In the late 1800s, Cincinnati was commonly referred to as the "Paris of America", due mainly to such ambitious architectural projects as the Music Hall, Cincinnatian Hotel, and Shillito Department Store. Cincinnati is home to historic architecture with many structures in the urban core having remained intact for 200 years. The city's largest institution of higher education, the University of Cincinnati, was founded in 1819 as a municipal college and is now ranked as one of the 50 largest in the United States. Louis, which for decades after the Civil War served as the gateway to westward migration.Ĭincinnati is home to three major sports teams: the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League and FC Cincinnati of Major League Soccer it is also home to the Cincinnati Cyclones, a minor league ice hockey team. The city was surpassed in population by other inland cities, particularly Chicago, which developed based on strong commodity exploitation, economics, and the railroads, and St. By the end of the 19th century, with the shift from steamboats to railroads drawing off freight shipping, trade patterns had altered and Cincinnati's growth slowed considerably. However, it received a significant number of German-speaking immigrants, who founded many of the city's cultural institutions. cities by population, surpassed only by New Orleans and the older, established settlements of the United States eastern seaboard, as well as being the sixth-most populous city from 1840 until 1860.Īs a rivertown crossroads at the junction of the North, South, East, and West, Cincinnati developed with fewer immigrants and less influence from Europe than East Coast cities in the same period. Throughout much of the 19th century, it was among the top 10 U.S. With an estimated population of 2,190,209, it is Ohio's largest metropolitan area and the nation's 29th-largest, and with a city population of 309,317, Cincinnati is the third-largest city in Ohio and 64th in the United States. The city is the economic and cultural hub of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line with Kentucky. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Southwest Ohio Regional Transit AuthorityĬincinnati ( / ˌ s ɪ n s ɪ ˈ n æ t i/ SIN-si- NAT-ee) is a city in the U.S.