 when FirstGroup acquired Ryder. In 2007, First Transit acquired Cognisa, a company specializing in shuttle services. Also in 2007, FirstGroup acquired Laidlaw , and merged Laidlaw's transit operations with First Transit. In April 2016, First Transit commenced operating a five-year contract for Hinjewadi Techzone IT Park in India. In October 2016, First Transit commenced its first rail contract operating

12376-423: Was also important. The first established Methodist class in the Northwest Territory came 1797 to nearby Milford . By 1879, there were 162 documented church edifices in the city. For this reason, from the beginning, Protestantism has played a formative role in the Cincinnati ethos. Christ Church Cathedral continues the legacy of the early Anglican leaders of Cincinnati, noted by historical associations as being

12495-526: Was at the time president of the Society, made up of Continental Army officers of the Revolutionary War. The club was named for Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus , a dictator in the early Roman Republic who saved Rome from a crisis and then retired to farming because he did not want to remain in power, becoming a symbol of Roman civic virtue . Cincinnati began in 1788 when Mathias Denman, Colonel Robert Patterson , and Israel Ludlow landed at

12614-526: Was built by Alexander Hart at Grangemouth to Symington's design with a vertical cylinder engine and crosshead transmitting power to a crank driving the paddlewheels. Trials on the River Carron in June 1801 were successful and included towing sloops from the river Forth up the Carron and thence along the Forth and Clyde Canal . In 1801, Symington patented a horizontal steam engine directly linked to

12733-465: Was built in 1807, North River Steamboat (later known as Clermont ), which carried passengers between New York City and Albany, New York . Clermont was able to make the 150-mile (240 km) trip in 32 hours. The steamboat was powered by a Boulton and Watt engine and was capable of long-distance travel. It was the first commercially successful steamboat, transporting passengers along the Hudson River . In 1807 Robert L. Stevens began operation of

12852-666: Was chartered. Construction began soon after, to connect Cincinnati with the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, and provide access to the ports of the Sandusky Bay on Lake Erie . During the time, employers struggled to hire enough people to fill positions. The city had a labor shortage until large waves of immigration by Irish and Germans in the late 1840s. The city grew rapidly over the next two decades, reaching 115,000 people by 1850. During this period of rapid expansion and prominence, residents of Cincinnati began referring to

12971-584: Was completed along Freedom Way in Downtown, honoring the city's involvement in the Underground Railroad. In 1859, Cincinnati laid out six streetcar lines; the cars were pulled by horses and the lines made it easier for people to get around the city. By 1872, Cincinnatians could travel on the streetcars within the city and transfer to rail cars for travel to the hill communities. The Cincinnati Inclined Plane Company began transporting people to

13090-550: Was converted back to a regular sailing ship. By 1848 steamboats built by both United States and British shipbuilders were already in use for mail and passenger service across the Atlantic Ocean—a 3,000 miles (4,800 km) journey. Since paddle steamers typically required from 5 to 16 short tons (4.5 to 14.5 t) of coal per day to keep their engines running, they were more expensive to run. Initially, nearly all seagoing steamboats were equipped with mast and sails to supplement

13209-464: Was developed near the end of the 19th century and was used throughout the 20th century. An apocryphal story from 1851 attributes the earliest steamboat to Denis Papin for a boat he built in 1705. Papin was an early innovator in steam power and the inventor of the steam digester , the first pressure cooker , which played an important role in James Watt 's steam experiments. However, Papin's boat

13328-484: Was engineered as a twin-screw-driven steamboat in juxtaposition to Clermont ' s Boulton and Watt engine. The design was a modification of Stevens' prior paddle steamer Phoenix , the first steamship to successfully navigate the open ocean in its route from Hoboken to Philadelphia. In 1812, Henry Bell's PS Comet was inaugurated. The steamboat was the first commercial passenger service in Europe and sailed along

13447-837: Was fought over two days with steam-powered ironclad warships , 8–9 March 1862. The battle occurred in Hampton Roads , a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond Rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk . The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederate States of America to break the Union Naval blockade, which had cut off Virginia from all international trade. The Civil War in

13566-631: Was not before 1850 that enough paddle wheel steamers were available in the Atlantic and Pacific routes to establish regularly scheduled journeys. Other steamships soon followed, and by late 1849, paddle wheel steamships like the SS McKim (1848) were carrying miners and their supplies the 125 miles (201 km) trip from San Francisco up the extensive Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta to Stockton, California , Marysville, California , Sacramento , etc. to get about 125 miles (201 km) closer to

13685-556: Was not steam-powered but powered by hand-cranked paddles. A steamboat was described and patented by English physician John Allen in 1729. In 1736, Jonathan Hulls was granted a patent in England for a Newcomen engine-powered steamboat (using a pulley instead of a beam, and a pawl and ratchet to obtain rotary motion), but it was the improvement in steam engines by James Watt that made the concept feasible. William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania , having learned of Watt's engine on

13804-488: Was one of the biggest companies that operated steamboats in short-sea shipping . The Talbot operated by GSNC on the London - Calais line had a tonnage of 156 and 60 hp. Steamships required carrying fuel (coal) at the expense of the regular payload. For this reason for some time sailships remained more economically viable for long voyages. However, as the steam engine technology improved, more power could be generated by

13923-578: Was present at the trials of the Charlotte Dundas and was intrigued by the potential of the steamboat. While working in France, he corresponded with and was helped by the Scottish engineer Henry Bell , who may have given him the first model of his working steamboat. Fulton designed his own steamboat, which sailed along the River Seine in 1803. Fulton later obtained a Boulton and Watt steam engine, shipped to America, where his first proper steamship

14042-420: Was the first SAV operation open to the public and shuttled passengers to Globe Life Park and AT&T Stadium . In 2017, First Transit signed an agreement as the exclusive transit operator partner at GoMentum Station . GoMentum Station is the largest of 10 federally funded secure testing facilities for autonomous and connected vehicle technology in the U.S. In April 2021, FirstGroup agreed terms were to sell

14161-411: Was twice destroyed; and in 1842. More than 1,000 black people abandoned the city after the 1829 riots. Black people in Philadelphia and other major cities raised money to help the refugees recover from the destruction. By 1842 black people had become better established in the city; they defended themselves and their property in the riot, and worked politically as well. Steamboats A steamboat

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