Cincinnati’s Nightlife Was Illuminated By Flaming Gas, And It Wasn’t Natural At All

At nighttime, Cincinnati shines like a jewel these days, with lights and lamps of all sorts. A panoply of neon, incandescent, LED, and fluorescent sources spray photons in a dazzling array. Electricity, however, has only dominated the past century or so of our city’s history. Before 1900, when Cincinnati’s nightlife was legendary, every single source of illumination involved some sort of flame.It took a long time for Cincinnati to adopt electricity on any substantial scale. For one thing, it took a long time for the city to adopt a standard electrical distribution system. Before 1910, if you wanted electricity in your house or business, you had to install your own generator. Some of the first Cincinnatians to buy generators were saloonkeepers. In his wonderful book, “Pioneers of Night Life on Vine Street,” Frank Y. Grayson describes one of the first electric signs in Cincinnati:“The first electric light sign caused a lot of enthusiasm. Of course it had to be swung from the northern…