Queen City History

Research & Writing

Among a wide range of interests, Morgan identifies most personally with the role of writer. This vein of work ranges from generating all of the content for Cincinnati’s Brewing Heritage Trail, to contract work for businesses, as well as independent and freelance projects. Some examples of work includes:

      Books:   

• Cincinnati Beer (History Press 2019)
• Over-the-Rhine: When Beer Was King (History Press 2010)

     Recent Feature Articles:

• “Uncovering The Harrison Horror,” Cincinnati Magazine (Jan. 2021)
• “A 140-Year-Old Mayoral Scandal: Sketchy Citizenship, Rampant Corruption and Voter Fraud,” CityBeat. (Nov. 4, 2020)
• “Proposed Federal Legislation Could Help Restore Ohio’s First Black Cemetery, Madisonville’s United American Cemetery,” CityBeat. (Aug. 12, 2020)
• “Price Hill’s Neglected 170-Year-Old Potter’s Field Cemetery Has a Dark and Shameful Past,” CityBeat (July 22, 2020)
• “Examining the Complex History, Multiple Conflagrations and Reasons to Hope for Over-the-Rhine’s 1800s Jackson Brewery,” CityBeat (Feb. 18, 2020)

Community Engagement & Planning

Queen City History, through Michael D. Morgan, along with our collaborators and partners bring a fresh and effective approach to a broad range of community challenges and opportunities. Some of our current and past work includes:

• Reimagining Potter’s Field: Working with multiple University of Cincinnati design and planning classes over several semesters, while coordinating this work with the City of Cincinnati Dept. of Planning and neighborhood stakeholders, QCH is playing a critical role in transforming an indigent burial ground with a long, shameful history of neglect into a community assets, properly telling the story of the site for the first time, and bringing dignity to the memory of the roughly 20,000 people laid to rest there.
• Sohn-Mohawk Historic District: Over five years of persistent work and creative problem solving created this unique historic district. The guidelines for the Sohn-Mohawk Historic District are the first in the U.S. to present Secretary of Interior preservation standards in a user-friendly, form-based code approach to local historic guidelines. This results in more consistent application of standards, simultaneously benefiting both preservationists and developers.
• Chair, Historic Building Loss Task Force: The group was created by Cincinnati City Council to identify the root causes for Cincinnati’s persistent loss of historically significant buildings, and to propose solutions. This work directly resulted in several pieces of legislation that improved and better integrated preservation goals into the city’s approach to planning, building and housing code enforcement.
• Co-Chair, Charter Review Task Force: Created by Cincinnati City Council to conduct a holistic review of Cincinnati’s city charter, this diverse and disparate group conducted public meetings and work sessions over a two-year period that resulted in recommendations that were adopted by a 73% majority of city voters in November 2014, a 72% majority of city voters in November 2015, with additional recommendations adopted by a 77% majority of voters in 2018. Discussions to enact the remaining recommendations are still active and positive.
• Over-the-Rhine Green Historic Project: This nationally significant, cross-disciplinary project examined how the LEED point system corresponds with federal historic tax credit requirements.  The process involved managing and coordinating architects, developers, contractors, preservation consultants, a University of Cincinnati design studio and graduate seminar. Findings of the study were presented at national and international conferences, and drove changes to the LEED point system.

“Community engagement” has become a buzzword, and the world is full of “professional facilitators” who promise to apply their preordained, patented methods to reach solutions to neighborhood or institutional problems. What we do is different in principle because it is different in action every time. We do not have a playbook. We have a flexible skillset based on real life experience.

Events & Experiences

QCH has created, designed, and implemented a wide range of experiences, including:

• The heralded Murder On The Menu dinner series,
• Historic walking tours,
• Everybody’s Beer Class,
• History-laced beer tastings for private groups,
• Dynamic history presentations to organizations,
• Large-scale festivals.

We can help your community, business, or organization find its voice and create experiences that will share your story and engage the public.

We also still conduct our own signature events like Murder On The Menu and Everybody’s Beer Class, which are available for private bookings; and Michael D. Morgan is available to speak on a variety of subjects.

If you would like to learn more about our work and services, please send a message and we will get back to you asap.