George B. Cox

George Barnsedale Cox (1853–1916) was a political boss in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, a member of the Republican Party, and associate of William Howard Taft.

He served most notably on the Decennial Equalization Board where he was able to fix the tax rate for prominent properties like the Shubert Theater, in which he became an investor.

Cox’s coalition was “able to bring positive government to Cincinnati and to mitigate the chaos which accompanied the emergence of the new city.”[1] With some justification, Cox boasted of his “achievement of taking the schools, Police, and Fire Departments out of politics” and insisted that “a boss is not necessarily a public enemy.” [2] On the other hand Lincoln Steffens, a famous muckraker, in 1905 called Cincinnati one of the two worst-governed cities in the country.

[6] His chief lieutenants were Deputy County Treasurer Rud K. Hynicka and the President of the Board of the New Water works Commissioners, August Herrmann.

[7] The George B. Cox House at the corner of Brookline and Ludlow avenues was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 6, 1973.