Part 144

The chief park of Cincinnati is Eden Park, which lies on the hills to the east and affords fine views of the city and river. It contains the Art Museum, a storage reservoir of the City Water Works, and the Water Tower. The top of the last affords the best view of the city and its environs, the river, and the Kentucky Highlands.

The Art Museum is a handsome group of buildings on a hill-top, some in a Romanesque, others in a Grecian style. Adjacent is the Art Academy. Both are maintained by a private corporation.

There are more than two hundred and fifty churches, including a Roman Catholic cathedral; besides many handsome theaters, hotels, and public halls, hospitals and asylums, and schools.

The educational institutions are of the highest order. They include the University of Cincinnati, which has associated with it the Cincinnati Hospital and the Cincinnati Observatory, the Ohio and Miami Medical Colleges, St. Joseph’s and St. Xavier’s Jesuit Colleges, the Law Theological Seminary, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and the Ohio Mechanics’ Institute.

Cincinnati is a center of musical and art culture, and its decorative pottery and wood-carving have a national reputation. It has a large river and canal traffic, and many railways converge here.

Among the factories are clothing factories, foundries, machine shops, coach-works, works for the manufacture of furniture, tobacco, shoes, leather, etc. There is some boat-building and printing; and the slaughter-houses, stockyards, and grain elevators are very extensive.

Cincinnati was settled by white men in 1780, was incorporated as a city in 1819, and early attained the name of “the Queen City of the West;” as also that of “Porkopolis,” from its great trade in pork. Great riots occurred in 1884, and were with difficulty suppressed by the military.

=Cleveland, Ohio.= [The “Forest City;” named in honor of General Moses Cleveland of Connecticut, who had charge of the surveying of this region, acting as general agent for the Connecticut Land Company.]

It is the largest city of Ohio, and is situated on the south shore of Lake Erie, three hundred and fifty miles by rail east of Chicago. The city is built mainly upon a plain from sixty to one hundred and fifty feet above the lake, and five hundred and eighty feet above sea-level. It is divided into the East and West Sides by the tortuous valley of the Cuyahoga River, which is crossed by two high-level bridges--one mainly of stone, and one of iron, three thousand nine hundred and thirty-one feet long. The former, one thousand and seventy feet long, was completed in 1878 at a cost of two million two hundred thousand dollars. There are three other similar viaducts in different parts of the city.

The chief business street is Superior Avenue, a really fine and wide thoroughfare, the west end of which is lined with substantial business blocks, such as the Perry-Payne Building. A little farther on the street expands into Monumental Park or the Public Square, containing a Soldiers’ Monument and a statue of General Moses Cleveland. The new Federal Building, at the northeast corner of the square, contains the Post Office, the Custom House, and the Court House.

This building is the first of several public buildings comprised in the so-called “Group Plan,” the others being the City Hall, County Building, Public Library, and Union Station. A broad mall connects all these buildings.

At the northwest corner is the Old Court House, adjoined by the American Trust Building. On the north side of the square, at the corner of Ontario Street, is the handsome building of the Society for Savings, established in 1849, and now having deposits of upwards of fifty million dollars. Adjacent is the Chamber of Commerce, containing a handsome auditorium, with a library and reading room. In Superior Avenue, beyond the Federal Building, is the massive City Hall, which is adjoined by the temporary building of the Public Library. A little to the north of this point is the huge Central Armory.

Euclid Avenue, which begins at the southeast angle of the Public Square, is, at its east end, also an important artery of business, and farther out becomes one of the most beautiful residence streets in America, with each of its handsome houses surrounded by pleasant grounds and shady trees. At the northeast corner of the Square and Euclid Avenue is the Williamson Building; a little farther on, also on the north side of the Avenue, is the handsome First National Bank; on the right is the tall, narrow building of the Guardian Savings & Trust Co. To the left is the Arcade, four hundred feet long, one hundred and eighty feet wide, and one hundred and forty-four feet high, with a fine five-balconied interior, running through to Superior Avenue; and to the right is the Colonial Arcade, running through to Prospect Avenue. At the corner of East Sixth Street are the tall Garfield and New England Buildings. Nearly opposite the New England Building is the new Taylor Arcade, just east of which is the Hippodrome Building. Farther on, near east Ninth Street, is the Citizens Building, with the offices of the Citizens Savings & Trust Co., and at the corner is the Schofield Building. Directly opposite the latter, at the southeast corner of East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue, is the Cleveland Trust Co. At the corner of East Twelfth Street is the handsome Union Club. Farther on are several fine churches. About four and one-half miles from the Public Square Euclid Avenue reaches University Circle, with a statue of Senator M. A. Hanna by Saint-Gaudens, and one of Kossuth, erected by the Hungarians of Cleveland. To the right is the building of the Western Reserve Historical Society, to the left is the Elysium, an artificial ice skating rink. Just beyond the Circle is the entrance to Wade Park, which contains statues of Commodore Perry, and a Goethe-Schiller Monument. Opposite the Park are the buildings of the Western Reserve University (including Adelbert College, Woman’s College, Law, Medical, and Dental Schools, and a Library School, in addition to the graduate department) and the Case School of Applied Science. About one mile farther on the avenue passes Lake View Cemetery, containing the Garfield Memorial, the Rockefeller Monolith, the graves of Senator Hanna and John Hay, and the Wade Memorial Chapel.

Prospect Avenue, which runs parallel to Euclid Avenue on the south, is little inferior to it in beauty.

Cleveland’s rapid growth is due mainly to the fact that nowhere else can the rich iron ores of Lake Superior, the coal of Northern Ohio, and the limestone of the Lake Erie islands, be brought together so cheaply; its position at the north terminus of the Ohio Canal being very advantageous, and seven railways terminate here.

The chief industries of the city are the various manufactures of iron, including steel rails, forgings, wire, bridges, steel and iron ships, engines, boilers, nails, screws, sewing machines, agricultural implements and machinery of all kinds, the refining of petroleum, wood-work, and other manufactures of endless variety. Cleveland is the greatest iron ore receiving point in America, one of the largest lumber markets and extensively engaged in the automobile industry.

Cleveland was founded in 1796 by General Moses Cleveland, under the direction of the Connecticut Land Company. In 1814 Cleveland was incorporated as a village with less than one hundred inhabitants. The opening of the Ohio land served as an impetus to growth, and in 1836 Cleveland was incorporated as a city. Its great prosperity dates from its connection by rail with the cities of the East and the manufacturing establishments set up during the Civil War.

=Des Moines= (_dē-moin´_), =Iowa=. [This name was applied by the Indians to a place in the form of Moingona, which the French shortened into Moin, calling the river “rivière des Moins.” Finally, the name became associated with the Trappist monks, and the river by a spurious etymology was called “la rivière des moines,” “the river of the monks.”]

The capital and largest city of Iowa, it is an important manufacturing and commercial city, and noted especially for its extensive insurance interests and exceptional railroad facilities. It has many important buildings, among them the Capitol, built at a cost of three million dollars, the United States Government Building, the State Arsenal, a State Historical Building, completed in 1908 at a cost of five hundred thousand dollars, Drake University, Highland Park College, Des Moines College, and a state library. A new city hall at a cost of four hundred thousand dollars, and a great coliseum to seat ten thousand are recent additions.

The city has nearly one hundred churches of all denominations. Half a dozen bridges over the two rivers connect the different parts of the town, and there is a public park, with fine groves of forest trees.

Vast bituminous coal fields have contributed to the growth of the manufacturing industries. These include typewriters, wagons, sleighs, cotton and woolen goods, pottery, furniture, and electrical appliances. The city was one of the first to adopt the electric car system.

Des Moines was settled in 1846, incorporated as the town of Fort Des Moines, 1851, chartered as a city and became the capital of the State in 1857. In 1907 Des Moines adopted the commission form of government and attained wide celebrity as a leader in progressive municipal government.

=Denver, Colo.= [The “Queen City of the Plains”; named after James W. Denver, ex-Governor of Kansas, upon the consolidation in 1860 of the towns of St. Charles and Aurora.]

The capital of Colorado, it is situated on the South Platte River, nine hundred and twenty-two miles west of St. Louis. It lies on a level plain, five thousand one hundred and ninety-six feet above the sea, beyond which rise the snow-capped peaks and deep blue shoulders of the Rocky Mountains.

The Union Depot lies at the foot of Seventeenth Street, one of the chief business thoroughfares, and electric cars start from here for all parts of the city. Near the station is a large bronze Arch, bearing the work “Welcome.” The route up Seventeenth Street and Seventeenth Avenue by electric car to the City Park and then across to Colfax (or Fifteenth) Avenue and return traverses the chief features of the city. On the way out is passed the Equitable Building, the roof of which affords a superb view.

The Rocky Mountains are seen to the west in an unbroken line of about one hundred and seventy miles, extending from beyond Long’s Peak on the north to Pike’s Peak on the south. Among the loftiest of the intervening summits are Grey’s Peak, Torrey’s Peak, and Mount Evans. The bird’s-eye view of the city in the immediate foreground includes the State Capitol and the fine residences of Capitol Hill on the east.

At the corner of Seventeenth and Glenarm Streets is the Denver Club, and at the corner of Sherman Avenue are the University Club and the Central Presbyterian Church. In returning through Colfax (or Fifteenth) Avenue the following buildings may be observed: the State Capitol, an imposing structure erected at a cost of two million five hundred thousand dollars; the new Public Library, between Acoma and Bannock Streets; the United States Mint, at the corner of Cherokee street, and the West Side Court House. The County Court House occupies the block bounded by Court Place and Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Tremont Streets. The Custom House and Post Office, on Sixteenth Street, is another imposing building. In Fourteenth Street is a handsome Auditorium used by the Democratic Convention in 1908.

The other important buildings of the city include the Denver High School, Stout Street, between Nineteenth and Twentieth Streets; the City Hall, corner Fourteenth and Larimer Streets; the Mining Exchange; the Chamber of Commerce; Baptist College (Montclair); the Tabor Opera House Block; the Broadway Theater; the Denver Athletic Club; Trinity Church, Broadway and Eighteenth Street; the Church of Christ, Scientist, Fourteenth and Logan Avenues; the Y. M. C. A., Lincoln and Sixteenth Avenues; Mystic Shrine Temple, Sherman and Eighteenth Avenues; the Westminster University of Colorado, and the Jesuit College of the Sacred Heart (College Avenue, corner of Homer Avenue). On Capitol Hill are the new buildings of St. Mary’s Cathedral (Roman Catholic) and St. John’s Cathedral (Episcopalian). The Art Museum, in Montclair, contains a collection of paintings and other objects of art. The Museum in the City Park includes an interesting collection of Colorado animals. In University Park, eight miles to the southeast of the Union Depot, is the University of Denver.

The city is the center of a great agricultural and mining district, and has a large trade in cattle, hides, wool, and tallow. It is chiefly, however, to its position as the center of a great mining region that Denver owes its marvelous progress; the discovery, in 1878, of the fabulous wealth of the Leadville Hills attracted capital and emigration from all parts of the continent. It has a United States assaying mint, is an important ore market, and is noted for its smelting and refining works, foundry and machine shops.

Denver has an abundant water supply, and the clear invigorating air and dry climate of Denver are famous. It was founded on a barren waste, dry and treeless, in 1858, and the following year incorporated as a city by the Provisional Legislature.

=Detroit= (_dē-troit´_), =Mich.= [The “City of the Straits”; named from the river or strait on which the city is built. Derived from two French words, _detroit_, “the narrows.”]

It is situated on the Detroit River, eighteen miles from Lake Erie, at an altitude of six hundred feet. The river, sometimes called the “Dardanelles of the New World,” is here the boundary between the United States and Canada. It affords a splendid harbor, with a water-front of about nine miles. Ferries connect with the Canadian side. Many beautiful islands, with those of Lake St. Clair, are popular as places of summer residence and resort.

One of these, Belle Isle, is about seven hundred acres in extent and forms a beautiful public park, with fine trees, and still retaining many of its natural features unimpaired. It contains a statute of Schiller, a small zoological collection, a large aquarium and horticultural building, and a casino.

Woodward Avenue, the principal thoroughfare, divides the city into two very nearly equal parts. It is also the main business street, and at its northern end has many of the city’s most prominent buildings. Its expansion, about half a mile from the river, is known as the Campus Martius, adorned with a handsome fountain, from which Michigan and Gratiot Avenues diverge to the left and right. To the left stands the City Hall, the tower of which contains a clock with a dial eight and one-half feet in diameter. In front of the City Hall is the Soldiers’ Monument.

In Gratiot Avenue, near the Campus Martius, is the Public Library, containing two hundred and twenty thousand volumes and some historical relics. The Chamber of Commerce, at the corner of Griswold and State Streets, is thirteen stories high. The Post Office, in Fort Street, adjoining the site of the old Fort Lernoult, is a handsome building. In the same street, at the southeast corner of Shelby Street, is the State Savings Bank, and adjoining it on the east is the tall Penobscot Building.

Just to the east of the Campus Martius, in Cadillac Square, stands the County Building. It is in a plain renaissance style with a Corinthian portico over the main entrance, sculptures in the pediment, and a tower surmounted by a gilded dome. In front of it is the Cadillac Chair, erected in 1901 to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary of the city’s foundation.

A little farther on Woodward Avenue reaches Grand Circus Park, a square with trees, fountains, and a statue of ex-Governor Pingree. To the north, at the corner of Adams Street, is the Central Methodist Church, with a richly decorated interior. One block to the east, between Adams and Elizabeth Streets, is the new building of the Y. M. C. A. At the corner of Edmund Place, one-half mile farther on, are the First Unitarian and First Presbyterian churches, two fine Romanesque buildings of red stone. Between Erskine and Eliot Streets, to the right, is the Temple Bethel, an effective Jewish synagogue. Also to the right, at the head of Martin Place, is the handsome Harper Hospital; and Grace Hospital is also seen to the right (corner of Willis Avenue and John R. Street) a little farther on. To the left, a little higher up, is the Detroit Athletic Club. The north end of Woodward Avenue and the adjoining streets form the principal residence quarter.

Jefferson Avenue, which runs at right angles to Woodward Avenue, crossing it one-fifth mile from the river, contains many of the chief wholesale houses, and toward its northeast end has also many pleasant residences. The site of Fort Pontchartrain was at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Griswold Street, two squares to the west of Woodward Avenue. To the east, on the left side of the street, are the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul and the Jesuit College, and on the right side the Academy of the Sacred Heart. On the same side, at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Hastings Street, about one-half mile to the east of Woodward Avenue, stands the Museum of Art, containing paintings, sculptures and oriental curiosities.

The commerce of Detroit is enormous, a number of conditions favoring it as a commercial and industrial center. Its geographical position brings it into relation with an immense lake traffic and with the Canadian trade. About three-fourths of the total trade is with Canada. The principal exports are grain, wool, pork, lard, hides, and copper. It has important lumbering interests and large tanneries.

The manufactures include stoves, freight cars, drugs, varnish, paint, furniture, carriages, cigars, and matches. Other industries are those of iron and steel, foundry and machine shop products, and the manufacture of malt liquors.

The site of Detroit was visited by a party of Frenchmen as early as 1610, and again by La Salle in 1670, but no permanent settlement was made until 1701, when Sieur de la Mothe Cadillac, the first Governor of the French territory in this vicinity, built Fort Pontchartrain and established a small trading village. In 1815 Detroit was incorporated as a village, and in 1824 was chartered as a city by the Legislature of Michigan Territory. It was the capital of the Territory from 1805 to 1837, and of the State from 1837 to 1847.

=Hartford, Conn.= [Named from Hertford, England.] It is the capital of Connecticut, on the right bank of the Connecticut River, fifty miles from its mouth, and one hundred and twelve by rail northeast of New York. It is a handsome city, finely situated on the navigable Connecticut River, at its confluence with the Park River. The Union Depot is near the center of the town. To the southwest of it, beyond the Park River, lies Bushnell Park, containing the handsome white marble Capitol, a conspicuous object in most views of the town.

The fine sculptural embellishment of the north facade of the Capitol was done under the supervision of Paul W. Bartlett and partly by his own hand. The Senate Chamber contains a good portrait of Washington, by Stuart, and an elaborately carved chair, made from the wood of the “Charter Oak.” In the Library are the Charter of Connecticut and portraits of Connecticut governors. In the east wing of the ground floor is a statue of Nathan Hale, and in the west wing are the tombstone of General Putnam and a statue of Governor Buckingham.

The gateway to the park was erected as a Soldiers’ Memorial.

Following Capitol Avenue to the east and then turning to the left, along Main Street, is the Wadsworth Athenæum, containing a gallery and libraries with one hundred and fifty thousand volumes, and the collections of the Historical Society. Adjacent are the buildings of the Ætna Life Insurance, the Ætna Fire Insurance, and the Travelers Insurance Co. A little farther on is the Post Office, adjoined by the interesting Old State House, erected by Chas. Bulfinch. Opposite is the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. The State Arsenal is also on Main Street farther along.

Near the State House are the High School, the Hartford Orphan Asylum, and the Hartford Theological Institute. About a mile to the south is Trinity College, with fine buildings and equally fine location. The Colt Firearms factory is in the southeast part of the city, and near it is the handsome Church of the Good Shepherd, erected in memory of Colonel Colt, inventor of the revolver, by his wife.

A tablet at the corner of Charter Oak Place marks the site of the “Charter Oak,” where, in 1687, the charter of Connecticut was concealed to save it from Sir Edmund Andros, a tyrannical British governor. Charter Oak Park is famous for its trotting races. Elizabeth Park has a fine show of flowers.

Among other large buildings are the Retreat for the Insane, the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, the Old Folks Home, the City Hospital, and St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. The last is in Farmington Avenue, which, with its continuation, Asylum Street, contains many fine private residences.

Hartford is a prominent commercial and manufacturing city, and is particularly noted for the importance of its insurance companies, rating third in this regard among the cities of the United States. It is the farthest point, at present, to which large steamers can ascend the Connecticut River. Among the manufactures are firearms--the celebrated Colt manufactory is here--typewriters, rubber goods, especially tires, electrical supplies, automobiles, bicycles, sewing-machines, hardware, tools, carriages, silver plate, woven wire mattresses, book binding machinery, cash registers, knit goods, etc.

The site of a Dutch fort in 1633, and of a colony of Massachusetts settlers as early as 1635-1636, Hartford was incorporated as a city in 1784. Here (January 14, 1639) was adopted the first constitution in writing ever proclaimed by a people organizing a government, therefore Hartford is called the birthplace of American democracy. In 1687 occurred the famous attempt of Governor Andros to seize the charter of Connecticut. Hartford was the capital of Connecticut until 1701, thenceforth until 1873 it divided the responsibility with New Haven. Since 1875 it has been sole capital. Here in 1814 took place the famous meeting of New England delegates known as the Hartford Convention.

About 1780 the “Hartford wits,” of whom Joel Barlow was one, made the city a literary center. Since that time it has been the residence of a large number of literary men and women; among them Harriet Beecher Stowe, Whittier, Trumbull, Charles Dudley Warner, and Samuel L. Clemens. Noah Webster, Henry Barnard, Frederick Law Olmsted, and John Fiske were born here.

=Indianapolis= (_in-di-a-nap´o-lis_), =Ind.= [Literally, the City of Indiana, from _Indiana_ and _polis_, city.]

It is the capital of Indiana, on the west fork of White River, in a level plain one hundred and ninety-five miles southeast of Chicago by rail. It is a regularly built and beautiful city.