Findlay Market, Market hall in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati, US
Findlay Market is a market hall in Over-the-Rhine with cast and wrought iron framework holding up a roof where indoor vendors sell produce, meat, fish, flowers, and specialty foods from around the world. The interior is crossed by columns and beams that support the roof while letting natural light flood the space.
The market was established in 1852 on land donated by General James Findlay and Jane Irwin Findlay, and it stands as the last of nine public markets that Cincinnati once had. It survived while others closed and the city grew and changed around it.
The market bell, which once announced the city's first marketplace, rings from the central masonry tower at the start of each trading day and connects visitors to older commercial traditions. This daily practice shapes the market's rhythm and shows how traditional signals continue to give structure to the place.
Visitors should come Wednesday through Sunday when the covered area buzzes with regular vendors, while farmers set up outdoors on weekends from March through December. Navigation is straightforward since all sections arrange themselves around the central stone building.
The iron framework here ranks among the earliest examples of this construction method in the United States, showing how engineers in the middle 1800s used metal instead of wood to support large roofs. This technical experiment from the past survives beneath the roof of a working marketplace.
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