USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 71
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Of the so-called labor organizations of the city the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers take first rank. Warren S. Stone is grand chief with headquarters in the beautiful Engineers Building and there are six lodges in the city. This order, with 85,000 members in the United States and under its efficient management, is one of the most powerful and progressive of its kind in the world. We have referred in the chapter on financial Cleveland to its entrance into the financial world. The Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, with W. G. Lee as president, has five lodges in the city and is second only to the first mentioned in commanding influence. There are also three lodges of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers and twelve lodges of the Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Station and Express Employees.
Altogether there are about 150 labor unions in the city representing a great variety of employments. For greater efficiency these are joined together in a federation, many of them, and also give allegiance to the national body as a supreme head under the direction of Samuel Gompers, who is at the head of organized labor in the United States. These organi- zations have worked for better hours, for better working conditions, and for better wages. In this they have accomplished much and usually without the resort to strikes. There have been some expensive strikes in the city, but in later years many impending strikes have been averted by a confer- ence of employer and employee. Strikes are regarded by organized labor as their strong weapon in enforcing terms, but as they are almost invariably accompanied by violence, they beget a spirit of lawlessness that injures the character of the men engaged, and loses the sympathy of the non-striking public.
The question of the closed or the open shop is one that has engaged the attention of the labor unions and the manufacturers in the city for some time. The closed shop is one where none but union men are employed and the open shop is one where both union and non-union men are employed. The advocates of the closed shop argue that as better hours, wages and working conditions are due to the efforts of the unions, one who refuses to join the union gets the benefit of this without having contributed with the rest. The advocates of the open shop put forth the argument that the closed shop takes away the liberty of an employee-that he must join the union or starve. Many of the large employers of labor are operating the open shop and it is said this includes a great majority.
Including college fraternities, alumni associations and miscellaneous organizations there are 226 fraternal units in the city.
Classed more accurately as historical associations, the Western Reserve
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Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution, the Commodore Perry Chapter of the Daughters of 1812, the New England Society, the Early Settlers' Association and the Western Reserve Historical Society should be men- tioned.
There is a radio society, a commercial travelers' association, and like societies. The Alta House, the Central Friendly Inn, the Cleveland Musical School Settlement, the Educational Alliance Council, the East End Neigh- borhood House, the Goodrich House, the Pilgrim Institute, the Playhouse, the Rainey Memorial Industrial Institute, and the West Side Community House are social settlements doing a wonderful work and of each could be written a volume. The same might be said of the Young Men's Christian Association, and the Young Women's Christian Association, each having new, beautiful and finely equipped buildings on Prospect Avenue. There is also a Young Old Men's Association.
Among the temperance societies are the Cuyahoga County Women's Temperance Union, the Dry Maintenance League, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Cleveland, which latter institution manages the Central Friendly Inn, the Girls' Friendly Club, the Lakeside Rest Cottage, the Rainey Memorial Industrial Institute and a training home for girls.
Of the benevolent societies of the past and present, first and foremost is the Associated Charities. This is supported largely from a common fund called the Community Chest, which is raised each year by popular subscriptions and is distributed among the various hospitals and charities of the city. The amount so raised annually is $4,500,000. The amount given the Associated Charities in 1893 was $437,199, and nearly $52,000 was received from other sources. The present head of the association is James F. Jackson and he is surrounded by a loyal corps of assistants.
The Altenheim, a home for aged people, Bethesda Deaconess Home, Children's Boarding House and Nursery, Children's Fresh Air Camp, Church Home for the Sick and Friendless, Cleveland Boys' Association, Cleveland Christian Orphanage, Cleveland Day Nursery, Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People, Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asylum, Dorcas Invalids' Home, Eliza Jennings Home for Incurables, Epworth Fresh Air Camp, the Floating Bethel, the Golden Rule Home for Working Girls, Holy Cross House (a home for cripples), Home for Aged Women, Home for Friendless Girls, Home for the Aged Poor, Home of the Holy Family for Homeless and Orphan Children, House of the Good Shepherd, In His Name Children's Home and Hospital, Independent Montefore Shelter House, Infants' Orphans' Home (Jewish), Jewish Orphan Asylum, the Jones Home for Friendless Children, Lend-a-Hand Mission, Methodist Episcopal Deaconess Home, Montefore Home for Aged and Infirm Israel- ites, Rainbow Cottage for Convalescent Children, Rescue Mission and Home, the Retreat (a reformatory home for unfortunate girls), Saint Catharine's Home for Orphan Boys, Saint John's Orphans' and Old People's Home, Saint Joseph Orphan Asylum, Saint Mary's Home for Working Girls, Saint Vincent's Orphan Asylum, the Salvation Army Rescue Home and the Wayfarers' Lodge ( for stranded men and women) are some of the benevolent institutions that deserve mention in discussing the care the city in taking of the unfortunates, and there are over 800 benevolent societies separate and apart from these institutions.
Cleveland has 268 clubs of various kinds. Among the political clubs the Tippecanoe, located in the Hollenden Hotel Building, is perhaps the oldest in the city, having been founded in the Harrison presidential cam- paign of 1840. Its first president was Hon. Frederick Whittlesey and its first secretary, James M. Hoyt. Its membership has included many men
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of prominence in public life, including Senator M. A. Hanna, President Mckinley and President Harding. It is republican in politics. Senator Theodore E. Burton is honorary president, Judge John J. Sullivan, presi- dent, and W. R. Coates, secretary. Mrs. E. C. T. Miller is the treasurer. The Western Reserve Republican Club was founded as a memorial to William J. Crawford, whose death was very deeply deplored. It has a beautiful clubhouse on East Fifty-fifth Street, where many interesting political gatherings are held. The Sycamore Club on the West Side is a democratic organization that has a history dating back many years. It keeps alive the best traditions of the party and is active in present-day politics. The Eighth Ward Democratic Gun Club that was organized some years ago should be included in the list. The League of Republican Clubs that is made up of delegates from nearly 100 local clubs is an active political organization. The president is Theodore Wenz. It holds monthly meetings. The Attucks Republican Club is the largest and best known colored political club in the city. The Tom L. Johnson Debating Club was an influential democratic organization during his regime in the city. The Wampanoag Indians is a republican organization on the West Side that has a history dating back a quarter of a century.
Leaving the realm of politics, or party politics, we have the City Club, which is a large and influential organization. It holds large meetings in the Hollenden, its home, and they are addressed by speakers holding every shade of political belief. This last statement may be qualified, for, in 1923, objection by many members was raised to the engagement of Eugene V. Debs to speak before the club and the speaking engagement was cancelled. Its president is Robert J. Bulkley.
In athletics we have the Cleveland Baseball Club, with Tris Speaker as manager, an organization that has once won the pennant and put Cleveland on the baseball map; the Cleveland Athletic Club, that has its own building and club rooms on Euclid Avenue ; the Cleveland Automobile Club, with popular Fred Caley as its secretary, which has its club rooms in the Hollenden, but can hardly be classed with the athletic organizations; the Aviation and Athletic Club with rooms in the Winton Hotel and one of the newer clubs of the city. The president of this latest addition to the clubs of Cleveland is Roland T. Meacham. There are many golf clubs, including the Canterbury Golf Club and others that hold golf as the leading thing of interest.
There is the Hermit Club that has gained much fame through its dra- matic entertainments, the Bankers Club of Cleveland with Joseph R. Kraus as its president, the Kiwanis Club with Edwin C. Forbes as secretary, the Moose Club, the Cleveland Advertising Club with H. C. Wick, Jr., as president, the Woman's City Club and nine other of like composition, the American Legion Club, the Excelsior, the Elks Club, the Cleveland Federa- tion of Women's Clubs, the Knights of Columbus Club, the Musicians' Club, the Rotary Club of Cleveland, the Singers and Fortnightly clubs and nineteen other musical associations, which includes the Philharmonic String Quartette, the American Federation of Musicians, the Cleveland Orchestra with Nikolai Sokoloff as conductor and Adella Prentiss Hughes as its manager and the Musical Arts Association with John L. Severance as its president.
It is impossible within the space allotted to speak of many of interest, but the brief review will give something of the diversity of the clubs in the city. The Magyar Culture Club, the Sons of Italy, the Business Woman's Club, the Socialer-Turn-Verein, the Swiss Hall, the First Catholic Slovak Union, the Graphic Arts Club, the Bachelors Club, the
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On Leon Tong, the Martha Lee Club, the Paragon Club, the Cleveland Cut Stone Club, are some of those selected at random from the extensive list.
One of the most influential, the wealthiest and most distinguished of the clubs of the city is the Union Club. Its membership includes men of wealth and business standing in the community and its history dates back many years. Its clubhouse on Euclid Avenue is in keeping with the character of its members-solid and substantial. The Union Club, one of the oldest non-political clubs in the city, was incorporated September 25, 1872. Among the incorporators were Samuel L. Mather, Harvey H. Brown, Henry B. Payne, Waldemer Otis, William Bingham, C. P. Petten- gill, George H. Vaillant, Amos Townsend, James Barnett, C. H. Bulkley, Alexander Gunn, Oliver H. Payne and Nathan P. Payne. The club was organized in 1873 with William Bingham as its first president, Henry B. Payne and William J. Boardman, vice presidents, Waldemer Otis as secre- tary and Sylvester T. Everett as treasurer. The presidents in their order since have been Henry B. Payne, Amos Townsend, Samuel L. Mather, Marcus A. Hanna, Fayette Brown, Charles H. Bulkley, James Barnett, William Chisholm. John H. McBride, William B. Sanders, Charles F. Brush, John F. Whitelaw, James H. Dempsey, Liberty H. Holden, David Z. Noeton, Ambrose Swasey, Samuel Mather, Lyman H. Treadway, Andrew Squire, Charles E. Adams, Richard F. Grant and Kermode F. Gill, the present chief officer. Chester C. Bolton is vice president and George A. Coulton second vice president. L. W. Blythe is treasurer and William F. Michalske, secretary.
The membership is limited to 1,000 and the quota has always been full and there are now forty on the waiting list. In addition to the 1,000 regular members there are about 250 non-resident and honorary members. The club in 1923 celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.
CHAPTER XXXVII
THE CITY BEAUTIFUL-ITS PARKS AND PUBLIC BUILD- INGS, PLAYHOUSES AND HOMES
"In miles of pleasant homes thy people dwell, A thousand ships within thy harbor lie at ease, Ten thousand chimneys high thy prowess tell ---- O fairest mart upon the land-locked seas !"
In the years following the Civil war, and for some years before, Cleve- land's pride was its beautiful residence streets. And fairest of all was Euclid Avenue, pronounced by Bayard Taylor, the great traveler, the finest street in the world. It has been said that for many years a person might as well go to Rome without seeing Saint Peters, or to London without seeing the tower, or to Washington without seeing the Capitol as to visit Cleveland without seeing Euclid Avenue. While Prospect and other streets were elegant drives lined with beautiful residences, Euclid Avenue, with its beautiful homes extending eastward for such a long distance, its extensive and well kept lawns and the ornament of trees and flowers was the especial pride of all Cleveland. The city was and is a city of home owners. It leads in that respect. Nearly 40 per cent of its families own their own homes.
The change that has come over Euclid Avenue in later years is due to the natural aggression of trade. The residences are giving way to business blocks, but the advent of the automobile has made suburban homes avail- able to Cleveland business men and thus with less reluctance do the residents of this famous avenue give way to the advancing hosts of trade. At the present rate of transformation, in a few years this street will be a great business thoroughfare, extending east for some ten miles. A similar trans- formation is overtaking Prospect and other streets on the East Side and Detroit and others on the West Side.
Moses Cleveland established the first park in the city when he surveyed the Public Square, but not with the same thought in mind that has ani- mated the men of vision who have inaugurated and pushed forward the park system that we have today. His object was to establish a center of the town, the question of recreation was amply provided for in the untamed forest stretching in every direction from the lake. This Public Square was not improved or even graded for some years. As the city grew, men of vision began the agitation for public parks, but without much support from the general public. There were some donations of land. In 1836 Brooklyn Township gave Franklyn Circle to the newly organized Ohio City for a public park. This little public domain had some attention and was cared for by the corporation of Ohio City and then of Cleveland, but it was eventually to be disturbed by the three cent fare line of Mayor Johnson which pierced its center. Clinton Park was established and dedicated to the public as a real estate project to aid in the selling of home sites in the neighborhood but it failed to aid materially. It is now a playground and given little attention by the authorities. In 1853 Nathan Perry offered to sell to the city seven acres on Euclid Avenue for a public park. His price,
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$2,000 an acre, was rejected by the city as too high. This land is now worth more than that per foot.
In 1860 there was agitation among a few residents of the city for parks, but the people generally opposed the project. What did they want of parks when there were hundreds of acres of wild forest land all about them! In 1867 what was known as Shanty Town on the lake front was purchased by the city for $235,000. The old buildings were torn down and Lake View Park established. This was kept up for some years, fountains played and the grass was green and people came in picnic parties and
MONUMENT TO TOM L. JOHNSON Northwest Corner, Public Square, Cleveland.
children romped on the green, but there was only the slope, very little level land, the railroads below sent up their smoke and it was only used for lack of something better. The new courthouse and city hall are now located on this tract. At the close of the '70s the people were waking up to the needs of parks to some extent. In 1880 the city bought Pelton Park on the South Side, now Lincoln Park, and in 1882 J. H. Wade gave Wade Park to the city. Gordon Park was given to the city by the provisions of the will of William J. Gordon and the city later added thirty acres more by purchase.
Under an act of the Legislature a park board was authorized in Cleve- land in 1893 and the following gentlemen organized as such board : Mayor Robert Blee, Charles H. Bulkley, Amos Townsend, John F. Pank- hurst and A. J. Michael. Mr. Michael was succeeded soon after the organi-
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zation by Charles A. Davidson. F. C. Bangs was the secretary. This board of excellent progressive men gave much time to the question of a complete park system for the city, but they were often ridiculed and hampered in their work. So recently emerged from the primeval woods not seeing the future need of parks to a great city the people were indiffer- ent to their efforts. Great credit should be given to Mr. Bulkley, who worked untiringly for the park system and without compensation. He has
THE PERRY MONUMENT
been called the father of the park system of Cleveland. Through his stand- ing in the community he secured many contributions of park lands.
Mrs. Martha Ambler gave twenty-five acres for Ambler Parkway and the city increased this tract by the purchase of five acres more. In 1895 the Shaker Heights Land Company gave 278 acres, which tract included the old Shaker settlement. The next year John D. Rockefeller gave 276 acres, now included in Rockefeller Park. University Circle was given to the city by the Case School of Applied Science, J. H. Wade and Patrick Calhoun. A part of Kingsbury Run was given to the city for park pur- poses by the Cleveland and Youngstown Railway Company. The city bought Edgewater, Brookside and Garfield parks. In 1900, after having established a real park system destined to be one of the greatest and best
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in the United States, the park board was abolished. The parks having become a recognized feature and necessary to the health and happiness of the citizens of the city, their management was given over to a department of the city government.
There are now in the city forty parks with a total area of 2,200 acres. Of this over 980 acres have been donated to the city and the balance purchased at a cost of nearly $3,000,000. The large parks of the city are Brookside, where the Zoo is now located; Edgewater, a famous bathing
TO
MARC SALONZOM
MONUMENT TO SENATOR MARCUS A. HANNA, UNIVERSITY CIRCLE, CLEVELAND Decorated with flowers on the eighty-fifth anni- versary of his birthday, September 24, 1922.
resort, and Gordon, also on the lake, Forest Hill, Garfield, Shaker Heights, Rockefeller, Wade, Washington, West Boulevard, Woodland Hills, Wood- land and Garfield Boulevard, Ambler Parkway, Woodland Hills Boule- vard, Kingsbury Run, Lake Front, Lake View and Jefferson. Shakespeare Garden in Rockefeller is a point of interest. Here in 1919 the poet Markam, author of "The Man With a Hoe," planted a tree. A hickory tree from the old home of President Andrew Jackson was also planted.
In these parks are fifteen playgrounds for children occupied under supervision, and 200 baseball and football fields, besides tennis courts and horseshoe courts. It may be mentioned in this connection that Cleveland has forty-three and a half miles of boulevards.
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With its offices in the city the Metropolitan Park Board is working out a great project of parks and boulevards skirting the county and extending from the mouth of Rocky River to the mouth of Chagrin River. As some- one has expressed it, it has to do with health, happiness and the great out- doors and is a "next to nature" proposition. When completed according to the plans it will embrace seventy miles of drive and thousands of acres of recreation grounds. Historic spots will be guarded, natural scenic spots preserved and an elaborate system worked out.
This project originated with County Engineer William A. Stinchcomb, who suggested the idea in an annual report. A member of the Chamber of Industry sought to put the idea into practical form and at his insistance a meeting was called, a bill was drawn and a delegation of the chamber went to Columbus to present the matter to the Legislature. Harry M. Farnsworth for the delegation presented the matter to a committee of the Senate and the first legislation establishing a county park board was passed. This was a start and the measure provided for a small levy. Under the provisions of the act Probate Judge Hadden appointed Harry M. Farns- worth, Louis A. Moses and Charles H. Miller as members of the board. The committee organized by choosing Harry M. Farnsworth as president, a position which he still holds; Louis A. Moses, vice president; W. A. Stinchcomb, consulting engineer; Vernon D. Croft, engineer, and R. C. Hyre, secretary.
Subsequent legislation has been enacted and much work has been accomplished. The board has acquired some 5,000 acres of virgin forest and natural scenic spots, an area twice as large as that of the city parks combined. Included in this are 300 acres called the "Harriet Keeler Memorial Woods" in the heart of the natural forest reservation of Brecks- ville. Miss Keeler, for many years a teacher in the Cleveland public schools, had won a place in the world of letters and in the hearts of thou- sands by her books. Among them are "Our Native Trees," published in 1900; "The Wild Flowers of Early Spring," published in 1894; "Our Garden Flowers," published in 1910; "Our Early Wild Flowers," pub- lished in 1916, and "The Wayside Flowers," published in 1917. Miss Keeler also published in connection with Emma C. Davis, a sister of Mrs. Rebecca Rickoff, a book for school use entitled "Studies in English Composition." Other of her works are "The Life of Adelia Field Johnston," who was dean of the woman's department at Oberlin College, and in connection with Laura H. Wild, "Ethical Reading's from the Bible."
The Metropolitan Park Board has had to combat some litigation as to its right to exist, but the Supreme Court of Ohio has said it is a lawful and properly constituted body and it is now acting under a law which assures it the proceeds of a levy of one-tenth of a mill with which to continue the work of encircling Cleveland with seventy miles of recreation grounds and boulevards. The Cleveland Recreation Council is cooperating in the work. As the city extends its borders it will approach nearer and nearer to this great system and will be justified in adhering to its original title of "The Forest City." Now the commercial and industrial and numerical metropolis of Ohio, with a population as shown by the last city directory of over 1,000,000 souls, fifth in the nation in population and second in diversi- fied industries, it is a city of "progress and beauty."
Its public buildings and business blocks are in keeping with its growth. It has the oldest and finest arcade in the world, rivaled only by one at Milan, Italy. There are several attractive arcades in the downtown section of the city. Besides the Superior Arcade, the one mentioned, there are the Euclid, the Colonial and the Taylor, all opening upon Euclid Avenue. Old Case Block that faced the Public Square on the east was replaced by the
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Federal Building, which was secured through the efforts of Congress- man Theodore E. Burton. Cleveland was the first American city to plan the grouping of public buildings around a mall. This plan is progressing with the years. The Federal Building, the new Courthouse and City Hall, the Auditorium, seating 14,000 people, and the Public Library, in process of construction, a beautiful addition, are some of the leading features of the plan under way. In the Auditorium was held the National Republican Con- vention in 1924. The East Ohio Gas Company Building, a quasi public building, could be included in the list.
HARVEY RICE
EDUCATOR
LEGISLATOR.
HISTORIAN
HARVEY RICE MONUMENT
In 1876 the Weddell House at the corner of Bank (East Sixth) and Superior ranked with the best hotels of the land. The Kennard at Saint Clair due north, the Forest City House on the Public Square, the American House on the south side of Superior, west of Bank Street, stood, with the Weddell, as the leading hotels of the city. Now, in the lapse of nearly fifty years, save the Cleveland Hotel, which replaced the Forest City, the leading hotels are east of the Public Square. The Hollenden, the Olmsted, the Statler, the Winton, the Colonial, are among them. In 1876 the Striebinger House on Michigan Street was the newest hotel in the city. "Its rooms, ninety in number, are large, lofty and commodious, connected with the hotel is an extensive and well-appointed stable capable of accom- modating 140 horses," is a description from the old annals. This house was built and operated by the Striebinger brothers for many years.
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