buildings with extensive grounds spread out. The lowest or "bottom" streets, sometimes inundated by unusual floods of the Ohio River, are mainly devoted to manufacturing and wholesale trades; they also contain the few remaining slum quarters. The central and business portion of the city, with numerous fine stores, is compactly built, almost the whole plain being filled up, several former villages, of which Cumminsville was the most important, having been absorbed by the extending city. There are more than thirty-five street-railway lines, all of which converge at or near Fountain Square-mentioned below-as a common starting and terminal point. The city has 439 miles of paved and 261 miles of unpaved streets, 224 miles being of macadam, 63 miles of cobble-stones, 48 miles of granite and Belgian blocks, and 36 miles of asphalt. There are 248 miles of sewers, and the street railways aggregate 321 miles.

Beautiful suburban villages cluster about Cincinnati, and are rendered easily accessible by the street railroads. Covington, Newport, Dayton, Ludlow, Bellevue, Linwood, Mount Lookout, Norwood, Oakley (with its well-known race-course), and Riverside are some of these near-by towns. rounded by ample grounds. Their dwellings are large and costly, and are surFort Thomas, a picturesque hill-station behind Newport, Ky., and States Army, is forty minutes distant by electric one of the most important depots of the United Ohio, completed in 1867, at a cost of $1,800,000, car. The large wire suspension bridge across the

The city is built upon two plateaus, sur rounded by a semicircle of hills which approach close to the river above and below the inclosed plain, the ends of the semicircle being only two and a half miles apart. The first plateau is 65 feet above low-water mark, and rises on the north side 400 feet above the Ohio River, which forms here a grand curve from east to west; the second is elevated 50 to 100 feet higher, some points reaching an elevation of 900 feet above sea-level. The summits of the hillsMount Adams, Mount Auburn, Fairview Heights, Price's Hill, and College Hill-accessible by roads and by inclined plane railways, command superb views of the river, of the Kentucky shore, and of the rolling country surrounding the city. Pierced by ravines, these thickly wooded high lands give a picturesque aspect to the city, and are covered with the beautiful residences of wealthy citizens; the Clifton, Avondale, and East Walnut Hills districts being especially noteworthy for their scenic beauty and magnificent homes. The climate is very favorable. The average temperature in summer is 75.24°; in winter, 34.28°; the yearly mean being 54.72°.

Cincinnati covers an area of 43 square miles, and has a river-frontage extending nearly 14 miles. The brick and the freestone found near at hand, and the blue limestone quarried within the city limits, are largely used for building material. The streets and avenues, averaging 66 feet in width, cross each other at right angles in the old portion of the city, and conform to the surface conditions in the new. A public landing or levee extends along Front Street, the sloping shore being paved and lined with floating docks and wharf-boats. As three terraces constituting the ascent rise one above another from the riverlevel, the streets become more irregular, and the

feet long, with a span of 1057 feet, and 106 feet 000, connects with Covington, Ky. It is 2763 above low-water mark. Two bridges of wrought iron, resting upon stone piers, connect Cincinnati with Newport, Ky. A fourth bridge, uniting the city with Ludlow, Ky., is that of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad. It cost $3,348,675, and has fifth bridge, the Chesapeake and Ohio, connecting one of the longest truss spans in the world. A Cincinnati with West Covington, is a cantilever. Two unimportant ferries also connect Cincinnati with Covington and Ludlow.

BUILDINGS. Among the fine and substantial edifices is the United States Government Building, which contains the Post-office, Custom-house, court-rooms, and various offices, erected at a cost of $5,000,000. It is of sawed freestone, three stories high, in the Roman-Corinthian style. The City Hall is equally fine, and much larger. The County Court-house, with the jail, occupies a whole square; it is built in the Romanesque style. The City Hospital, consisting of eight distinct buildings arranged around a central court, occupies a square of nearly four acres and accommodates 700 patients. The Chamber of Commerce, Masonic Temple, and Odd Fellows' Hall are grand and massive buildings. The City Workhouse has cells for 700 prisoners, with workshops and grounds for their employment. Longview Asylum for the Insane, at Carthage, 10 miles from the city, is of brick, in the Italian Renaissance style. Saint Peter's Roman Catholic Cathedral is an immense structure, in the Grecian style, with a stone spire 224 feet high. The altar-piece is Murillo's original "Saint Peter Delivered." Saint Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, the First and Second Presbyterian churches, Saint Paul's Protestant Episcopal Pro-Cathedral, the Jewish Synagogue, and Saint Frances de Sales Catholic

Church, on Walnut Hills, are all worthy of note. The First Presbyterian tower, with spire 285 feet in height, capped by a colossal gilded hand "heavenward pointing," is a prominent feature as viewed from the river. It is now somewhat dwarfed by a neighboring "sky-scraper" of twentyone stories, one of several edifices of its kind in Cincinnati. Cincinnati is the seat of a Roman Catholic Archbishop and of a Protestant Episcopal Bishop, and contains over 200 churches. The buildings of the municipal markets are valued at over $100,000.

PARKS. The several fine parks, well wooded and picturesque, cover an area of 540 acres. The famous Eden Park, or "Garden of Eden," on Mount Adams, has 209 acres inclosed, and contains the Art Museum and Art School. The Elsinore Gateway is a striking mediæval reproduction; and from the lofty water-tower, a prominent object, the finest view of the surrounding country is obtained. The chief reservoir of the city's waterworks in the park is a fine, ornamental sheet of water. Burnet Woods, another delightful park, embraces 165 acres. The Zoological Garden, containing 60 acres of hills, valleys, and ravines, is well stocked with wild animals of all kinds. There are 26 cemeteries; Spring Grove, the best known, has 600 acres of land, lies six miles from the city, and is approached by an avenue 100 feet wide. Among its costly monuments are the Dexter, Fleischmann, and Robinson mausoleums, and a bronze statue commemorating the soldiers who died in the Civil War. The most noted piece of ornamentation in the city is the TylerDavidson Fountain, on the Esplanade of Fountain Square, Fifth Street. It was cast at the Royal Foundry in Munich, and cost $200,000. The Garfield statue, at Eighth and Race streets, and the equestrian statue of Gen. W. H. Harrison, first Governor of Ohio, at Eighth and Vine streets, are works of great merit.

INSTITUTIONS. The educational advantages of the city are unsurpassed. There are three high schools-Hughes, Woodward, and Walnut Hillsand over fifty grammar and intermediate schools. The higher institutions include the University of Cincinnati, an outgrowth of McMicken University, with collegiate buildings in Burnet Woods Park and an astronomical department with an observatory at Mount Lookout; Hebrew Union College; Saint Joseph's and Saint Xavier's Jesuit colleges; the Lane Theological Seminary, at Walnut Hills; the Franklin School; several medical, musical, and commercial colleges; and colleges of law, pharmacy, and dentistry.

The Ohio Mechanics' Institute is a strong factor in the education of the masses. It has many pupils, who attend the day and night classes, where they are instructed in literature, science, manual training, and mathematics. The Art Museum and Art School in Eden Park, founded by the ladies of Cincinnati, has three large buildings, modeled after the South Kensington Museum of England. The Museum contains a fine collection of paintings, statues, and works of art; and the school is attended by hundreds of students. There are many libraries, including the Young Men's Mercantile; the Law; the Historical; the Mechanics; and the Public Library. The last is situated in a commodious building on Vine Street, is well equipped, containing over 300,000 works, with numerous reading and circulating branches in outlying districts. The Cuvier Club and the

Museum of the Natural History Society, on lower Broadway, have fine collections which are open to the public. The latter is rich in relics of aboriginal mound-dwellers, discovered in the vicinity, and especially at Madisonville.

Besides the public charities already mentioned, there are numerous benevolent institutions, embracing almost every conceivable need, and supported by private munificence.

HOTELS, THEATRES, AND PLEASURE RESORTS. The chief hotels are the Grand, Saint Nicholas, Burnet House, Gibson House, Emery (with a fine commercial arcade), Palace, Honing, Dennison, Sinton, and the Havlin. There are several good clubs; the Avondale Club House, with its well laid-out grounds, is an elaborate suburban establishment of world-wide fame. Among the buildings devoted to amusement, the splendid Music Hall, founded and mainly endowed by Reuben Springer, is justly celebrated. It is used also as an exposition building. It is 300 by 500 feet, will seat 5400 persons, and has one of the largest organs in the United States. The Grand Opera House, Walnut Street Theatre, Columbia Theatre, College Hall, Greenwood Hall, the Lyceum, Arbeiter Hall, Turner Hall, Heuck's Opera House, Robinson's Opera House, Olympic Theatre, and Marlowe Theatre are also noteworthy structures. Owing to the large number of German residents, the city has become noted for its musical societies, while it is also taking rank as a literary and art centre. The biennial musical festivals are distinctive features of its art-life. "Over the Rhine," the designation of that part of the city which lies between the canal and the hills, is inhabited almost exclusively by Germans, and is famous for its concert and beer gardens. The elaborately installed summer pleasure resorts include Coney Island, 10 miles up the river, reached by hourly excursion steamers; the Lagoon, on the Kentucky side; and Chester Park, near Spring Grove Cemetery.

INDUSTRIES AND TRANSPORTATION. The commanding position of Cincinnati permits of admirable commercial relations with the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. Mill Creek and the Miami and Erie Canal, connecting with Lake Erie, are excellent waterways for the steamboats and barges that bring the coal and iron and lumber from the Alleghanies and the produce of the South to the shores of the "Queen City." The commerce by water has diminished since the advent of railroads; but, owing to its cheap charges, it is still considerable. Local companies control much of the trade of the 1000 miles of the Ohio River and 200 miles of the tributary streams; and there is periodical communication with Louisville and with New Orleans. Cincinnati is an important railroad centre. The imposing Central Union Depot on Central Avenue and Third Street is a converging station for the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and Saint Louis; the Baltimore and Ohio; the Chesapeake and Ohio; the Queen and Crescent; the Louisville and Nashville; and other lines. The Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton, the Pennsylvania, and some minor local railways have separate stations. Cincinnati Southern, with a length of 338 miles, was built, and is owned by the city. It is operated, under lease, by the Queen and Crescent

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The city has nearly 8000 industrial establish