Cincinnati Public Markets / The Northern Liberties

Public markets housing butchers, fish merchants, and produce vendors were once the primary source of perishable foods for residents of America's cities, and Cincinnati operated nine in 1859. Only Findlay Market, built here in 1852, survives. Cincinnati's lost indoor markets included Fifth Street Market, open from 1829 to 1870 on Fifth between Vine and Walnut; Wade Street Market, open from 1848 to 1898 at the corner of Wade and Bauer Avenue; Canal Market, open from 1829 to 1864 on Court between Vine and Walnut; Court Street Market, open from 1864 to 1914 after replacing Canal Market; Jabez Elliott Flower Market, open from 1890 to 1950 on Sixth between Elm and Plum; Sixth Street Market, open from 1895 to 1960 on Sixth between Plum and Western Row; and Pearl Street Market, open from 1901 to 1934 on Market between Sycamore and Broadway. Liberty Street, then called Northern Row, was once Cincinnati's northern boundary, and the area beyond it, outside the reach of municipal law, was called The Northern Liberties. That area attracted a concentration of bootleggers, entrepreneurs, saloons, gambling houses, brothels, and other institutions not tolerated in Cincinnati proper. Cincinnati's first Catholic Church was built in 1819 on the northwest corner of Liberty and Vine. As the Catholic population increased and intolerance abated, Catholic churches were later built within the city limits. The unregulated freedom beyond Liberty Street ended in 1849 when The Northern Liberties became the first suburb annexed to the growing Queen City. It is now included in Over-the-Rhine Local and National Historic District, an area originally settled by German immigrants that today reflects Cincinnati's rich ethnic heritage.

Cincinnati, Ohio · United States