Cincinnati: Queen City of the West in 1876

Located on the north bank of the OHIO where the river sweeps in a wide curve to the east, Cincinnati was a natural terminal point and gateway to the intricate navigable waterways of the Mississippi Basin. A historic 1,057-foot suspension bridge, designed and built by the famous John Roebling, was opened in 1867. It joins Cincinnati by road to its sister city, Covington, Kentucky, across the river, the important shipping point for the popular grain whiskey produced in the area.

In this view the celebrated steam packet America, too large a vessel to pass under the bridge, is seen pulling away from the public landing to begin her long voyage down to New Orleans. By the late 1880's, side-wheelers on the western rivers had mostly given way to the stern-wheel concept, thereby eliminating what I personally considered to be the craft's most pictorially pleasing aspect, the huge, white, round-topped paddle boxes, with the ship's name emblazoned thereon in the customary elegant, shadowed capital letters.

View Artist’s Biography