Digging Cincinnati History: Cincinnati - The City Closest to America?

Recently I asked my Facebook followers for Cincinnati history questions that they would like to have answered. The response has been great but this one had me stumped for a bit...

Peggy shared this image and asked, "Any idea what this means?"

At first I did a Google Lens search, which brought up this listing:

https://www.hippostcard.com/listing/cincinnati-ohio-1900-10s-the-city-closest-to-america/37590113

It made me chuckle to think the seller thought this was Cincinnati in the 1900s-1910s. Carew Tower, standing tall in the middle, was built in the 1930s, so they are a bit off on the time frame.

So off I went to the Cincinnati Enquirer archives, where I found the following article:

A Progressive Program.
As an example of industrial progressiveness and community self-interest the nationwide advertising campaign of the Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. to "sell Cincinnati" is indeed outstanding. Beginning with the February 23 issue of Time, the C. G. & E. will advertise extensively the desirability of Cincinnati as a site of industry. "The city closest to America" will be a theme in the ads stressing Cincinnati's "greatest asset - the character of its people."

This adverting will be done in conjunction with research program to determine the needs of new industries and correlate them with the advantages to be found in Cincinnati. In explaining the program to a large group of civic and business leaders of the city, Walter J. Beckjord, President of the company, explained that the research activity follows the principle that it is unwise to attract a new industry which could not operate successfully under local conditions, or which might result in disastrous competition with similar industries already situated here.

Mr. Beckjord said that his company's drive to advertise Cincinnati and attract new industries here was being staged in cooperation with the other agencies which have a stake in the city's prosperity.

The value to Cincinnati of such a program in incalculable. As a matter of fact, many cities, states and regions appropriate hundreds of thousands of dollars for just such purposes. It costs money to advertise on a national scale, and the research facilities which back up the advertising are not inexpensively maintained. Yet, as experience has proved elsewhere, this sort of thing pays golden dividends.

The question may occur to the casual reader why the gas company, which is held to a rate card far below the national average, would devote part of its earning to a project which is more the city's business than its own. As we just explained, it would cost the city a good deal of money to do what the company is doing without charge.

The answer, of course, lies in the company's enlightened appreciation of mutual interest. C. G. & E.'s management has found it good business to help local industry, through research and all other possible ways. And it evidently realizes that we need more industry here to support the ambitious plans city progress under the Master Plan.

Each new industry that locates here is another customer for the company. That is the element of self-interest. But each new industry that locates here also is a customer for all Cincinnati, from the corner grocery where the workers buy their bread to the city bank where it handles its revenue.

The Cincinnati Enquirer; 02/18/1948; p. 4

The first ad above ran in the Cincinnati Enquirer on February 22, 1948. This campaign continued through until 1950, but the slogan stuck around in mentions up to 1965.

"The City Closest to America" was meant to highlight, at the time, that 40% of the United States population lived within 400 miles of the city, and that the city's central location, rail lines, and highways reduced shipping costs and other costs to attract new businesses. But most of all, that it was the people of Cincinnati and the "American way of life" - from being welcoming, to efficient government, to community support that made Cincinnati the city "closest to America"!

See some of the more examples below and check out even more ads and articles about the tag line here.