Panoramic Views

   These are not postcards but they are so nice I had to put them up. After you click on them you will have to scroll to see it all. Depending on your connection speed some of these images will take awhile to load after you click on them so you are going to have to be patient.

   This was taken from the top of the Suspension Bridge's Covington tower on November 11, 1908

   These images were shot from the Covington side where the Licking River enters the Ohio. This was taken on 6/11/1914.

   Shot from the top of the Suspension Bridge's Covington tower. This one was taken around the same time as the next one. The cables have been strung but the bed has not been laid making the date late 1865 to 1866.

   As you can see from the condition, this is one of the oldest ones. You can see the cables have been strung for the Suspension Bridge so that would place the date for this panorama around late 1865 to 1866.        

   This real photo is related to some of the cards seen on the previous page. It was taken from Mount Adams.

   This one is HUGE when expanded, you will have to scroll back & forth and up & down to see it all. It's worth all the trouble. This sequence of photographs is extremely old, believe it or not it was taken in 1848. The clarity of the images is amazing.

   This one I had to scan in two parts. It is from a small souvenir book (3.25" x 5") put out by E. N. Freshman & Bros. Advertising agents for newspapers. I have never seen this image anywhere before. 

The Cincinnati Motor Speedway

   The next three pictures show a race that was held at the Cincinnati Motor Speedway. Built in Sharonville on 640 acres in 1916 it was a 2 mile high banked oval made of wood. The so-called "board track" had 34 degree banked turns and 6 degree banked straightaways. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which ran its first 500 mile race in 1911, cancelled its 1917 schedule because of WW I and was briefly used as an airplane repair facility. Cincinnati Motor Speedway applied for the May 30 race date and was awarded a 250 mile race. That race was won by Louis Chevrolet, who had designed passenger cars before selling his patent to General Motors. Unofficially, the number of people attending that race was estimated by the old Commercial-Tribune at 65,000. Chevrolet averaged 102 MPH, and collected $12,500 prize money, a large sum in those days.
   The wooden boards did not weather well outdoors, and the track closed in December of 1919. The last event held there was a 48 hour endurance run for Essex autos in December. The site is currently a U.S. Post Office among other businesses. The track lumber was shipped to Chillicothe to be used in the construction of Camp Sherman during WW I.
   The three cards below show, what I believe to be, the first race held at the new track. It was the 300 mile 1st International Sweepstakes Race that was held on September 4, 1916.

1866  CINCINNATI  BASIN  PANORAMA

   The following section is of a rarely seen panorama of Cincinnati that was taken in 1866. This is the earliest panoramic photograph showing the details of the heart of the city. Of course the 1848 daguerreotype, seen above, of the waterfront was the first. J. W. Winder, a local photographer, took these photographs from the top of Mozart Hall which was just south of Sixth and Vine Streets (where later the Grand Theater would stand). The panorama was first seen at Winder's Fourth Street Studio on July 28, 1866. The map below shows what area each photograph is viewing. The explanations that accompany each image was written 30-40 years ago so the buildings that are mentioned, for the most part, no longer stand. You will have to insert today's structures into the explanation. There is no easy way to show this panorama but this was the best I could come up with. I believe the trouble you will have will be worth it. 

Panorama sections

                      
 Section  I                       Section II                      Section III                      Section IV

                       
       Section V                             Section VI                    Section VII                          Section VIII       

       
Section IX                          Section X       

_{IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE SOME MODERN PANORAMAS}