CLEVELAND.
The "Western Reserve."--Character of Early Settlers.--
Fairport.--Richmond.--Early History of Cleveland.--Indians.--
Opening of Ohio and Portsmouth Canal.--Commerce in 1845.--
Cleveland in 1850--First Railroad.--Manufacturing Interests.--
Cuyahoga "Flats" at Night.--The "Forest City."--Streets and
Avenues.--Monumental Park.--Public Buildings and Churches.--
Union Depot.--Water Rents.--Educational Institutions.--Rocky
River.--Approach to the City.--Freshet of 1883.--Funeral of
President Garfield.--Lake Side Cemetery.--Site of the Garfield
Monument.
In early colonial times, out of utter ignorance of the boundless
territory extending westward, the first American Colonies were chartered
by the Kings of England with permission to extend westward indefinitely.
After the close of the Revolutionary War, while negotiations were in
progress in regard to the final treaty of peace with the United States,
which was ultimately signed at Paris on November thirtieth, 1782, Mr.
Oswald, the British Commissioner, proposed the Ohio River as the western
boundary of the young nation, and had it not been for the firmness and
persistence of John Adams, one of the American Commissioners, who
insisted upon the right of the United Colonies to the territory as far
westward as the Mississippi, it is probable that the rich section of
country between these two rivers would still have formed a portion of
the British dominions, or have been the source of subsequent contention
and expense. When the Colonies had become independent States, many of
them claimed the right of soil and jurisdiction over large portions of
western unappropriated land originally embraced in their charters.
Congress urged upon these States to cede these lands to the general
government, for the benefit of all. They all yielded to this request,
except Connecticut, who retained a small tract of land in the
northeastern portion of the present State of Ohio, which was
subsequently divided up five counties in length along the lake, with an
average width of two counties. The lower boundary of this tract of land
was 40A deg. 22' north latitude, and it extended from the Pennsylvania line
on the east, one hundred and twenty miles westward, to a line running
north and south, a little west of the present location of Sandusky City.
This tract of land was called the "Western Reserve of Connecticut."
In 1801 Connecticut ceded all her jurisdictional claims over the
territory, but it continues to be known, to this day, as the
"Connecticut Reserve," the "Western Reserve," or simply as the
"Reserve." This "Western Reserve" is like a little piece of New England
in a mosaic, representing many sections and many peoples. It is a
peculiarity of the Anglo-Saxon race, that in emigrating it usually moves
along parallels of latitude, and rarely diverges much either northward
or southward. We find to the eastward of Ohio, Connecticut, and Rhode
Island, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and
Virginia, and all of these States have contributed to her population.
Thus, below the Reserve, the people are largely from Pennsylvania; still
further south, from Maryland and Virginia; and the lower section of the
State is allied more by kindred and sympathy with the South than with
the North. But on the Western Reserve, the cosmopolitan character of the
inhabitants is at once lost. It is New England in descent and ideas. The
little white meeting house, and the little red school house not far off,
both as bare and homely as a stern Puritan race could conceive of, were
everywhere met in the early days of its settlement, after the log cabin
epoch had passed away. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont furnished
the principal immigrants, and they built their neat and thrifty little
New England towns over again, and maintained their New England
sturdiness and simplicity.
The inhabitants of the Reserve have been, and are still, noted for their
thrift, their intelligence and their superior culture. That section has
furnished many distinguished public men, and one President, to the
country. It was, in the old slavery days, spoken of contemptuously as
"the hotbed of abolitionism," and gave both Giddings and Wade to fight
the battle against Southern dominion in the United States Congress. Here
Garfield was born, and here he is buried. Howells, the novelist, was a
native of the Reserve, and passed his life until early manhood in its
northeasternmost county.
The northern shores of the Reserve are washed by Lake Erie, one of the
shallowest, most treacherous and least picturesque of the chain of lakes
which form our northern boundary. It embraces the "Great Divide" between
the north and the south, its waters flowing to the sea by both the St.
Lawrence and the Mississippi. Summit and Portage counties, by their
names, indicate the locality of this Divide.
Very early in the present century, the sturdy New England pioneers,
looking for a suitable harbor upon the lake, discovered the mouth of
Grand River, about thirty-five miles northeast of the Cuyahoga River;
and in 1803, two miles up this river, the first warehouse on the lake
was built.
In 1812 the town of Fairport, at the mouth of this river, was laid out,
and was destined by its founders to be the future great lake city of
Ohio. It had one of the best harbors on the lake, if not the best, well
defended from storms, and easy of access, so that vessels entered it
without difficulty when they could not make other ports. The water was
deep enough for any large craft, and in the course of time the
government expended a considerable sum of money in improving the harbor.
A line of boats was speedily established between Fairport and Buffalo,
which in those railroadless days were liberally patronized. Nearly all
the lake steamers bound for other ports stopped there, and its business
constantly increased. A lighthouse was built, and its future prosperity
seemed assured.
During the great period of land speculation, between 1830 and 1840, the
town of Richmond was laid out on the opposite bank of the Grand River,
by wealthy eastern capitalists, who established their homes there, and
transported to the infant city the wealth, magnificence and luxurious
social customs of the east. During their brief reign, they gave
entertainments such as were not equaled in that section of the country
for many long years afterwards. A large village was built and a
steamboat was owned there.
Meantime, a little town had been growing up on the banks of the
Cuyahoga. The first permanent settlement had been made as early as
1796, and named Cleveland, in honor of General Moses Cleveland, of
Canterbury, Connecticut. At that period the nearest white settlement was
Conneaut, on the east, and another at the mouth of the River Raisin, to
the west. Immigration at that period did not march steadily westward,
each new settlement being in close proximity to an older one, but it
took sudden jumps over wide extents of territory, so that for many years
isolated families or small neighborhoods were far apart. Each little
settlement had to be sufficient unto itself, since, to reach any other
involved a long, difficult and often dangerous journey. Up to nearly
1800 each house in Cleveland had its own hand grist-mill standing in the
chimney-corner, in which the flour or meal for the family consumption
was slowly and laboriously ground each day. In the spring of 1799
Wheeler W. Williams and Major Wyatt erected the first grist and saw mill
on the Reserve, at Newburg, a few miles above the mouth of the Cuyahoga.
The first ball ever given in Cleveland was on the Fourth of July, 1801,
in a log cabin, the company numbering thirty, of both sexes. The first
militia muster was held at Doane's Corners, on the sixteenth of June,
1806. The spot is now incorporated in the city of Cleveland. Never
before had been so many whites collected together in this region as on
this occasion, which was one of general excitement. The militia
consisted of about fifty privates, with the usual complement of
officers, but a surveying party and a number of strangers were present
and added to the spectators.
In the beginning of the century the Indians were in the habit of meeting
every autumn, at Cleveland, piling their canoes up at the mouth of the
Cuyahoga, and scattering into the interior of the country, which
constituted their great winter hunting ground. In the spring they
returned, disposed of their furs, and entering their canoes, departed up
the lake for their villages, in the region of Sandusky and Maumee, where
they raised their crops of corn and potatoes. Many local names are of
Indian origin; Cuyahoga means "crooked river." Geauga, the name of an
adjoining county, signifies "raccoon." Their encampment on going and
returning was usually on the west bank of the river, and in their
drinking bouts, in which they occasionally indulged, they were sometimes
quarrelsome and dangerous, but do not seem, on the whole, to have given
the settlers much trouble. On the twenty-sixth of June, 1812, an Indian
named McMic was hanged for murder, on the public square of Cleveland.
There were fears that the Indians would rally to his rescue, and a large
number of citizens from Cuyahoga and adjoining counties, armed
themselves and attended the execution, prepared for any outbreak. The
Indians remained peaceable, but the prisoner, at the last moment,
refused to ascend the scaffold. Finally, his scruples were overcome by a
pint of whisky, which he swallowed with satisfaction before yielding to
the inevitable.
In 1813 Cleveland became a depot for supplies and troops during the war,
and a permanent garrison was established here, a small stockade having
been erected on the lake bank, at the foot of Ontario street. The return
of peace was celebrated in true American style. The cannon which was
fired in honor of the occasion was supplied with powder by one Uncle
Abram, who carried an open pail of the explosive material on his arm.
Another citizen bore a lighted stick with which to touch off the gun.
In the excitement, the latter swung his stick in the air; a spark fell
into Uncle Abram's powder, and that worthy, whether from astonishment or
some other cause, suddenly sprang twenty feet into the air, his ascent
being accompanied by a deafening report. When he came down again, his
clothing was singed off, and he vociferously protested that he was dead.
But the multitude refused to take his word for it, and it was not a
great while before he had completely recovered from the accident.
The Ohio Canal, which connects Lake Erie at this point with the Ohio
River at Portsmouth, was completed in 1834, and from that date her
prosperity seems to have been established. She was incorporated a city
in 1836. About this time the great western land bubble burst, and with
it the hopes of Fairport and Richmond. The latter city speedily
disappeared from the face of the earth, and its name from the map. Its
houses were taken up bodily and removed to adjacent towns. Boats still
continued to stop at Fairport, but they began to stop more frequently at
Cleveland, and while the business of the former point was at a
standstill, that of the latter continued to increase. In 1840 its
population was over 6,000, and its supremacy fairly established. In 1850
Fairport was still a little hamlet, the boats passing her far out in the
lake without giving her so much as a nod of recognition; while the
wharves of Cleveland were lined with shipping, and her population did
not fall far short of 20,000.
Besides the Cleveland and Portsmouth Canal, which opened up a line of
traffic with the south and southwest, communication was also had with
the East, by means of canal to Pittsburg and to New York, and the lakes
were a highway, not only to the East but to the North and West.
Cleveland became the great mart of the grain-growing country. Its harbor
was extended and improved by the erection of piers each side of the
mouth of the river, two hundred feet apart, and extending out several
hundred feet into the lake, furnishing effective break-waters, and ample
room for the loading and unloading of vessels. A lighthouse was erected
at the end of each pier, and one already stood upon the cliff.
In 1845 the number of vessels which arrived by lake was 2,136; and of
these 927 were steamers. The tonnage then owned at that port amounted to
13,493, and the number of vessels of all kinds eighty-five. The total
value of exports and imports by the lake for that year was over
$9,000,000. Cleveland occupied a small region on the cliff at the mouth
of the Cuyahoga. Ontario street was filled with boarding-houses and
private residences. Euclid avenue and Prospect street extended for a few
squares, and were then lost in the country. The flats through which the
river wound its devious way were occupied as pastures for the cows of
persons living in the heart of the city. The business portion of the
town was contained, for the most part, in the two squares on Superior
street, west of Ontario. Ohio City was a separate corporation, a
straggling, dilapidated town, looking like a country village, on the
western bank of the Cuyahoga, connected with Cleveland by means of
drawbridges.
In the fall of 1852 the first whistle of the locomotive was heard down
by the river side, in the city of Cleveland. It started the city into
new life, and woke all the farmers within the sound of its hoarse
screech into renewed energy. That fall and winter there was a butter
famine in all that region. The market being opened to New York, butter
went suddenly up from eight and ten cents a pound, to twelve, sixteen,
and then to twenty cents. Buyers could afford to pay no such fancy price
for an article which might be dispensed with; and producers were equally
unwilling to put upon their own tables anything which would yield them
such a handsome profit on selling. And so many families, not only of
mechanics, but of farmers as well, went without butter that winter; the
latter happy in receiving, first twenty, then twenty-two, and finally
twenty-five cents per pound for the products of their dairies.
This first railroad gave the city a fresh start, and presently others
found their terminus here. Population and business have both steadily
increased since then, until in 1880 the former was 160,142, and its
commerce immense, especially with Canada and the mining regions of Lake
Superior. Since 1860 the city has rapidly developed in the direction of
manufacturing industries. The headquarters of the giant monopoly, known
as the Standard Oil Company, Cleveland is the first city of the world in
the production of refined petroleum. The old pasture grounds of the cows
of 1850 are now completely occupied by oil refineries and manufacturing
establishments; and the river, which but a generation ago flowed
peaceful and placid through green fields, is now almost choked with
barges, tugs and immense rafts. Looking down upon the Cuyahoga Flats,
from the heights of what was once Ohio City, but is now known as the
West Side of Cleveland itself, the view, though far from beautiful, is a
very interesting one. There are copper smelting, iron rolling, and iron
manufacturing works, lumber yards, paper mills, breweries, flour mills,
nail works, pork-packing establishments, and the multitudinous
industries of a great manufacturing city, which depends upon these
industries largely for its prosperity. The scene at night, from this
same elevated position, is picturesque in the extreme. The whole valley
shows a black background, lit up with a thousand points of light from
factories, foundries and steamboats, which are multiplied into two
thousand as they are reflected in the waters of the Cuyahoga, which
looks like a silver ribbon flowing through the blackness.
Cleveland is acknowledged to be the most beautiful city of the many
which are found upon the shores of the great lakes. It stands on a high
bluff overlooking Lake Erie. It is laid out, for the most part, with
parallel streets, crossed by others at right angles; and even in the
heart of the city nearly every house has its little side and front yard
filled with shrubbery and shaded by trees, a large majority of the
latter being elms. The great number of these trees fairly entitle
Cleveland to be known as the "Forest City." The streets are very wide,
and the principal ones are paved.
The main business thoroughfare and fashionable promenade is Superior
street, which is one hundred and thirty-two feet wide, and lined with
handsome hotels and retail stores. From the foot of this street, and on
a level with it, was completed, in 1878, a great stone viaduct,
connecting the East Side with the West Side, reaching the latter at the
junction of Pearl and Detroit streets. This roadway is 3,211 feet long,
and cost $2,200,000. Some years before a bridge had been constructed in
the same locality, at a sufficient elevation to permit the passage
under it of various craft; but even at this height there was quite a
descent to reach it, and an equal ascent on leaving it on the other
side. The drawbridge near the mouth of the river was totally inadequate
to meet the needs of business, and was often open for long periods of
time while vessels were passing through.
Ontario, Bank, Water, Mervin and River streets and Euclid avenue are
other important business streets on the East Side. Detroit, Pearl and
Lorain are the principal thoroughfares on the West Side.
Monument Park is a square ten acres in extent, in the centre of the
city, crossed by Superior and Ontario streets. It is divided by these
streets into four sections and is shaded by fine trees. In the southeast
section stands a monument to Commodore Perry, the hero of the battle of
Lake Erie, erected in 1860, at a cost of $8,000. It contains a colossal
statue of the Commodore, in Italian marble, standing on a pedestal of
Rhode Island granite, the entire monument being about twenty feet in
height. In front of the pedestal is a marble medallion, representing
Perry in a small boat passing from the Lawrence to the Niagara, in the
heat of battle. In the southwest corner of the Park is a pool and
cascade, and in the northwest a handsome fountain. In this park was
erected the large catafalque under which the casket containing the
remains of the late President Garfield was laid in state until and
during the grand public funeral, after which it was taken to the
cemetery. This park is surrounded by very handsome churches and public
buildings, among which latter are the Custom House, Post Office, Federal
Courts, County Court House and City Hall, all magnificent edifices.
Case Hall, near the park, contains a concert hall capable of seating
fifteen hundred persons, a library, reading room, and the rooms of the
Cleveland Library Association. The Opera House, a new and handsome
building, is on Euclid avenue. There are, besides, an Academy of Music
and the Globe Theatre and several minor theatres.
[Illustration: PUBLIC SQUARE AND PERRY MONUMENT, CLEVELAND, OHIO.]
The business portion of Euclid avenue extends from the Park to Erie
street, beyond which it is lined with handsome residences, elegant
cottages and superb villas, the grounds around each being more and more
extensive as it approaches the country. It is one of the finest avenues
in the world, and is not less than ten miles in length, embracing during
its course several suburbs which a generation since were remote from the
city, and are now considerably surprised to find themselves brought so
near it. Euclid avenue crosses the other streets diagonally, and was
evidently one of the original roads leading into the city before it
attained its present dimensions. The majority of the streets are
parallel with the lake front, which pursues a course from the northeast
to the southwest. But Euclid avenue runs directly eastward for about
three miles, to Doane's Corners, one of the historic spots in the
neighborhood of Cleveland, and then turns to the northeast, following
nearly parallel to the course of the lake. Prospect street runs parallel
to Euclid avenue, and is only second to it in the beauty and elegance of
its residences. St. Clair street is also a favorite suburban avenue,
extending parallel to the lake, a little distance from it, far out into
the country, and containing many handsome residences.
Newburg, once three miles from the city, and the site of the first saw
and grist mill on the Reserve, is now included as a suburb of
Cleveland, and contains extensive iron manufactories.
The Union Depot, erected in 1866, is one of the finest and largest in
the country. It is built on the shore of the lake, below the bluff, and
near the mouth of the Cuyahoga. Streets more or less steeply graded
furnish access to it for carriages and vehicles of all descriptions,
while a long flight of massive stone steps conduct the pedestrian
directly to the summit of the cliff, where horse-cars, leading by
various routes to all quarters of the city, are waiting for him. All the
railroads leading out of the city centre here. In the keystone over the
main entrance of the depot is a bas relief portrait of Mr. Amasa Stone,
under whose supervision it was built. Similar portraits of Grant and
Lincoln are found upon keystones at either end of the building.
The waterworks stand near the lake, west of the river, and by means of a
tunnel extending some six thousand feet out under the lake, pure water,
forced by two powerful engines into a large reservoir upon the cliff, is
supplied to the entire city. This reservoir is a popular resort for
pleasure seekers, and furnishes a fine view of the city, lake and
surrounding country.
Cleveland enjoys superior educational facilities. Her schools are not
excelled by any in the country, and she has, besides, several large
libraries. The Western Reserve College, until recently located at
Hudson, a small village about twenty miles to the southeast, has been,
within the last few years, removed to this city. The Medical College, a
branch of the Western Reserve College, founded in 1843, occupies an
imposing building at the corner of Erie and St. Clair streets. Near this
college, on the shore of the lake, stands the extensive United States
Marine Hospital, surrounded by grounds nine acres in extent, beautifully
laid out and well kept.
There are a number of parks and gardens in the suburbs of Cleveland, one
of the most extensive having been a donation to the city by Mr. Wade,
one of her millionaires. The favorite drive, however, next to the
avenue, is across the Cuyahoga and seven miles westward to Rocky River,
which flows into the lake through a narrow gorge between perpendicular
cliffs which project themselves boldly into the lake. Here a park has
been laid out, and all that art can do has been done to add to the
natural beauties of the place. From this point a distant view of the
city may be obtained, its spires pointing to the sky out of a billow of
green. To the west is Black River Point, with its rocky promontories,
and on the north stretches out an unbroken expanse of water, with here
and there the long black trail of a steamer floating in the air, its
wake like a white line upon the water; or white specks of sails dotting
the horizon. The coast between Cleveland and Rocky River is high and
precipitous, the emerging streams rushing into the lake by means of
rapids and waterfalls. On this inhospitable coast, which affords no
landing for even a small boat, more than one frail bark came to grief in
the early days of the white man's possession of the land, and nearly all
its living freight found a watery grave. In 1806 a man by the name of
Hunter, his wife and child, a colored man named Ben, and a small colored
boy, were driven by a squall upon these rocks. They climbed up as far as
possible, the surge constantly beating over them, and finally they died,
one after the other, from exposure and hunger, and after five days only
the man Ben was rescued alive. A similar occurrence transpired the
following spring. Of the eighteen deaths which took place at Cleveland
during the first twelve years after its settlement, eleven were caused
by drowning.
Twenty or thirty years ago nothing more desolate or devoid of beauty can
be imagined than was the lake and river approach to Cleveland. The cars
ran along the foot of the cliff, while the space between the tracks and
the table land upon which the city is built was given up to rubbish and
neglect. Little huts, the size of organ boxes, were perched here and
there, swarming with dirty, half-clad children and untidy women, and
festooned with clothes-lines, from which dangled a motley array of
garments. Blackness, dirt and decay were visible everywhere; and the
vestibule of the most beautiful city in America presented to the visitor
the opposite extreme of repulsiveness. But now all this is changed; one
enters the Forest City through a continuous park. Coming from the east,
the waves of the beautiful inland sea almost wash the tracks. On the
left the steep slope is covered by green grass, shrubbery and trees, the
line broken here and there, perhaps, by private grounds no less
beautiful, while the United States Marine Hospital crowns the cliff, at
Erie street, with its ample and well-kept grounds. Reaching the depot
the traveler at once ascends the cliff, and avoids the necessary
ugliness of the immense railroad yard, with its gridiron of tracks. Even
the river, once so unsightly, presents to view the ceaseless movements
of multifarious business, all of which indicate the prosperity and
thriving industry of the city.
It is a peculiarity of western cities that they give so much thought and
spend so much money in public improvements, and especially those which
are merely decorative. Cleveland is in no wise behind the rest. No city
in the east, though many of them boast extensive and expensive public
parks, bestows so much thought, labor and money, to make her general
appearance beautiful and attractive to the stranger. If first
impressions count for much, as it is said they do, then Cleveland has
proved herself wise. She possesses many natural advantages of position.
She is not in a slough, like Chicago, being built on a gravelly plain
about one hundred feet above the lake. Nor is she subject to inundation,
like Cincinnati, most of her business sites and residences being far
above the water. The Cuyahoga River sometimes, however, does damage to
the manufacturing establishments along its shores. In February, 1883, a
freshet occurred, which raised the river ten feet above its ordinary
level, and flooded all its valley. Enormous quantities of lumber and
shingles were washed from the lumber yards. The Valley Railroad was
several feet under water; paper mills, furnaces and other property
submerged nearly to the top of the first story. The Infirmary Farm,
further up the river, was under water, and the damage of the flood was
estimated at not less than a million dollars. The water was higher than
at any period since 1859, when a similar disaster occurred.
All eyes were turned towards Cleveland, when, in September, 1881, a
mournful cortege proceeded thither, accompanying the remains of the
murdered Chief Magistrate. A mighty concourse of people assembled in the
park to assist at the last sad rites, and then the funeral procession
passed out the beautiful Euclid avenue to Lake View Cemetery, where the
casket was deposited in a vault prepared for it, and was guarded by
soldiers night and day; and there, on a spot overlooking the lake, and
surrounded by a lovely country, varied by hill and dale, cultivated
farms and elegant suburban residences, all that is mortal of James Abram
Garfield has found its last resting-place, while his memory lives in
fifty millions of hearts, and his fame is immortal. The youngest son of
his mother, and she a widow, reared in poverty and obscurity, by dint of
his unswerving integrity and overmastering intellect, he rose to occupy
the highest position which man can accord to his fellow man, that of
being the chosen head of a free, intelligent and powerful people. Cut
off as he was, in the prime of his life, a nation mourned her dead, and
Lake View Cemetery is to-day a spot of national interest. It is five
miles from the city, contains three hundred acres, and lies two hundred
and fifty feet above the level of the lake. It commands extensive views,
and though opened as late as 1870, is already very beautiful. It was
here that Garfield expressed his desire to be buried. Here, on a knoll
commanding one of the finest views the cemetery affords, his tomb will
be eventually constructed, and a monument reared to him, as a mark of
the nation's appreciation of his character and sorrow at his untimely
death.
[Illustration: EUCLID AVENUE, CLEVELAND, OHIO.]