Description: This is a print of the tombstone of Major Benjamin Stites. The inscription reads "Major Benj. Stites. Born at Scotch Plains, New Jersey. 1734. Died Aug 30, 1804 In Columbia now part of Cincinnati. A Revolutionary Soldier. Was a pioneer in this section having brought the first boat load of pioneers down the Ohio River. Landed on the bank near the this spot and founded the town of Columbia on Nov. 18, 1788. It was Major Benj. Stites that induced Col. John Cleves Symmes to purchase land between the two Miami Rivers. Major Benj. Stites is entitled to the credit of being the originator of the settlement of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Erected Nov. 18, 1923". Benjamin Stites' gravestone is in the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery at 333 Wilmer Avenue in Cincinnati. Stites brought the first boatload of pioneers down the Ohio River. They landed near this site on November 18, 1788, and founded the town of Columbia. 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_B09F10_047_1
Subjects: Cemeteries--Ohio--Hamilton County; Tombstones; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)