Photograph

Cincinnati waterfront

Cincinnati, Ohio · 24 September 1848

Original archival photograph

The surviving historical source image.

Eight-plate daguerreotype panorama of the Cincinnati riverfront, 24 September 1848.

What the picture shows

About two miles of the riverfront: steamboats, the landing, the young city, and the hills behind it.

Documented context

An early large American city photograph. The seams between the plates are part of the object. The shelf file is wide and short because it is a reduced composite, not a new drawing.

Photographer: Charles Fontayne and William S. Porter
Source: Eight full-plate daguerreotypes, taken from a rooftop in Newport, Kentucky. Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. The file here is a reduced scan of the composite.
License: Public domain.