The Greater Cincinnati area has three Fortune Global 500 companies: Procter and Gamble, Macy’s, and The Kroger Company.
University of Cincinnati’s College of Nursing has the oldest baccalaureate nursing program in the U.S. and works with countries such as Jordan, Tanzania, Honduras, Mexico, and China to improve nursing standards.
The Cincinnati Symphony, founded in 1895 was the first American orchestra to make a world tour sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the first orchestra to be broadcast on U.S. radio in 1921.
The Academy of World Languages, a Cincinnati Public School, teaches Arabic, Russian, Chinese and Japanese as well as English as a Second Language pre-K-8. The staff and students represent over 37 nationalities and speak over 30 languages.
Cincinnati has the oldest Jewish community west of the Allegheny Mountains and has been the center for American Reform Judaism for more than a century.
Greek immigrants Tom & John Kiradejieff created Cincinnati-style chili as a twist on a traditional Greek dish. They created the chili parlor Empress Chili. Other notable chili parlors in the Greater Cincinnati area have Greek roots as well: Skyline Chili, Dixie Chili & Deli, & Camp Washington Chili to name a few. Gold Star Chili was founded by the Daoud brothers, who were originally from Jordan.
Every year since 1981, Middfest International in Middletown, has featured a different country including Botswana, Indonesia, Mongolia and Peru 2008-11, in year-long programs in trade, arts, humanities and culture. Now Middfest has a focus on a Culture of Peace theme, instead of just focusing on one country.
Over-the Rhine, just north of downtown Cincinnati, was once an important German immigrant neighborhood. It has one of the largest collections of Italianate architecture in the country and is one of the largest historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1788 German immigrants came to America’s heartland and formed the “German Triangle” which consists of St. Louis, Milwaukee and Cincinnati with the largest German influence. The Germans settled and began building historic Over-the-Rhine along with the original streetcar. Creating what is considered today America’s first major boomtown.
In addition to the Cincinnati’s nine Sister Cities: Nancy, France; Munich, Germany; Kharkiv, Ukraine; Gifu, Japan; Harare, Zimbabwe; Liuzhou, China; Mysore, India; Amman, Jordan; and New Taipei City, Taiwan, there are others in our region. Blue Ash-Ilmenau, Germany; Colerain-Obergiesing, Germany; Hamilton-South Lanarkshire, Scotland; Montgomery-Neuilly-Plaisance, France; and Middletown-Furukawa/Osaki City, Japan.
The State of Ohio has seven Sister State Relationships: Anambra State, Nigeria; Hubei Province, China; Gyeongsang Bugdo, Republic of Korea; Saitama Prefecture, Japan; State of Lower Austria; Parana, Brazil; Province of Taiwan.
Oktoberfest, Zinzinnati is the largest Oktoberfest in America. It is modeled directly after the original Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany and was first held here in Cincinnati in 1976.
In April, 2003 the famous brewhaus and beer hall based out of Munich, Germany – Hofbrauhaus opened in Newport, Kentucky as the first franchise to open in America.
