Yet undaunted by this persistent opposition the Negroes of Cincinnati achieved so much during the years between 1835 and 1840 that they deserved to be ranked among the most progressive people of the world.[29] Their friends endeavored to enable them through schools, churches and industries to embrace every opportunity to rise.  These 2,255 Negroes accumulated, largely during this period, $209,000 worth of property, exclusive of personal effects and three churches valued at $19,000.  Some of this wealth consisted of land purchased in Ohio and Indiana.  Furthermore, in 1839 certain colored men of the city organized “The Iron Chest Company,” a real estate firm, which built three brick buildings and rented them to white men.  One man, who a few years prior to 1840 had thought it useless to accumulate wealth from which he might be driven away, had changed his mind and purchased $6,000 worth of real estate.  Another Negro, who had paid $5,000 for himself and family, had bought a home worth $800 or $1,000.  A freedman, who was a slave until he was twenty-four years old, then had two lots worth $10,000, paid a tax of $40 and had 320 acres of land in Mercer County.  Another, who was worth only $3,000 in 1836, had seven houses in Cincinnati, 400 acres of land in Indiana, and another tract in the same county.  He was worth $12,000 or $15,000.  A woman who was a slave until she was thirty was then worth $2,000.  She had also come into potential possession of two houses on which a white lawyer had given her a mortgage to secure the payment of $2,000 borrowed from this thrifty woman.  Another Negro, who was on the auction block in 1832, had spent $2,600 purchasing himself and family and had bought two brick houses worth $6,000 and 560 acres of land in Mercer County, said to be worth $2,500.[30]

This unusual progress had been promoted by two forces, the development of the steamboat as a factor in transportation and the rise of the Negro mechanic.  Negroes employed on vessels as servants to the travelling public amassed large sums received in the form of “tips.”  Furthermore, the fortunate few, constituting the stewards of these vessels, could by placing contracts for supplies and using business methods realize handsome incomes.  Many Negroes thus enriched purchased real estate and went into business in Cincinnati.[31] The other force, the rise of the Negro mechanic, was made possible by overcoming much of the prejudice which had at first been encountered.  A great change in this respect had taken place in Cincinnati by 1840.  Many who had been forced to work as menial laborers then had the opportunity to show their usefulness to their families and to the community.  Colored mechanics were then getting as much skilled labor as they could do.  It was not uncommon for white artisans to solicit employment of colored men because they had the reputation of being better paymasters than master workmen of the more favored race.[32] White mechanics not only worked with colored men but often associated with them, patronized the same barber shop, and went to the same places of amusement.[33]