September 29, 2022 - Cleveland

In late September, Lynnette and I spent a few days with some long-time friends touring the city of Cleveland, Ohio.  Lynnette and I have never been to Cleveland.  We would have flown the RV to Burke Lakefront Airport (KBKL) which was within walking distance of our AirBnB and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  Our friends were driving some Indiana so they had a car.  But the weather was absolutely atrocious on both our travel days.  I mean, not only did it rain hard, but the clouds were lower than the mountain tops as we drove through the mountains.  So we ended up driving to Cleveland.  Wasn't a bad drive, really.  Six or seven hours.  Still, it would have been more fun to fly than drive.

Of course, the first thing we did, was visit Cleveland's number one attraction:  the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Jayne and Lynnette outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Cleveland skyline behind them.

All in all, I enjoyed the Hall of Fame and can see why it is Cleveland's Number One attraction.

That night we to see a Cleveland Indians, I mean Guardians, baseball game.  The stadium seemed modern and new to me, but it opened in 1994.

Bob and I split off from the girls and went to see the SS William G. Mather, a  533-foot long Great Lakes bulk freighter, built in 1925.  She transported cargo such as ore, coal, stone, and grain to ports throughout the Great Lakes, and was nicknamed "The Ship That Built Cleveland" because Cleveland's steel mills were a frequent destination.

Unfortunately the museum ship is only open on Saturdays this time of year so we did not get to tour it.

We joined up with the girls for a Cleveland walking tour.  Scott, our guide, led us around, gave us Cleveland's history, pointed out countless buildings, monuments, squares, plazas, etc. that were a fascinating story we would never have known about had we not gone on this tour. Scott was a beyond outstanding guide; he was able to answer every question. If you are new to Cleveland, go on this tour before you do anything else!

We started the walking tour in the Cleveland Town Square, at the Tom L. Johnson statue.   Tom Loftin Johnson was an American industrialist and important figure of the Progressive Era. He was a U.S. Representative from 1891 to 1895 and Mayor of Cleveland from 1901 to 1909.  During that time he completely transformed the city into the industrial kingpin it was during the early 20th century. Lauded as a consummate "municipal technician" , Johnson paved hundreds of miles of new streets, installed new parks, built numerous public facilities, sporting centers, playgrounds, etc. He also began work on the West Side Market that still operates today as a landmark food market in the US. Johnson was instrumental in incorporating electricity, public transit, steel, and a number of other infrastructure items into the city's economy. Without Tom Johnson, it is safe to say that the Cleveland of today would be a much smaller, very different city.

Behind the statue is the Old Stone Presbyterian Church, founded in 1820.

Cleveland was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River by General Moses Cleaveland, after whom the city was named. Its location on both the river and the lake shore allowed it to grow into a major commercial and industrial center, attracting large numbers of immigrants and migrants.  A port city, Cleveland is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

On the other side of the square is Cleveland's iconic "Terminal Tower".  The Van Sweringen brothers commenced construction of the Terminal Tower skyscraper in 1926; it was dedicated in 1930. It was the second-tallest building in the world when it was completed. Terminal Tower stood as the tallest building in North America outside of New York City from its completion in 1927 until 1964.  Initially, it was to serve as an office building atop the city's new rail station, the Cleveland Union Terminal.

Today, the tower's external lights include 508 LEDs that can be configured into various color schemes, such as red and green during the Christmas season and red, white, and blue for various federal holidays, the Cleveland sports teams colors, or various social groups.

Now, many of the tower's floors have been converted into apartments.  Our guide said many of the other historic downtown buildings -- in fact, most of the buildings -- are now used for residential purposes.

This 1930's-era building used to be the Board of Education building but now it is a Drury Plaza Hotel.

Out in front is the Abraham Lincoln statue.

Lincoln visited Cleveland only twice: once in life and once in death. There are no extant photos of his first visit, which occurred on February 15, 1861, when Lincoln was on his way from Illinois to his inauguration in Washington D.C. Contemporary newspaper accounts captured the excitement as crowds gathered at the elegant Weddell house on the corner of Bank (West 6th) Street and Superior Avenue to hear Lincoln speak from the balcony. The staunchly Democrat Cleveland Plain Dealer briefly put aside its political bias to celebrate the historic occasion.

The Plain Dealer spent much of the next four years criticizing the president and his policies, but it once again put politics aside to mourn Lincoln’s death in April, 1865. The slain president's funeral train arrived in Cleveland on the morning of April 28. The casket was then drawn by horse and carriage to Monument Park (Public Square) followed by a procession of dignitaries and veterans. Thousands of Cleveland area residents gathered in the rain to file past the open casket.

The statue was unveiled with great ceremony on Lincoln's birthday in 1932.

Believe it or not, that building with the rounded dome at the corner of Euclid Avenue and E. 9th. Street is a Grocery Store.  It used to be a bank, but now it is Heinen's, an upscale grocery store, with wine-tasting on the second floor.

Constructed in a span of 19 months in the early 1920s, the theaters were subsequently closed down, but were revived through a grassroots effort. Their renovation and reopening helped usher in a new era of downtown revitalization in Cleveland, and was called "one of the top ten successes in Cleveland history."  There are currently ten theaters and six theater companies.

The Walking Tour ended here in Playhouse Square.

On the way back, we checked out the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Monument, also on the town square.   The monument honors the more than 9,000 individuals from Cuyahoga County who served the Union throughout the war.  It was dedicated on July 4, 1894.

On April 28, 1865, the casket of President Abraham Lincoln was on public view in Public Square during his body's trip back to Illinois.

Inside the memorial are interesting four large bronze panels on the inner walls.  The bronze panels include life-size depictions of allegorical scenes relating to the Civil War.

This panel is called "The Peace-Makers at City Point" which depicts an allegorical meeting between Abraham Lincoln and his generals and admirals discussing how the war would be brought to an end. Although not all of the men depicted in this panel were in the same place at the same time, the depiction was inspired by an actual council of war that occurred in March 1865 between President Lincoln, General Ulysses Grant, General William Sherman, and Admiral David Porter abroad the steamship called the River Queen near City Point, Virginia. At this meeting that Lincoln expressed his desire for a swift end to the war and magnanimous treatment of the rebels thereafter. General Sherman's aggressive posture in this panel represents his opposition to Lincoln's desires, favoring a much more aggressive strategy. Lincoln stands calmly, contrasting Sherman's stance while Grant stands off to the side.

The panel mirrors the well-known 1868 painting called The Peacemakers by George P. A. Healy.

Individuals Depicted: George A. Custer, Phillip H. Sheridan, George Crook, Ulysses S. Grant, John A. Rawlins, Abraham Lincoln, Robert T. Lincoln, Mortimer D. Leggett, Wm.T. Sherman, G.K. Warren, George G. Meade, E.O.C. Ord, David D. Porter, A.A. Humphreys

Surrounding the Monument outside are four large bronze statuary groupings: Mortar Practice, At Short Range, The Color Guard, and the Advanced Guard.  The bronze statuary groupings stand atop Berea sandstone pedestals and depict scenes featuring the four branches of the armed forces at the time of the Civil War.

This is the Advanced Guard statue which honors the Cavalry. It depicts a Union detachment that has encountered enemy troops. A Union trooper, still astride his injured horse, is seen firing his pistol at an enemy soldier at point blank range. Another Union soldier is seen aiming his carbine southward. A bugler stands at the edge of the scene, summoning help for the embattled Union soldiers.

Also on the Public Square, a statue of General Moses Cleaveland, founder of Cleveland.

Moses Cleaveland (January 29, 1754 – November 16, 1806) was an American lawyer, politician, soldier, and surveyor from Connecticut who founded the city of Cleveland, Ohio, while surveying the Connecticut Western Reserve in 1796. During the American Revolution, Cleaveland was the brigadier general of the Connecticut militia.

You are probably wondering why the settlement of "Cleaveland" is now called "Cleveland". One theory is that Cleaveland's surveying party misspelled the name on their original map.   More than likely though, the story goes back to the Cleveland Advertiser, a local paper in the early 1800s.  They could not fit the words “Cleaveland Advertiser” on their masthead, so they dropped the extra “a” to make room and the name stuck.