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From: "Joyce Franz" <>
Subject: [Hamilt'n] George Bolles visit to Cincinnati in 1842
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2003 23:03:36 -0500

Stacy,

This is what I received from the Cincinnati Historical Society concerning the "Infernal Regions" mentioned by George Bolles on his visit to Cincinnati in 1842.

The following excerpt is from:
"The Bicentennial Guide to Greater Cincinnati: A Portrait of Two Hundred Years"
by Geoffrey J. Giglierano Deborah A. Overmyer with Frederice L. Propas.
The Cincinnati Historical Society; Cincinnati, Ohio 1988.

"...the Western Museum - the first museum of natural history west of the Alleghenies - that Daniel Drake (1785-1852) and others interested in science set up in the Cincinnati College, using their collections of Indian relics
and fossils. For a time John James Audubon (1785-1851) stuffed birds and animals and painted exhibit cases for the museum.
But Cincinnatians of the economically uncertain 1820s had little interest in scientific education. When Drake, always the most powerful force behind the Western Museum, left Cincinnati for several years, the project was abandoned. The directors tried to sell the collections but, in 1823 gave the materials to the curator, Joseph Dorfeuille, a scientist and entrepreneur who had lectured for the museum.
Dorfeuille quickly changed the museum from the scientific to the sensational. Crowds flocked to Third and Sycamore Streets to see the horrific "Infernal Regions," a depiction of Hell conceived of by British author Frances Trollope. The scene featured wax and mechanical figures
created by local sculptor Hiram Powers (1805-1873) and animated by clockmaker Luman Watson (1790-1834). There was also an exhibit portraying local murderers committing their crimes. ..."

Joyce

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