In and among the Catholic young adult community in Cincinnati, there exists a prevalent attitude of negativity toward the Industrial Revolution. “Those pesky 1800s!” many will say, “All they did was disrupt the normal functioning of the world! If only we could return to a pre-industrial society, where everything was simpler.” This opinion, while valid in a few ways, considering especially the widespread environmental impact of factories, the woefully wasteful production methods, and the introduction of consumerism into the psyche of American people, ultimately fails to observe the American Industrial Revolution in the nuanced light that it both deserves and requires. One of these young Catholic Cincinnatians may espouse a desire to return to a pre-industrial society and culture, but in that desire, he ignores the numerous ways in which industrialization has permanently shaped the culture and structure of the city that he holds so dear. With the 133^rd anniversary of Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum still fresh in our minds, it is important to revisit our opinion of the Revolution, and (I think) to replace it with a more nuanced, realistic, and optimistic vision of the American Industrial Revolution. I recognize that there are genuine drawbacks to the industrial society in which we live, but we must learn to recognize both the good and the bad. In the case of Cincinnati, her Catholic young adults (and everyone, in general) must come to terms with the fact that she is a city whose identity is intimately wrapped up in industrial society, and that that is not an entirely bad thing.

In 1788, Losantville (meaning literally “opposite-the-mouth-town”) was founded on the bank of the Ohio River, just across from the mouth of the much smaller Licking River. Losantville succeeded over other settlements in the area partly because of its flood resistance, but also because of the strong military presence in and around the settlement. In the year after its founding, Losantville received troops and an official military base, Fort Washington, for protection against the large Native American population in the Ohio region. With the influx of troops, the population increased, yet although this made the settlement a destination for manufactured goods and produce coming downriver, the city struggled to become much more than a military base with a relatively rough reputation and a population of mainly soldiers, not to mention a huge conflict with the Native Americans. That issue would be solved in 1795, when the Treaty of Greenville would be signed. “The treaty essentially excluded Indians from southern and eastern Ohio, thus removing one of the great impediments to rapid settlements in the state.”[i] From that moment on, “rapid settlement” became synonymous with the now renamed Cincinnati—in 1795, the population was around 500, and by 1815 it would increase to over 4,000.

Deeply instrumental in the rapid growth of the city was Cincinnati’s population of German immigrants, which was itself increasing rapidly. Germans had been present in the Ohio River valley since the 1780s, even serving a prominent role in Cincinnati’s history with people like David Ziegler, “a native of Heidelberg,” serving as the city’s first mayor. Despite this, the German population remained relatively small until the middle of the 19th century: “as late as the 1820s, Germans constituted just five percent of the city’s population.”[ii] This, however, would soon change. Inspired to go seeking a better life in the wake of revolutionary movements in the German regions of Europe in 1848, German immigration to Ohio exploded. Don Heinrich Tolzmann, in his pictural history of the German impact on Cincinnati, German Cincinnati, says that “although only comprising about five percent of the population before 1815, by 1850, the German-born population had soared to 30,758 out of a total population of 115,436. By 1870, one-third of the population of the city of Cincinnati was of German stock (i.e. either German-born or of German parentage), and this percentage would again increase by the end of the 19th century.”[iii] Cincinnati, which at the time was continuing in its massive development, received the German immigrants happily, and the Germans, oftentimes already skilled in certain trades or industries, “filled jobs and added more fuel to the economy.”[iv]

Speaking of the economy, Cincinnati’s manufacturing and economic power grew with its population. Back in October, 1799, a man named William McFarland started an earthenware business, which is “declared to have been the first industrial enterprise undertaken in Cincinnati.” Not long after McFarland began his earthenware enterprise, other “citizens of Cincinnati speedily undertook other manufactures while locating their shops some distance from the village itself.” There were “masons and stone cutters, brick makers, carpenters, cabinet makers, coopers, turners, machine makers, wheelwrights, smiths and nailers, coppersmiths, tinsmiths, silversmiths, gunsmiths, clock and watchmakers, tanners, saddlers, boot and shoe makers, glovers and breeches makers, cotton spinners, weavers, dyers, tailors, printers, bookbinders, rope makers, comb makers, painters, pot and pearlash makers.”[v] To accompany these industries, numerous factories and mills were erected, starting with “a large steam mill” that was constructed on the bank of the Ohio used for flour, wool, cotton, and linseed oil. Later on, a sawmill was built, also on the riverbank, followed by a mustard factory, a few distilleries, woolen factories, a cotton factory, four tobacco shops, a sugar refinery, three brickyards, two glass factories, and a bell, brass, and iron foundry. Manufacture and industry were so strong in Cincinnati’s early days that “the value of products in Cincinnati for the year 1818-1819 was considerably above a million of dollars.”[vi] To put that into perspective, 1 million dollars in 1819 is roughly equivalent to $24,593,070 in today’s money.[vii]

More remarkable than Cincinnati’s rapid economic and manufacturing growth is her citizens’ resolve to remain of strong character and technical proficiency. As the years wore on, it might have been easy for the city’s various business owners to distance themselves from their products, but the opposite was true. Colonel S. D. Maxwell, the superintendent of the Chamber of Commerce, said in his 1880 report that “it is a notable feature of Cincinnati that they who are managing our industrial establishments are generally men who are thoroughly acquainted with the practical features of their business. They are mechanics themselves, who did not commence to build at the top of the structure, but at the bottom, when they had small means.”[viii] This attitude among business owners garnered a thick sense of community and network among the businessmen of Cincinnati, one that has survived into the modern age in the city’s various networking initiatives and her community-centered attitude.

Chief among Cincinnati’s various industries, for a very considerable length of time, was her pork packing. It began with a man named Richard Fosdick in 1810, who disproved the belief that “beef and pork could not be satisfactorily cured in this climate”[ix] and kicked off the industry that would give Cincinnati the nickname “Porkopolis.” Pork packing in Cincinnati grew exponentially, and by 1826 it was declared larger “perhaps than at any other point anywhere.” Between November, 1826, and February, 1827, “forty thousand hogs were packed.” The industry grew until the 1850s, where it reached its peak, averaging 375,000 hogs packed each year, and peaking when, in “one year, 498,160 were packed.”[x] During the peak of pork production, there were thirty-three large packers and curers.

The lasting effects of “Porkopolis” are vivid in the Cincinnati of today. Firstly, goetta, born out of the surplus of pork in the area and created by some of the German immigrants in an attempt to save money on food, is a direct result of Cincinnati’s pork packing industry. The sausage and oatmeal combination is a staple of Cincinnati, even sparking a goetta-themed festival, “Goettafest,” the first of which was held in 2002. Secondly, the flying pig as the mascot of the city is an homage to the pork packing period of Cincinnati’s history, recognizing that, in many ways, it was largely this industry that gave Cincinnati her big name in the 19th century.

Another industry of vast importance in the history of Cincinnati is her brewing industry. Early German immigrants, looking for work they were familiar in, found it in the already established French, English, and Irish breweries. Eventually, however, the Germans started establishing their own breweries, “which focused on the traditional German beer, lager.”[xi] The Eagle Brewery, founded by William Attee and William Lofthouse in 1829 and later renamed to Gerke Brewing Company after a long chain of ownership changes, is considered one of the first large lager breweries and “by 1894, the company produced 140,000 barrels of beer.”[xii] Later, in 1853, Christian Moerlein started his brewery which within eleven years “was exclusively brewing lager beer and producing more than 26,000 barrels of beer per year,” and which was “one of the first breweries in Cincinnati to sell their beer all over the United States and internationally.”[xiii] Other early Cincinnati breweries include the John Hauck Brewing Company, Buckeye Brewery, and the Windisch-Muhlhauser Brewing Company. The effects of Cincinnati’s rich brewing history are everywhere today, from the microbreweries dotted in abundance all throughout the greater Cincinnati area, to the big-name breweries like Christian Moerlein still operating today and steadily growing. In the historically German neighborhood Over-the-Rhine, which was the center of the brewing industry in the 19th century, there is even an annual “Bockfest,” celebrating Cincinnati’s brewing history and focusing on the German brew Bock beer. Brewing has been a part of Cincinnati’s history and culture for generations, and modern Cincinnatians remain steadfast in upholding that rich tradition.

Why, one might ask, was Cincinnati able to achieve such rapid growth in the 19th century? There are many answers to that question, but one of major importance is the invention and widespread adoption of the steamboat. In 1815, steamboats were proved to be a legitimate means of transportation when “the Enterprise successfully navigated the Mississippi and the Ohio, traveling all the way from New Orleans to Pittsburgh.” After that success, steamboat travel and commerce “revolutionized trade in the West, dramatically decreasing the costs of shipping upstream and creating a two-way trade throughout the region.”[xiv] Cities like Cincinnati, situated so advantageously on the bank of one of the major western rivers and already possessed of a booming economy would “benefit disproportionately”[xv] in comparison to other cities, and it was thus that Cincinnati so quickly became a behemoth of manufacturing and commerce. With the increased popularity of steamboats, canals were constructed, connecting Cincinnati to more Ohio cities like Dayton, further increasing the city’s economic reach. Boat-based commerce continues to be a staple for the city today, and the steamboat has become an icon of Cincinnati’s history. A few original steamboats still make regular voyages on the river, serving mainly as unique event venues and short river cruises.

From the long history of riverboats, to the famous breweries, to the pork packing days of Porkopolis, Cincinnati has a deeply industrial history. While her industrial prowess may not be as reaching as it once was, the Rivertown has been unavoidably shaped by her industry, and there are many cultural aspects of the city’s life that owe their origin to industrialization. Even some of the most iconic and major works of art about Cincinnati are deeply aware of the industrial impact on the city. Take, for example, the sweeping mosaic in the rotunda of Union Terminal, now the Cincinnati Museum Center, which features prominently blue-collar workers building the city and going through the stages of settlement and industrialization. What makes this a perfect example of the way Cincinnatians ought to view the industrialization of their city is the focus on the people who built this city. The Industrial Revolution was not some monstrous, unavoidable wave of negativity and ruinous effects upon the lives of the people, it was an effort by the people to make better lives for themselves. Did the Revolution cause problems? Yes, of course it did, but the Revolution was also responsible for much of Cincinnati’s current cultural identity, and because of that, Cincinnatians have a duty to view their city’s Industrial Revolution in the nuanced light it deserves.

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[i] David Stradling, Cincinnati: From River City to Highway Metropolis (Great Britain: Arcadia Publishing, 2003), 14.

[ii] Ibid., 31.

[iii] Don Heinrich Tolzmann, German Cincinnati (Great Britain: Arcadia Publishing, 2006), 28.

[iv] Stradling, 31.

[v] Charles Frederic Goss. Cincinnati: The Queen City, 1788-1912. Cincinnati: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912., 327.

[vi] Ibid., 330

[vii] Inflation conversion provided by officialdata.org/.

[viii] Goss, 345.

[ix] Ibid., 334

[x] Ibid.

[xi] Sarah Staples and Helen Steiner Rice, “A Snapshot of Early Cincinnati Breweries,” Cincinnati Museum Center Blog, (accessed March 20, 2024).

[xii] Ibid.

[xiii] Ibid.

[xiv] Stradling, 21.

[xv] Ibid.