Cincinnati Litho Club
An Educational Organization for the Advertising, Computer, Digital Imaging, Graphic Art, and Printing Industries
Welcome to the Cincinnati Litho Club home page. Here you will find information about our meetings, officers, scholarship opportunities, history and more.
Meetings
Our regular meetings are held on the second Tuesday of the month (there is no meeting in July or August)
For more information or to make a reservation, please call:
Boots Early at 513-261-2378
Cincinnati Litho Club Officers
President
- Debbie Cowdrey
Hadronics
4570 Steel Place
Cincinnati, OH 45209
513-321-9350
Fax: 513-321-9377
Treasurer
- Dick Worthington
NALC
6550 Donjoy Drive
Cincinnati, OH 95242
513-793-2532
Fax: 513-793-2532
Past President
- Gary Walton
Cincinnati State
3520 Central Parkway
Cincinnati, OH 45223
513-569-1785
Fax: 513-569-1467
Membership Information
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Cincinnati Litho Club, use your browser to print this Membership Application , fill it out and mail it to the address on the application.
The Al Hartnett Adult Education Scholarship
The Al Hartnett Adult Continuing Education Scholarship is dedicated to help sponsor advancement and education. It will do this through full or partial reimbursement of any educational course or seminar which help further ones knowledge or career in the Advertising, Computer, Digital Imaging, Graphic Arts, and Printing Industry. This includes but is not limited to college courses or seminars in management, computer or software, financial or sales training, or any area related to graphic arts.
Scholarships are awarded as justified by the Board and Scholarship Committee. A minimum of one scholarship will be awarded each calendar year but is not limited to number of members receiving awards or time of year presented as funds dictate.
Non members of the Cincinnati Litho Club with at least 2 years of experience in Advertising, Computer, Digital Imaging, Graphic Arts, and Printing Industry related industries are eligible to apply for the Al Hartnett Adult Continuing Education Scholarship. Applicants must meet the requirements of, and become a Cincinnati Litho Club member if scholarship is awarded.
Al Hartnett Scholarship ApplicationThe Bill Staudt Scholarship
Eligibility
Must be a graduate from a high school who plans to
go to college or a training school, or a student currently enrolled in a college
or training school.
History
Printing in "Porkopolis"
We sit in glass enclosed, climate controlled rooms staring into glowing computer screens at pixel-formed type and gigabyte hungry four color images. With the touch of our finger we change the style or point size of the type. Another touch and the colors change or the registration becomes tighter. Still another touch and we are spewing the digital information, transactionally, to humming presses in our clean, environmentally-safe, pressrooms.
Such is the daily scene in many of the sprawling suburban facilities of Cincinnati's printing companies. Some, the offspring of the industry's founding fathers; Gibson Greetings, The Hennegan Company, S. Rosenthal, U.S. Playing Card remain. Their legacy, and that of others such as; Strobridge Lithographing Co., Methodist Printing House, Cincinnati Lithographic Co. remain an influence because it was they who set the standard, the training and the reputation of Cincinnati as a printing center.
The history of printing in Cincinnati is a story of companies, but more importantly, of people. The far-sighted policies made over a century or more ago continue to thrive today in the work of the great-grandsons and great-granddaughters of the founders and also in the minds of the new, present day, pioneers and developers of advanced technology.
The City of Cincinnati, being a river town, has a long heritage with barges and riverboats The paddlewheelers of old brought emigrants to the area and the city quickly became a commercial center in the move west. "The Queen City of the West", as it was called, attracted many people of German origin. The topography of the river and the surrounding seven hills brought to mind the Rhine River Valley of their home land. The crafts and trades these immigrants were endowed with formed the basis of the city's economy and manufacturing base. Master Lithographers, Toolmakers, and Brewers established the industries for which Cincinnati is known world-wide today; Printing, Machine-tools, and Beer.
Yet another factor contributed to the growth and international reputation of the city which was to be surnamed "Porkopolis". Canals had been constructed during the early nineteenth century (dug out by the back breaking labor primarily comprised of Irish immigrants). Traversing the territory from Lake Erie to the Ohio River Valley, these canals quickly became a vital transportation link. George Gibson brought his litho press with him via the canal to Cincinnati in 1850.
It was the canal system which brought another group of industries to the thriving "Port of Cincinnati". Numerous farmers throughout the region raised hogs and they utilized these canals to ship the livestock by barges to Cincinnati where stock-yards, slaughter houses, and meat packing companies were in abundance, as well as important east and west river transportation. The by-product of the meat packing industry ultimately resulted in yet another industry which was destined to have an impact on Cincinnati's printing companies, the production of soap.
In 1837 Englishman William Procter, a candle maker, and Irish-born James Gamble, who boiled soap, joined forces. The pair bought a tract of land near the stockyards on the canal at the edge of town and The Procter & Gamble Company was born.