DODGERS CITY

Cincinnati, known as 'The Queen of the West', is a city in Southwestern Ohio on the Ohio River and is the county seat of Hamilton County. There is also another city named Cincinnati, which is located in Appanoose County, Iowa, but the the two are different. One of the cities named Cincinnati is actually more of a town due to is population, as of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 428 people, while 'The Queen of the West' as it has come to be famously known as is home to a population of 331,285 making it the third largest city in Ohio. It has a much larger metropolitan area covering parts of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, with nearly two million residents. How did a place once described by the President to be William Henry Harrison as 'the most debauched place I ever saw' come to be known as the 'Queen City of the West'? No less a personage than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow dubbed it thus, and it was a hard-won handle. Residents transformed Cincinnati from the pork-packing capital of the country into a city consistently rated as one of the most livable in the USA. Nothing like 'Porkopolis' for a nickname to motivate the citizenry toward a brighter day. While other big American cities razed their antiquated downtowns, Cincinnati has long enjoyed a thriving, well-preserved central business district. Cincinnati was founded in 1788 near the site of Fort Washington. The Native American presence in the area dates back some 2700 years. Europeans began settling the area in the late 18th century, when the population squeeze on the Atlantic seaboard sent thousands down the Ohio River. Cincinnati began life as a fort in 1789, though it soon blossomed as a commercial town. It was first named "Losantiville" by Israel Ludlow, a name formed from a hodgepodge of four different languages meaning "The city opposite the mouth of the Licking River." "Ville" is French for "city," "anti" is Greek for "opposite," "os" is Latin for "mouth," and "L" was all that was included of "Licking River." In 1790, Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory, changed the name of the settlement to "Cincinnati" in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which he was president. The Society honored General George Washington, who was considered a latter day Cincinnatus - the Roman general who saved his city, then retired from power to his farm. To this day, Cincinnati in particular, and Ohio in general, are home to a disproportionately large number of descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers who were granted lands in the state. In 1802, Cincinnati was chartered as a village, and in 1819 it was incorporated as a city. The introduction of steam navigation on the Ohio River in 1811 and the completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal in 1832 helped the city grow to 115,000 citizens by 1850. The nickname "Porkopolis" was coined around 1835, when Cincinnati was the country's chief hog packing center, and herds of pigs traveled the streets. Called the "Queen of the West" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (although this nickname was first used by a local newspaper in 1819), Cincinnati was an important stop on the Underground Railroad, which helped slaves escape from the South. Some of Cincinnati's great attractions include the city zoo, which is internationally known for its collection of endangered species, though it has the dubious distinction of having been the last place a passenger pigeon or Carolina parakeet ever drew breath. It also has various other animals like the gorillas and white tigers. Other attractions include Mount Adams, Museum Center and University of Cincinnati. Cincinnati is home to sport teams like the Cincinnati Reds, Major League Baseball, the Cincinnati Bengal's, National Football League, the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, American Hockey League, the Cincinnati Bearcats, University of Cincinnati and the Xavier Musketeers, Xavier University, as well as some major corporations such as Procter & Gamble, Kroger, Federated Department Stores (owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's), and the US Playing Card Company.