Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/602

590 CINCINNATI with panels containing figures in low relief representing the various uses of water to man- kind. From the upper part of the bronze base extend four great basins, one to each side, with perforated rims ; two of the basins have jets. From the top of the base or socle rises a column up whose sides vines ascend and branch at the top in palm-like foliage. Around this column are groups of statuary ; and on its sum- mit stands a gigantic female figure with out- stretched arms, the water raining down in fine spray from her fingers. Four bronze figures on pedestals around the rim of the basin serve as drinking fountains. There are in all 15 figures. The height of the topmost figure above the street is 45 ft. The work was cast in Munich at the royal bronze foundery, and cost near- ly $200,000. It was suggested by Mr. Tyler Davidson, and after his death completed and presented to the city by Mr. Henry Probas- co. It was unveiled Oct. 6, 1871. It plays during warm days from morning till mid- night. The suspension bridge from Cincin- nati to Covington, designed by John A. Roe- bling, and constructed at a cost of $1,800,000, extends 1,057 ft. between the towers, from centre to centre, and with the approaches is 2,252 ft. long. Two wire cables, each a foot in diame- ter, pass over stone towers 200 ft. high, each surmounted by two turrets of 30 ft., and sustain the bridge, all iron except the flooring, at a height of 103 ft. above low-water mark. It has a double wagon way between the cables, passing through an arched opening in each tower, and a foot way on the outer side of each cable. It was opened for use Jan. 1, 1867. About 3,000 ft. further up the river, a wrought- iron railroad pier bridge, 100 ft. above low water, with wagon and foot ways on its sides, crosses the Ohio from Cincinnati to Newport. It has 11 spans, the widest being 405 ft. The distance between the abutments is 1,780 ft. The railway track, with its approaches, is 8,090 ft. long, and the highway track 2,082 ft. Cincinnati contains many public edifices dis- tinguished for their size and architectural beauty. The United States government build- ing, 150 ft. on Vine street by 80 ft. on Fourth street, is of sawed freestone, three stories high, in the Roman Corinthian style ; in Fourth street it has a porch supported by six columns of free- stone. It contains the post office, depository, custom house, United States court, and other government offices. The county court house, in Main street, facing Court street, is 175 ft. square and three stories high, nearly fire-proof, of iron, brick, and Dayton stone, in the Roman CoVinthian style. The front in Main street has a porch with six Corinthian columns of stone. It contains all the courts, except the police and national, all the county offices, and the law library. It was built in 1853, at a cost of $500,000. With the county jail, 150 ft. square, in its rear, it occupies an entire square. The city buildings, erected in 1853, are of brick, 205 ft. long by 52 ft. wide. The ground, in- cluding the city park of 1J acre, cost $60,000; the buildings about $27,000. They contain the council chamber, police court, and all the city offices. The city workhouse, completed in 1868, is in Mill creek valley, 3J m. from the custom house. It is of brick, in Romanesque style, 515 by 55 ft. ; cost of buildings, $600,- 000 ; the grounds, 26 acres, cost $50,000. It has cells for 700 prisoners. In its rear are workshops and grounds, enclosed by a high stone wall. Longview asylum for the insane, at Carthage, 10 m. from the city, is of brick, in the Italian style, 612 ft. long and three and four stories high. Its value, with 110 acres of grounds, is $1,000,000. Cincinnati hospital, in Twelfth street, between Central avenue and Plum street, occupies a square of about four acres. It consists of eight distinct buildings, arranged around a central court and connected by corridors. In the centre, fronting Twelfth street, is the administrative block, four stories high ; opposite it, in the rear, are the culinary and laundry buildings; flanking these are six pavilions, three on a side, arranged en echelon and three stories high, built of brick trimmed with freestone, in the modern French style, with Mansard roofs. The hospital was first occupied in January, 1869, and cost, with fur- nishing, $703,572, exclusive of the ground, which is worth $300,000. It has capacity for 700 patients. The public library building, be- tween Sixth and Seventh streets, occupies a lot 80 ft. wide in Vine street, running back 190 ft. to College street. It comprises two distinct buildings, connected by a corridor two stories high, 33 ft. long by 44 ft. wide. The building fronting on Vine street is 80 by 45 ft., and four stories high ; the one in the rear is 80 by 112 ft. An iron arch, 40 ft. wide and 90 ft. long, rests on the brick walls of the clear roof. These walls are supported by 16 wrought-iron columns, from which to the wall, 18 ft. above the ground floor, is the gallery. The buildings are of brick, in the Romanesque style, with a stone front in Vine street. The main hall will cost $500,000; the entire buildings, with the grounds, about $675,000. They are built from funds raised by taxation by the board of edu- cation. Masonic temple, on the N. E. corner of Third and Walnut streets, an imposing free- stone front building in the Byzantine style, is 195 by 100 ft., four stories high, with two towers each 140 ft., and a spire 180 ft. high. The basement, ground, and second stories are used for offices and business purposes ; the two upper stories for lodges, &c. It was com- menced in 1859, and completed at a cost of about $200,000. Pike's opera house, in Fourth street, between Vine and Walnut, is one of the most imposing structures of the kind in the United States. It is five stories high, with a front of 134 and a depth of 170 ft. The front is of fine sandstone, in the Elizabethan style. Mozart hall, corner of Vine and Longworth streets, is a massive stone building, with an auditorium which will seat 3,000 persons. St.