An indentation in the Ohio River bank gets a name:

If you had lived in Old Cincinnati in the post-Revolutionary War days, you probably would have gone to the Common where many of your several hundred townspeople had gathered to shout "Hello, the Boat!" You may or may not have been aware that the Common, the first Cincinnati "park," had been designated for public purposes in surveyor Israel Ludlow's plat in 1789, but you would have used it -- make no mistake.

When the Queen City of the West was just a struggling little frontier town, the Public Landing, or Common, lying between the Ohio River and Front Street and Broadway and Main, became a "Meetin' Place" where the townspeople came to watch keelboats and arks bringing new families to Cincinnati. Rivermen labored at the pier. Livestock and furniture were unloaded; cargoes of dry goods, mill stones, and sacks of salt and other provisions were swung off.

It was in 1811 that the first steamboat was hailed from the wharf.... You look, and see the boats come in. By day they drift up and dock, sending ripples to the shore. By night they come with yellow lights glowing. You would never guess that your town of Cincinnati would grow from 750 people in 1800 to 9,300 in 1820. You would never imagine that it would become the thriving metropolis it is today....

--John Travers Moore, Cincinnati Parks, 1953

Griffin Yeatman, son of Thomas Yeatman and Frances Robinson, was born on Marcy 8, 1769 and died on March 4, 1849. He moved to Cincinnati on June 20, 1793, when it had only a few houses and was known as Losantiville. He was one of the pioneer residents of Cincinnati, known and highly respected by all, his name being well remembered to this day. His influence drew other relatives to Cincinnati. He ran a historic tavern known as the "Square and Compass" and was county recorder of Hamilton County for nearly 30 years. Yeatman Street and Yeatman Masonic Lodge were named after him. He married Jane Winton, daughter of Matthew and Elizabeth Winton (for whom Winton Place, a Cincinnati suburb is named) on October 25, 1795, Squire John Mercer officiating.

Griffen Yeatman founded the Square and Compass overlooking one of the earliest landing places in Losantiville in 1793. His tavern soon became the center of all social and civic life in the community. Many famous guests visited Mr. Yeatman's inn, among them the French philosopher Volney, Lafayette, George Rodgers Clark, Andrew Jackson and Aaron Burr.

The landing, originally a large indentation of the Ohio River at the foot of Sycamore Street (the street derived its name from two sycamore trees which overhung the river at the foot of the road), gave rise to the Yeatman's Cove. The Cove, a favorite landing place for canoes, pirogues and even large "Kentucky Boats" during the many years before the coming of steamboats from Pittsburgh, since has been known as the levee or Public Landing.

Mr. Yeatman's first wife, Jane Winton, died on September 23, 1808. Six years later he married his wife's widowed sister, Mrs. Margaret Rowan. From these two unions, Mr. Yeatman sired a total of ten children, many of whom became prominent in the development of Cincinnati. In addition to being the Hamilton County recorder, Mr. Yeatman served as county clerk, justice of the peace, and in other civic offices.