USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 70
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In time the East Ohio absorbed the other companies, the Peoples Gas Light Company, which was furnishing gas to the west side, and the Cleve- land Gas Light and Coke Company, which was furnishing gas to the east side, and this company is now the sole one with which the city has to deal in the matter of its gas supply.
The city directory of 1848 says that "Cleveland is now the Emporium of Northern Ohio and is next in importance to Cincinnati." It had at that time three wards. Lorenzo A. Kelsey was mayor, M. M. Spangler, treasurer, S. A. Abbey, marshal, and Jabez Fitch, attorney. This latter office is now called that of law director. J. K. Elwell was harbormaster, J. A. Craw, city sexton, O. F. Welsh, market clerk, John M. Bailey, sealer of weights and measures, and there was a city officer called the weigher of hay. A. S. Sanford was chief of the fire department, Smith Inglehart was collector of the port, and Louis Dibble keeper of the lighthouse.
There were four military companies in the city, the Ringgolders, an artillery company commanded by Gen. A. S. Sanford, the German City Guards, commanded by Capt. Frederick Silberg, the German Yagers, com- manded by Capt. A. Seywert, and the Hibernian Guards, commanded by Capt. P. A. McBarron. This was supposed to protect the commercial interests of the Cleveland port. An aid to commerce was the telegraph. The Atlantic Lake and Mississippi Telegraph Company had an office in operation, with E. B. Ely as secretary. The Weddell House, the Cleve- land Hotel opposite, the New England Hotel on Merwin Street, Farmers' Hotel or exchange, the United States Hotel, the Mansion House kept by Stephens and Young, on Water Street, the Napoleon Hotel at Water and St. Clair, the American House, and the City Hotel on Seneca were running. The rates of the latter are published at seventy-five cents per day. The term "Tavern" had been discarded as the city had now a population of nearly 20,000, including Ohio City. N. E. Crittenden was operating a jewelry store. The lawyers had increased faster than the doctors for there were seventy of the former and only twenty doctors. There were no garages, but a number of livery stables, no photograph galleries, but several Daguerreotype galleries, twenty dry goods merchants, five hardware mer- chants, seven druggists, five jewelers (we have mentioned Crittenden), and nineteen clothing stores. James F. Ryder's Daguerreotype gallery was the oldest in the city.
In the '50s E. I. Baldwin and Company were leading dry goods mer- chants on Superior and Luetkemeyer and Schmidthusen in hardware. The Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad and the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula were each running three trains daily out of Cleveland. Taylor Griswold and Company were dry goods merchants on Superior and the Angier House at the corner of Bank and St. Clair were entertaining travel- ers. Horace Waters had added pianos to his stock of melodians. Saloons had increased more rapidly than any other line of business and there were 125 in the city. This was due no doubt to the breweries that were making a beer or present use ale that had a large sale.
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The Cleveland Grays were organized and commanded by Capt. T. S. Paddock, and the Washington Guards, commanded by Capt. Tobias Oss- man. The Cleveland Light Dragoons were commanded by Capt. L. Hack- man.
The most we can do in discussing the intervening history up to the present time during which the city has grown to hold a commanding place among the cities of the United States is to touch here and there, mention- ing some of the leading firms that have their place in the commercial life of the city but, no doubt, omitting many that deserve notice-and the hotels. The Hollenden on Superior, the Cleveland on the Public Square, the Statler and Colonial on Euclid, the Winton on Prospect, the American House, on Superior, with its long history, the Hotel Euclid, the Olmsted on Superior, the Kennard House, with its long history like the American, and the Hawley on West Third Street, and the Murphy on East Ninth Street are some of the down town hotels that deserve mention. The Doan- brook, the Sovereign, Fenway Hall, Clifton Manor and others outside of the congested district add to the number. There are in all 120.
The leading department stores in the city are the May Company and the Bailey Company. As indicating the volume of trade, by a count made on one shopping day, 40,000 shoppers entered the former, a fair record for one day.
Among the leading dry goods stores of the city are the William Taylor Son and Company's, the Halle Brothers Company's, the Higbee Company's, the Lindner Company's and on the west side, the Friese and Schuele Com- pany's and the John Meckes Sons Company's. The leaders in the china and glassware lines are Kinney and Levan, C. A. Selzer and George H. Bowman. In hardware the William Bingham Company, the George Worthington and the Cleveland Hardware Company are some of the large firms. The Sterling and Welch Company are now second in the large line of carpet and rug stores. Among the hundreds of groceries we can with safety point to Chandler and Rudd and William P. Southworth and Com- pany as downtown leaders, in the retail business, and William Edwards and Company, the Haserot Company, the Higgins-Babcock Company, the Weideman Company, and the Fisher Brothers Company in the wholesale line, the latter having the distinction of successfully operating the largest number of retail stores of any firm in the city. They have nearly 150 stores. The next firm in point of numbers is the Mathew Smith Tea, Coffee and Groceries Company, which has sixty-eight stores.
It is more difficult to select any outstanding firms in the furniture line, for out of the 150 and more engaged in the business many handle other goods becoming prominent in several ways and almost entering the class of department stores. The lumber trade has been large in the city. Back in the '60s 15.000,000 feet of lumber were received at the Port of Cleve- land in a single year. There are 150 firms in the city engaged in the lum- ber business.
Engaged in the coal and ore and shipping trade are some of the largest and most influential companies in the city. M. A. Hanna and Company takes high rank and is one of the long established firms. The prominence of Senator Hanna in public life, his established fame and enduring place in American History, has brought the great firm he established into more than business prominence. There are many others of almost equal promi- nence.
In the various lines of commercial endeavor in the city there has been continuous growth with the advance of the city save two, the brewing in- dustry, which belongs to the industrial chapter, and the saloons, which belong to this. Before the passage of the prohibition amendment there
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were nearly 3,000 saloons in the City of Cleveland. Today there are only 117 and ninety that are designated as cafes.
The enforcement of the prohibition amendment to the constitution of the United States has brought many cases into the courts, but in all of its difficulties it is safe to say that Cleveland, with its cosmopolitan popu- lation, has not been second among the large cities of the country.
One thing observable in the trade of the city is the localizing in later years. Instead of one center of trade we now have many and as the city enlarges its borders these centers of trade increase and the lines of business are multiplied.
CHAPTER XXXVI
THE FRATERNAL, PATRIOTIC AND LABOR ORGANIZA- TIONS, CLUBS, BENEVOLENT AND CIVIC SOCIETIES AND INSTITUTIONS
The pioneers had their Town Meeting, which included in its member- ship the whole community, and which afforded neighborly fraternity, and embraced the general discussion of all matters connected with the public weal. As the communities grew in numbers these meetings became unwieldy, and congenial elements joined together in fraternal orders of various kinds, wars came and the survivors kept alive the friendships formed by common dangers and common hardships, and the patriotic sen- timent, by uniting in organizations, more attention was necessary to be given to public affairs, as problems multiplied, and civic societies came into being, and employment, as factories and shops grew in magnitude and capital united, came to involve large groups of men, who united in organ- izations for mutual advantage.
The Free Masons were the first of the fraternal orders to organize in Cleveland. When Cleveland had only twelve families, before it had a schoolhouse or a church, Concord Lodge No. 15 was organized, August 11, 1811. The dispensation came from Lewis Cass, grand master of Ohio, and the officers were installed by Governor Samuel Huntington, at that time deputy grand master. Their first meetings were held in Harvey Murray's new store, which was located on Superior Street. This store was on the south side of Superior at a point about half way between West Third Street and West Sixth as these streets are now called. From an interesting history of "Old Fifteen" by Clarence W. Fitch we have taken the early meeting places in their order: Harvey Murray's store, the George Wallace Tavern, Merwin's Hall, Belden's Tavern, Major Carter's Tavern, Abner Richmond's house, Dr. S. Howe's house, the courthouse, Pliney Mowrey's house, A. Kingsbury's house, Welch's Hall, McIntosh's Hall, Ebersole's Hall, the Academy, T. Scovill's house, the Masonic Hall, Ebie Building (1841), Farmers' Block, Merchants' Exchange, Forest City Block (1852), Case Block (1866), and Masonic Temple (October, 1866), located at Superior and East Sixth.
The charter members of this first lodge were Abraham Bishop, Samuel S. Baldwin, Harvey Murray, Robert Fulton, Abner Young, William Cole- man, Melzer Clark, Harmon Bronson, John Clark, Philemon Baldwin, Moses Eldred, James Baldwin, and Seth Payne. Dr. David Long was master of the lodge in 1816, Peter M. Weddell in 1827, and Richard Angell in 1828. Jabez Gallup was master in 1829 but owing to the anti- Masonic excitement caused by the Morgan affair, which is a part of gen- eral and not local history, the lodge ceased to function in October of that year and the charter was declared forfeited. In 1841 an application for a renewal of the charter was presented to the Grand Lodge and granted under the new name of Cleveland City Lodge, but retaining the original number, fifteen. Thus the present Cleveland City Lodge is the lineal descendant of the first lodge in the city. The charter members of this lodge included nine who were members of Concord No. 15. This lodge
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included in its membership many of the prominent citizens of the Village of Cleveland. Governor Reuben Wood, Levi Johnson, Judge James Kingsbury, Joel Scranton, and others being affiliated with it. Gen. H. H. Dodge, Mayor Stephen Buhrer, Charles A. Woodward, George H. Adams, Mayor William G. Rose, and Harry Wilkinson are some of the officials of Cleveland City Lodge, its successor, who were identified with it in the early days. From the early minutes are these items: "January 28th, 1828, Brother Gallup was appointed to furnish the lodge with wood and can- dles." "October 18th, 1842, voted that a committee of two be appointed to change the present stove, which burns wood, for a stove that will burn coal."
Cleveland City Lodge No. 15, Free and Accepted Masons, first met in 1841, and the first officers were Clifford Belden, Andrew White, Willard Crawford, Edmund Clark and Erastus Smith. Iris Lodge No. 229 was organized in 1852 with A. D. Bigelow, W. H. Beaumont and Robert Reiley as officers. In the beginning of the '80s this was the largest Masonic lodge in the state, having over 300 members. Bigelow No. 243 was organized the next year with Gaston G. Allen, Samuel W. Odell, Alonzo Eldridge and C. C. Stevens as officers. F. W. Pelton and Robert Simpson later served as officers. Concordia No. 345 was not organized until ten years after Bigelow. Its first officers were Joseph Singer, C. A. Muerman, William Schmidt, A. Eckerman, E. Hessenmueller, William Burger and Charles Mueller. George A. Schlatterbeck was an officer of this lodge in the '70s.
Tyrian No. 370 was organized in 1866, and the charter members were E. A. Hopkins, G. N. Crittenden, George H. Vilas, Eli Ely, M. L. Rider, J. B. Parsons, Beorhe L. Childs, D. E. Wright and W. H. Huntington. Newburgh lodge was organized the same year with W. R. Seager, H. Tone, J. H. Brown and M. R. Hughes among the charter members. At the close of the '70s this was a flourishing lodge of 120 members, and the officers were M. I. Richards, F. W. Cochran, W. A. Affleck, J. B. Corlett, A. D. Kent, A. Barber, F. K. Reede and John Nesbit. In 1867 the Forest City lodge was organized on the West Side. Up to this time Bigelow was the only lodge on that side of the river. The first officers were George Presley, Abner Royce, George E. Hartwell, Thomas Liggett, and S. D. Phelps. A third came in 1874, when the West Side lodge was organized with F. W. Pelton as presiding officer.
Then came Ellsworth lodge in 1865 and Woodward in 1875. Still earlier than these lodges came the chapters. Webb Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, dates from January 18, 1826. The first officers were Reuben Smith, J. Hubbell and Mathew Williams. The membership in the '80s was over 350, and the meetings were held at Masonic Hall in the Case Block. Thatcher Chapter was organized in 1867. The first officers were Peter Thatcher, E. T. Ellsworth and F. W. Pelton. The meetings were held in Masonic Hall on Franklin Avenue. At the close of the '70s there were 202 members. Baker Chapter was organized in 1879 with sixty members, C. P. Jewett, E. I. Freeman, J. K. Runals, George E. Dunbar, J. B. Corlett and others. They met at Masonic Hall on Broadway. Cleve- land Council was organized in 1865 and its first officers were E. A. Hopkins, C. A. Woodward, G. E. Adams, Edward Buding, D. E. Field and G. W. Berry. The meetings were held in Case Block. Oriental Commandery (Knights Templar) was organized in 1851. The presiding officer was A. D. Bigelow. This lodge met at Case Block. Holyrood Commandery (Knights Templar) was organized in 1878. Samuel Briggs, George A. Baker, George W. Short and George W. Howe were among the officers. Eliadah Grand Lodge of Perfection of the Ancient Scottish Rite began its
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work in 1859 with Peter Thatcher in the chair. They met at Case Hall. Bahurim Council Prince of Jerusalem started in 1859 with Albert C. McNairy at its head. Brenton D. Babcock was a later officer. They met at Case Hall. Ariel Chapter was organized in 1860 with Theodore Rose, Peter Thatcher, Albert C. McNairy, George H. Burt, Robert S. Weaver and Richard Creighton as officers. Samuel Briggs was a later officer. Al Koran Temple (Nobles of the Mystic Shrine) was organized in 1876 and its officers were Samuel Briggs, John A. Norton and Charles T. Wesley.
And from these lodges organized before the '80s has grown into large proportions the Masonic fraternity of the city. There are today forty-three blue lodges, seventeen Royal Arch chapters, five councils of Royal and Select Masters, eight commanderies, the Scottish Rite degrees, the Tall Cedars of Lebanon, Al Koran Temple, Al Sirat Grotto and Al Sirat
THE UNION CLUB HOUSE
Caldron. There are four Masonic associations-the Knights Templar Association, the Masonic Mutual Aid Association, the Masonic Board of Relief and the Masonic Club. There is also the Masonic Employment Bureau, the Masonic Council of Engineers Employment Bureau, and the Masonic Temple Association. This latter carried through the building of the attractive Masonic Temple on Euclid Avenue, the center of Masonry and the central home of Masons in the city. There are seven colored lodges in the city. Besides the central Masonic Temple on Euclid, there are Woodward, Lorain, Saint Clair, Nottingham, Miles Park, Lakewood and one at Euclid and Mansfield Road.
There are many lodges of allied orders to Masonry in the city. There are four courts of the Order of Amaranth, twenty-two Eastern Star lodges, and the Order of DeMolay, for boys, has a thriving lodge in the city. Palestine Shrine of the White Shrine of Jerusalem is the only lodge of that order in the city, but it has a membership of over 1,100. In 1824 it entertained the meeting in the city of the Supreme Shrine attended by delegates from all parts of the United States, Canada and Scotland. In this Bethel Shrine of Elyria participated as hosts to the Supreme Shrine. There were 2,000 in attendance.
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The Odd Fellows, which have as the objects of the order "to visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead, and educate the orphan, to improve and elevate the character of man," organized its first lodge, Cleve- land No. 13, in 1842. The charter members were Gideon F. Tindall, John Forbey, J. H. Monroe, J. J. Phillips, Francis Harding, S. B. Logan, Isaac Cornell, D. A. Eddy, Albert Harris, William Cubbin and Edward Downs. This, the oldest lodge in Northern Ohio, had at the close of the '70s 179 members and their meetings were held at Odd Fellows Hall on the Public Square. Cuyahoga Lodge of 150 members was meeting at the same place. Erie Lodge that met at Odd Fellows Block at the corner of Pearl and Church was organized in 1844. Phoenix, that came into being ten years later and met at the same place, had, twenty-five years later, 217 members, and its officers were Belden Seymour, E. K. Wilcox, J. C. Cannon, H. E. Chubb, J. Wagner, S. W. Nelson, A. A. Wenham, Wylie Smith, John Nelson, R. Bacon, Alexander Hadden, J. H. Lockwood, W. M. Crowell, A. Kinney and W. W. Williams.
Then in order came Cataract Lodge in 1855, Allemania Lodge, Anchor Lodge in 1867, and University Lodge in the same year, Donau Lodge in 1871, Banner Lodge in 1874 and Mayflower in 1879. The North Wing Encampment was organized in 1862 and the Harmonia Encampment in 1872. We have thus mentioned the early members of the family of Odd Fellows in the city. There are now twenty-one lodges, three encampments, two Patriarch Militant organizations and seventeen Rebekah degree lodges. A bi-monthly journal called the Fraternity has been published in Cleveland for some three years. It is edited by Ed. O. Peets and is devoted largely to Oddfellowship.
In 1869 two Knights of Pythias lodges were organized in the city, Washington on the East Side and Lake Shore on the West Side. The officers of each, ten years later were: Of Washington, C. J. McDowell, E. H. Gault, Louis Black, Samuel Ward, E. W. Cooper, Thomas Tibbitt, W. B. Rich, E. W. Goddard, Louis Stanton and M. E. Kavanagh; of Lake Shore, W. H. Jones, Thomas Axworthy, F. W. Pelton, W. J. Ranney, H. J. Webb, Thomas Willows, Charles H. Babcock, F. Hoffman and J. L. Sheppard. Herman Lodge was organized in 1871 and after that Standard. Cleveland Lodge composed of Germans was organized in 1873 and held their meetings at Lake and Ontario. Owatana came into being the same year and the South Side, Oak and Forest City in 1875. The Red .Cross was organized in the centennial year, 1876. Sections seventy-six and eighty-nine of the Endowment Rank were established in 1879, and Cuyahoga Division of the Uniform Rank the same year. This division held its drills on the Public Square. The Preux Chevalier Division of the Uniform Rank held its drills at Pearl and Bridge and in the Armory. This was organized a year before. They have now twenty-nine lodges, and the Pythian Sisters, the woman's department of the order, have fifteen temples. It is practically true of all of the fraternal orders that the women have organized auxiliary or associate lodges that have flourished to a marked degree. Colored lodges have been formed in the city as in many of the fraternal orders. The Edwin Cowles and Western Reserve lodges of colored men were flourishing in the early '90s.
The Foresters did not organize in Cleveland until 1871, when courts Robinhood, Star of the Forest and Excelsior were founded. Then came Court Little John in 1872, courts Ivanhoe and Standard in 1873, courts Pearl of the Rhine (German) and King of the Germans (German) in 1876, Woodland in 1877, and Zaboy and Rowanoprownost (Bohemian) the same year. Court Union, organized in 1876, completes the list of the very early units. The officers of the Cleveland United District at the close
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of the '70s were S. O. Dillon, Samuel Finch, Robert Huntley and F. H. Ellenberger. At present, besides the High Court of Ohio (Canadian), there are twenty-three courts and one court of the Uniform Rank in the city.
The Knights of Honor began in 1876 with two lodges, the Centennial and Advance. Iu 1878 the Cleveland, Triumph and Euclid Avenue were founded and in 1879 the Idaho, and Economy. Before the beginning of the twentieth century there had been established Maple Leaf Court of the Court of Honor, four lodges of the Knights of Honor were in operation and fourteen lodges of the Knights and Ladies of Honor.
The multiplicity of organizations that have come into being since and are now in operation for mutual benefit we can only touch upon. The Beneficial Union, of which Louis Valz is supreme president, has two lodges in the city, the Brotherhood of American Yoeman has three homesteads, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, William Gavin, president, have organi- zations numbered one, five and seven. There is the Saint John the Evan- gelist Council of the Catholic Benevolent Legion, the Catholic Daughters of America with three organizations, Mary L. Brady, regent, the Catholic Knights of Ohio with four branches including a ladies' auxiliary, the Catholic Order of Foresters with twenty-eight courts, the Daughters of America with six councils, Toechter Lodge of the Daughters of Israel, three lodges of the Daughters of Saint George, and a lodge and aid society of the Daughters of Scotland, the Foresters of America with six courts and two junior courts and the Cleveland Aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, with Thomas J. Long as president. Cleveland Aerie has a com- modious clubhouse on Fifty-fifth Street and has a large membership.
There are the Guardians of Liberty with two lodges, the Improved Order of Red Men with four lodges and the Degree of Pocahontas Auxiliary to the Order of Red Men with four lodges, the Independent Order of Foresters (Canadian) with twenty-three courts and one encamp- ment of the Uniform Rank, Cleveland Lodge Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, the Knights of Malta with eighteen commanderies and the Dames of Malta with nineteen commanderies, the International Order of Good Templars with three lodges, the Knights of Columbus with three councils and the Knights of Saint John with eighteen commanderies.
The Knights of the Golden Eagle have two castles and one commandery, and the Ladies of the Golden Eagle one temple. The Loyal Orange Insti- tution has two lodges and the Ladies' Orange Association one lodge. The Loval Order of Moose is represented in the city by two lodges. They own a large hall on Walnut Street, which is the scene of many large gatherings. The Royal Black Knights of the Camp of Israel have a precentory, which is the only one in the city. The Maccabees have eighteen tents, the Modern Woodmen of America eleven camps, the National Protective Legion is represented by six legions, the National Union Assurance Society has five councils, the North American Union six councils and two associate councils. The Woman's Benefit Association of the Maccabees has twenty-eight re- views, the Order of B'rith Abraham four lodges, the Order of Knights of Joseph eight lodges, the Order of Scottish Clans is represented by Clan Grant and the Ladies' Auxiliary, and the Protected Home Circle by seven- teen circles.
The Royal Arcanum has four councils in the city, the Royal League seven, the Royal Neighbors of America, auxiliary to the Modern Woodmen, has five camps. The Security Benefit Association has nine councils, the Tribe of Ben Hur three courts, and the Woodmen of the World thirty-nine camps. The United Home Order of Ohio has a grand union and thirteen subordinate homes in the city. There is the Cleveland Lodge of the Ship
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Masters' Association and Britannia Lodge of the Sons of Saint George. The Ladies' Catholic Benevolent Association has forty-three branches.
The patriotic orders are well represented in the city. The Grand Army of the Republic (rightly named) has seven posts, although the ranks are thinned to "a fading line of blue." There is one lodge of Union ex- Prisoners of War. The Woman's Relief Corps is represented by five organizations, the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic have four circles, the Daughters of Veterans three tents, and the Sons of Veterans have Lookout Camp and Cleveland Commandery of the Uniform Rank. The United Spanish War Veterans have seven camps, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States five posts. We have the Army and Navy Union, F. R. Long, commander of the Department of Ohio, with two garrisons. The latest of these organizations is the American Legion with Gen. John R. McQuigg as chairman. There are already twenty-six posts formed and the members are soldiers of the republic in the World war.
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