Cincinnati in the 1820s - Identifying the Location Depicted in "Ohio River Landscape"

Ohio River Landscape / The Steamboat Washington, an oil painting, circa 1820. Used courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Schwartz, Paterson, NJ (as of 1987). Reproduced from Folk Painters of America (1979) by Robert Bishop.

When I came across this painting in Robert Bishop's Folk Painters of America, I decided to add it to my ongoing research collection, Ohio Art through 1865, even though it felt more like something that one might find in the American south, because the odds were better than even that, at least in theory, it depicted an Ohio scene.

The Ohio River is 981 miles long. Of that, about 449 miles is in Ohio. (I was unable to find a source for the portion in Ohio, so I went to work in Google Maps. It's worth noting that increasing the precision of the line at the point that I'm at on this map does not have a significant effect - 20 minutes of additional precision had a net effect of less than a third of a mile.)

However, when I added it to the set, I assumed, eyeballing, it, that perhaps 60% of the Ohio River was in Ohio - so a site described as Ohio River Landscape had better than even odds of being in Ohio - at least in a situation like this where both sides of the river are included.

I've been collecting all the images that I can find illustrating Ohio and created before 1866, without regard to quality - a low quality image can at least act as a placeholder.


Topographical Map of the City of Cincinnati, from Actual Survey by Capt. H. L. Barnum A print (1831), engraved and published by Doolittle & Munson. Used courtesy of the Cincinnati Historical Society Library. Digitized as part of Art as Image; Prints and Promotion in Cincinnati, Ohio, Alice M. Cornell, editor.

A couple days ago, a colleague mentioned an 1831 map of Cincinnati in his possession. I searched my image collection and came up with the map you see above. When I saw the images in the border with fresh eyes, I immediately recognized the composition - look on the top border, second image from the left.

One can see, even in the tiny image, the large building, right at the water's edge. The slope of the hill is similar, and there's the building with two small wings halfway up the hillside.

A higher resolution version of this map would surely verify that this painting depicted the same scene illustrated in the scene. Unfortunately, I could not locate one online.

In looking for a copy of the map, I came across this catalog record, from the Clements Library at the University of Michigan. Among other things, it identifies the structures illustrated on the border of the map:
Water works; Cincinnati; Mouth of Licking River; Sycamore Street Church; Second Presbyterian Church; Commercial Bank; Unitarian church; Christ's Church; U.S. Branch Bank; Roman Catholic church; Methodist church; Baptist church; Medical college.


Cincinnati, (March, 1834) by Doolittle & Munson. Used courtesy of the Cincinnati Museum Center. Reproduced from Bulletin of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, June, 1945.

After working by process of elimination for a bit, I came to the conclusion that the first three subjects were probably the three center images. I'd seen the composition at center before - a view of Cincinnati shown here. The image immediately to the right of it looked to, plausibly, be the mouth of a river, which would make the one to the left - the subject of our painting - the Water Works.

I was able to find, on Sandman Cincinnati, several maps that help illustrate the location depicted here.


Detail, Topographical Map of the City of Cincinnati, from Actual Survey by Capt. H. L. Barnum A print (1831), engraved and published by Doolittle & Munson. Used courtesy of Sandman Cincinnati.

On this map, the water works is outlined in red, a house in green, and reservoirs, in blue. The Miami and Erie Canal empties into the Ohio River here, near the mouth of Deer Creek. The map provides some hint that we may be on the right track, but it's hardly conclusive.


View Larger Map

For comparison, this map illustrates the same approximate area in Cincinnati today.


Detail, City of Cincinnati From Actual Survey by Joseph Gest (1838). Used courtesy of Sandman Cincinnati.

This detail of an 1838 map shows the same area. Near the center is a square, flanked by two smaller squares, labeled "Kilgour's". This rather distinctive footprint is identical to that of the house illustrated in the painting.


Ohio River Landscape / The Steamboat Washington, an oil painting, circa 1820. Used courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Schwartz, Paterson, NJ (as of 1987). Reproduced from Folk Painters of America (1979) by Robert Bishop.

To better illustrate what I think we're seeing here, let's take another look at the painting itself.

In the foreground, we see the Ohio River and its north shore, as viewed from Kentucky. A steamboat, "Washington", is visible on the river. On the right, there's a brick building with a stone foundation - the water works. A channel runs up the hillside from the water works to what appears, from this angle, to be a triangle-shaped reservoir. A grand house, owned by one "Kilgour", sits in the center. It is surrounded by a large, well manicured yard and garden. At the left, part of a bridge, over Deer Creek, is visible. The hillside appears green, and there are still quite a few trees on it.


Cincinnati Panorama, A daguerreotype (1848) by Charles Fontayne and William S. Porter. Used courtesy of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

This massive daguerreotype, by Fontayne and Porter, was made 20-30 years after the painting. It illustrates how much the area had changed in the intervening years. It's worth taking the time to look at in detail - the image represents the largest-scale early photograph of a city. Take a few minutes to stop and look at the extra large version - it's amazing.


Detail, Cincinnati Panorama, A daguerreotype (1848) by Charles Fontayne and William S. Porter. Used courtesy of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

The area illustrated in our painting is covered in the right half of plate 6 and the left half of plate 7 of the daguerreotype. Note that the Fontayne and Porter, the photographers, were at a point considerably downstream (left) of the site used by the painter.


Detail, Cincinnati Panorama, A daguerreotype (1848) by Charles Fontayne and William S. Porter. Used courtesy of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

Here's the same image, with the Charles H. Kilgour house outlined in green and the water works outlined in red, for greater visibility. Note that on the water works building, an addition had been made to the rear, and the roofline changed, but the distinctive structure remains the same. Likewise, an entire story had been added to the Kilgour house.

Immediately below the Kilgour house, one can see the stone bridge that was built over Deer Creek, replacing the one seen in the painting. Note, too, how much the city had been built up in the couple decades since the painting had been made.


Front (South) Elevation, Marine Hospital, Third & Kilgour Streets, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, OH. A drawing (April 2, 1934) by C. Brodersen for the Historic American Buildings Survey. Used courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In the 1930s, the Charles H. Kilgour house was documented in detail by the Historic American Buildings Survey, a WPA project to record our country's most historically signfincant structures. I stumbled across these images by chance - they were labeled as the "Marine Hospital" - they only came up in my searches because they happened to include a description noting that the structure had been located at the intersection of Kilgour and Third.

Although the structure was altered considerably over time - perhaps most notably with the addition of a second floor, these drawings, compared with the painting and the 1848 daguerreotype, can help us see how it was changed. Note the Palladian window on the first floor, at the far right. One was present on at the far left as well.


Detail, South Doorway. - Marine Hospital, Third & Kilgour Streets, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, OH. A photograph (March 5, 1934) by Edgar D. Tyler for the Historic American Buildings Survey. Used courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The grand front doorway was still present in the 1930s, though the porch had been changed to something larger long before.


Kinsman House, Kinsman, Ohio, a photograph by I.T. Frary. Used courtesy of the Ohio Historical Society.

The front porch appears to have originally resembled the one present on the Kinsman House, in Kinsman, Ohio.


Detail, Main Hall Looking North. - Marine Hospital, Third & Kilgour Streets, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, OH, a photograph (March 5, 1934) by Edgar D. Tyler for the Historic American Buildings Survey. Used courtesy of the Library of Congress.

On entering the house, one would be greeted by this grand hall. It appears that most of the first first floor wasn't altered by the several rounds of renovations.


Detail, Doorway from Hallway, First Floor, Marine Hospital, Third & Kilgour Streets, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, OH, a photograph (March 5, 1934) by Edgar D. Tyler for the Historic American Buildings Survey. Used courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The interior woodwork ranks among the very best I've ever seen in an Ohio house from this period. In fact, I can't recall ever having seen an interior doorway like this - woodwork of this style is virtually always reserved for exteriors.

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This painting does much to illustrate how Cincinnati changed between 1820 and 1850. It shows how a landscape went from being agricultural to commercial / industrial - and it illustrates it in a way that text never could.

For now, the big mystery is locating the painting itself. I'm sure that with a higher resolution image, even more could be learned.

From Early House to Milk House

I’ve been working on editing a history of the Parks family, who came to the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland in 1834. It’s a wonderful manuscript - full of all sorts of personal details and anecdotes that you simply don’t find in most family histories.


View Parks property in a larger map

The Parks family farm, purchased in 1834, is indicated in this map in blue. It is bounded on the east by East 140th Street, on the south by Kuhlman Avenue, on the west by a diagonal that continues from the end of Eaglesmere to the lake shore, and on the north by Lake Erie. The farm, all told, was about 200 acres.

There’s a passage in the manuscript that really caught my attention.

They found later that the previous owner, a Colonel [John] Gardner and his family had nearly died there of chills and fever. Grandfather held the view, then common, that the disease was caused by a miasma that rose from the water and earth after nightfall and for many years the children were carefully herded into the house as it grew dusk. Anyhow, none of the family ever had a touch of it.

Perhaps that was because Grandfather's first act was to dog a big ditch right through the farm to the Lake; next he built a new house. The little old one was always used for a milk house.

The milk house is noted by the jug of milk in the map above - right next to the site of the 1834 house.

I was a bit skeptical as to Gardner’s involvement with the property. I hadn’t heard accounts of property being rented - but research shows that it was not uncommon. In fact, evidence points to some very good reasons why John Gardner might have built the small, likely one-room house for his family on this piece of property rented from Henry Coit.

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Achsa Sherwin was born December 28, 1789, in Winchenden, Massachusetts, the fifth of Ahimaz and Hannah Swan Sherwin’s ten children. She married John Gardner (born about 1789) on October 30, 1808, in Hartland, Vermont.

A decade after her marriage, Achsa’s parents moved to Cleveland. The account is described in Wickham’s Pioneer Families of Cleveland (p. 200-201).

On the morning of a bitter winter day in February, 1818, a large sleigh drawn by two farm horses moved briskly in a south-western direction from Middlebury, Vermont, a town but a few miles east of the New York state line, and about half-way between lakes Champlain and George.

The seat of this sleigh was occupied by Ahimaz Sherwin, Jr., 26 years of age, his young wife Hannah Swan Sherwin, and their little daughter Lucy but a few months old. The back of the sleigh was piled high with household furniture, bedding, and clothing. The family had started in mid-winter on a ride of 500 miles, at least half of which led through a trackless wilderness. But, aside from the weather, traveling at this time of year was far easier than through the summer months. A sleigh moved over the snow more smoothly and with less jolting than a wagon, also over ice-bound lakes and rivers that otherwise would have to be forded or avoided. The sleighing was excellent all the way, but the weather very severe; the thermometer for ten days of the trip was below zero. Their food and shelter for the night was ever uncertain, and a source of anxiety, for it depended upon little country taverns, or upon the hospitality of isolated farm-houses. It is ever a mystery to the woman of today how a mother managed to care for a babe and keep it warm on such a long, cold journey. The case of little Lucy Sherwin was not exceptional. Hundreds of very young children accompanied their parents to the wilds of Ohio when the journey was undertaken in the winter or early spring with the frost yet in the air, and snow still covering the ground. Furthermore, instances have been given where the pioneer party waited for an expected addition of a little stranger in a family, and then started on a trip two weeks after its arrival.

The Sherwins made the distance between Buffalo and Dunkirk on the frozen shores of Lake Erie, and, early in the evening of one day, their sleigh broke through the ice, thoroughly drenching its occupants. With their clothes frozen upon them, they had to continue their journey until a place was reached in which they could spend the night. The deep-seated cold that resulted from this mishap eventually undermined the constitution of the intrepid wife and mother, and although she lived several years after reaching Cleveland she never was again well, and died leaving three young children.

The journey ended March 1st - 18 days from the time it was started. No accommodation for them and their horses could be secured in the small village of Cleveland, and they had to turn around again and go back as far as Job Doan's tavern at Doan's Corners.

Luckily for Mr. Sherwin, Richard Blinn had begun to build a new house on his farm south of Doan's Corners, and on the road to Newburgh. He hired Mr. Sherwin to do the carpenter work on it, the Sherwins, meanwhile, living with the Blinn family. By the last of August, the house was finished, and the wages due Mr. Sherwin enabled him to return to Vermont and bring on his parents to share his pioneer home.

Within a year or two, Achsa and John Gardner followed them west. (One of their children, Nelson Harvey Gardner, was born October 21, 1816, in Hartland, Vermont, fixing their residence in that place. By the time of the 1820 US Census, they were living in Cleveland.)

Gardner didn’t own any real estate in Cleveland until 1828, indicating that he either rented or lived with family or friends prior to that date, when he made a purchase on Seneca Street in downtown Cleveland (Cuyahoga County Recorder, AFN: 182812270001). He did not occupy the property immediately, as his family is still listed in Euclid Township in the 1830 US Census.

The Gardner family lived in this location while John Gardner operated a store on the east corner of Euclid Avenue and Noble Road.

Historic advertisements, included in Annals of Cleveland help illuminate the nature of the store and the sorts of things one would be able to buy in a village like this in the 1820s. They also help to show what sorts of things the residents of this area needed (or wanted).

June 4, 1824; adv:3/4 - John Gardner, has just opened a store in the town of Euclid, in the building formerly occupied as a store by E. Murray, Esq., deceased, consisting of a small but well assorted collection of Dry Goods, Groceries, and Hardware, which he will sell at reduced prices, for cash or approved country Produce.

Sept. 10, 1824; adv: 5/4 - Euclid Store. The subscriber has just received from two miles beyond the Eastward, a small but handsome assortment of Dry Goods, consisting of almost every article used in families, together with a good assortment of Groceries, of the first rate, and warranted. Also Codfish, Mackina Trout, of superior quality, Iron, Steel, Nails, Window Glass, 8 by 10 and 7 by 9, Soal and Upper Leather, Morocco Skins, With a variety of other articles, too numerous to mention - which will be exchanged for most kinds of Produce. Ashes will be taken in payment, if delivered at the ashery formerly occupied by Seth Doan, Esq. J. Gardner.

Dec. 9, 1825 ; adv: 3/5 - Euclid Store. J. Gardner. Has just received, and keeps constantly on hand, a general assortment of New Goods, consisting of Broadcloths, Cassimeres, Satinetts, Bombazetts, Calicoes, Chintzes, Cambrics, Plain and Figured Linos, Boot Muslins, Silk, Crapes, Velvets, Cotton and Worsted Vestings, Ratinetts, Salisbury & Plain Flannels, Silk and Cotton Flag Handkerchiefs, Tartan and Caroline Plaids, Cotton Ginghams and Checks, Cotton cloths, Cotton Yarn and Candlewicking, Men's coarse Boots and Shoes, School Books of all sort, New York Hats, Groceries, Crockery, Glass & Hardware, Iron. English Blister'd & Cast Steel, Drugs and Medicine, Paints and Dye·Stuffs, and other articles too numerous to mention. All the above articles are warranted to be of the first quality. He also pledges himself to sell as cheap as can be purchased in the country. Gentlemen and Ladies are requested to call and examine for themselves. Most kinds of Produce taken in payment. N. B. He also wishes to purchase a quantity of Black Salts, for part cash will be paid. Likewise, a quantity of dried Deerskins.

From Spiritual Pioneers; The Life & Times of First Presbyterian Church of East Cleveland, Ohio by Melinda Ule-Grohol, page 194.

Nov. 5, 1829; adv: 3/5 - For Rent. The subscriber offers for rent his Store and Store House in Euclid Township, a few rods west of the Presbyterian meeting house; he has built an addition to his Store, which makes it very large and convenient for a country Store. It is situated in a pleasant country for mercantile business which he will rent very reasonable; apply to the subscriber on the premises. John Gardner, Euclid.

It’s unclear when Gardner’s store closed. The establishment reopened in 1830.

Nov. 11, 1830; adv:3/3 - Euclid New Store. New Goods at the lowest Cleaveland prices. H. Foote & Co. Have just opened a new store at the stand known as the Gardner store in the Town of Euclid where they have for sale a first rate assortment of Dry Goods, Groceries, Hardware, and Crockery.

Within a couple years, Gardner opened a similar business in Cleveland.



Achsa Sherwin Gardner died in 1847, and was buried in East Cleveland Township Cemetery.

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All six members of the Gardner family lived in what was likely a one-room house - on later maps, it shows up as less than half the size of the house with two rooms on each floor built by Sheldon Parks. From these cramped quarters, John Gardner travelled two and half miles each day to his store.

This is telling of the conditions endured by the early settlers to the region. It also illustrates that a path between the location on Euclid Avenue and the Parks farm was present at the time that they moved here, in 1834, providing a connection between their farm and the village.

Erie Street Cemetery

I love Erie Street Cemetery. It's a beautiful little bit of greenspace in the middle of downtown Cleveland. It is located between East 9th and East 14th Streets.

The cemetery was founded in 1826 as the first permanent burying ground. It replaced a site just south of Public Square - Ontario Street Cemetery.



Several graves were moved here in 1826 from Ontario Street Cemetery. A historical marker, erected by the Early Settlers Association, identifies the graves that were moved. The stones have been placed flat on the ground.



One of the graves moved from the Ontario Street Cemetery is that of Deming Brainerd. Two other are William Prout and Amy Lewis. Another marker identifies the burial site of others, unknown, moved here from the Ontario Street Cemetery.



The burial site of Joc-O-Sot, or Walking Bear is marked with this stone, which has a plaque on the reverse side.



That marker was made to replace this, the original grave marker, which fell victim to vandalism. It lists the date of his death incorrectly. The correct date is September 3, 1844.



The cemetery contains the graves of Lorenzo and Rebecca Carter, the first permenant European Amercian settlers to the city of Cleveland. The Early Settlers Association erected a marker commemorating their lives.



The Erie Street Cemetery is a vital piece of Cleveland history. It remains the earliest surviving piece of historical fabric in downtown Cleveland. At the same time, it is a nice place to take a lunch break or spend a few minutes before a baseball game.

The Dunham Tavern

Have you ever noticed this building on Euclid Avenue, standing next to a massive old industrial building, and wondered what it was doing there? The building is the Dunham Tavern museum. Located at 6709 Euclid Avenue, the Tavern is the oldest building still standing on its original site in the city of Cleveland. The oldest part of the tavern, seen here to the right and rear, was built in 1824 to serve travelers, at a time when Euclid Avenue was the major east-west thouroughfare. The main part of the building was built in 1842.



Entry to the museum is through a door on the side which opens into the oldest part of the building. This space contains a large kitchen with living quarters on the second floor.



Guests would have entered through the front hall. Note the wood paneling lining the hallway and stairs.



The tavern itself is furnished with antiques that are generally of the period, and usually of the style that would have been present originally. Very few of the actual original furnishings remain.



The dining room is located between the tavern and the front hall.



The parlor, on the opposite side of the front hallway, provided a space for guests to sit and relax.



The second floor includes several bedrooms, all furnished with period antiques.



The library is also located on the second floor. The cabinets are said to be from a ship, and to have been built in the 1760s.



Many interesting artifacts are displayed on the second floor as well. One is this framed fragment of the original wallpaper.



Another is this dresser, built circa 1825-1840, which is one of the few antiques that is original to the house.

The museum is surrounded by impressive grounds, which include gardens and a barn. I will share photos of the gardens come spring.

I have posted many more photos of the interior of the house on Flickr. The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) has extensive drawings detailing the house as well as the stables, which are no longer present. One may note that the HABS photograph shows a porch that is no longer present. The porch was a later addition which has since been removed.

It's amazing that the Dunham Tavern was able to survive as long as it did at this location, in the heart of the city. It is made even more impressive by the massive brick and concrete structure next door to it. I hope that that structure remains, because it provides some context as to just what this museum has survived through.

At $3, the Dunham Tavern Museum is an excellent deal. It is open Wednesdays and Sundays, 1-4 pm.

The Preyer House, c. 1825

In my discussion of the Rodolphus Edwards house the other day, I compared it with the John Honam house, in Lakewood. There's another similar house, worthy of mention, that slipped my mind, the Preyer house, at 14299 Superior Road, in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

From the street, the Preyer house doesn't look anything like the other two houses mentioned. The siting of the house, so far back from the street, when compared with the other houses in the neighborhood, should be a clue that something is different about the house.



A closer view allows us to see that the house is made of sandstone, but it still looks like one built around the turn of the century. This is fitting, as this was when the house was expanded considerably. The dormers, porch, and rear wing were added at the time.



This side view reveals a very different house, one similar to the Edwards house.

The Preyer house, built c. 1825, is a Cleveland Heights landmark. It is the oldest house in the city.

The style of this house makes me wonder if the Edwards house might, in fact, be a bit earlier than I had suspected.

The Leonard Case house

Leonard Case (1786-1864), a businessman and prominent early Clevelander, moved to the city in 1816 and built this house shortly after, at the corner of Rockwell Avenue and East 3rd Street.



These drawings were made in 1933 as part of the Historic American Building Survey (HABS). HABS was a federal program created to document historic buildings and structures and to put to work unemployed architects and photographers. The meticulous measured drawings and photographs that came as a result are a true treasure.



According to the documentation from HABS:

The Case Homestead at Rockwell Avenue and East 3rd Street was sold at public auction to Attorney Charles E. Chadman for $340. It was moved from this site to a new location at 1295 East 20th Street.

At the time the Case home was built the total population in Cleveland was between 1000 and 1500. This home as one can readily understand from the size of the population was built by one of the very early settlers and consequently is of considerable historic value. East 20th Street at the time of the removal of the house was considered "quite a ways out", and a select residential district; today, however, this territory is considered a "slum area".

The house has served various purposes since its removal, one of the last uses was that of a restaurant. The members of the Historical Building Survey Squad who measured the building, did so in the nick of time, in that but a few days after completing the survey, the building began to disappear, as will be noted from the photographs. This destruction was in all probability the work of vandals or possibly people who were in dire circumstances and in need of fuel.

In addition to floorplans, the drawings include the various mouldings and bits of trim.

It is not clear exactly when the house was moved to the location on E. 20th Street. It is shown at that location in the 1881 Hopkins atlas and the 1886 Sanborn fire insurance atlas, so it was obviously moved before that date.

The site on East 20th Street is now surface parking.