Once known as a great commercial port and pork-packing center, Cincinnati developed a diverse industrial economy in a bid to remain the West's Queen City. It is a community familiar with change as new transportation systems evolved, commercial activity shifted, and poor race relations periodically erupted in unrest. For over 200 years, however, enterprising citizens created a vibrant, if at times volatile, urban culture that frequently harkens back to its remarkable past in an effort to shape its future.