Formerly known as Losantiville, the city was renamed Cincinnati by the first governor of the Northwest Territory, Arthur St. Clair, in honor of Geroge Washington at the end of the Revolutionary War. Roman consul Cincinnatus gave up the Empororship of Rome to become a farmer after having been an immensely successful general, much like the way George Washington gave up the presidency after 2 terms.
The city's early economy was based on the pork industry, and this was celebrated in the summer of 2000 with the Big Pig Gig, during which large flying pig statues took up residence along the city's main thoroughfares. Many of these pig statues later found homes downtown in offices, parks and even private residences. The Miami and Erie canal was completed in the 1840s, and was used to transport hogs and butchered pork products to Cincinnati from much of western Ohio.
During this time period massive waves of Germans settled into the city populating neighborhoods which at their height in the late 1800s were some of the most densely populated outside of New York City. These German immigrants built a culture based off of beer gardens, beer brewing, dance and music halls giving Cincinnati a very distinct and vibrant local culture. Unfortunately very little remains from this era due to the double whammy of World War I anti-German backlash and prohibition combined with massive depopulation of the city's core in the mid 20th Century. Lately, with the beginnings of revitalization of the Downtown Basin neighborhoods, there has been a renewed interest in this heritage and some of it can be seen to this day in faded German signs on densely built ornate Victorian buildings in Over-The-Rhine, a high per-capita number of bars, and the celebration of large German festivals such Bockfest, Mayfest, and Oktoberfest.
Cincinnati also has a charming riverboat heritage that dates back to the days when large, steam and paddle-wheel driven vessels were used to transport locally produced pork products. In recognition of this tradition, the city plays host to the Tall Stacks Festival every four years, during which time the river front is transformed into a mass of color, with river boats of all shapes and sizes jostling for positions along the river banks. Baseball is another Cincinnati tradition, and the Cincinnati Reds were the first professional baseball team in the United States; in deference to that, Opening Day is always a home game for the Reds, held at Great American Ball Park.
Cincinnati has a thriving local industrial economy and is home to many businesses ranging from manufacturing to services, including General Electric, Procter and Gamble, Fifth Third Bank, Milacron, Kroger, Federated Department Stores/Macy's, and the American Financial Group. In World Wars I and II, Cincinnati's local machine tool companies, such as LeBlond (now Makino) and the Cincinnati Screw and Tap Company (now Milacron), played an important role, providing what is commonly considered the best machine tool technology in the world for its time.
Recently, Cincinnati has seen some large scale revitalization projects, such as the construction of Great American Ball Park and Paul Brown Stadium, the reconstruction of Fountain Square, the construction of the first phase of the Banks neighborhood (which will eventually include, a hotel, shopping, houses and entertainment) and the beginnings of restoration of Over-The-Rhine through the "Gateway Quarter". This has given the central areas of Cincinnati a vitality that hadn't been around for decades, though it is still very much a work in progress with other projects like a Streetcar line connecting Downtown to the University on the horizon.
This progress did not come easy. For instance, county officials, city government, and area residents were flabbergasted that large scale projects like "The Banks" were undeveloped for over 10 years while the smaller cities of Newport and Covington, across the Ohio River, continued to develop their riverfronts and draw visitors away from Cincinnati. However the tide seems to be flowing back in Cincinnati's favor, time will tell as these developments mature.
