Description: The Cincinnati City Hall building was designed by Samuel Hannaford in a Romanesque style that incorporated massive stones, arches and a tower. The building was dedicated on May 13, 1893 to large fanfare from the city. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B02F14_023_1
Subjects: City halls--United States; Architecture--Ohio; Government buildings; Ohio Government; ; Cincinnati--Buildings, structures, etc.; Hannaford, Samuel, 1835-1911
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "E. Fifth St., New Post Office" View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F02_24_01
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio); Post office buildings--Cincinnati (Ohio); Architecture--Ohio--Pictorial works.
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is a view of downtown Cincinnati taken from the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F01_039_1
Subjects: Street photography; Cincinnati (Ohio); Buildings--Cincinnati (Ohio); Bridges--Ohio River
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows an aerial view of Cincinnati, Ohio, looking from the south bank of the Ohio River to the business section and edge of the Basin region beyond. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F01_043_1
Subjects: Aerial photography; Cincinnati (Ohio); Buildings--Cincinnati (Ohio); Works Progress Administration; Ohio Federal Writers' Project
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "View of downtown Cincinnati taken from L&N bridge." The L&N Bridge opened in 1872 as the first Ohio River railroad crossing at Cincinnati. It is the region's most eccentric bridge, with remnants of a half-dozen major modifications still visible today. Recently in 2002 it was heavily modified once again, painted purple, and reopened in 2003 as a pedestrian-only bridge. Residents typically refer to it as the 'Purple People Bridge'. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F01_044_1
Subjects: Street photography; Bridges--Ohio River; Buildings--Cincinnati (Ohio); Cincinnati (Ohio)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "View of Cincinnati Ohio." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F01_050_1
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio); Street photography; Buildings--Cincinnati (Ohio)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "Skyline of Cincinnati." This photograph was taken from across the Ohio River in Kentucky. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F01_052_1
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio); Street photography; Buildings--Cincinnati (Ohio); Ohio River
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "View of Cincinnati from Covington, Kentucky." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F01_054_1
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio); Street photography; Buildings--Cincinnati (Ohio); Ohio River
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "View of Cinci. O. Sycamore Hill Sept. 1937." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F02_19_01
Subjects: Street photography; Cincinnati (Ohio); Buildings--Cincinnati (Ohio)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption reads "Opening in back porch of house, located at 408 East Sixth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, where slaves are said to have been stored awaiting shipment during slavery days. Photo by Writers' Projects. District #2. 11-12-36." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped runaway slaves escape to freedom in Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere outside of the United States. White and African-American "conductors" served as guides from place to place for runaway slaves. It remains unclear when the Underground Railroad began, but members of the Society of Friends, who were also known as the Quakers, were actively assisting runaway slaves as early as the 1780s. Some people living in Ohio began to help runaways by the 1810s. Several prominent abolitionists were from Ohio and they played a vital role in the Underground Railroad. Beginning in the late 1840s, Levi Coffin, a resident of Cincinnati, helped more than three thousand slaves escape from their masters and gain their freedom in Canada. Coffin's work caused his fellow abolitionists to nickname him the "president of the Underground Railroad." In Ripley, Presbyterian minister John Rankin served as a conductor and opened his home to African Americans seeking freedom. His home stood on a three hundred-foot high hill that overlooked the Ohio River. Rankin would signal runaway slaves in Kentucky with a lantern and let them know when it was safe for them to cross the Ohio River. He provided the runaways with shelter and kept them hidden until it was safe to travel further north. John Parker, Rankin's neighbor, brought hundreds of runaway slaves across the Ohio River in a boat. These men and many other people risked their lives to assist African Americans in their flight to freedom. Once they arrived in Ohio, some runaway slaves who decided to remain in the state. They usually settled in neighborhoods with other African Americans. Many runaway slaves continued on to Canada. At least eight cities, including Ashtabula, Painesville, Cleveland, Sandusky, Toledo, Huron, Lorain, and Conneaut, along Lake Erie served as starting points to transport the former slaves to freedom in Canada. Historian Wilbur Siebert believes approximately three thousand miles of Underground Railroad trails existed in Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F05_020_001
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--History; Underground Railroad--Ohio
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads "Suburban section, Cincinnati, Ohio" The photograph depicts a row of nearly identical two story houses with front porches and low stone fences, along a street in a Cincinnati suburb. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F05_022_001
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--Suburbs
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption reads "Number 408 East Sixth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. A slave station of the Underground Railway System, reputed to be 115 years old. Photo by Writers' Projects. District #12." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped runaway slaves escape to freedom in Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere outside of the United States. White and African-American "conductors" served as guides from place to place for runaway slaves. It remains unclear when the Underground Railroad began, but members of the Society of Friends, who were also known as the Quakers, were actively assisting runaway slaves as early as the 1780s. Some people living in Ohio began to help runaways by the 1810s. Several prominent abolitionists were from Ohio and they played a vital role in the Underground Railroad. Beginning in the late 1840s, Levi Coffin, a resident of Cincinnati, helped more than three thousand slaves escape from their masters and gain their freedom in Canada. Coffin's work caused his fellow abolitionists to nickname him the "president of the Underground Railroad." In Ripley, Presbyterian minister John Rankin served as a conductor and opened his home to African Americans seeking freedom. His home stood on a three hundred-foot high hill that overlooked the Ohio River. Rankin would signal runaway slaves in Kentucky with a lantern and let them know when it was safe for them to cross the Ohio River. He provided the runaways with shelter and kept them hidden until it was safe to travel further north. John Parker, Rankin's neighbor, brought hundreds of runaway slaves across the Ohio River in a boat. These men and many other people risked their lives to assist African Americans in their flight to freedom. Once they arrived in Ohio, some runaway slaves who decided to remain in the state. They usually settled in neighborhoods with other African Americans. Many runaway slaves continued on to Canada. At least eight cities, including Ashtabula, Painesville, Cleveland, Sandusky, Toledo, Huron, Lorain, and Conneaut, along Lake Erie served as starting points to transport the former slaves to freedom in Canada. Historian Wilbur Siebert believes approximately three thousand miles of Underground Railroad trails existed in Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F04_001_001
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Cincinnati (Ohio)--History; Underground Railroad--Ohio
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)