Hamilton County, Ohio

Founding: January 2, 1790
Parent county: Northwest Territory

Namesake: Alexander Hamilton (c. 1755–1804), Founding Father
Seat: Cincinnati (1790–)

Land area: 406 square miles

Population (2010): 802,374

Population (historic): 14,692 (1800); 156,844 (1850); 409,479 (1900); 924,018 (1970)

Periods of population growth: 1800–1890; 1920s; 1940–1960

Subdivisions: 21 cities; 17 villages; 49 CDPs; 12 townships

National Register listings: 364

Income (per capita): $28,799

Income (median household): $48,234
Business establishments: 20,884 (38.4 people per business)
Pre-1939 residences (estimated): 99,007 (26.3%)
Vacant houses: 47,956 (12.7%)
Sources of settlement: Germany, Ireland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New Jersey

Cincinnati

Namesake: The Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of Continental Army veterans

Founding: 1788 (platting, as Losantiville); 1794 (post office); 1802 (incorporation)

Population (2010): 296,945

Population (historic): 850 (1800); 24,831 (1830); 161,044 (1860); 325,902 (1900)

Periods of population growth: 1800–1930; 1940s
Typology: Grid

First Courthouse

Location: Main Street and 5th Street (Cincinnati)

Construction: 1790

Years of service: 1790–1802

Typology: Unknown; log

Style: None

Builder: Unknown

Cost: Unknown

Status: Razed

Features of note: Built by volunteers. An illustration, purportedly of this courthouse, depicts a small single-pen log structure. This is surely inaccurate. Other sources give dimensions of 50' by 40'—more believable, given that the courthouse functioned until 1802. If this claim is correct, Hamilton County's first courthouse may have been the largest log building constructed in Ohio.

Second Courthouse

Location: Main Street and 5th Street (Cincinnati)

Construction: 1802

Years of service: 1802–1814

Typology: Unknown (perhaps cubic, with flanking wings); stone; two-story

Style: Unknown

Builder: Unknown

Cost: $3,000 ($52,078 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Razed (burned in 1814)

Features of note: Central cupola and dome; parapets.

Third Courthouse

Illustration from the Cincinnati Public Library collection.

Location: Main Street and Court Street (Cincinnati)

Construction: 1814–1818

Years of service: 1818–1849

Typology: Cubic; two-story

Style: Federal

Builder: Unknown

Cost: $15,000 ($177,777 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Razed (burned in 1849)

Features of note: Five-bay facade; louvered central cupola; round-arched windows; fanlights; operable shutters.

Fourth Courthouse

Image from the Cincinnati Public Library collection.

Location: Main Street and Court Street (Cincinnati)

Construction: 1851–1853

Years of service: 1852–1884

Typology: Monumental (cubic); stone and brick; three-story

Style: Greek Revival

Architect: Isaiah Rogers

Cost: $695,253 ($20,801,394 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Razed (burned in 1884)

Features of note: Three-part composition; rooftop balustrade; central pediment; Corinthian columns; pedimented windows; quoins; arcaded first-floor windows; scored first-floor stonework.

For an illustration, see this page.

Fifth Courthouse

Images from the Cincinnati Public Library collection.

Location: Main Street and Court Street (Cincinnati)

Construction: 1884–1886

Years of service: 1886–1915

Typology: Monumental; stone; four-story

Style: Romanesque–Classical

Builder: Isaiah Rogers

Cost: Unknown

Status: Razed

Features of note: Balustrade and finials; round-arched and rectangular windows; rusticated stonework; finials; "stepped" roofline; round-arched entry with colonettes; cornice brackets.

Sixth Courthouse

Photo by Nyttend.

Location: 1000 Main Street (Cincinnati)

Construction: 1915–1918

Years of service: 1918–

Typology: Monumental (ring, with two courtyards); stone; five-story

Style: Beaux-Arts

Architect: Rankin, Kellogg, and Crane

Cost: $3,022,000 ($50,141,286 in 2017 dollars)

Status: Extant; functional

Features of note: Three-tiered composition; modillion-adorned entablature; recesses with rows of fluted Ionic columns; round-arched entrances; scored first-floor stonework.


Sources: Wikipedia; Courthouse History; United States Census Bureau; Hamilton County Probate Court website; History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio (Nelson, 1894).