By Michael O’BryantSpecial to NKyTribune
In the 1850s, when Cincinnati had an immense trade with the South, fifty to seventy riverboats often filled the city’s wharf at any time. It was during this heyday of Ohio River traffic that the Spencer House opened in December 1853. The new five-story, four-hundred room hotel cost its builder, John H. Groesbeck, $400,000. The Spencer House was located on the former site of the Cincinnati Hotel on the Public Landing, situated on the northwest corner of Front and Broadway Streets on a lot that was said to have been purchased at one time for a cow, a team of mules, and $1.50.
The Spencer House quickly became a favorite place for wealthy southern planters who came with their families and slaves to escape the summer heat. Fashioned in a southern style, it had three large areas where, in the summer evenings, guests promenaded. Its popular spacious balconies overlooked the quietly moving, intricate dance of the river traffic and the lively scenes of the levee.
It wasn’t only wealthy planters who frequented the Spencer House. One of the hotel’s rooms—built to be soundproof — was utilized for gambling. This helped make the hotel a natural stop for the professional gamblers who traveled the riverboats between Pittsburgh and New Orleans…