A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 55

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

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In the Weddell house, on the evening of July 7, 1848, was founded the Board of Trade that later developed into our potent Chamber of Commerce. Here was held the great banquet, February 22, 1851, that celebrated the opening of Cleve- land's first railway, the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati. The first dinner of the New England society was given there December 22, 1855; and for thirty years brilliant social functions were held in its spacious halls.

THE FOREST CITY HOUSE.

Original lot 82, southwest corner of the Square and Superior street has always been a tavern site. Samuel Huntington bought the lot in 1801 from the Con- necticut Land Company. He sold sixty-six feet fronting on Superior street to Phinney Mowrey (sometimes spelled Mowry) in 1812. The deed was not passed until May 10, 1815, and that year a modest inn called Mowrey's Tavern was erected. In 1820 Donald McIntosh bought the property for four thousand, five hundred dollars and called the tavern the Cleve- land Hotel. In 1824 James S. Clark rebuilt the house. It was advertised as "commanding a fine view of the lake." There were then no large buildings to the north of it. Mathew Cozens soon after became landlord and in 1837, A. Selover from New York city. It was later called the City Hotel. It was entirely destroyed by fire, February 10, 1845. In 1848 David B. Dunham re- placed it with a brick building, called the Dunham House. In 1852 it was pur- chased by William A. Smith, of Poughkeepsie, New York, who had been, for some time the manager of the Franklin house. He greatly enlarged the hotel and named it the Forest City House. It has undergone but few changes in the past four decades.

In 1820, in the dining room of Mowrey's Tavern, was given the first theatrical entertainment in Cleveland by a traveling company. In the old livery barn that fronted the square to the south of the hotel, the Cleveland Grays were organized in August, 1837, by Timothy Ingraham. September 6, 1852, picturesque Sam

" "Herald," January 20, 1864.

THE STILLMAN'

CLEV-O. O

THE STILLMAN HOTEL North Side of Euclid Avenue, just beyond Erie (East 9th Street). Demolished 1900.

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Houston of Texas spoke from the balcony facing the square. The hotel gained considerable notoriety because in 1856, Frederick Douglass was entertained there.

THE NEW ENGLAND HOTEL.

The New England Hotel was a favorite stopping place for commercial men during its brief existence. It was built in 1846 by G. M. Atwater and opened the following year. It was an imposing building and stood at the foot of Superior street. It was entirely destroyed by fire in 1856. W. J. Gordon's wholesale gro- cery and warehouse was built on its site.

For many years the City Hotel on Seneca street was a popular house with farmers and traveling men. It was built in the '30s by Perry Allen. It was sold in 1840 to J. E. Lockwood, who refurnished it and built new livery stables. T. B. Brockway was the next landlord, followed in 1861 by H. H. and H. C. Brock- way. In 1858 it was rebuilt.

THE ANGIER HOUSE.

In 1852 a new fashionable hotel, the Angier House, was built on the corner of Bank and St. Clair streets, by Alexander Garrett, J. C. Vaughan and Ahaz Merchant. The building was formally opened April 17, 1854, by a banquet and fashionable reception, attended by two hundred and fifty guests. The new. hotel was five stories high, was heated "by the steam process," and had a reservoir on the roof for distributing water throughout the building. Its landlords up to 1866 were R. R. Angier, William Odell, Rogers & Richards, Silas Merchant, J. P. Ross and R. M. N. Taylor. In 1866 its furniture was sold, the house com- pletely remodeled and refurnished in "solid black walnut," and reopened on the evening of June 14, 1866, as the Kennard House.8 The new hotel was owned by T. W. Kennard, and R. M. N. Taylor was its first landlord. "The Exchange," with its fountain, created great enthusiasm. It was supposed to be a copy of one of the rooms of the Alhambra. The Angier House was the fashionable hotel of the town. It entertained among its guests John C. Breckinridge in 1856, Lewis Cass, General Franz Sigel. In 1860 when the Perry monument was dedicated, the notable visitors were entertained there and a great dinner was given Governor Sprague, of Rhode Island, and his staff.

Later, at the Kennard House, General W. T. Sherman was given a splendid reception, July 29, 1866. He arrived here from Buffalo on his way to St. Louis but found a telegram awaiting him from General Grant, calling him to Wash- ington. He attended church services in the morning and in the afternoon drove around the city. Throughout the day a great throng gathered at the hotel but the modest General kept close to his room. The leading citizens, however, arranged an informal reception and serenade for Monday morning. At 5:30 o'clock Leland's band appeared under his window on Bank street and while it was playing patriotic airs the General appeared on the balcony with Amos Town- send, who introduced him to the early morning crowd. The General said: "Gentle- men : I am sorry to disturb you at this early hour in the morning but I am glad

8 "Herald," May 9, 1866.

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to see you. I am always glad to see my friends. I do not feel much like talking and you probably do not care to listen to what I may say. If any of you wish to see me I will come down." There was naturally a unanimous call for him to come down and the great soldier held an informal reception on the sidewalk. After breakfast he was driven down Euclid avenue to the station. As he passed the residence of Dan P. Eells his carriage was halted and Mr. Eells came out with a bouquet of flowers and a great cluster of grapes from his famous garden. The General also stopped to call on his friend, Judge Willson, who lived near the de- pot. The observant reporter records that the great soldier was not in uniform- that he wore a "military vest and an old linen duster." 9

The Angier House passed through the vicissitudes that an exclusive hotel in a new western city experiences. It changed hands many times. When it meta- morphosed into the Kennard, the moving of wholesale houses into that vicinity made it popular with the traveling men. The tinkling fountain still plays in the lobby and the faded Spanish maidens still gaze from the walls, reminiscent of a brilliant past.

The Stillman on the north side of Euclid avenue just beyond Erie succeeded the 'Angier house as the exclusive hotel of the city. It was built by the Stillman Witt estate and opened June 2, 1884. Its imposing building was placed well back from the street on a spacious lawn in keeping with its stately surroundings. On April 12, 1885, fire destroyed its upper floors. In 1901-2 it was torn down at behest of the irresistible commercial invasion of the avenue. It had been the scene of many brilliant social functions.

In 1852 the Johnson House was built on Superior street, opposite the American house. Its first landlord was J. R. Surbury who had served in both the American House and the Franklin House. In its first years it was popular with commercial travelers. In 1910 it was torn down to make room for an addition to the Rocke- feller building.

Among the hostelries that flourished in the later '6os, '70s and '80s may be men- tioned the Hawley House, which is still receiving guests ; and the Streibinger House on Michigan street, which was discontinued some years ago.

CHAPTER XLVII.

THE DRAMA. By Maurice Weidenthal.

PLAYHOUSES OF LONG AGO.

Ever since Cleveland was Cleveland, or more properly speaking, Cleaveland, the spot fronting on the southwest section of the Public Square has always been occupied by a hotel. Today it is the Forest City House, and before the present structure was built, a country tavern stood upon the same spot, known as the Cleaveland House.

9 "Herald," July 29, 1866.

...

ACADEMY OF MUSIC

Courtesy Maurice Weidenthal

THE FAMOUS OLD ACADEMY OF MUSIC East side of Bank street between Superior and St. Clair

From a photograph. Courtesy Waechter und Anzeiger

THE PARK THEATRE, now the Lycem, as it appeared before the fire. Also shows the old Courthouse, with the original three stories.

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This old hotel will serve as an introduction to the drama in Cleveland, for it was in the Cleaveland House ball room the early pioneers of Cleaveland witnessed the first theatrical entertainment ever given in the city. It was in 1820, when the present metropolis of Ohio was a village of some five hundred, and this included the farmers who drove into town on their ox carts and lumber wagons, all the way from "Doan's Corners."

Let us pause long enough and reflect what would have happened to the un- fortunate prophet who in 1820-when the lumber wagons and ox carts stumbled along rocky roads and crossed swollen creeks to the show house of the town- would have had the hardihood to tell his companions on the long, tedious journey that the time is coming when Cleveland will have scores and scores of show places and theaters, many of them real and more than a hundred exact reproduc- tions of all the world and its peoples, moving as they move in life and nothing to distinguish them from living, breathing humanity and that dozens of those thea- ters would be located "way out Doan's Corners," where the farmers came from, and that folks, instead of going to them in ox teams, would be whisked down town in an inexpressably brief space of time by the unseen power of electricity, and that people would own their own horseless carriages, thousands of them all in the future great city of Cleveland, the cost of every one of which would be greater than a thousand acres of good timber and farm land on Euclid road. near Doan's Corners.

"Yes indeed," Prophet Si might have said to his girl, Mandy, "and these fellers in them 'ere horseless carriages could get down to the show house in the Cleveland Hotel in ten minutes."

"You must be crazy, Si," Mandy might have truthfully replied, and any pro- bate judge would have agreed with her.

There is a great span between the little ball room of the old Cleveland tavern and the Hippodrome on Euclid avenue, probably the second largest theater in the United States.

But to return to Cleveland's first theatrical entertainment. It was a week of the legitimate, not a one night stand show-such as villages of today are inflicted with, but Manager Blanchard's troupe stayed a week. Not because Cleveland could patronize a company for that length of time, but traveling was a tremen- dous hardship those days, and it was difficult to journey from place to place.

"Douglas" was the best known among the plays presented, with Julia B. Blan- chard, the manager's pretty daughter, as the leading lady. When it was all over the show folks packed up their wardrobes, had the trunks and things carted down Superior Lane, and while the lads and lassies of early Cleveland shouted their farewells from the little wooden dock, the show folks moved down the Cuyahoga river on the sailboat "Tiger," into the lake seeking other worlds to conquer.

Following this initial triumph on the Cleveland stage other companies came and went, and for ten years the same little Cleveland tavern ball room was the only theater in town, the companies staying until the attendance fell off and when the boys and girls "went broke" as the result of too much show, the companies quit.

Then came Shakespeare, and early Cleveland liked him. The town in 1831 had grown to one thousand one hundred, and a company under the management of Gilbert & Trowbridge, with Mrs. Trowbridge as leading lady, gave a round of

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the legitimate drama in the little brick courthouse, located on the northwest sec- tion of the Public Square.

Cleveland has witnessed numerous theatrical "smash ups," the first of which occurred in 1832, when the Mestayer troupe, which made its way from Boston by easy stages and finally by way of the Ohio canal, succumbed to financial disaster. Members of the company quit town the best they could. Mr. and Mrs. Mestayer were financially unable to do so, and to eke out an existence and save up enough funds to get back to Boston, they gave what were called "comic shows" in Abbey's Hotel on the corner of Ontario and Michigan. This was really the first vaudeville performance ever given in Cleveland, and it was during one of these performances, Dan Marble, who years later became a famous comedian, made his debut in a sketch and songs.

When the little brick courthouse became too small to accommodate play loving Clevelanders, capitalists put their heads together and erected a theater on the spot where the Western Reserve block is now located, but the entrance faced the other way, being located at the corner of Superior Hill and Union Lane, at that time the center of the town's activities. The first floor was used for stores, and the theater proper, containing an auditorium of seventy by fifty, was up one flight of stairs. It was built of wood, by William and Samuel Cook, and leased by an actor named Parsons, who engaged a fairly good company to support him, the season contin- uing about half the winter. Parsons soon tired of acting and became a parson, joining the Methodist ministry, and when tired of the job of preaching and the small salary he again donned the sock and buskin.

Bye and bye, in 1835 or thereabouts, Cleveland became quite a theatrical cen- ter. A circuit was established here by Dean & Mckinney, who played the com- pany in Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Buffalo and small towns between these then larger cities. The company was one of the best in the country and included in its makeup the then celebrated comedian, possibly the best in the country, Billy Forrest, also Dean, whose daughter, Julia Dean Hayne, ultimately became a well known actress.

In the '30s another theater was opened in Cleveland. It was a marvel, one of the few brick buildings in town and known as Italian Hall, John Mills, proprie- tor. It was located on the west side of Water street, near Superior, the theater proper being on the third floor, the real novelty in the house being the raised seats. It was the fashionable house of the town and the stopping place for famous sta In the course of time Italian Hall became a variety house.

In 1837 a project to build a theater on Seneca street was abandoned or count of the panic. The association was composed of Dean & Mckinney and number of moneyed men of the town.

During the dramatic year of 1839-40 there stood a building at Ontario and Prospect avenue, where Bailey's is now located, known as Mechanic's hall. This was fitted up as a theater. It was, however, too far up town, and one of the early companies that played there, headed by Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey, suffered great financial loss. The theater did not succeed.

In 1848 a frame theater, seating five hundred, the largest up to that time, was built by John S. Potter on Water street, near St. Clair. It was opened August 14, of that year. The most noted actors of the day appeared there, including Chas.

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Webb, but it brought financial disaster to Mr. Potter and two years later it fell prey to the flames.

Then came Apollo hall, and a sample program in existence of a performance given July 27, 1848, illustrates the character of the performance enjoyed by early Clevelanders. First, there was a performance of "Damon and Pythias" with Webb and Neafe in the title roles. Then a dance by Miss Walters and Mr. Good- win, and comic songs, the entertainment concluding with the farce, "The Two Gregories," in which a Mr. Booth played the leading part. You could get a box seat in Apollo hall for fifty cents, and a chair in the pit for twenty-five cents.

THE GLOBE THEATER.

Then came the old Globe with its interesting history of about forty years, a longer life than any playhouse in Cleveland had before or since. Nothing escaped it. Every possible form of entertainment was given within its walls, from grand opera and lectures, fake spiritualists, to the cheapest vaudeville and minstrel shows. Nothing like it was ever known anywhere on earth. It was located on Superior street on the spot occupied by the temporary postoffice, while the new postoffice was under construction. Built in 1840 by J. W. Watson, it was known for some time as Watson's hall. In 1845 when the owner became financially em- barrassed, he sold the lease to Silas Brainard, the founder of the well known Brainard family of Cleveland piano dealers. The name of the place was changed to Melodeon hall, and was so called up to 1860, when it was changed to Brainard's Hall, then to Brainard's Opera House, and when in 1875 the Euclid Avenue Opera House was opened, it was again changed to the Globe Theater. Laura Keene played in this theater, so did Mckean Buchanan, the Lingards, the Parepa Rosa Opera Company, the divine and glorious Adeline Patti, the greatest singer in all history, the Kellogg and Strakosch Grand Opera companies, the Kiralfys made their first Cleveland appearance here, J. K. Emmett made his first appearance here as Fritz, and in 1880, the old house died, and wonder of wonders, the final performance in the old house being "Uncle Tom's Cabin," January 29th of that year by the Anthony & Ellis Company, with Minnie Foster as Topsy. A few days after the final curtain was rung down the bricks began to fly and the erection of the Wilshire block began the following spring.

THEATER COMIQUE.

ouse which promised to be an honor to the community when it started and which wound up in disgrace, was the Theater Comique. It was located on Frank- fort street near Bank, just back of the Weddell House, and was built about 1848 by G. Overacher. For a short period it was the fashionable place of the town and the best stars appeared there, but with the opening of the Academy of Music it started on the downward grade.

It is generally supposed that Clara Morris, long retired, and generally accepted as the best emotional actress this country has produced, made her first appearance on the Academy of Music stage. That, however, is erroneous. Her real name was Clara Morrison and in 1862 I. H. Carter brought a company to play at the

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Theater Comique. Carter boarded with a Mrs. Miller where Clara Morris' mother also lived. Clara was stage struck and was anxious to see real actors back of a real stage. This heightened her ambition and she was given a few minor parts to play. Shortly thereafter John Ellsler opened the Academy of Music and gave Clara Morris an opportunity to shine in very small parts in a good company:

After the house was sold by the sheriff, a Frenchman named Adolph Mont- pellier made many changes in it. He made the stage of easy access for the young sports about town who frequented the orchestra chairs, and for years it was re- garded by respectable Clevelanders as a hell hole of iniquity. Montpellier made a fortune out of it, retired, and other managers, including Kellacky, Vincent and B. C. Hart, took hold of it. but morally the place never improved, despite the cru- sades of newspapers and activities of city councils and police departments. Taken all in all no more wicked place of amusement ever existed in Cleveland, and few worse ones in the country.

THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC.

It was early in the '50s, about the winter of 1852, when Charles Foster came from Pittsburg to show the people of Cleveland what a real theater should be, and he built the historic old Academy of Music on Bank street, now West Sixth, taking a lease of the property for a score of years. And thus began the career of the most famous theater in the history of Cleveland, and one of the most cele- brated in the United States. Foster was well to do but in a short time he sunk his money and returned to Pittsburg penniless. Foster opened the house on a Saturday night with a production of "The School for Scandal," by the stock company. Ben Maginley, who later became a celebrated comedian, played the leading comedy role. W. J. Florence, better known as "Billy" opened for a week the succeeding Monday in Irish comedy.

Then came John Ellsler, "Uncle John" as he was affectionately known by the people of Cleveland. He was a Philadelphian, had been traveling a good deal, especially with Joseph Jefferson, whom he taught the Dutch dialect for Rip Van Winkle, and made up his mind to stop the road and settle down as a resident actor manager. As an actor he was wonderfully versatile and among the best, and as a manager, regarded from the artistic side, he had few if any peers any where. However, "Uncle John" was never a good financier, and he lost fortunes as quickly as he made them.

The academy always bore the reputation of being one of the best dramatic schools on the continent and some of the foremost American actors graduated from there. Edwin Forrest, Charlotte Cushman, Edwin Booth, John Wilkes Booth-the assassin of Lincoln-Fechter, Davenport and in short, the greatest actors of the times played starring engagements in that theater. John McCul- lough was unknown when he first appeared there as Virginius, Lawrence Barrett was a struggling genius when Ellsler gave him a chance. And so, the list might be extended interminably for to make it complete it would be necessary to print the name of every star who gained prominence in those days.

From the day Ellsler took hold until it started on its downward journey, many years later, Ellsler's stock company bore the reputation of being one of the most

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complete in the west. The best leading men and women graduated from its boards. James O'Neill, who later gained fame as Edmond Dantes in "Monte Cristo," played "leads" there in the early '70s, shortly after Clara Morris had sought better fields in the east ; Jimmie Lewis, comedian, acquired his first rud- iments of the art there, so did Roland Reed and Effie Ellsler, Uncle John's daugh- ter, who later became famous as an emotional actress and is now retired as Mrs. Frank Weston, practically grew up on the Academy of Music stage. The year 1874 brought Joseph Whiting, who recently died, as the leading man. Whiting later became famous in the part of "Jim the Penman."

Ellsler's ambition led him to build and manage the Euclid Avenue Opera House which opened in 1875. The academy stock company was transferred to the Opera House and vaudeville was played at the old house. Finally, "Uncle John" began to realize that the Opera House was too far up town, so he managed both as legitimate houses, hoping to make enough in the Academy to make up what he sunk in the new theater, so on January 14, 1878, he reopened the Academy with Denman Thompson as Joshua Whitcomb, followed by other high class attrac- tions and finally again transferring his stock company to the old theater. The best stars and companies played there, and even grand opera was sung there as late as 1881. Janauschek and Frank Mayo, Fred Warde, Marie Geistinger, An- nie Pixley, Kate Claxton and others remained faithful to the old house as late as 1883.

In 1885 Ellsler surrendered and B. C. Hart, former manager of the Comique, took up the managerial reins. It was at this period the old house began to go to pieces. In 1886 E. T. Snelbaker ran it as a cheap variety house. He was suc- ceeded by J. L. Cain, who gave it up. In 1887 the name of the house was changed to the Cleveland Variety Theater with C. S. Sullivan as manager. In March, the same year, H. B. Strickland became the manager. In October, 1887, it was opened as James Doyle's Winter Garden. After a brief period of darkness it re- opened, January 6, 1888, as Phillip's New Casino Theater. Again it failed, and June 4, 1888, it was called the Theater Comique and failed again. In September, 1888, Decker & Eagan changed the name back to Academy of Music. June 30, 1889, the house was partially destroyed by fire, was rebuilt and reopened by Cap- tain Decker in August as a vaudeville house.

Then it became a Quaker church, and once more a variety theater, and again a fire destroyed the interior, September 8, 1892. It was rebuilt for a dance hall and labor meeting room, and the old walls of the historic house, now a factory, still remain.

THE ATHENAEUM.

The Athenaeum had a short and inglorious career. It was built on Superior street opposite Bank, now opened through, by the great showman, P. T. Barnum, who engaged a man named Nichols to manage it. This happened about the time the Academy of Music was opened, and was conducted as a vaudeville house. Nichols did not succeed and A. Montpellier took it off his hands and ran it as a variety house until the Comique abandoned the legitimate. Then Montpellier gave up, abandoned the Athenaeum and took hold of the Comique. There was no attempt made to resurrect the place when Montpellier left it.

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THE OPERA HOUSE.

"Too far up town," everybody said when John Ellsler made public his plan of building a theater on Sheriff street, now East Fourth, near Euclid avenue, to be known as the Euclid Avenue Opera House. The pessimists were right, for Euclid avenue almost to the Square was, in 1875, an avenue of homes, without a single place of business. Five years prior to that time, scores of plans for a new theater were advanced. Stock was sold for the Forest City Opera House, but when Ellsler made his plans known all gave way to him and many pitched in to help him financially, taking an interest in what then proved to be one of the most beautiful and perfect playhouses in the west. The front facing Sheriff street was ornamental and artistic, intended for the main entrance, but the street being nar- row Ellsler leased a store room in the Heard block, Euclid avenue, and converted it into a vestibule and main entrance, used as such to this day. The ornamental entrance on Sheriff street, observed by few and scarcely known to exist, still stands as a monument to Uncle John's enthusiasm, love for the beautiful and ar- tistic and-if you please-folly.

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A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 55

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