CINCINNATI (see 6.370). During the decade 1910-20 the area of Cincinnati was extended from 44 to 72 sq. miles. The pop. in 1920 was 401,247, as compared with 363,591 in 1910, an increase of 37,656, or 10.4%. In 1920 the city possessed parks covering 2,691 ac., including the Mt. Airy Forestry project which embraces 1,132 ac.; and a plan was being carried out for further extension by utilizing the boulevards and bluffs. The widely discussed statue of Lincoln, by George Grey Barnard, presented to the city by Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft, was unveiled in Lytle Park in 1916. The city was building in 1921 a rapid transit loop at an initial cost of $6,000,000, which with subway, surface and elevated railways will encircle the city, provide access to inter-urban traffic and relieve congestion. The traction roads were being operated under a service-at-cost contract.
Manufactures.—In 1919 there were more than 2,200 manufacturing establishments in Cincinnati proper, covering 90 industries, with capital of $565,000,000 and products valued at $600,000,000, employing 112,000 persons of whom one-fourth were females. The five most important industries in the Cincinnati district were soap and soap products, $100,000,000; foundry and machine-shop products, $50,000,000; slaughtering and meat packing, $45,000,000; clothing (men and women), $35,000,000; printing and publishing, $30,000,000. In 1916 the freight movement by boat was 1,411,149 tons, of which 1,252,739 were receipts. The chief cargoes were coal, stone and sand, lumber and grain.
Government.—A new charter was adopted on Nov. 6 1917 providing that the city “shall have all the powers of local self-government and all other powers possible for a city to have” under the state constitution. The mayor and council were to be elected for a term of four years, the chief executive offices to be filled by appointment of the mayor. The charter provided for a city planning commission of seven members, consisting of the mayor, the director of public service, the three park commissioners and two citizens. It was to submit recommendations for new streets, subways, bridges, playgrounds and parks. In 1919 an ordinance was enacted forbidding the erection or maintenance of billboards within any residential block without the written consent of the
owners of the majority of property on both sides of the street. In 1920 the city's aggregate receipts, including balances on hand, were $24,346,445 and disbursements $17,330,791 leaving a cash balance, practically covered by authorizations, of $7,015,654. The tax valuation for that year was $737,472,310. The rate of taxation was $20.02 per thousand. The municipally owned waterworks and the Southern Railway, also municipally owned, were more than self-supporting. As a result the net debt not self-supporting on Dec. 31 1920 was $37,887,582.
Education and Charities.—In the decade 1910-20 extensive additions were made to the Jewish, Good Samaritan, Bethesda, and Christ hospitals, and to the tuberculosis sanatorium. The General hospital with its group of 24 buildings, occupying 27 ac. and considered the best example of the pavilion type on the continent, was finished in 1915 at a cost of $3,500,000. Its capacity in 1920 was 850 beds. It is under the administration of the university of Cincinnati, whose new medical school adjoins it. Other new buildings and departments of the university (3,565 students in 1920) included the law school, the college of engineering and commerce, the college for teachers, the training school for nurses, the school of household arts, a department of hygiene and physical education, a new gymnasium and athletic field, evening departments, and a woman's building. The coöperative system, originated in Cincinnati, of supplementing college instruction by practical training in various shops and manufacturing establishments, was greatly expanded between 1910 and 1920. Several new high-school buildings were erected, with improved class-rooms, laboratory, and gymnasium facilities which served to complete an educational system which carried the student at public expense from the kindergarten through the graduate schools of the municipal university. The public school expenditures for 1920 were $4,749,605. The enrolment of the day schools was 51,104 and night schools, 14,864, with 1,625 teachers in 70 school buildings, including 5 high schools. The Roman Catholic university of St. Francis Xavier in 1919 removed its college department to a 26 ac. tract in the suburbs adjoining the newly developed boulevard system of the city and constructed administration, science and recitation buildings. The colleges of music increased in buildings and faculties; and in 1915 the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra received an endowment of $1,000,000 as a bequest from Cora M. Dow. Of special importance was the recent establishment of the American House for the training of aliens for citizenship, and for social service work.
Building.—Between 1900 and 1919 nearly $100,000,000 was spent in new buildings, among which were the Union Central Life of 34 storeys, 495 ft. high, the tallest building west of New York City; a court house, in modern Ionic style, completed in 1919 at a cost of $5,000,000; and the Dixie Terminal for the Kentucky traction lines.
World War.—During the World War Cincinnati supplied 1,200 men to the Marine Corps; 1,400 to the navy, and 15,000 to the army. To the Liberty and Victory Loans Cincinnati subscribed $212,946,300.
(C. T. G.)