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Over-the-Rhine: When Beer Was King
Over-the-Rhine is a place where a building owner can stumble upon huge caverns underneath a basement floor or find long-forgotten tunnels that travel far below city streets. Its present mysteries are attributable to a past that transcends the common story of how cities change over time: it is the story of how a clash between immigrants and “real Americans” helped rob Cincinnati of its image, its soul and its economy. In the 1870s, OTR was comparable to the cultural hearts of Paris and Vienna. By the turn of the last century, the neighborhood was home to roughly three hundred saloons and had over a dozen breweries within or adjacent to its borders. It was beloved by countless citizens and travelers for the exact reasons that others successfully sought to destroy it. This is the story of how the heart of the “Paris of America” became a time capsule.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
179 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 5, 2010
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91 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
August 1, 2020
Fantastic history of the German immigrants and brewers who quite literally built Over-the-Rhine, one of the most fascinating, beautiful, and underappreciated neighborhoods in the US. Wonderfully written, smart, filled with fascinating local tidbits and wry remarks that will resonate with any Cincinnati preservationist, it really brings to life the story of the rise and fall of this amazing place, focusing especially on the period between the arrival of the first wave of German immigrants in the early 1800s and the destruction of their work in the Prohibition period. It's amazing how much Morgan manages to teach the reader about their own neighborhood in such a compact and enjoyable book. I wish it were required reading for all Cincinnatians, especially for the many local politicians and developers who continue to bulldoze the neighborhood's rich history for their own short-term profit. If you want to take a real tour of the German heart of Cincinnati, and to understand what we're losing and why it's worth saving (despite what Cranley, Jeff Berding, FC Cincinnati, Joseph Auto, Francis Barrett, and other fans of bad architecture, drywall McMansions, and parking garages will tell you), you really should start here. It'll make you want to get out and see what's left of this place before these clowns finish destroying it. Cheers to Mike Morgan for what he's done for this place and its important and fascinating history.
January 7, 2020
I picked up this local history book on a lark, thinking it'd be a pleasant distraction over the holidays, some tales of local lore -- but I thoroughly enjoyed this read about the li'l neighborhood on the north end, of downtown Cincinnati.
In the 19th century those blocks of were the equivalent of the French Quarter in New Orleans. The area's large German and Irish population pushed the number of saloons citywide in 1890 to just over 1800 -- basically one bar for every 164 inhabitant (one for every 41 adult males). And in 1897, just the distilleries in Cincy (and Newport and Covington across the river) paid alcohol taxes worth 1/6th of the United States total revenue for the year.
Definitely want to read more about the Cincy elections of 1855 -- descended into three days of chaos and violence between the Democrats and the nativist Know Nothings, as well as some other really fascinating stuff. Great pictures too!
In the 19th century those blocks of were the equivalent of the French Quarter in New Orleans. The area's large German and Irish population pushed the number of saloons citywide in 1890 to just over 1800 -- basically one bar for every 164 inhabitant (one for every 41 adult males). And in 1897, just the distilleries in Cincy (and Newport and Covington across the river) paid alcohol taxes worth 1/6th of the United States total revenue for the year.
Definitely want to read more about the Cincy elections of 1855 -- descended into three days of chaos and violence between the Democrats and the nativist Know Nothings, as well as some other really fascinating stuff. Great pictures too!
December 14, 2020
This is serious, folks
The author takes us through the rise and fall of a historic Cincinnati district. From its peak as “Paris of the Midwest” to its near collapse during and following Prohibition, he shows both good and bad, heroism, corruption and racism, and the frothy beverage that tied it together.
While I read it through Kindle, I imagine it would be a good “coffee table book” for the beer-loving historian or history-loving beer drinker in your house.
The author takes us through the rise and fall of a historic Cincinnati district. From its peak as “Paris of the Midwest” to its near collapse during and following Prohibition, he shows both good and bad, heroism, corruption and racism, and the frothy beverage that tied it together.
While I read it through Kindle, I imagine it would be a good “coffee table book” for the beer-loving historian or history-loving beer drinker in your house.
January 5, 2026
awesome read!
As a huge fan of Cincinnati beer and cool old buildings this was an awesome book! It’s fun to see the history of Cincinnati, how much it has changed, and even since this book was written 15 years ago, the insane amount of restoration that has been completed to revitalize OTR! I found myself looking up every address that was mentioned to see what it is now. Highly recommend for anyone interested in Cincinnati history!
As a huge fan of Cincinnati beer and cool old buildings this was an awesome book! It’s fun to see the history of Cincinnati, how much it has changed, and even since this book was written 15 years ago, the insane amount of restoration that has been completed to revitalize OTR! I found myself looking up every address that was mentioned to see what it is now. Highly recommend for anyone interested in Cincinnati history!
October 23, 2020
super informative, easy reading style. Thinking of my home state from a beer angle was a new perspective for me.
Also, it's nice to see some people are working to save Ohio from its long, long spiral into a soulless mire, instead of driving 5000 miles away like I did. They'll fail, of course; but maybe the effort is more important than the results?
Also, it's nice to see some people are working to save Ohio from its long, long spiral into a soulless mire, instead of driving 5000 miles away like I did. They'll fail, of course; but maybe the effort is more important than the results?
Read
February 24, 2023Did not finish. Wanted to love it after going on a walking tour based on the info in the book but damn this was a slog through too many minute details about the local politics at the time for me so I’m ending this madness😅
February 24, 2021
Great book! The history in my area is incredible. I can't wait to go to OTR!
August 7, 2024
Great book that made me proud of Cincinnati and saddened by the history at the turn of the century. Must have a beer (preferably Cincinnati legacy) in hand while reading!
November 14, 2021
Great breeze through some Cincinnati local history, even if you're not totally interested in beer.
April 10, 2013
This was easily one of the better written local history books I've read. So many of them are badly written - simple sentences seem beyond them. The author has a light style that floats over the page. He doesn't try to wow us with an expansive vocabulary nor get bog down in a dirge of words.
I was disappointed with how he chose to tell the story. The author tells the story of Over-the-Rhine which is nothing without the people of Over-the-Rhine. Yet, we got very little of these mostly men. We don't learn much about Christian Moerlein or Louis Hudepohl or any of the other brewers that populated Over-the-Rhine. I'd have liked to know more about them as men and the specific challenges they faced. Maybe their rise or descent mirrored Over-the-Rhine. Where are their descendants now? What family stories did they have to tell about the neighborhood. Cincinnati, if nothing else, is not short on people who like to talk about - and even fetishize - the past. I'm sure they're out there.
One drawback was the relentless portrayal of German-Americans as victims. I don't think I've ever thought of of Germans as victims but this book kept pushing that observation. Sure there were clashes but come on? It's nothing compared to ethnic stife that's happened to other groups in North America or all over the world. What is called anti-German hysteria on historical marker signs is really just silly. "Oooooo, scary, they changed......street names!" In the annals of ethic strife, this is junior league stuff really.
"Personal liberty" is mentioned often in relation to the anti-drinking crowd. It would have been nice of the author to correlate this with "Personal liberty" issues of our own time - smoking ban, drug prohibitions, soda tax, etc.
Personal liberty touches on politics. Prohibition in the United States was a central tenet of the progressive movement - along with the income tax, trust busting, women's sufferage and eugenics. Yet the author feels the need to made snide asides about Sarah Palin, some other nobody tea partier wanna-be no one ever heard of and and "unquestioning patriotic" Toby Keith. (N.B. I believe Mr. Keith, a Democrat, came out against the Iraq war and made some charges against President Bush. That doesn't sound unquestioning to me.) About the Progressives who pushed for prohibition? They only get one single mention in relation to the booze ban and it's only done in passing.
A final note, no matter who is living in Over-the-Rhine, as soon as they could, they got the heck out of it. Thus, it's like most urban areas. It's a place to get an economic foothold. The simple fact is that most people don't like living urban - especially when they have children. This fact should be assumed when doing any kind of planning. The flight to the suburbs is a natural tendency. It's what people want.
I was disappointed with how he chose to tell the story. The author tells the story of Over-the-Rhine which is nothing without the people of Over-the-Rhine. Yet, we got very little of these mostly men. We don't learn much about Christian Moerlein or Louis Hudepohl or any of the other brewers that populated Over-the-Rhine. I'd have liked to know more about them as men and the specific challenges they faced. Maybe their rise or descent mirrored Over-the-Rhine. Where are their descendants now? What family stories did they have to tell about the neighborhood. Cincinnati, if nothing else, is not short on people who like to talk about - and even fetishize - the past. I'm sure they're out there.
One drawback was the relentless portrayal of German-Americans as victims. I don't think I've ever thought of of Germans as victims but this book kept pushing that observation. Sure there were clashes but come on? It's nothing compared to ethnic stife that's happened to other groups in North America or all over the world. What is called anti-German hysteria on historical marker signs is really just silly. "Oooooo, scary, they changed......street names!" In the annals of ethic strife, this is junior league stuff really.
"Personal liberty" is mentioned often in relation to the anti-drinking crowd. It would have been nice of the author to correlate this with "Personal liberty" issues of our own time - smoking ban, drug prohibitions, soda tax, etc.
Personal liberty touches on politics. Prohibition in the United States was a central tenet of the progressive movement - along with the income tax, trust busting, women's sufferage and eugenics. Yet the author feels the need to made snide asides about Sarah Palin, some other nobody tea partier wanna-be no one ever heard of and and "unquestioning patriotic" Toby Keith. (N.B. I believe Mr. Keith, a Democrat, came out against the Iraq war and made some charges against President Bush. That doesn't sound unquestioning to me.) About the Progressives who pushed for prohibition? They only get one single mention in relation to the booze ban and it's only done in passing.
A final note, no matter who is living in Over-the-Rhine, as soon as they could, they got the heck out of it. Thus, it's like most urban areas. It's a place to get an economic foothold. The simple fact is that most people don't like living urban - especially when they have children. This fact should be assumed when doing any kind of planning. The flight to the suburbs is a natural tendency. It's what people want.
November 1, 2012
A well-researched little book that gleans over some of the early and often buried -- like the subway -- history of Cincinnati. The emergence of a strong German cultural center in OTR, and the decline that is still being reckoned with (with the city's usual flair for class and racial politics) are placed within the context of the city's once prominent brewery history.
My only real issue with the book... other than it's too short... is a reference on page 97 regarding the contentious and politicized tug of war over public transit: "These disputes were resolved effectively, but not necessarily in the best interest of the city." While Morgan does acknowledge later that the Boss Cox Republican Political Machine was responsible for some serious graft in awarding rail contracts, the above statement minimizes the issue... though to be fair, the history of public transit was not the focus of the book.
One of the things that makes this book worth reading is the care taken to focus as much on the narrative as the "facts in evidence." Morgan writes like someone who is aware that the value of these stories is tied as much to how they are told (or written) as the they are to the honesty of the story itself.
My only real issue with the book... other than it's too short... is a reference on page 97 regarding the contentious and politicized tug of war over public transit: "These disputes were resolved effectively, but not necessarily in the best interest of the city." While Morgan does acknowledge later that the Boss Cox Republican Political Machine was responsible for some serious graft in awarding rail contracts, the above statement minimizes the issue... though to be fair, the history of public transit was not the focus of the book.
One of the things that makes this book worth reading is the care taken to focus as much on the narrative as the "facts in evidence." Morgan writes like someone who is aware that the value of these stories is tied as much to how they are told (or written) as the they are to the honesty of the story itself.
July 17, 2012
Towards the end of "When Beer was King," Morgan notes, "the unquestioning, Toby Keith, pop culture form of patriotism that is common today was essentially invented during World War I." (p. 130) It is quotes like this that make this book such a fantastic read. On its surface, it's the story of a neighborhood in Cincinnati that fell into disrepair generations ago, and would probably only be interesting to someone like me. But at its core, Morgan's book is an important glimpse at what has happened before and how it is happening again, not only in Cincinnati, but all over America. His analysis of the anti immigration and anti poor rhetoric that characterized the prohibition movement and also characterizes today's tea party movement are spot on, and adds a significant voice that is needed today.
The book is fast paced and flows through the important points of a long and varied history that is especially important to Cincinnati's regional history. A lot of folks are quick to condemn OTR, but have little understanding of how it got the way that it is.
The book is fast paced and flows through the important points of a long and varied history that is especially important to Cincinnati's regional history. A lot of folks are quick to condemn OTR, but have little understanding of how it got the way that it is.
August 5, 2015
An interesting book about the brewing history of Cincinnati in the area of the city that was the hub for German emigrants in the 19th century. But it's not only about beer, you learn that cities even back in the mid- to late 1800s were having many of the problems they are having now. In several instances the riots and fighting were worse than what we see today, only then it was the Germans who were the "outsiders" upsetting the Englishmen who arrived their first. Suffice to say, thanks to Prohibition we got the income tax to offset what the country lost in the liquor tax, and it's never gone away. Lots of interesting photos in this book too. I bought it from the author when he gave a talk at the local library.
February 23, 2016
I bought this book because I thought it would tell me more about the great breweries back in the day of Over-the-Rhine (OTR).
This book is mostly about the history of OTR. It talks about the German heritage of the neighborhood.
This book discusses the living conditions of OTR.
Most of the book is about all of the politics and laws back in the day.
If you want to learn about the history of OTR, this is the book for you. If you want to learn about the old breweries, then this is not the book for you.
This book is mostly about the history of OTR. It talks about the German heritage of the neighborhood.
This book discusses the living conditions of OTR.
Most of the book is about all of the politics and laws back in the day.
If you want to learn about the history of OTR, this is the book for you. If you want to learn about the old breweries, then this is not the book for you.
May 16, 2015
Strong overview of the history of Cincinnati through prohibition and the role that beer, brewers and beer drinkers (i.e. Germans) played in its development. As a relatively new Cincinnatian (and a lover of the Cincinnati Beer RenaissanceTM), this was a great introduction to the history of the city. Worth a read for anyone with an interest in the Queen City.
October 22, 2015
While it was crammed with facts about Over the Rhine, it also contained outrageous grammatical errors. No excuse for this. The author is a college professor which made the mistakes even more egregious. It was difficult for me to finish the book, because I had lost respect for the author. Where in the world was his editor?
May 19, 2015
An easy to read primer on Over the Rhine. A bit difficult to keep track of the names and businesses having never been to Cincinnati.
Would be fun to read a book on the brewing histories of Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cincinnati and the other big beer cities.
Would be fun to read a book on the brewing histories of Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cincinnati and the other big beer cities.
January 11, 2011
Good history of OTR and explanation of its formation & decline. Not too long and with helpful historic pictures.
November 11, 2012
Really interesting information!
September 22, 2013
One of the better regional beer history books. I enjoyed reading it and I use it as a reference as well. I want to visit OTR now that I have read the book. Good work Michael.
March 4, 2014
I learned a lot about Cincinnati history that I honestly had no idea about. A rather informative, enjoyable, and quick read.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews