History

Few if any cities have endured reinvention as many times as Cleveland, Ohio. Founded by Moses Cleveland (the "a" was dropped from the city's spelling in 1831) and incorporated as a city in 1837, the city evolved from a frontier town in the 18th-century to a booming center of industry in the early 20th-century. Today it is a capital of service, technology and industry. Over the years, the city has become famous, and infamous, for many things. From the notorious burning river in the late 1960s to the current status as Rock 'n' Roll Capitol of the World, with the I.M. Pei-designed crown jewel Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum on the revitalized shore of Lake Erie, Cleveland has a history that is nothing if not storied.

Shortly before it became a city, Cleveland was host to two significant historical events. In 1831 James A. Garfield was born. He would become the 18th President of the United States before being assassinated just six months after taking office. A year later, in 1832, the Ohio and Erie Canals opened, connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River and allowing industry to thrive. Cleveland steadily outgrew its frontier infancy as steel factories and other forms of industry began dotting the landscape.

Cleveland remained a booming industry town until the early 1900s, when the Great Depression gutted the city. By 1933, a third of the city's residents were unemployed. But the Depression was only the second-worst economic quandary the city endured. The worst came in 1978, when the city became the first in America to default to the federal government. The crisis lasted nearly a decade before the city's economy became soluble again in the late 1980s.

By 1950, Cleveland's population reached a zenith of nearly 950,000. The population has steadily decreased since. Once the nation's fifth-largest city, Cleveland has dropped to 23rd, with a population of 478,000. The population flight was a short one, though. In 1950, as the city's population peaked, there were 1.4 million people living in Cuyahoga County, which is the same number there are today. People were just moving to the suburbs. From Rocky River, Strongsville, Westlake and Berea on the West Side, to Garfield Heights, Solon, Mayfield Heights and Cleveland Heights on the East Side, nearly everyone in the area still calls himself or herself a Clevelander. During the last century, Cleveland laid claim to several events of national significance. Jesse Owens, the phenomenal track and field star, was born in Cleveland. He later went on to humiliate Hitler at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. In 1954 Marilyn Sheppard, the wife of a prominent local doctor, was murdered. These events surrounding the case spawned national headlines. The case is still going on today, and spurred two TV series and a motion picture all bearing the name "The Fugitive."

Cleveland is home to one of the country's best sports and entertainment centers. With Jacobs Field, Gund Arena and the Cleveland Browns Stadium, brand-new homes to the Indians, Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Browns respectively, sports fans have a lot to choose from. These sporting centers also played a major role in the revitalization of downtown. The WNBA's Cleveland Rockers, the Cleveland Crunch of the NPSL and a future minor-league hockey team offers less expensive but more accessible sporting options. Gund Arena, along with Blossom Music Center, Nautica Stage and The Odeon Concert Club, is home to many major concerts, ice shows and other various productions. Playhouse Square draws many top traveling performing shows, and Severance Hall is home to the Cleveland Orchestra, considered by many the best group of its nature on the planet. Down the road in Aurora is Six Flags World of Adventure, while 70 miles to the west sits Cedar Point Amusment Park, arguably the country's best amusement park and definitely the best place to go for roller coaster enthusiasts.

For years, the Terminal Tower was the defining figure of the Cleveland skyline. It still rises above the train station, but now hosts Tower City Center, home to some of the city's best shopping. Major hotels, such as The Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, the Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center, the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at The Arcade and the Radisson Hotel at Gateway surround the skyscraper. Across the street visitors will find the new Hard Rock Cafe, a sign that a city is moving forward if ever there was one. The Galleria at Erieview and The Arcade join Tower City as places for all those downtown, either working or visiting, to spend time.

These days the Society Tower, a Manhattan-style skyscraper that solidifies Cleveland's place as a major American City, dwarf the Terminal Tower. Beneath them are other sparkling new landmarks, such as the ballparks, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the Great Lakes Science Center, which give Lake Erie boaters a completely new skyline. Inland the Metroparks have resurged parks and trails allowing Greater Cleveland to maintain a country feel in the shadows of a still-big city. A booming golfing scene, with more than 100 public courses within a 45-minute drive of downtown, further emphasizes that not all is dull and gray in Cleveland.

However, no spot in town epitomizes the rebirth and vitalization of Cleveland as much as the banks of the Cuyahoga River. After catching fire on June 22, 1968, the Cuyahoga was the laughing stock of America. It is now the aesthetic centerpiece of downtown and separates the business district from The Flats, home to the "North Coast's" most thriving night activities.

It has been a long time since Moses Cleaveland first set foot on the shores of Lake Erie, and Cleveland has come a long way. Judging by the advances and enhancements of the last decade or so, the city is not done yet and the future is as bright as ever.