A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 15

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I > Part 15

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From lithograph by Thomas Whelpley-original in Western Reserve Historical Society A B

LOOKING WEST ON EUCLID AVENUE, ABOUT WHERE BOND STREET NOW IS, 1833. A, courthouse on square. B. Old Stone Church and Trinity Church. C, residence of Hon. J. W. Allen

111

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

active, wealthy and enterprising population. Taking both sides of the river into view Cleveland contains twelve thousand people, but in 1825 it contained only six hundred. It is delightfully situated on a high sandy bank of Lake Erie, seventy feet above the lake at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river and on both sides of the Erie and Ohio canal. In the summer season, while its port is crowded with its mer- cantile marine of lake vessels, steamers and canal boats, Cleveland is a busy, bustling city. If we look off on the lake we see many a sail spread to the breeze of this beautiful inland water.

"This town will soon run up to fifty thousand people and forever continue to be an important inland city. The people here have all the elements of pros- perity in or near the town; freestone for buildings, limestone, cedar and gypsum on the lake islands ; iron ore and coal in Tuscarawas county on the canal ; pine for- ests in Canada across the lake; water power in abundance in the river and in the canal; and a population as stirring, enterprising and industrious as any in the world." 15

In 1846 Henry Howe first made his journey through the state and gathered his material for his "Historical Collections." He says of our city: "Excepting a small portion of it on the river it is situated on a gravelly plane, elevated about one hundred feet above the lake, of which it has a most commanding prospect. Some of the common streets are one hundred feet wide and the principal one, Main street, has the extraordinary width of one hundred and thirty-two feet. It is one of the most beautiful towns in the Union and much taste is displayed in the private dwellings and the disposition of shrubbery. The location is dry and healthy and a view of the meanderings of the Cuyahoga river, and of the steamboats and shipping in the port, and of the numerous vessels on the lake under sail, presents a picture exceedingly interesting from the high shore of the lake.

"Near the center of the place is a public square of ten acres, divided into four parts by intersecting streets, well enclosed and shaded with trees. *

"The harbor of Cleveland is one of the best on Lake Erie. It is formed by the mouth of the Cuyahoga river and improved by a pier on either side extending four hundred and twenty-five yards into the lake, two hundred feet apart and faced with substantial stone mason work. Cleveland is the great mart of the greatest grain growing state in the Union and it is the Ohio and Erie canals that have made it such, though it exports much by way of the Welland canal to Canada. It has a ready connection with Pittsburg through the Pennsylvania and Ohio canal, which extends from the Ohio canal at Akron to Beaver creek, which enters the Ohio be- low Pittsburg. The natural advantages of this place are unsurpassed in the West, to which it has large access by the lakes and the Ohio canal. But the Erie canal constitutes the principal source of its vast advantages. Without that great work it would have remained in its former insignificance." *

The Geographers and Gazetteers speak modestly of the town. In 1810, "Morses' American Gazetteer" says: "Cleveland is a town in New Connecticut. This town has been regularly laid out and will probably soon become a place

15 Page 342-3.

* Pp. 497-8.

112

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

of importance, as the Cuyahoga will furnish the easiest communication be- tween Lake Erie and the Ohio; with little expense, a safe harbor may be formed in this town for vessels and boats which trade on the lake. In the compact part of the town were in 1802, ten or twelve homes, and in the whole town about two hundred inhabitants." The "Ohio Gazetteer," of 1817, says : "Cleve- land is a commercial post town. It is situated at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river on the southern shore of Lake Erie, and during the late war, it was a con- siderable depot for provisions and munitions of war, as also a place for build- ing various kinds of boats and other water crafts, for military service on the lake. It is a considerably noted place of embarkation for various ports on the lake."

Thos. L. McKenney, in his "Tour of the Lakes," 1826, says: "Cleveland is a pretty place, which is nested upon a high bluff, and composed of some fifty houses." 16

CHAPTER XI.

THE GROWTH OF POPULATION.

Whittlesey's Early History, page 456, gives the following table showing the early population of our city :

1796

1797

1800

1810

1820 About

150

1825

About

500

1830 U. S. Census

1,075

1832 About

1,500

1833 About

1,900

1834 City Census 3,323

1835 City Census 5,080

1840 U. S. census

6,07I

Ohio City 1,577 7,648

Ohio City 2,462 12,035

1845 City Census

9,573

1846 City Census 10,135

1850 U. S. Census 17,034

Ohio City about

· 3,950 20,984

1851 City Census 21,140

1852 City Census 25,670

1860 U. S. Census 43,838

(two cities united.)

1866 City Census 67,500

16 Page 107.

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113

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

To this table may be added the following :

1870 U. S. Census

92,829

1880 U. S. Census 160,146

1890 U. S. Census

261,353

1900 U. S. Census

381,768

I9IO (Estimated) 500,000

These figures reveal the slow and severe struggle of the frontier village, the gradual development of the town, the growth of the commercial city and finally the development of the manufacturing metropolis. These stages of growth are clearly defined. Until 1830 Cleveland was a mere village. The survey of Amos Spafford and the plan of the land company for the disposal of town lots, were altogether too pretentious for the straggling group of modest houses and country stores that fringed the wide streets. In 1830 the popula- tion passed the thousand mark and the town stage was soon reached. But the city was not assured until 1860, when the population numbered nearly 44,000. The city development was sure, although not as rapid as Colonel Whittlesey sur- mised when he estimated, that "the census of 1870 should give about 100,000; of 1875, 162,000, and of 1880, 262,000." 1

The metropolitan stage was reached in 1900, when the population was 381,268. The growth of the last decade has been the largest. The accumulated momentum of one hundred years and the energy of its varied industries, have brought the city to the half million mark. An analysis of the growth of this population will be here attempted.

The earliest settlers were New Englanders. They came from Connecticut and Massachusetts, with a liberal quota from New York and New Hampshire, and some from Vermont and Rhode Island. For many years, the early news- papers contained the marriage and death notices from Connecticut, New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts, and other eastern states. The pioneers transformed the universal forests into farm land, established the village, engaged in the small trade and commerce of that day and brought with them in their clumsy wagons, all the elements of New England culture and character, for they immediately established academies and colleges in the primeval woods, and built churches and schoolhouses wherever they settled.

But this early, hardy population was inadequate to the industrial demands that followed in the wake of steamboat and railroad transportation. Vari- ous causes, political and economic, combined to produce that wonderful inva- sion of the middle west by the North-European, in the middle of the last cen- tury. And Cleveland was in the pathway of this majestic stream of emigration. Its principal ethnic parts were the English, the Irish and the German, the last two greatly preponderating. Unfortunately there are no reliable data of the earliest arrivals in Cleveland of these emigrants.

In 1829 it was estimated that 600 emigrants arrived here in a fortnight and settled in our neighborhood, mostly upon farms.2

1 "Early History," p. 457.

2 "Herald" No. 501.

115

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

The Irish immigration settled on the west side, near the mouth of the river. Major W. J. Gleason gives the earliest Irish emigrants as follows: The first Irish immigrant to locate in Cleveland was William Murphy, 1830. Among the earlier families are the following : 1833, the Evans family ; Arthur Quinn and John Smith ; 1834, Dr. Bailey, Dr. Johnson, the Sanders family, Joseph Turney ; 1835, Hugh Buckley, Sr., David Pallock; 1836, Hugh Blee, Patrick Smith, Father Dillon, Father O'Dwyer; 1837, Captain Michael C. Frawley, D. McFarland, the Cahill, Conlan and Whelan families; 1838, Father Peter Mclaughlin, Michael Feely, Michael Gallagher, Phillip Olwell; 1839, the Farman and Gibbons families and Charles C. Rogers; 1840, Patrick Farley ; 1841, John and William Given; 1842, Rev. A. McReynolds, William Milford ; 1845, John, Matthew, Thomas and Patrick McCart and the McMahon family; 1847, Professor Fitzgerald, Patrick W. and William W. Gleason, Patrick Breslin, Peter F. and Patrick McGuire, Squire Duffy, William McReynolds, Dr. Strong and the Story families.3

There was a considerable influx of Manxmen in those years. In 1854 they had organized "The Monas Relief Society." William Kelley of Newburg was the pioneer Manxman of Ohio, coming to this state in 1826.

There were also a number of Scotch and Welsh families among the early immigrants. "The St. Andrews Society" was organized in May, 1846. George Whitelaw, president; Alexander McIntosh, John McMillen, vice presidents; Robert Ford, David McIntosh, James Robertson, William Bryce and Alexander Paton, managers ; Rev. C. S. Aiken, chaplain; Dr. J. L. Cassels, physician ; James Proudfoot, treasurer; James Dods, secretary. The corresponding secretary was James Proudfoot, the painter-poet, whose dainty Scotch verse and rol- licking songs will be remembered by the older members of the society. Sep- tember, 1850, the Scotch organized the Caledonian Literary association. The developing manufacturies, trades and professions of the city, received many of their sturdiest recruits from these Scotch emigrants, as did also rapidly growing Presbyterianism.

In 1848 the population was estimated at 13,696 and the first analysis of the nativity of the population was given in the city directory of that year: United States, 8,451 ; Germany, 2,587; England, 1,007; Ireland, 1,024; Scotland, 176; Wales, 62; Canada, 145 ; Isle of Man, 148; Nova Scotia, 7; France, 66; Holland, 3; Newfoundland, 2; New Brunswick, 9; Poland, 4; Prussia, 3; Boncet. sea, 2.

Over one-half of the population was of American birth, of American born parents, a condition that prevailed only a few years longer.

In 1849 the city sexton reports the nativity of cholera victims: Ireland, 49; Germany, 44; England, 14; American, II; Wales, 4; Scotland, 2; Holland, 2; Norway, France, Isle of Man, each I; unknown, I; total, 130. The mortality was mostly among the foreign born who lived in squalid quarters "under the hill."

1850.

The United States census of 1850, gives no analysis of the population by country. The school attendance of the county is given, 11,601, of whom only 1,547 are foreign born children, while of illiterates, the county had 736, of whom 175 were natives and 561 foreigners.

8 For further list see "Annals Early Settlers Association," Vol. IV, p. 632.

116

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

In 1854 the common pleas court reports that 1,407 foreigners had declared their intention to become naturalized. Of these, 423 came from Ireland, 202 from Great Britain and Canada and 500 from Germany.

1860.

Nor does the census of 1860 analyze the population. The city then had 43,417 inhabitants according to the official census. The population of the county was 78.033. There were in the county 14,501 white males of foreign birth, and 14,280 white females of foreign birth, and 28 colored persons of foreign birth, a total of 28,809. There were 49,224 persons of native birth. Unfortunately, we have no analysis of the population of the city. A survey of the names in the city directory, however, reveals a new element. Central and southern Europe are sending a considerable number to us. The Slavs, first the Bohemians, then the Hungarians, were becoming factors in the city. Italy began in an insignificant way, that emigration which is today of considerable strength. The North Euro- pean influx was by far the largest and the Germanic people still predominated in it, with England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales following in this order.

The beginnings of the Hungarian immigration date to 1852, with the arrival of the families of David and Morris Black, who settled near the junction of Woodland and Willson avenues. The Blacks soon left their market garden to begin their successful careers as manufacturers of ladies cloaks and garments. This important branch of our city's manufacturing interests remains largely in control of Hungarians. The Hungarian population settled along Woodland avenue and East 105th in the old twenty-third ward. In 1888 they organized their first church and one of their first building and loan associations. In 1889 Hun- garian Hall on Clark avenue was built for the Hungarian societies on the west side and in 1890 Hungarian Home on Holton street for the east side society. The Hungarian population includes not only a large number of workmen, but mul- titudes of craftsmen, cabinetmakers, locksmiths, shoemakers, tailors, machinists, etc.

I 870.

In 1870 Cleveland had become a well established city of 92,829. The census fortunately tells us whence this population came. The closing of the war brought a new immigration ; 1,293 colored persons lived in the city. The native population was 64,018 and the foreign, 38,815. The native born population came principally from the following states : Connecticut, 748; Illinois, 266; Indiana, 198; Iowa, 47; Kentucky, 225 ; Maine, 215; Maryland, 206; Massachusetts, 1,099; Michigan, 486; Missouri, 124; New Hampshire, 215; New Jersey, 294; New York, 5,417; North Carolina, 140; Ohio, 40,951 ; Pennsylvania, 1,801 ; Rhode Island, 78; Vermont, 494; Virginia and West Virginia, 457; Wisconsin, 158; District of Columbia, 53.

Cleveland was thus in 1870 in its native born population peculiarly an Ohio city, over four-fifths of her native population was born in this state. It is not known what portion of these Ohio born citizens were natives of Cleveland or Cuyahoga county.

The foreign born population came from the following countries: Asia, I ; Australia, 5; Austria, 2,155 ; Bohemia, 786; British America, 2,634 ; Denmark, 49;

HOTEL

From the original in Western Reserve Historical Society

This interesting picture was taken from the top of a building on Superior street, below Seneca, probably the Weddell House. It shows the new county jail, built in 1851-2. before the "old courthouse" was built. The "Old Stone Church" looms majes- tically in the background and the old city hotel, on Seneca street, is clearly shown. The square is filled with shade trees. Back of the Old Stone Church, the tower of the Baptist church is dimly seen.

117

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

France, 339; Germany, 15,855; England, 4,533; Ireland, 9,964; Scotland, 668; Wales, 285; total Great Britain, 15,449; Greece, I; Holland, 495; Hungary, 97; India, I ; Italy, 35 ; Mexico, 6; Norway, 6; Poland, 77; Russia, 35 ; South America, 3; Spain, 2; Sweden, 26; Switzerland, 704; Turkey, 2; West Indies, I.

The German total was divided: Baden, 2,394; Bavaria, 2,621; Hanover, 705; Hessen, 1,741; Mecklenburg, 677; Prussia, 5,356; Saxony, 208; Nuremburg, 1,356.

There are no figures to show the number of native born inhabitants whose par- ents were foreign born. But in the county there were 81,314 native born, and 50,696 foreign born, yet of this total of 132,010, there were 94,093 whose parents, one or both, were foreign born. There is no doubt, therefore, that in 1870 the majority of our population was either foreign born or of foreign born parentage. In this foreign strain of blood Germany and Great Britain shared about equally, making 32,000 of the 38,000 foreigners, while the Slavs constituted scarcely 1,000 and the Italians only 35, and added to the German strain were 576 Dutch, Swedes, Danes and Norwegians and 704 Swiss. The Grecian and the Indian had each but I representative, while the Turk had 2. The Romance nations were best repre- sented by 339 French, while there were only 2 from Spain. One lone Asiatic rep- resented his vast continent. Our city was now beginning to be metropolitan. The representatives of all the leading types of the human race had found shelter and employment among us.

1880.

In 1880 the population of 160,146 indicated a growth of over forty per cent in ten years. This population is roughly classified as follows: White, 158,084; colored, 2,038; Chinese and Japanese, 23; Indians, I.

Of these 100,737 were native born and 59,409 were foreign born. There is no data of the nativity of the foreign born in the city but in the county the follow- ing figures will show the distribution.

Native-total, 128,190: Ohio, 101,980 ; Pennsylvania, 4.780 ; New York, 10,059; Virginia, 698; Kentucky, 349; Indiana, 556; Maryland, 381 ; West Virginia, 106; Michigan, 1,281 ; Massachusetts, 1,897; other states, 6,093.

Foreign-total, 68,753: British America, 4,884; England and Wales, 10,839; Ireland, 13,203; Scotland, 1,705; German Empire, 27,051 ; France, 506; Norway- Sweden, 248; Switzerland, 935 ; Bohemia, 5,627.

Italy is not shown in this list. From other sources of information it may be inferred that at least 300 Italians lived here in that year. The general proportions of the principal contributors to our population remained quite the same as in 1870, only one notable change taking place. Bohemia multiplied the number of her representatives over seven times.

The census reports indicate that there were 56,919 persons employed in the city in all occupations. This number was distributed among the following countries : United States, 26,730; Ireland, 6,570; Germany, 12,506; Great Britain, 4,911 ; Sweden-Norway, 182; British America, 2,017; all others, 4,083.

This may be taken as the distribution of the nativity of the normal adult popu- lation.

118

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

1890.

By 1890 the metropolitan character of our population was well established. Of the 261,353 inhabitants, 164,258 were native born, and 97,095 foreign born. Of the native born 99,723 were of foreign parentage, leaving only 64,535, or about one-fourth of the population native born of native parents. Of the foreign born population 42,469 were males over twenty-one years of age, and over one-half of them, or 25,133, were naturalized.

There is no data from which to discover the parentage of the foreign born population for this decade. The nativity of the entire population was as follows: both parents natives, 61,668; one or both parents foreign, 99,733; foreign born, 96,927 ; colored, 3,035.

The nativity of the mothers: United States, 72,678; England and Wales, 21,652 ; Scotland, 3,953 ; Ireland, 32,147 ; Germany, 80,195 ; Canada, 5,262 ; France, 953; Scandinavia, 1,211 ; Russia, 2,159; Bohemia, 17,747 ; Hungary, 3,918; Italy, 879 ; other foreign countries, 11,913 ; unknown, 3,651.

The aliens were distributed as follows :

North and South America-Canada and Newfoundland, 610; Mexico, I; South America, 7; Cuba and West Indies, 2.

Great Britain and Ireland-England, 1,333; Scotland, 308; Wales, 109; Ire- land, 1,081.

Germanic-Germany, 4,735; Austria, 854; Holland, 56; Belgium, 6; Luxem- burg, 1; Switzerland, 118.

Scandinavia-Norway, 29; Sweden, 104; Denmark, 61.

Slav-Russia, 335; Hungary, 858; Bohemia, 1,583; Poland, 727.

Latin-France, 56; Italy, 199; Spain, 2; Portugal, 2; Greece, 6.

Asiatic-Asia, 19; China, 27; Japan, 3; India, I.

Africa, I ; Australia, 4; Turkey, 9; others, 9.

Of these aliens 7,906 could speak English, while 5,370 could not. About half of them had been here over five years. Among the native born the sexes were about evenly divided but there were 5,000 more males than females among the foreign born. The notable additions to our population were made by the great increase of the Slavs and the Latin influx. Asia and Africa also increased their contributions. The English speaking races diminished and the Germanic continued to come in about the same ratio as before.

The Slavic population in Cleveland is grouped by Magdalena Kucera in an article in "Charities," January 14, 1905, as follows : Bohemians; Poles; Slovaks ; Slovens, who are also called Croatians and Russians.

The Bohemian immigration was the first of this group to come to Cleveland in large numbers. They began to come in the decade between 1860 and 1870 and settled on Broadway, near Willson. Their colony grew rapidly, and flour- ished materially. Within thirty years there were among the Bohemian popula- tion thirty physicians, twenty lawyers, many teachers and a large number of business men. They had representatives in public office, and every trade and profession. There were in 1905, five large Bohemian Catholic churches and school and four Bohemian Protestant missions.

Photo forg To thusy

From an old cut

View on Euclid Avenue

From an old cut

View on Case Avenue

From an old cut

A residence on Prospect Street

From an old eut

Euclid Avenue

FOUR VIEWS OF THE RESIDENCE STREETS, AABOUT 1870

119

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

The Poles came somewhat later, their large influx beginning in 1882, when the strike in the rolling mills afforded them work. The colony embraces several lawyers and physicians, and multitudes of laborers. Two Polish weekly papers are published.

The Slovaks followed in the wake of the Poles. Their colony comprises mostly day laborers.

The Croatians and Russians established themselves on the south side, near University Heights, where they maintain an orthodox church, and the residence of the bishop.

There are several settlements of Italians who began to come about this time. The Murray Hill settlement is recruited principally from the province of Campo Basso. A settlement on Fairmount street near the pumping station is nearly all from the town of Rionero Sannitico in the province of Campo Basso. The group on Clark avenue near the woolen mills is from north central Italy. The largest of the settlements is in the neighborhood of Orange street. Its colonists are from Sicily, and furnish many of the fruit dealers of our city. The Orange street settlement serves as a basis or station for laborers for the entire state of Ohio. Many of the men hired by the railroad companies throughout the state have their mail forwarded from here. Besides filling the ranks of com- mon laborers the Italian colonies have given talented recruits to the stone cut- ters' and designers' arts.

1900

In 1900 the population was 371,768, and our metropolitan character was fixed. Whatever vicissitudes may hereafter visit this community the historian will have always to record that in this decade Cleveland was an international city, not in the sense in which Paris, or London, or New York are world cities, but in the literal sense, that with us dwelt the representatives of all races.

Of this population only 87,740 were native born of native parents, 163,570 were native born of foreign parents and 124,354 were foreign born, that is, about one-fourth of our city is native born of the second generation, or over, nearly one-half (42.8 per cent) is native born of foreign parentage and one-third (32.6 per cent) is foreign born. (This is exclusive of negroes.) Of the entire population, 288,491 or 75.6 per cent are born of foreign parentage. Our city's ethnic complexion is therefore almost European. The great ethnic group besides the whites are represented as follows : colored, 6,104; negro, 5,988; Chinese, 103; Japanese, II ; Indian, 2.

The native born population came principally from the following states: Cal- ifornia, 177; Connecticut, 876; District of Columbia, 143; Georgia, 207; Ill- inois, 2,389; Indiana, 1,834; Iowa, 540; Kentucky, 1,206; Louisiana, 129; Maine, 329; Maryland, 734; Massachusetts, 1,517; Michigan, 4,931; Minnesota, 321 ; Missouri, 763; Mississippi, 96; Nebraska, 156; New Hampshire, 238; New Jer- sey, 791 ; New York, 11,688; North Carolina, 250; Ohio, 209,206; Pennsylvania, 10,764; Rhode Island, 148; South Carolina, 178; Tennessee, 425; Texas, 118; Vermont, 540; Virginia, 1,360; West Virginia, 656; Wisconsin, 846; Kansas, 344.

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A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 15

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1262

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262