Cincinnati is a city in the United States of America’s state of Ohio. It is the county headquarters of Hamilton County. The city was founded in 1788 and is situated on the north bank of the Licking River’s confluence with the Ohio River. The latter forms the state line between Ohio and Kentucky. Cincinnati is the third biggest city in Ohio and the 65th largest city in the United States, with a population of 298,165 people (2014), making it the 28th largest Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in the country and the largest in Ohio. Additionally, the city is included in the larger Cincinnati–Middletown–Wilmington Combined Statistical Area (CSA), which had a 2010 population of 2,172,191.
Cincinnati was an American boomtown in the early nineteenth century, rivaling the major coastal towns in size and riches. Throughout much of the nineteenth century, it was listed among the top ten largest cities in the United States by population, only to be surpassed by New Orleans and the older, established settlements of the Eastern Seaboard; at one point, it held the title of America’s sixth-largest city for a period spanning consecutive census reports from 1840 to 1860. It was by far the westernmost city. Cincinnati is frequently referred to be the first completely “American” metropolis since it was the first major American city created after the American Revolution and the first large inland city in the nation.
Cincinnati grew with less European immigration and impact than eastern cities did during the same era; yet, it drew a sizable number of German immigrants who created many of the city’s cultural organizations. By the late nineteenth century, with the transition from steamboats to railways, trade patterns had shifted, and Cincinnati’s development had slowed significantly. Other inland towns, especially Chicago, which built on commodities exploitation and railways, and St. Louis, which served as the gateway to westward migration for decades after the Civil War, overtook the city in population.
Cincinnati is home to two major professional sports teams: the Cincinnati Reds, Major League Baseball’s oldest club, and the National Football League’s Cincinnati Bengals. The University of Cincinnati, established in 1819, is one of the major universities in the United States, ranking in the top 50. Cincinnati’s historic architecture is well-known. Cincinnati was sometimes referred to as “Paris of America” in the late nineteenth century, owing to such ambitious architectural endeavors as the Music Hall, Cincinnatian Hotel, and Shillito Department Store.
