A Little piece of Paradise… College Hill, Ohio - SELFCRAFT

greater water sanitation in 1849 and demonstrated that cholera declined in London when better sanitationwas followed.This is not to minimize the effect of other epidemics that impacted our city. A 1793 smallpoxepidemic killed a third of Cincinnati’s residents. The flight of the more affluent to the suburbs is notunique to Cincinnati. In Louisville and New Orleans, cholera and yearly outbreaks of yellow fever hadaffluent residents moving away to the far suburbs for the duration of the summer.Cary didn’t mention about the economic turmoil the nation periodically experienced. Letters 20 fromhis family to Erasmus Gest describe what happened locally during these periods, summarized in anabstract by the Ohio Historical Society: “In early May, 1837, Clarissa (Gest) reported that the banks hadstopped specie payments thereby leaving the city with a paper currency instead of the streams of gold &silver with scarcely enough small coin for change. On May 8, she wrote ‘two or three ship builders havegiven up and several foundries last week discharged workmen to the number...of 200 or more. No moneycan be got to defray expenses.’” Conditions were such on October 18, that Clarissa reported that “no onescarcely will change a dollar in any way, and silver is a curiosity. Indeed ready money is scarce. In thecity it commands 10%, none under.”On January 12, 1840, Joseph Gest wrote to his son saying “all business appears suspended...The taxesare far behind in their collections, every thing looks dull and gloomy. Mechanicks (sic) and labourers areout of employ...There is no sale for property now. Little or none selling except what is sold by theSheriff.” On February 2, Clarissa wrote it was rumored that “several families who were reputed worth$100,000...parted with furniture to get market money.”The crisis peaked and on January 12, 1842, Joseph Gest wrote to his son “The day before yesterday,the 10th, the Miami Exporting Co. stopped redeeming their paper. Yesterday morning, the 11th, theCincinnati Bank called Mr. Gilmore, put a note on the door that they would not redeem for 20days...Immediately...crowds collected...broke open the bank, tore everything up, threw the paper in thestreets...Some plundered and ran away. They next attacked the Miami Exporting Bank, emptyed it if itscontents...carrying off thousands of dollars of redeemed & other paper, some specie & etc. Afterwards (atthe) Bates Exchange bank at the corner (the mob) made him pay out some time till he cleared out, toreeverything out of the house. The Mob then crossed over to Longers, made him pay as long as he could,then tore every thing, counters & everything...”The Ephraim Brown/Rankin House at 6268 Savannah Avenue20 Inventory of the Erasmus Gest Papers, 1834-1885, Ohio Historical Society library.25