An old photograph and a newspaper clipping preserve the dramatic and swift destruction of the Fifth Street Market. When the originally proposed location for the Tyler Davidson Fountain was found to be inadequate, Mr. Probasco lobbied for the space occupied by the dilapidated market. An ordinance was passed denying the renting of any market stalls after the city lease expired on the fifth of May, 1869. At this, the merchants of the market initiated legal proceedings against the city to prevent the loss of their market but their efforts ultimately failed in a State Supreme Court decision. Within days, at the next city council meeting on February 4, 1870, the order was given for the destruction of the market. City departments of police and streets had been put on alert the day before the order and when it was given during their 3:00 pm meeting, action was immediate! According to a newspaper account: "at six o'clock the destroying force was withdrawn from its labors, and the Fifth Street market was but a mass of shapeless ruins. We must give the city authorities credit for the policy they adopted to remove the rubbish. It was to allow the poor to supply themselves with kindling wood, and to discriminate against none on account of age, sex, color, or occupation. The enormous heap disappeared as by magic."

(photo courtesy of the Cincinnati Museum Center)