USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of the city of Cleveland: its settlement, rise and progress, 1796-1896 > Part 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
1 A list of the mayors of the City of Ohio may be given here as follows: 1836, Josiah Barber; 1837, Francis A. Burrows; 1838-9, Norman C. Bald- win; 1840-1, Needham M. Standart; 1842, Francis A. Burrows; 1843, Richard Lord; 1844-5-6, D. H. Lamb; 1847, David Griffith; 1848, John Beverlin; 1849, Thomas Burnham; 1850-1-2, Benjamin Sheldon; 1853, William B. Castle.
366
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
With that rare judgment and patriotic energy that char- acterized all his public labors, Mayor Case 2 gave himself to this labor, with a wisdom and a foresight that have been well justified by results. Progress was made quite slowly, however, as October 29, 1852, arrived before a plan was submitted. On that date, Mayor Brownell announced to the City Council that " some two years ago a committee was appointed to examine the subject of supplying the city with pure water; that in the discharge of their duties they had collected many valuable statistics, and were now present with their report."
This was read by Mr. Case, was accepted, and referred to the special committee, with instructions to procure the services of a competent hydraulic engineer to "examine the report, make the necessary survey, and draw plans of the work, to be submitted to the Council at an early day." T. R. Scowden was engaged to perform the designated task. The plans and specifications were finally submitted on March 22, 1853, were adopted, and the committee dis- charged.
The first board of Water Works Commissioners con- sisted of H. B. Payne, B. L. Spangler and Richard Hill- iard, who were elected under the new laws, at the general election of 1853. We have seen how bonds to the amount of two hundred thousand dollars were voted them, and
2 William Case, son of Leonard Case, Sr., was born in Cleveland on August 10, 1818. He attended an academic school kept by the Rev. Colley Foster, on Ontario street, and then the preparatory school of Franklin T. Backus. He had hoped to enter Yale, but gave that up to become his father's business assistant. He was fond of hunting and nat- ural history, and was the moving spirit in that little coterie of congenial friends who established the famous "Ark," down on the Public Square. He served in the City Council, and as Mayor of Cleveland gave the city intelligent and patriotic service. He labored in the interest of Cleve- land's first railroad. serving as president of the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula Railroad Company. As is above shown, he had much to do with the creation of the city's system of water works. In 1859, he began the erection of Case Hall, but died of consumption in 1862, before its completion. A full and appreciative sketch of the Case family, and its connections with Cleveland, may be found in the Western Reserve Histor- ical Society's Tract No. 79, from the able pen of Hon. James D. Cleveland.
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
367
how they were instructed to go ahead with the works. On October 12th, a resolution was passed by the Council, approving the suggestion of the commissioners that the works should be located on the west side of the river, and steps were taken for the appropriation of the needed land. The reservoir on Kentucky street, and the tall tower and pumping house on the lake front, soon stood in evidence
ADE
TEL
THE CITY HALL.
as to how well the instructions had been carried out. Cleveland was secure in a water supply, and the day of the cistern and town pump had gone by forever.
Among the leading events of a general nature set down to the credit of 1855, was the lease of a portion of the new Jones building, on the southwest corner of the Public Square, for a Council Hall, and for other municipal pur-
368
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
poses. Possession was taken in November, and there the municipal headquarters remained, until the lease of the new Case Block, now occupied. In the same year, Cleve- land became possessor of its first United States District Court, with Hiram V. Willson as judge; Daniel O. Mor- ton, district attorney; Jabez W. Fitch, marshal; and Frederick W. Green, clerk. Lewis Dibble became chief bailiff, and Henry H. Dodge and Bushnell White, the first United States Commissioners. The opening of this court was the occasion of one of the most notable of the social gatherings of the Cleveland Bar, and has been described 3 as follows: " The first of the series of legal and judicial festivities, within the memory or knowledge of the writer, was a banquet at the Angier House (now Kennard House), in 1855, given by the members of the Cleveland Bar to the gentlemen of the bar of the northern district of Ohio, then in attendance on the United States District Court, soon after the accession of Judge Willson, the first judge of that court. It was a memorable occasion. The ap- pointments of the great dining hall, and the luxuries of the table, were in keeping with the admirable taste of the proprietor, and the fame of the house. The occasion was honored by the presence of Judge Willson, and a very large number of the most prominent lawyers of the sev- eral counties comprising the United States judicial dis- trict."
In 1856, steps were taken toward enclosing the Public Square, and a committee of the City Council appointed to investigate the legality of such action. They reported favorably, but no action was taken until March, 1857, when fences were erected; and it took legal action and a decision of the court, in 1867, to remove the obstructions, and to establish the legal fact that the highways of Su-
3 F. T. Wallace, in "Bench and Bar of Cleveland," p. 176. At a date somewhat later than that named above, banquets were annually held by the Cleveland Bar, the first occurring on March 10th, 1880, presided over by Hon. Henry B. Payne. Speeches were made by Martin Welker, R. F. Paine, D. R. Tilden, J. M. Jones, John W. Heisley, John Hutchins, and F. J. Dickman. Similar gatherings were also held in 1881, 1882, and 1883.
369
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
perior and Ontario streets must be left forever unbarred to travel, and the use of vehicles and pedestrians. There was great excitement upon both occasions, many opposing the fence in the one instance, and many other its removal in the other.
Steps were taken, in 1856, towards the erection of an ad- equate market house, and a committee which had been previously appointed reported to the City Council, in De- cember, in favor of the present Central Market grounds, on Ontario and Bolivar streets. The land was purchased and cleared, and the erection and opening of the building soon followed.
The year 1857 was one of importance in this respect, that it saw the practical open- ing of the iron business, to which Cleveland owes so much, and which has done so much to make this a great manufacturing center. Of NORMAL JORDAN! the beginnings in this line, - Charles A. Otis, 4 a prominent iron manufacturer, has said : MAYOR F. W. PELTON. " The first rolling mill at Cleveland was a plate mill, worked on a direct ore process, which was a failure. It went into operation in 1854 or 1855. The mill is now (1884) owned by the Britton Iron & Steel Company. The next mill was built in 1856, by A. J. Smith and others, to re-roll rails. It was called the Railroad Rolling Mill, and is now owned by the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company. At the same time, a man named Jones, with several as- sociates, built a mill at Newburg, six miles from Cleveland, also to re-roll rails. It was afterwards operated by Stone, Chisholm & Jones, and is now owned by the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company. In 1852, I erected a steam forge
4 Statement in "History of the Manufacture of Iron in all Ages," by James M. Swank; p. 240. Published in Philadelphia in 1884.
370
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
to make wrought iron forgings, and in 1859, I added to it a rolling mill, to manufacture merchant bar, etc. The Union Rolling Mills were built in 1861 and 1862, to roll merchant bar iron."
The service rendered by Henry Chisholm to the iron in- terests of Cleveland cannot be overestimated. By uni- versal consent, he stands at the head of the city's benefac- tors in this direction. He was born in Scotland, in 1822, and came to America when twenty years of age. He was a carpenter, and followed that trade in Montreal, and in 1850 was engaged in the construction of railroad break- waters in Cleveland, and soon after settled permanently in this city. In 1857, as above stated, he became a manu- facturer of iron in Newburg, building a small mill for the manufacture of bar and railroad iron. In this was found the beginning of the great Cleveland Rolling Mill Com- pany, which only a few years ago was described as em- ploying five thousand hands, consuming annually four hundred thousand tons of coke and coal, and turning out one hundred and fifty thousand tons of finished product, annually. To Mr. Chisholm, more than to any other one man, was due the magnificent success of this great enter- prise, and its direct beneficial effect upon the growth and prosperity of Cleveland. "He was among the early ones," says one appreciative student 5 of his career, "to see that steel rails would entirely take the place of iron, and one of the first to make a commercial success of the Bessemer process in this country. But where his signal ability most completely displayed itself was in recogniz- ing the fact that, for the highest prosperity, a steel mill should have more than 'one string to its bow,' and that to run in all times, and under all circumstances, Bessemer steel must be adapted to other uses than the making of rails. Holding tenaciously to this idea, he was the first to branch out into the manufacture of wire, screws, agri- cultural and merchant shapes, from steel. To the prog-
5 " The Coal and Iron Industry of Cleveland," by James F. Rhodes,- "Magazine of Western History," Vol. II., p. 343.
371
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
ress in this direction must be imputed a large share of the success of his company, and it further entitles Mr. Chis- holm to be regarded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest man, who has been engaged in the Bessemer steel manufacture in this country. It is rare, indeed, that mechanical skill and business ability are united in one and the same individual, and it was to this exceptional combi- nation of talents that Mr. Chisholm owed his more than splendid success. A Scotchman by birth and nature, and loving the poems of his nation's bard with an ardor that only a Scot can feel, he became as thorough an American citizen as if he had drawn his inspiration from Plymouth Rock, and he performed his civic duties with an ever- serene confidence in the merit of our institutions."
While the manufacture of iron in Cleveland could have been carried on to a limited extent, through use of the ores near at home, it was the opening of the Lake Supe- rior iron regions that made the magnificent results of to- day a possibility. There are some, perhaps, who do not realize how Cleveland capital and Cleveland brains as- sisted in the development of that region, and, therefore, a presentation of the facts that follow seems a matter of necessity.
It was in 1846 that Cleveland parties appeared on the scene and opened the way for the immense business that has grown up between that region and this city. Dr. J. Lang Cassels, of Cleveland, visited Lake Superior in 1846, and took "squatter's possession," in the name of the Dead River Silver & Copper Mining Company of Cleve- land-an enterprise in which were many of the men after- wards found in the Cleveland Iron Company. He was guided to the desired location by an Indian, and made the journey thereto and return, from the nearest settled point, in a birch bark canoe. In the following year, he left that country and returned to Cleveland, where he made a mild prophecy as to the mineral wealth of the Superior region, which was received with general incredulity.
The Cleveland Iron Company was formed in 1849, but
372
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
did little business in the Superior country until 1853. Its first organization was under a special Michigan charter, but on March 29, 1853, it filed articles of association, un- der the name of the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, with a capital stock of five hundred thousand dollars. The incorporators were John Outhwaite, Morgan L. Hew- itt, Selah Chamberlain, Samuel L. Mather, Isaac L. Hewitt, Henry F. Brayton and E. M. Clark. The office was located at Cleveland, and some of the lands of which it became possessed now comprise the principal part of the City of Marquette. In 1854, the Cleveland Company mined four thousand tons of ore, which was made into
ENGE
ANTS
NEW ENGLAND HOTEL, IS54.
blooms at the different forges in the vicinity, and sent to the lower lake points, some of it coming to this city.
This company, from the day of its origin, was looked upon as one of the most solid and important of the com- mercial concerns of Cleveland. It had much to do with creating and fostering the iron interests of Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Its first cargo of ore to this point was brought in 1856, and sold in small lots to such parties as were willing to give it an experimental trial.
It should also be said, in this connection, that the first ore from that section was shipped to Cleveland, in 1852,
373
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
by the Marquette Iron Company, in a half-dozen barrels, aboard the ship " Baltimore." The low estimation in which this ore was held by this business community dur- ing the experimental stages is illustrated by the following incident, related by George H. Ely. He was living in Rochester, New York, where he held the position of pres- ident of the Lake Superior Iron Company. A small cargo of ore had been shipped to a Cleveland party, who was unable to pay the freight, and so little commercial value was attached to the iron that the whole cargo was not considered sufficient security for the freight charges, and Mr. Ely was drawn on before they could be paid.
It is almost impossible to touch upon the iron industry. of Cleveland without referring, also, to those great re- sources in the way of cheap fuel, that have made the economical manufacture of iron at this point a possibility. It has been already noted how the first load of coal was hauled about the streets of Cleveland, with no buyers. Little progress in its introduction as a popular fuel, for either house or factory, was made for several years suc- ceeding that early attempt. In 1845, the Brierhill mine was opened, near Youngstown, Ohio, by David Tod, Daniel P. Rhodes, of Cleveland, and a Mr. Ford. In the beginning, they had an output of some fifty tons per week, and the main market was found among the steamers then doing a large passenger and freight business upon Lake Erie. The coal was brought to Cleveland by canal until 1856, when the completion of the Cleveland & Mahoning Railroad expedited its transportation, and gave the trade a great impetus. The completion of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad opened the coal fields of Columbiana County to a market, while the products of the great Mas- sillon mines became available in 1860. The rapid increase of the business may be judged from the following fig- ures: In 1865, Cleveland's receipts of coal were 465,550 tons; in 1884, 1,831, 112 tons.
CHAPTER XV.
EXPANSION AND GROWTH.
The financial panic of 1857 had a serious effect, to a cer- tain degree, upon the prosperity of Cleveland, but was followed by no such disastrous general wreckage as that of 1837. Happily, there were no failures among the Cleve- land banks, the principal effect being a temporary stag- nation of business, and the refusal of most people to make investments during the unsettled times. The recovery was general, and by 1860 the business of Cleveland no longer felt the disturbance.
The doctrine of secession, in a local way, was brought up for discussion in 1858, when some twenty-five residents of the eastern part of the city attempted to have that ter- ritory detached from incorporated Cleveland and attached to the township of East Cleveland. A petition was sent to the State Legislature, asking for this change. This was met by a remonstrance, which declared that the "proposed dismemberment " was not desired by a majority of the people affected by it, and that the names attached to the petition did not "represent men of wealth and posses- sions." The measure failed of success.
The growth of Cleveland, and consequently the legal business of Cuyahoga County, had for some time fore- shadowed the necessity for increased courthouse facilities, and action was taken in the period now under considera- tion. It was decided to clear the Public Square perma- nently of official buildings, and accordingly a new struct- ure and a new site were agreed upon. This latter was situated just north of the'northwest corner of the Public Square, on the north side of Rockwell street. On No- vember 10, 1857, the County Commissioners contracted with George P. Smith and James Pannell to erect a sub-
375
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
stantial stone edifice, three stories high, at a cost of $152,500. This building, now called "the old court- house," filled all the requirements of county business un- til 1875, when increasing demand for more room was an- swered by the erection of a large and imposing addition. Ground was purchased on Seneca street, running back to the old building, and a contract let for a new court- house, at a cost. of $250,000. It was nearly square, run-
THE PROPOSED NEW COURTHOUSE.
ning seventy feet in each direction, with rooms for vari- ous officials and the courts in the Seneca front, and a jail in the rear. A still further increase of facilities was made in 1884, when two stories were added to the old building, at a cost of nearly $100,000.
The Cleveland schools also, by 1859, had outgrown the methods of management described in a previous chapter, and in the year named the old order gave way to the new.
376
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
By special enactment of the Legislature, the election of members of a Board of Education was for the first time placed in the hands of the people, one member being elected from each ward, one-half of the wards electing annually. Although the Board of Education now held the same relation to the people that was held by the City Council, the former was subject to the latter, in several respects. The Council was still required to "provide and support such number and grade of schools as may be necessary to furnish a good com- mon school education to all the children," and to support two high schools. The Board was required to certify to the Coun- cil an estimate of the KENTUCKY STREET SCHOOL BUILDING, 1850. amount necessary to be raised for school purposes, but the Council might, at pleasure, levy a tax for an amount greater or less than the amount thus es- timated, provided it did not exceed the limit fixed in the general law of the State.
The Board of Education had the management and con- trol of the schools, employed and dismissed teachers, fixed their compensation, and furnished all necessary sup- plies and apparatus; but could not expend more than fifty dollars for school furniture or repairs for any one school or school building, without first obtaining the consent of the Council. In like manner, the approval of the city legisla- ture was required, in fixing the boundaries of school dis- tricts.
In April, 1868, another act was passed "to provide for the support and regulation of the public schools of Cleve- land," by which all restraints of the Board of Education on the part of the City Council were removed, saving
377
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
one - whenever additional school room was needed, it be- came necessary for the Board to recommend to the Coun- cil the "purchase of proper sites, and the erection of suit- able school houses thereon," and the Council was then required to act on such recommendation, without delay, and, in case of approval, to "provide in such manner as shall seem most expedient such sums of money as may be necessary to carry the same into effect." This change in legal power gave the Board complete control of the schools, with the right to levy taxes without restriction of the Council, and allowing the latter power only in the purchase of real estate and the erection of buildings.
In May, 1873, a general law was passed by the Legisla- ture, whereby all special enactments pertaining to the management of schools in towns, cities and special dis- tricts were entirely superseded. This gave the City Council no voice whatever in school affairs.
The members of the first Board of Education, elected by the people, were as follows: Charles Bradburn, Allyne Maynard, Charles S. Reese, William H. Stanley, Nathan P. Payne, W. P. Fogg, Lester Hayes, J. A. Thorne, F. B. Pratt, Daniel P. Rhodes and George R. Vaughn.
The dawn of 1860 found the school system of the city in a shape that produced good results for the present, and offered larger rewards for the future. The schools on both sides of the river had been consolidated, a board elected by the people was in control, a superintendent gave his whole time to oversight, a high school was in progress upon the east side of the river, and another on the west side. During the War of the Rebellion, and run- ning on up to 1865, the schools kept growth apace with the rest of the city, but during that period little was done in connection with them which is of general historical in- terest.
The incumbent of the office of school superintendent from 1863 to 1866 was Anson Smyth. In the year last named, he was succeeded by Andrew J. Rickoff. In 1867, when East Cleveland was annexed, its schools came under
378
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
control of the city. In 1868, supervising principals were appointed, to give immediate direction to the teachers in the grammar and primary departments. Consequent on this change, women principals were placed in charge of the various school buildings, in place of men, as had been the custom at an earlier date. In 1870, the study of Ger- man was introduced. In 1874, a normal school was estab-
THE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING.
lished, for the instruction of those who desired to become teachers. In 1877, the Board of Education contracted for the erection of a new high school building on Willson avenue, near Cedar avenue, and, when completed, it was rightly regarded as one of the finest structures of its kind in Ohio.
A notable and suggestive feature of 1859 was the organ-
carino
HORVIL JORDAN
THE PUBLIC SQUARE, 1873.
379
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
ization of Cleveland's first street railway - the East Cleveland Railway Company - and in 1860 the road was opened for business, between Bank street and Willson avenue. On the 6th of October of that year, the president of the company, Henry S. Stevens, in presence of a num- ber of gentlemen associated with him in the enterprise, broke ground at the eastern terminus, and then " invited the stockholders and patrons present to meet at the other end of the route, near Water street, three weeks from. that day, to celebrate the completion of the first street railroad in Cleveland, and in the State." In 1863, an ex- tension was completed through to East Cleveland, and five years later the branch line on Ohio and Garden streets was set in operation. The Kinsman Street Rail- way Company, with a line running from Bank street out Kinsman street (now Woodland avenue), was also or- ganized in 1859, and a portion of the line built. The West Side Railway Company came into being in 1863, and during the year following, a route was opened over De- troit street. The Superior & St. Clair Street Railway Company was organized in 1867, the Rocky River Rail- road Company in 1868, the Broadway & Newburgh Rail- way Company in 1873, the South Side Railway Company in 1874, the Woodland Hills Avenue Railroad in 1874, and the Superior Street Railway Company in 1875. Among these pioneer organizations in the street railway system of Cleveland were several that had a great influ- ence in developing Cleveland, and in placing her business and manufacturing districts in touch with the residence portions. To these lines, more than to anything else, per- haps, is due the fact that Cleveland is a city of homes, and that somewhere within reach of daily business or employ- ment can be found a location for home-owning and home- building that is not beyond the financial means of the most humble laborer. A city in which the great majority are their own landlords, is built upon a rock of stability that nothing can shake.
Carrying this record down to the present day, we find
380
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
that the street railway system of Cleveland received a great impetus in 1879, when Tom L. Johnson came to the city. At that time, the Brooklyn Street Railway, always an unfortunate property, was in sore straits. Mr. John- son bought it for a song, and at once infused live business methods into its management. He gave it a double track on Pearl street, obtained the right, a little later, to bring it across the Viaduct to the Public Square, and finally, in 1883, extended it by way of Scovill avenue to Woodland Cemetery. He also gave it branches on both sides of the river-one on Clark avenue, from Pearl street to the C. C. C. & I. Railroad tracks, the other on Willson avenue, from Scovill avenue to Beyerle Park, in Newburg. Transfers were given when desired, and the fare for the entire trip was reduced to five cents. In 1885, Mr. Johnson bought the South Side Railway, and, modernizing its equipment and service, made it a part of his system. It had been operated with cars of a primitive make. When the Central Viaduct was completed, the route of the South Side line was changed, and the hilly road on Jennings avenue and Seneca street abandoned. In 1889 and 1890, the present Scranton avenue line, run- ning from Superior street through Seneca street and Scranton avenue to Clark avenue, was built.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.