Cincinnati's Lost History: Before The Banks offers a glimpse into the history of the area, when it was very different from the trendy place it is today. Rivermen and merchants once rubbed shoulders with prostitutes, gamblers, and thieves. It was the melting pot of popular culture, an area where new music came upriver from the South—a fresh sound known as the blues. This style was refined in the many riverfront saloons before making its way up the Ohio. A marble-and-pillared bank on Third Street had a tunnel allowing gold to be brought secretly from the river to its vaults. At night, an even greater treasure used the passageway: slaves making their way to freedom.

Readers will not only gain knowledge about the residents, but they'll also step into the lives of those who worked, visited, and played in the area.