Our feature OKI Wanna Know looks for answers to things that may have changed the world in small ways. You ask the questions, and we do the digging. This week, we look to the high and lowlands for answers with WVXU's Bill Rinehart.
Louise Becker of East Price Hill says she knows a lot about Cincinnati history, but is still puzzled by two things.
"I'd like to know why Cheviot is named after an area in Scotland, and why so many streets in Northside have Scottish names."
Before anyone on the West Side gets upset, we need to acknowledge one thing. The community where North Bend Road and Harrison Avenue meet is pronounced with an "I" sound in the first syllable. The area it is named after is not.
"You are absolutely correct. And it's called the Cheviot Hills. It's rolling hills, rolling countryside. Very heavy in sheep, dairy, mostly, as opposed to crops, because the ground isn't that flat."
Duncan Moir is a member of and the archivist for the local Caledonian Society. That's the group formed to help new arrivals from Scotland settle in the United States.
"We started in 1827 and we've been continually an active society ever since," Moir says. "We'll be celebrating our 200th anniversary next year."
When Cheviot celebrated its bicentennial in 2018, the community recognized its roots with concrete sheep, because of a white-faced breed of sheep called Cheviot. You can still see some of these statues around the city today.
Moir says whether or not Cheviot looks like the Lowlands is a matter of opinion.
The president of the Caledonian Society, Jeff Craig, says it may have been from someone who was just a little homesick.
"Cheviot was named after John Craig who settled in Cheviot and named it after the hills in southern Scotland," Craig says. "That was a Scottish immigrant who came to Cheviot. He opened a bar that's no longer there, a tavern, and helped plot that neighborhood."
Jeff is no relation to John Craig. Craig is just a common Scottish name.
Which brings us to Louise Becker's second question: Why do so many streets in Northside have Scottish names?
There are a lot: Fergus, Langland, Chase, Bruce, Kirby, Innes and Hamilton.
In an interview for a 2025 OKI Wanna Know, we learned from Megan Fitzpatrick with the Northside House Tour Committee that a lot of the people who settled in what was Cumminsville were from the British Isles, including England, Ireland, Wales and yes, Scotland.
That could explain it.
But, there are streets and landmarks with Scottish names across the rest of Cincinnati too. They're named for people important to the city's history.
Moir says one is David Kilgour, who in 1798 came to Cincinnati and "found a primitive settlement of only about 500 people when he arrived," Moir says. "He developed a thriving wholesale grocery business. He was also the director of one of the banks in Cincinnati at that time, the Franklin Bank."
Moir says Kilgour's descendants went on to found Cincinnati Bell.
The first governor of the Northwest Territory was a Scotsman: Arthur St. Clair. He gave Cincinnati its name.
Moir says the religious makeup of Cincinnati also has a Scottish flavor.
"Presbyterianism is a uniquely Scottish religion. I don't think there's Presbyterians from any other country," Moir says. "If you look at Cincinnati, it has over 50 Presbyterian churches in the Greater Cincinnati area. That again shows you just what an influence Scots-people had on Cincinnati."
With all that history, why doesn't anyone consider Cincinnati a Scottish town? Why don't we have a Little Glasgow?
Cincinnati celebrates German heritage each fall with an enormous Oktoberfest. Every March, there's a long St. Patrick's Day parade. And for four days every June, Italian culture is celebrated in Newport.
"There was a huge amount of immigration from Germany, and also from Ireland, and then came Italy. Far greater numbers because there were catastrophes in those places due to the potato famine in Ireland, wars and revolutions going on in Germany," he says. "What we're trying to say is they may have outnumbered us, but we are an important part of the history of Cincinnati."
Caledonian Society President Jeff Craig also has a theory.
"Scottish and English culture, it assimilated, that's what American culture for the most part was shaped after. Of course, many other influences," he says. "But you don't see English societies around town because you don't need it, because that's who settled here and that's how this was shaped. And Scottish is somewhat similar, especially in the lowlands."
Craig says Highlands culture is very different; it's what a lot of people think about when you say Scotland: including bagpipes and kilts.
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