USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of the city of Cleveland: its settlement, rise and progress, 1796-1896 > Part 4
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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
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
Conneaut Creek. They were at last upon the Reserve, and as their arrival was upon a date made memorable by the stirring Declaration of but twenty years before, these patriotic sons of Connecticut naturally celebrated as seemed most fitting, and with such means of rejoicing as were at command.
There have been many celebrations of our nation's natal day upon the Western Reserve since its opening to civilization one hundred years ago, but there have per- haps been none more hearty and patriotic27 than this first one, held in sight of beautiful Erie, and among the woods of Conneaut.
We can see this little band of fifty, drawn the more closely together because they were so few in number, and so far from home and kindred, uniting with each other in song, in toast and hearty expressions of good will. The day had been serene, the foliage about them was in its best shades of summer green, the little creek wound thread-like between its banks, and out beyond the water of blue Erie sparkled in the setting sun.28 There
27 Extract from the journal of General Cleaveland: "On this creek (Conneaught), in New Connecticut land, July 4th, 1796, under General Moses Cleaveland, the surveyors, and men sent by the Connecticut Land Company to survey and settle the Connecticut Reserve, and were the first English people who took possession of it. The day, memorable as the birthday of American Independence, and freedom from British tyranny, and commemorated by all good free-born sons of America, and memorable as the day on which the settlement of this new country was commenced, and in time may raise her head amongst the most enlightened and im- proved States. And after many difficulties, perplexities, and hardships were surmounted, and we were on the good and promised land, felt that a just tribute of respect to the day ought to be paid. There were in all, including men, women and children, fifty in number."-Whittlesey's " Early History of Cleveland," p. 181.
25 This celebration has usually been treated as an elaborate, all- day affair, but the letter written by General Cleaveland on July 5th, the day following, to Oliver Phelps and found among the Phelps letters already quoted, would seem opposed to that view. He says: "We sailed from Buffalo Creek a week yesterday, and having head winds and very heavily loaded, with much perseverance was able to reach this place (Conneaut Creek) yesterday at 6 p. m." This would still permit the celebration to occur in daylight, at that season of the year.
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
was much lacking of the needs and devices of civiliza- tion, but they were hardy men, well used to rough serv- ice, and to whom there were but a half dozen essentials of life just then-food, drink, clothing, shelter and am- munition.
The new flag of the new nation was flung to the breeze. Tables were arranged, and baked beans and pork showed well in evidence. " We gave three cheers," says Cleave- land, "and christened the place Port Independence." Salutes of musketry, under command of Captain Joseph Tinker, were fired-one for each State in the Union, and one for New Connecticut ; and toasts proposed, of which the chronicler last quoted gives a list :
Ist. " The President of the United States."
2nd. " The State of New Connecticut."
3rd. " The Connecticut Land Company."
4th. " May the Port of Independence and the fifty sons and daughters who have entered it this day be successful and prosperous."
5th. " May these sons and daughters multiply in six- teen years sixteen times fifty."
6th. " May every person have his bowsprit trimmed and ready to enter any port that opens."
It is with no small regret that we fail to report the speeches made upon that occasion-for speech there must have been, set or otherwise, among these patriotic sons of New England. No record of these was made, as Sur- veyor Holley and his associates were more interested in recording township boundaries and noting variations of the compass, than the Fourth of July outbursts of a little band of strangers in the new country.29
29 Judge John Barr, in the " National Magazine " for December, 1845, says: "The sons of revolutionary sires, some of them sharers of themselves in the great baptism of the republic, they made the anniversary of their country's freedom a day of ceremonial and rejoicing. Mustering their numbers, they sat them down on the eastward shore of the stream now known as Conneaut, and, dipping from the lake the liquor in which they pledged their country-their goblets some tin cups of no rare work- manship, yet every way answerable-with the ordnance accompaniment
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
When General Cleaveland tells us that the celebration " closed with three cheers; drank several pails of grog, supped, and retired in good order," we have no right to assume that a bibulous set of individuals had been sent upon this important mission. They drank no more and no less than was the custom of their day, and of the com- munities in which they lived. This was, beyond doubt, the first celebration of Independence Day upon the Reserve.
On the day following, the actual work of the expedition was commenced. General Cleaveland wrote to the direct- ors of the company, reporting progress; and two boats under command of Captain Tinker were sent to Fort Erie to bring on a portion of the stores that had been tempora- rily left there. The men were set to work at cutting timber, and erecting a large log structure for temporary accommodation, which was named " Castle Stow," in honor of Commissary Joshua Stow. It was constructed of unhewn logs, roofed with a combination thatch of brush, wild grasses and sod. We are told by Harvey Rice that " the style of architecture was entirely unique. and its uncouth appearance such as to provoke the laugh- ter of the builders, and the ridicule of the Indians."
These red natives of the soil were moved by yet an- other impulse that had a serious side, as they saw these preparations for permanent occupation. They could not understand just what was contemplated, but saw that something was on foot that boded no good for their con- tinued possession of the soil. An explanation was de- manded. The manner in which the demand was made is thus related by General Cleaveland himself :
" Received a message from the Paqua chief of the Mas- sasagoes, residing in Conneaut, that they wished a coun- cil held that day. I prepared to meet them, and after they were all seated, took my seat in the middle. Cato,
of two or three fowling pieces discharging the required salute-the first settlers of the Reserve spent their landing-day as became the sons of the Pilgrim Fathers-as the advance pioneers of a population that has since made the then wilderness of Northern Ohio to blossom as the rose."
326150
,
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
son of Paqua, was the orator; Paqua dictated. They opened the council by smoking the pipe of peace and friendship. The orator then rose and addressed me in the language of Indian flattery, 'Thank The Great Spirit for preserving and bringing me there. Thank The Great Spirit for giving a pleasant day,' and then requested to know our claim to the land, as they had friends who re- sided on the land, and others at a distance who would come there. They wanted to know what I would do with them. I replied, informing them of our title and what I had said to the Six Nations, and also assured them that they should not be disturbed in their posses- sions; we would treat them and their friends as brothers. They then presented me with the pipe of friendship and peace, a curious one, indeed. I returned a chain of wam- pum, silver trinkets, and other presents, and whisky, to the amount of about twenty-five dollars. They also said they were poor; and as I had expressed, hoped we should be friendly and continue to be liberal. I told them I acted for others as well as for myself, and to be liberal of others' property was no evidence of true friendship; those people I represented lived by industry, and to give away their property lavishly to those who live in indo- lence and by begging, would be no deed of charity. As long as they were industrious and conducted themselves well, I would do such benevolent acts to them as would be judged right and would do them the most good; cau- tioned them against indolence and drunkenness. This not only closed the business, but checked their begging for more whisky."
After this second council with the Indians, the General addressed himself squarely to the work in hand, which was to lay out a part of the Reserve into townships five miles square, and the townships into one hundred acre lots. The surveyors were assigned to their respective labors, and set out upon the fulfillment thereof.
It is our immediate mission to follow only those who proceeded westward toward the Cuyahoga. In a couple
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
of weeks Cleaveland selected certain of his staff, and with them proceeded in an open boat along the shore of Erie, until he reached a stream that he concluded was the Cuyahoga, which was his objective point. He proceeded up it, as rapidly as the sandbanks and fallen timber would permit, and soon found that he had made the mistake of entering a stream not laid down upon his map. It is de- clared by some authorities that in commemoration of this error, and of his consequent disappointment over delay, he called the stream "the Chagrin "-an appellation which it retains to-day.30
Retracing their way to the lake, the little party sailed and rowed still westward, and on the morning of July 22nd, in the year 1796, passed into the Cuyahoga, and stood upon its eastern bank near the entrance to the lake.
No formal ceremony marked this entrance of civiliza- tion, in the persons of Moses Cleaveland and his men, upon the spot where within the coming century a great city was to be reared. As a matter of fact, the landing was very commonplace in its character. " They reached
30 The authorities do not agree upon this point. Whittlesey's "Early History of Cleveland," p. 213, says: "Much discussion has taken place upon the origin of the name of the Chagrin River. Thomas Hutchins in his ' Topographical Description of Virginia, Pennsylvania, etc.,' in 1787, notices a stream by the name of Shaguin, which is said to mean in some Indian language, the 'clear water.' On Hutchins's map of 1764 no im- portant streams are given between the 'Cyahoga ' and Presque Isle. It is thus not easy to determine what river is meant by the Shaguin. The surveyors all speak of it as then known, as the Chagrin. Grand River is a name evidently of French origin, its Indian name being 'Sheauga,' from whence the term Geauga is derived, by a very natural corruption. It is highly probable that Chagrin is a title given by the French traders to this stream, from some accident or suffering such as occurred at Misery River of Lake Superior." In the " Journal of a Tour," already quoted, we find these words: "The Shaugin River, emptying into Lake Erie, is a small but remarkably clear stream, boatable about ten miles, affording good mill seats, and abounding in excellent fish." Rev. John Seward, who came to the Reserve as a missionary in 1812, writing of the Chagrin in 1831, says: "It had long been known by that name on account of the wreck and suffering of a French crew at or near its mouth." Mr. Seward was much given to historical research, was cultured, and of marked liter- ary ability.
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
the veritable Cuyahoga," says Mr. Rice,31 with that dry humor that was so telling and characteristic, "and after advancing a short distance in its channel, attempted to land, but in their efforts to do so ran their boat into the marshy growth of wild vegetation which skirted the east- erly bank of the river, and stranded her. Here ' Moses,' like his ancient name's sake, found himself cradled in the bullrushes. This occurred near the foot of Union Lane, which was at that time the termination of an Indian trail. The party soon succeeded in effecting a safe landing. They then ascended the precipitous bluff, which over- looked the valley of the river, and were astonished to find a broad and beautiful plain of woodland stretching far away to the east, west and south of them, and lying at an elevation of some eighty feet above the dark blue waters of Lake Erie. The entire party became enamored of the scene."
" A young growth of oaks with low bushy tops covered the ground," adds Col. Whittlesey,22 in further descrip- tion of the scene. "Beneath them were thrifty bushes, rooted in a lean but dry and pleasant soil, favorable to the object in view. A smooth and even field sloped gently toward the lake, whose blue waters could be seen extend- ing to the horizon."
Those who in a mental vision can reconstruct the scene, with the lake, and river, and wooded land; with no sign of habitation or the work of man; with the Cuyahoga at their feet, and the hills rising above it; with no rise of smoke in all the landscape; green leaves above them, and verdant carpets beneath their feet; a fair sky shining over it all, can well understand how the beauty and fitness of the place for the purposes they had in mind were im- pressed upon the visitors, and that then and there was born the fruitful thought out of which this fair and prosperous Forest City has grown.
31 " Pioneers of the Western Reserve," by Harvey Rice, Cleveland, 1881, P. 58.
32 " Annals of the Early Settlers' Association," No. I, p. 23.
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
General Cleaveland decided-not just then, but a little later-that the main town of such portion of the Reserve. as lay within his jurisdiction should be built here. His prophetic eye was true in its investigation of the future, and although his little city was for a time humiliated by being described as " six miles from Newburgh," where the grist-mill was-all later developments have shown that in no better place could the metropolis of the Re- serve have been built.
The 5th of August found the General back again at Port Independence (Conneaut Creek), where he made a lengthy report to the home company,33 giving his views upon various things in a plain and by no means optimistic manner. After touching upon affairs in the eastern sec- tion of the Reserve, he says:
" The Cuyahoga is navigable for sloops about eight miles as the river runs, and for boats to the portage, if the immense quantity of trees drove down and lodged are cleared out. The land excellent, the water clear and lively current, and streams and springs falling into all three rivers.34 We went in a Schenectady boat, the 'Cuy- ahoga,' about twenty-five miles to the old Moravian In- dian town, and I imagine on a meridian line, not more than twelve or fifteen miles. Here the bottoms widen, and as I am informed, increase in width, and if possible in quality. I believe we could have proceeded further up the river, but found the time allotted, and the provis- ion inadequate to perform the whole route. At this place we found a stream, that empties into the river, which will make a good mill seat. The lands on the lake shore, in some places low, here and there a small cran- berry pond, not of any great extent, nor discovered low drowned lands of any bigness for twenty or thirty miles on the lake shore. On the east of the Cuyahoga are clay
33 In the Phelps letters, " Annals of the Early Settlers' Association," Vol. III., No. I, p. 73.
34 He probably refers to the Cuyahoga and two other rivers he had been examining-the Grand and " the one called Ashtabula, now Mary Easter."
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
banks from twenty to forty feet high, on the top the land level, covered with chestnut, oak, walnut, ash, and some sugar maple. There are but few hemlocks, and those only on a swamp, pond or lake, and in the immense quantity of flood wood lodged on the lakes and rivers, I rarely found any of that wood. The shore west of the mouth of the Cuyahoga is a steep bank for ten miles, the quality of the soil I know not, but from the growth and kind of timber, these present no unfavorable aspect. I should with great pleasure, readily comply with what I suppose you have heretofore expected that I should leave this country about this time. I have not as yet been in- terrupted in a constant attention to business, more than I could have imagined or would have voluntarily entered into, and I see no prospect of its lessening at present. Those who are meanly envying the compensation and sitting at their ease and see their prosperity increasing at the loss of health, ease, and comfort of others, I wish might experience the hardships for one month; if not then satisfied their grumbling would give me no pain. I apprehend the stagnant waters in Lake Erie (except to the westward) must be of small dimensions. The interior lakes and ponds, though not included in Livingston's com- putation, are, I expect, few and small, unless the land bears more to the northwest, after it passes the Cuyahoga than it does this side, the surplus will not be consequen- tial. It is impossible at present to determine on the place for the capital. More information of the extent of the ceded lands and ye traverse of the lakes and rivers wanted, this will cause delay and require examination. I believe it will be on the Cuyahoga it must command the greatest communication, either by land or water of any other place on the purchase or on any ceded lands west of the head of the Mohawk. I expect soon to leave this for the westward, and shall make my residence there until I am ready to return to Connecticut. The men are remarkably healthy, though without sauce or vegetables, and in good spirits. I hope they will continue so."
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
banks from twenty to forty feet high, on the top the land level, covered with chestnut. oak, walnut, ash, and some sugar maple. There are but few hemlocks, and those only on a swamp, pond or lake, and in the immense quantity of flood wood lodged on the lakes and rivers, I rarely found any of that wood. The shore west of the mouth of the Cuyahoga is a steep bank for ten miles, the quality of the soil I know not, but from the growth and kind of timber, these present no unfavorable aspect. I should with great pleasure, readily comply with what I suppose you have heretofore expected that I should leave this country about this time. I have not as yet been in- terrupted in a constant attention to business, more than I could have imagined or would have voluntarily entered into, and I see no prospect of its lessening at present. Those who are meanly envying the compensation and sitting at their ease and see their prosperity increasing at the loss of health, ease, and comfort of others, I wish might experience the hardships for one month; if not then satisfied their grumbling would give me no pain. I apprehend the stagnant waters in Lake Erie (except to the westward) must be of small dimensions. The interior lakes and ponds, though not included in Livingston's com- putation, are, I expect, few and small, unless the land bears more to the northwest, after it passes the Cuyahoga than it does this side, the surplus will not be consequen- tial. It is impossible at present to determine on the place for the capital. More information of the extent of the ceded lands and ye traverse of the lakes and rivers wanted, this will cause delay and require examination. I believe it will be on the Cuyahoga it must command the greatest communication, either by land or water of any other place on the purchase or on any ceded lands west of the head of the Mohawk. I expect soon to leave this for the westward, and shall make my residence there until I am ready to return to Connecticut. The men are remarkably healthy, though without sauce or vegetables, and in good spirits. I hope they will continue so."
131.
131
ONTO STREET
210
2/3
248
115
214
213.
CLEAVELAND.
HURON
STREIT
CUYAHOGA
107.
167
SUPERIOR
STREET.
PART OF THE TOWN
173.
FEDERAL ST.
"THE CITY
OJEVĚNO
.
ZAXX
STAYET.
113
131.
BATH STREET .
walte when 4
PART OF LAKE ERIE.
A
PLAN OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND BY SETH PEASE; 1796.
RIVER
13
....
fıst
Landing
CLEAVELAND
7
2
MIAMI SEREK
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND:
A survey of the land chosen for the new city was or- dered. A mile square was the area then covered. Two surveys were made-one by Amos Spafford, and one by Seth Pease; both under the superintendence of Augustus Porter. The result was the preparation of two maps, one by each of the surveyors, and known to local annals as " Spafford's Map," and "Pease's Map."
The Spafford map was found among the papers of John Milton Holley, at Salisbury, Conn., in possession of his son, Gov. Alexander H. Holley. This endorsement, in the handwriting of Amos, is found upon it: " Original plan of the town and village of Cleveland, Ohio, Oct. Ist, 1796." The map was made by pasting several sheets of foolscap together. Superior street at first appears as " Broad," which was obliterated, and the present name substituted. The Public Square35 is shown by a blank space, like an enlargement of the streets crossing each other at that point; Ontario had been first named " Court," which was erased. "On the face of the orig- inal," to again quote. Col. Whittlesey, " there are the numbers of the lots-two hundred and twenty in num- ber; the streets Superior, Water, Mandrake, Union, Vine- yard, Bath, Lake, Erie, Federal, Maiden, Ontario, Huron, Ohio and Miami-fourteen in number, and the names of the parties who had selected lots. These were: Stoddard, lot 49, northeast corner of Water and Superior streets; Stiles, lot 53, northeast corner of Bank and Superior streets; Landon, lot 77, directly opposite, on the south
35 That now historic park in the very center of Cleveland's business sec- tion was laid out as the Public Square, and so should have remained to the end of time. Some word-tinker thought otherwise after the memorial to Commodore Perry had been located at the junction of Superior and Ontario streets, and on April 16th, 186r, an ordinance was passed by the City Council declaring that " such portion of the public ground of the city of Cleveland as is at present known and commonly called the Public Square be, and the same shall be known and designated as Monumental Square." (See codified ordinances, passed March 12th, 1877, in which the above action is confirmed.) Happily the Cleveland public had a bet- ter sense of the fitness of things than the Councils of 1861 and 1877, and the Public Square it yet is in popular speech, and that appellation will be used here whenever Cleveland's first park is referred to.
THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
si le of Superior street ; Baum, lot 65, sixteen rods east of the Public Square; Shepherd, lot 69, and Chapman, lot 72, all on the north side of the same street. 'Pease's Hotel,' as they styled the surveyor's cabin, is placed on the line between lots 202 and 203, between Union street and the river. Northwest of it, about ten rods, on lot , 201, their store house is laid down. Vineyard, Union and Mandrake streets were laid out to secure access to the upper and lower landings on the river. Bath street pro- vided a way of reaching the lake shore and the mouth of the river."
Even a city as yet only upon paper must have a name, and the question as to a title for the capital of New Con- necticut, which had probably been under consideration for some time, now demanded settlement. The name "Cuyahoga " had been proposed, and there are letters in existence showing that it was in use to designate the pres- ent location of Cleveland. General Cleaveland confessed himself unequal to the task, and, we are told, " upon the earnest suggestion and advice of the surveyors," was per- suaded to make use of his own name, and thus " Cleave- land, New Connecticut," took its place upon the yet im- perfect and uncertain maps of the Great West.
Just when and by whom the letter "a" was first dropped from the name has never been definitely deter- mined. The early records vary in their custom, some following the spelling adopted by the city's founder, and others the more convenient mode that in later days be- came universal by general consent. In Judge Griswold's admirable paper, elsewhere quoted at some length, on the corporate birth and growth of Cleveland, we find this statement: " There was first made (in these early sur- veys) a rough field note on which these lots, streets and grounds were marked and laid out, but a more perfect and complete map was made by Seth Pease and finished be- fore the Ist of October of that year (1796). On this old field map, there was written in fair hand, as well to per- petuate the General's memory, as the event itself, ' The
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THE HISTORY OF CLEVELAND.
City of Cleveland.' In the spelling, the letter 'a ' in the first syllable always used by the General himself was omitted. ''36
There may be found in the office of the city clerk of Cleveland a small and dingy book, with leaves yellowed by time, edges worn away, and the leather cover black and mouldy with decay. It contains the records of the township of Cleveland, commencing with 1803, and in this the name is almost altogether spelled with the " a," until about 1832 or 1833.
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