Late in the 18th-century, people began to head west in America in search of new frontiers and new lives. Many of them, including immigrants, found their way down the Ohio River to Cincinnati, Ohio, the “Queen City of the West.” In Oldest Cincinnati, follow their journey and learn the story of the city as you’ve never heard it before. Read about a ferry that helped early settlers cross the Ohio River to Augusta, Kentucky, began in 1798 and that’s still in business today. Likewise, a stagecoach inn that began providing shelter for early travelers opened in Lebanon, Ohio, in 1803 continues welcoming guests to this day. As one of the first settlements in the Northwest Territory, called “Losantiville” before it was dubbed Cincinnati, there are still many “firsts” and “oldests” to be found locally. The first museum—focused on natural history and science—was launched in 1818. It’s now located in Cincinnati’s oldest train station. In 1866 the oldest bridge across the Ohio River connected downtown Cincinnati to Covington, Kentucky. The oldest art museum west of the Allegheny Mountains opened in 1881. While the character of Cincinnati dramatically changed in the mid-19th century as German immigrants came in waves, the city would continue to boom culturally. They brewed beer, of course, but they also loved music, launching the oldest choral music festival in the Western Hemisphere. Local historian and author Rick Pender goes to great lengths to research and pay homage to more than two centuries of Cincinnati’s oldests, firsts, and finests. Read about all of these and more in this informative book that brings history and people to life.

Bicycling Through Paradise is a collection of twenty historically themed cycling tours broken into 10-mile segments centered around Cincinnati, Ohio. Written by two longtime cyclists--one a professor of history and one an architect--the book is an affectionate, intimate, and provocative reading of the local landscape and history from the perspectives of cycling and Cincinnati enthusiasts. Tours, navigated by Smythe and Hanlon, take cyclers past Native American sites, early settler homesteads, and locations made know through recent Ohio change-makers as navigated by the authors. With extensive details on routes and sites along the way, tours between 20 and 80 miles in length are designed for all levels of cyclists, and even the armchair explorer. Riders and readers will visit towns called Edenton, Loveland, Felicity, and Utopia. Along the journey, they'll encounter an abandoned Shaker village near the Whitewater Forest and a tiny dairy house called "Harmony Hill," the oldest standing structure in Clermont County, Ohio. They'll also take in the view from the top of a 2,000-year-old, 75-foot tall, conical Indian mound at Miamisburg. Riders can follow the Little Miami Scenic Trail and take a detour to a castle on the banks of the Little Miami River. Other sights include a full-scale replica of the tomb of Jesus in Northern Kentucky and the small pleasures of public parks, covered bridges, tree-lined streets, riverside travel, and one-room schoolhouses. And if all this isn't exactly Paradise, well, it's pretty close.

Cincinnati is the home to food inventions, rivalries and restaurants that stand the test of time. The Queen City boasts the invention of both Cincinnati chili and goetta. Mecklenburg Gardens, Arnold's, Izzy's and Scotti's have all operated for over a century. The French restaurant Maisonette was the epitome of fine dining, and Wong Yie's Famous Restaurant took Chinese cuisine from street fare to an exotic experience. Busken Bakery and Frisch's vied for Cincinnati pumpkin pie supremacy by taking digs at each other through billboards and redecorating a Big Boy statue in Busken attire. Author Dann Woellert explores the most iconic eateries, the German influence on Queen City food and what makes dining so unique in Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Fire Department's journey to distinction as the nation's first professional fire department began in the early 1800s, soon after Losantiville (later renamed Cincinnati) was founded. The department grew steadily from bucket brigade to volunteer corps; in 1853, an ordinance passed by Cincinnati City Council established the nation's first organized, paid fire department. Cincinnati provided the pattern for fire departments across the United States for the next 50 years and was the first to use successful horse-drawn steam engines to fight fires. The city of Cincinnati was home to the Ahrens-Fox manufacturing company, one of the most famous names in firefighting apparatus in the 1900s, placing the department on the cutting edge. Today the Cincinnati Fire Department continues its tradition as one of the premier urban firefighting systems. For more than 150 years, members have served their city and beyond.

Get to Know the Vibrant and Historic Neighborhoods of Cincinnati, Ohio! Grab your walking shoes, and become an urban adventurer. Danny Korman and Katie Meyer guide you through 35 unique walking tours in this comprehensive guidebook. From historic railroad suburbs to quaint river towns, go beyond the obvious with tours that showcase hidden streets, architectural masterpieces, and diverse cultures. Enjoy the fountains, gardens, and sounds of sports at Smale Riverfront Park. Cross from Ohio to Kentucky and back again along the wondrous Purple People Bridge. Experience colorful neighborhoods such as Over-the-Rhine and Mount Adams. Each self-guided tour includes full-color photographs, a detailed map, and need-to-know details like distance, difficulty, and more. Route summaries make each walk easy to follow, and a “Points of Interest” section lists the highlights of every tour. The walks’ commentaries include such topics as neighborhood history, local culture, and architecture, plus tips on where to dine, have a drink, and shop. The 35 self-guided tours lead you through one of the country’s best walking cities. So whether you’re looking for a short stroll or a full day of entertainment, you’ll get it by Walking Cincinnat.

"The first Masonic lodge in Cincinnati was chartered in 1791, less than three years after the town's founding. Many prominent Cincinnatians have devoted their time, money and effort to the fraternity. Many have also found knowledge, fulfillment and camaraderie within the main and appendant bodies of the brotherhood. This book offers an introduction to the order's members, buildings and related organizations in southwest Ohio. The contributions of the Queen City's share of the world's oldest and largest fraternity are revealed through images from lodges and other bodies, buildings, individuals and numerous other sources."--Page [4] of cover.

Just one year after a settlement was established on the Ohio River in 1788 and one year before its name was changed from Losantiville to Cincinnati, an Irish immigrant brought his family to the cabins located there. Shortly thereafter, Francis Kennedy established a ferry service to support his wife and children, and more Irishmen followed over the next few decades. It was a diverse group that included Methodists, Presbyterians, Quakers, and Catholics who were manufacturers, stevedores, and merchants. The Irish in Cincinnati have always contributed to the culture, politics, and business life of the city. Their traditional strengths are found in churches, schools, and fraternal organizations like the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. There is also richness in their ethnic heritage that includes art, dance, music, literature, and festivals involving everything from the annual mock theft of the St. Patrick statue in Mt. Adams, the St. Patrick's Day parade, and the various ceili throughout the year to the events at the Cincinnati Irish Heritage Center. Using rare and evocative images, Irish Cincinnati embraces 200 years of their lives in the Queen City.

"Cincinnati loves goetta. Since its arrival with nineteenth-century Germanic immigrants, this humble dish has evolved from peasant staple to ubiquitous delicacy. Once upon a time, Cincinnatians found goetta mostly in neighborhood butcher shops, in Over-the-Rhine's so-called Goetta Alley and through Sander Packing, its first commercial producer. Now hungry locals scarf it down at diners and white-linen establishments alike and in everything from egg rolls to Reuben sandwiches. Tracing goetta from its Germanic origins and its first stop in Greater Cincinnati to its largest commercial producers, Queen City Sausage and Gliers, food etymologist and "Goettevangelist" Dann Woellert explores goetta's history in the city that made it regionally famous"--Back cover.

So many colorful stories are lost to time. The last passenger pigeon on earth, Martha, died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. The deadliest maritime disaster in American history was the explosion of the steamboat Sultana, built in the Queen City. Just outside the city, a young Annie Oakley beat her future husband in a shooting contest. The nation's first train robbery occurred in the Cincinnati area, and some clever victims hid jewelry in their hair and bodices. From the Black Brigade's role in protecting the city against Confederate siege to the original 1937 Cincinnati Bengals, author Jeff Suess reveals the triumphs and tribulations of the first major American city founded after the American Revolution.

A “superbly written, richly illustrated” guide to the animals who lived 450 million years ago—in the fossil-rich area where Cincinnati, Ohio now stands (Rocks & Minerals). The region around Cincinnati, Ohio, is known throughout the world for the abundant and beautiful fossils found in limestones and shales that were deposited as sediments on the sea floor during the Ordovician Period, about 450 million years ago—some 250 million years before the dinosaurs lived. In Ordovician time, the shallow sea that covered much of what is now the North American continent teemed with marine life. The Cincinnati area has yielded some of the world’s most abundant and best-preserved fossils of invertebrate animals such as trilobites, bryozoans, brachiopods, molluscs, echinoderms, and graptolites. So famous are the Ordovician fossils and rocks of the Cincinnati region that geologists use the term “Cincinnatian” for strata of the same age all over North America. This book synthesizes more than 150 years of research on this fossil treasure-trove, describing and illustrating the fossils, the life habits of the animals represented, their communities, and living relatives, as well as the nature of the rock strata in which they are found and the environmental conditions of the ancient sea. “A fascinating glimpse of a long-extinct ecosystem.” —Choice