CINCINNATI

The Lazarus family is part of the fabric of Cincinnati.  In 1928, the Lazarus Company purchased Shillito's department store in Cincinnati.  In 1929, Lazarus joined with Bloomingdale's, Abraham &  Strauss, and Filene's of Boston to form Federated Department Stores.  In 1945, Fred Lazarus Jr. became chairman of Federated and moved their headquarters to Cincinnati.

For today, we'll ignore the great department store history of the Lazarus family and the many things they have done culturally for the city and concentrate on what George Rau Jr., the stepson of Fred Lazarus III, did for the city.  In 1951, when he was only 10 years old and on vacation with his parents in Northern Italy, little George captured a sackful of wall lizards and then managed to smuggle them back into the U.S.  He released them into his back yard in Hyde Park.  It turns out that the weather in that part of Italy is very similar too that in Cincinnati.  The creatures thrived and multiplied.  Voila! 68 years later, we have lizards all over that part of the city that are known as "Lazarus Lizards."  Our wall lizards live in rocky areas and need a south-facing wall on which to sun themselves in cold weather. 

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