Thus we come to Cleveland, the second city in Ohio, having four
hundred thousand people, and extensive manufacturing industries. It is
the capital of the "Western Reserve" and the chief city of Northern
Ohio, its commanding position upon a high bluff, falling off
precipitously to the edge of the water, giving it the most attractive
situation on the shore of Lake Erie. Shade trees embower it, including
many elms planted by the early settlers, who learned to love them in
New England, and hence it delights in the popular title of the "Forest
City." Were not the streets so wide, the profusion of foliage might
make Cleveland seem like a town in the woods. The little Cuyahoga
River, its name meaning "the crooked stream," flows with wayward
course down a deeply washed and winding ravine, making a valley in the
centre of the city, known as "the Flats," and this, with the tributary
ravines of some smaller streams, is packed with factories and
foundries, oil refineries and lumber mills, their chimneys keeping the
business section constantly under a cloud of smoke. Railways run in
all directions over these flats and through the ravines, while, high
above, the city has built a stone viaduct nearly a half-mile long,
crossing the valley. Here are the great works of the Standard Oil
Company, controlling that trade, and several of the petroleum magnates
have their palaces in the city.
Old Moses Cleaveland, a shrewd but unsatisfied Puritan of the town of
Windham, Connecticut, became the agent of the Connecticut Lead
Company, who brought out the first colony in 1796 that landed at
Conneaut. They explored the lake shore, and selecting as a good
location the mouth of Cuyahoga River, Moses wrote back to his former
home that they had found a spot "on the bank of Lake Erie which was
called by my name, and I believe the child is now born that may live
to see that place as large as old Windham." In little over a century
the town has grown far beyond his wildest dreams, although it did not
begin to expand until the era of canals and railways, and it was not
so long ago that the people in grateful memory erected a bronze statue
of the founder. One of the local antiquaries, delving into the
records, has found why various original settlers made their homes at
Cleveland. He learned that "one man, on his way farther West, was laid
up with the ague and had to stop; another ran out of money and could
get no farther; another had been to St. Louis and wanted to get back
home, but saw a chance to make money in ferrying people across the
river; another had $200 over, and started a bank; while yet another
thought he could make a living by manufacturing ox-yokes, and he
stayed." This earnest investigator continues: "A man with an
agricultural eye would look at the soil and kick his toe into it, and
then would shake his head and declare that it would not grow white
beans--but he knew not what this soil would bring forth; his hope and
trust was in beans, he wanted to know them more, and wanted potatoes,
corn, oats and cabbage, and he knew not the future of Euclid Avenue."
On either side of the deep valley of "the Flats" stretch upon the
plateau the long avenues of Cleveland, with miles of pleasant
residences, surrounded by lawns and gardens, each house isolated in
green, and the whole appearing like a vast rural village more than a
city. This pleasant plan of construction had its origin in the New
England ideas of the people. Yet the city also has a numerous
population of Germans, and it is recorded that one of the early
landowners wrote, in explaining his project of settlement: "If I make
the contract for thirty thousand acres, I expect with all speed to
send you fifteen or twenty families of prancing Dutchmen." These
Teutons came and multiplied, for the original Puritan stock can hardly
be responsible for the vineyards of the neighborhood, the music and
dancing, and the public gardens along the pleasant lake shore, where
the crowds go, when work is over, to enjoy recreation and watch the
gorgeous summer sunsets across the bosom of the lake which are the
glory of Cleveland. Upon the plateau, the centre of the city, is the
Monumental Park, where stand the statue of Moses Cleaveland, the
founder, who died in 1806, and a fine Soldiers' Monument, with also a
statue of Commodore Perry. This Park is an attractive enclosure of
about ten acres, having fountains, gardens, monuments and a little
lake, and it is intersected at right angles by two broad streets, and
surrounded by important buildings. One of the streets is the chief
business highway, Superior Street, and the other leads down to the
edge of the bluff on the lake shore, where the steep slope is made
into a pleasure-ground, with more flower-beds and fountains and a
pleasant outlook over the water, although at its immediate base is a
labyrinth of railroads and an ample supply of smoke from the numerous
locomotives. A long breakwater protects the harbor entrance, and out
under the lake is bored the water-works tunnel.
There extends far to the eastward, from a corner of the Monumental
Park, Cleveland's famous street--Euclid Avenue. The people regard it
as the handsomest highway in America, in the combined magnificence of
houses and grounds. It is a level avenue of about one hundred and
fifty feet width, with a central roadway and stone footwalks on either
hand, shaded by rows of grand overarching elms, and bordered on both
sides by well-kept lawns. This is the public highway, every part being
kept scrupulously neat, while a light railing marks the boundary
between the street and the private grounds. For a long distance this
noble avenue is bordered by stately residences, each surrounded by
ample gardens, the stretch of grass, flowers and foliage extending
back from one hundred to four hundred feet between the street and the
buildings. Embowered in trees, and with all the delights of garden and
lawn seen in every direction, this grand avenue makes a delightful
driveway and promenade. Upon it live the multi-millionaires of
Cleveland, the finest residences being upon the northern side, where
they have invested part of the profits of their railways, mills,
mines, oil wells and refineries in adorning their homes and
ornamenting their city. This splendid boulevard, in one way, is a
reproduction of the Parisian Avenue of the Champs Elysées and its
gardens, but with more attractions in the surroundings of its
bordering rows of palaces. Here live the men who vie with those of
Chicago in controlling the commerce of the lakes and the affairs of
the Northwest. Plenty of room and an abundance of income are necessary
to provide each man, in the heart of the city, with two to ten acres
of lawns and gardens around his house, but it is done here with
eminent success. About four miles out is the beautiful Wade Park,
opposite which are the handsome buildings of the Western Reserve
University, having, with its adjunct institutions, a thousand
students. Beyond this, the avenue ends at the attractive Lake View
Cemetery, where, on the highest part of the elevated plateau, with a
grand outlook over Lake Erie, is the grave of the assassinated
President Garfield. His imposing memorial rises to a height of one
hundred and sixty-five feet.