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. Cincinnati operated nine in 1859. Only Findlay Market, built here in 1852, survives. Cincinnati’s lost indoor markets include: Fifth Street Market: 1829 to 1870, Fifth between Vine and Walnut Wade Street Market: 1848 to 1898, corner of Wade and Bauer Avenue Canal Market: 1829 to 1864, Court between Vine and Walnut Court Street Market: 1864 to 1914, replaced Canal Market Jabez Elliott Flower Market: 1890 to 1950, Sixth between Elm and Plum Sixth Street Market: 1895 to 1960, Sixth between Plum and Western Row Pearl Street Market: 1901 to 1934, Market between Sycamore and Broadway

[Side B]: Liberty Street, then called Northern Row, was once Cincinnati’s northern boundary. The area beyond Northern Row, and also beyond the reach of municipal law, was appropriately called The Northern Liberties. The 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. 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.