From Glass Factories to a Reservoir Town
Cicero was founded in 1834, named for Cicero Creek, and built Hamilton County's first bridge over a major stream in 1838. The railroad's 1853 arrival brought flour mills, a sawmill, and, thanks to local natural gas, two glass factories — industrial-era infrastructure whose traces still run under the town's oldest blocks. The town's landmark Red Bridge came down in the early 1950s to make way for Morse Reservoir, which opened in 1956 and brought a wave of lakefront development.
Industrial-Era Core, Lakefront Edges
We treat Cicero's original 1830s–1850s industrial-era core, where older supply and drain lines are common, very differently from its lakefront homes built since Morse Reservoir opened in 1956, which run newer systems suited to lake-adjacent properties.