History · Cincinnati

Cincinnati has 287 places on the National Register, 10 of them National Historic Landmarks

More historic than 98% of U.S. towns · #14 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it

Dated to 1788 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history), with 41% of its homes built before 1940 and 41 historic districts holding 3,329 contributing buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, the census since 1800, and every listing on the Register.

1788founded

287on the National Register

41%homes built before 1940

2old photos & papers

31famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Cincinnati’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Cincinnati began

When was Cincinnati founded?

1788

Cincinnati dates its founding to 1788 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1800.

First census: 850 in 18002020 census: 309,317238 years

How historic is Cincinnati?

A⁺

More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1794.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Cincinnati’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cincinnati is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #14 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.

A⁺

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cincinnati’s overall grade.

Founding era1788, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 194040.9% of homes (±1.0) · typical OH town 14.5% · U.S. 8.4%A National Register287 listings, 3,329 historic buildings, 107 per 10,000 residents · typical OH town 2.9 · U.S. 2.4A⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 98%

NewerOlder

Ohio towns of 2,500+ (993)#14 of 993

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Cincinnati ranks #27 on History.

Ohio towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Ohio town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Cincinnati’s 107 sits above most of its state (93% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 3,329 historic buildings outnumber those of 100% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share (±1.0 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1788.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Cincinnati’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark287 places on the National Register, 10 of them National Historic Landmarks.A historic districtThe Over-the-Rhine Historic District takes in 965 historic buildings.Lost villages44 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Cincinnati, and 87 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

287 listings protect 3,329 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 10 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

287

National Historic Landmarks

George Hunt Pendleton House

historic buildings protected

3,329

each building in a district counts

first listed

1966

George Hunt Pendleton House

BuildingsDistrictsSitesStructuresObjects★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Italianate30

Hannaford, Samuel25

Queen Anne23

Unknown18

Greek Revival15

Hannaford, Samuel and Sons14

★ Landmark

George Hunt Pendleton HouseVictorian · Built 1870

★ Landmark

William Howard Taft National Historic SiteItalianate · Built 1969

★ Landmark

Cincinnati Music HallHannaford, Samuel and Sons

★ Landmark

Cincinnati Union TerminalArt Deco · Built 1933

★ Landmark

Plum Street TempleMoorish · Built 1865

★ Landmark

Taft MuseumFederal · Built 1927

★ Landmark

Cincinnati Observatory BuildingHannaford, Samuel and Sons

★ Landmark

Carew TowerModern Movement · Built 1930

All 289 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Cincinnati’s post office has been open since 1794. 44 other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Cincinnati

1794–today

Madison

1813–1828

Columbia

1823–1874

Carthage

1828–1902

Madisonville

1828–1898

Fulton

1829–1866

Mears Farm

1830–1846

Cummensville

1832–1836

Pleasant Ridge

1832–1909

Walnut Hills

1832–1870

17901910today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Anderson FerryAvondaleBarrsvilleBeech-MarBeechview EstatesBond HillBrighton CornerBucktownCaliforniaCamp WashingtonCarthageCliftonClifton HeightsCollege HillColumbiaCorryvilleCovedaleCumminsvilleCyclorama HeightsDallmans CornerEast MadisonvilleEast Price HillEllenoraEnglish Woods

Gone or out of use

Allen TemplechurchAlpha Fine Arts TheatrebuildingAmbassador TheatrebuildingAndersons Ferry Post Officepost officeAsbury Methodist Episcopal ChurchchurchAvenue GroundsparkBald Knob QuarrymineBeecher HallbuildingBelmont SchoolschoolBeth Tefila TemplechurchBethesda HospitalhospitalBond Hill Post Officepost officeBond TheatrebuildingBrauneis PavilionbuildingBurdette SchoolschoolCalifornia Post Officepost officeCalifornia StationlocaleCalvary Baptist Churchchurch

22cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cincinnati

AmericanBaltimore PikeCalvaryChestnut StreetFulton - PresbyterianGermanLaurelMount WashingtonPioneerPleasant Ridge PresbyterianPotters FieldPrice Hill CemeteriesSaint Joseph NewSaint JosephsSpring Grove Cemetery and ArboretumTwelfth StreetUnion BaptistUnited Jewish Cemetery - CliftonUnited Jewish Cemetery - Walnut HillsVine Street HillWalnut HillsWesleyan

See all 22

American Cemetery · Baltimore Pike Cemetery · Calvary Cemetery · Chestnut Street Cemetery · Fulton - Presbyterian Cemetery · German Cemetery · Laurel Cemetery · Mount Washington Cemetery · Pioneer Cemetery · Pleasant Ridge Presbyterian Cemetery · Potters Field · Price Hill Cemeteries · Saint Joseph New Cemetery · Saint Josephs Cemetery · Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum · Twelfth Street Burial Ground · Union Baptist Cemetery · United Jewish Cemetery - Clifton · United Jewish Cemetery - Walnut Hills · Vine Street Hill Cemetery · Walnut Hills Cemetery · Wesleyan Cemetery

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Cincinnati came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cincinnati.

Read it all →

Two years after the founding of the settlement then known as "Losantiville", Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory, changed its name to "Cincinnati", possibly at the suggestion of the surveyor Israel Ludlow. The name was chosen in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, made up of Continental Army officers of the Revolutionary War, of which St. Clair was then president. The society, in turn, was named for Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a dictator of the early Roman Republic who saved Rome from a crisis and then retired to farming because he did not want to remain in power, becoming a symbol of Roman civic virtue.

ChaptersEtymology and nicknames Early history Industrial development and Gilded Age 20th century 21st century to present

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Cincinnati in 1921

Passages that mention Cincinnati, cut from the printed page as they were published.

organization took place in 1863 under Father Walker, the successor of Father McMahon at Holy Angels'.48 The honor which All Saints' church enjoyed of having been a filial church of the first cathedral parish of Cincinnati, was shared by it in 1853 with St. Thomas church on Sycamore, between Fifth a… — **History of the archdiocese of Cincinnati, 1821-1921**1921 · page 132Read the page →
Read the text
organization took place in 1863 under Father Walker, the successor of Father McMahon at Holy Angels'.48 The honor which All Saints' church enjoyed of having been a filial church of the first cathedral parish of Cincinnati, was shared by it in 1853 with St. Thomas church on Sycamore, between Fifth and Sixth streets. This church, which bore the distinction of having been the church in which the Purcell- Campbell debate had been held in 1837 and was destined to
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

organization took place in 1863 under Father Walker, the successor of Father McMahon at Holy Angels', "s The honor which All Saints' church enjoyed of having been a filial church of the first cathedral parish of Cincinnati, was shared by it in 1853 with St. Thomas church on Sycamore, between Fifth … — **History of the archdiocese of Cincinnati, 1821-1921, by Rev. John H. Lamott, ..**1921 · page 132Read the page →
Read the text
organization took place in 1863 under Father Walker, the successor of Father McMahon at Holy Angels', "s The honor which All Saints' church enjoyed of having been a filial church of the first cathedral parish of Cincinnati, was shared by it in 1853 with St. Thomas church on Sycamore, between Fifth and Sixth streets. This church, which bore the distinction of having been the church in which the Purcell- Campbell debate had been held in 1837 and was destined to
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Cincinnati, 1788 to 1969

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

18th century
1788
FoundingCincinnati is established
1794Post officeThe Cincinnati post office opens
19th century
1813Post officeThe Madison post office opens
1823Post officeThe Columbia post office opens
1828Post officeThe Madison post office closes
1848In the archiveView of Cincinnati, Ohio
1850In the archiveBurnet House ; Hôtel Burnet
1857Born hereWilliam Howard Taft is born here
1865BuiltPlum Street Temple is built
1870BuiltGeorge Hunt Pendleton House is built
1874Post officeThe Columbia post office closes
20th century
1914On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1922Born hereDoris Day is born here
1933BuiltCincinnati Union Terminal is built
1946Born hereSteven Spielberg is born here
1950CensusPopulation peaks at 503,998
1964LandmarkGeorge Hunt Pendleton House named a National Historic Landmark
1969BuiltWilliam Howard Taft National Historic Site is built

By decade

Cincinnati, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1840s to the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1840s–1850s2 items

1848View of Cincinnati, Ohio

1850Burnet House ; Hôtel Burnet

On the map

Cincinnati on the map, 1914 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cincinnati. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1914West Cincinnati sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cincinnati.

Every building

Cincinnati, building by building, 1887–1904

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Cincinnati fire insurance map, 1887, sheet 2

1887Sheet 2 of 69

Edition

Sheets

+68 more at the Library of Congress

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewView of Cincinnati, Ohio, 1848

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cincinnati’s page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

Cincinnati, census by census

Peaked at 503,998 in 1950; 309,317 people lived here in 2020.

23 censuses, 1800–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cincinnati’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

31 famous people were born in Cincinnati

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Steven SpielbergAmerican filmmaker · b. 1946

William Howard Taft27th President of the United States from 1909 t… · b. 1857

Doris DayAmerican actress and singer · b. 1922

IShowSpeedAmerican influencer, musician and online stream… · b. 2005

Thomas KuhnAmerican historian, physicist and philosopher · b. 1922

Ted TurnerAmerican media mogul · b. 1938

Help out

Start Cincinnati’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cincinnati’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewView of Cincinnati, Ohio: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Anderson Township5 historic placesB Delhi Township2 historic placesB Columbia TownshipIts storyB⁺Springfield Township4 historic placesB Green Township3 historic placesB Miami Township4 historic placesA Finneytown2 historic placesC Addyston1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Delhi Hills1 historic placeC Monfort HeightsIts storyC

Questions about Cincinnati’s history

What year was Cincinnati founded?

In 1788, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Cincinnati’s post office opened in 1794, and the census of 1800 counted 850 people here.

How does Cincinnati rank for history?

Cincinnati is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #14 of 993 in Ohio. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Cincinnati?

287 listings, 10 of them National Historic Landmarks: 237 buildings, among them the George Hunt Pendleton House (a National Historic Landmark since 1964), 41 historic districts with 3,033 contributing buildings, 3 sites, 7 structures, and 1 object. 3,329 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Cincinnati?

41% of Cincinnati’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1951.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (9), the National Register of Historic Places (289), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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Cincinnati has 287 places on the National Register, 10 of them National Historic Landmarks

How Cincinnati began

When was Cincinnati founded?

How historic is Cincinnati?

What drives Cincinnati’s History grade

What stands out about Cincinnati’s past

287 listings protect 3,329 historic buildings

Architectural styles listings

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

How Cincinnati came to be

What they wrote about Cincinnati in 1921

Cincinnati, 1788 to 1969

Cincinnati, decade by decade

Cincinnati on the map, 1914 to 1981

Cincinnati, building by building, 1887–1904

Stand where they stood

Cincinnati, census by census

31 famous people were born in Cincinnati

Start Cincinnati’s collection

History across the town line

Questions about Cincinnati’s history

Memory lane

Where this page comes from