USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > History of the city of Cleveland : its settlement, rise and progress > Part 7
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forces for battling the flames may at first sight seem to have grown in inverse proportions to the number of in- habitants, but the greater superiority of the present sys- tem, machinery and discipline over the old "hand engines" is such that our city is now, with its fewer firemen, more safely provided against conflagration than it was in 1862.
In the fall of 1864 the fire telegraph system was added to the fire department service. By degrees the old tele- graph boxes were displaced by automatic alarm boxes, which are now being superseded by even better machines of more recent devise.
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CHAPTER XI.
CLEVELAND'S PROSPERITY DURING THE WAR-FALL OF RICHMOND AND LEE'S SURRENDER-THE CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT VICTORY-THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN-THE LAYING IN STATE OF THE MARTYRED PRESIDENT'S REMAINS IN CLEVELAND-A REVIEW OF THE CITY'S INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT-CLEVELAND BECOMES A MANUFAC- TURING CITY-THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS-TWO DESTRUC- TIVE FIRES-THE PROVOST MARSHAL CONVICTED OF BRIBERY-THE RETURN OF THE SOLDIERS-VISITS FROM THE FAMOUS FEDERAL GEN- ERALS-SIR MORTON PETO-THE ADVENT OF THE NATIONAL GAME OF BASE BALL-MAYOR CHAPIN IS ELECTED-THE EQUAL RIGHTS LEAGUE -ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FIRST PUBLIC HOSPITAL.
W HILE the war was progressing in the Southern States, Cleveland, far removed from the scene of strife, seemed but slightly affected by the alternate flurry and stagnation of many other cities. Her population, from 43,000 in 1860, had reached about 65,000 in 1865, an increase of fifty per cent., representing a growth in pro- portion to numbers more rapid than that of any other Northern city for that period. Her commercial and man- ufacturing interests were greatly stimulated by the war, and many new enterprises were inaugurated. The discov- eries in the oil regions and the demand for the newly devel- oped Lake Superior iron ore, gave to the industries con- nected with those products an extraordinary impulse,
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soon placing Cleveland in the front rank of manufacturing cities. But the evil results of war were by no means unfelt. The unprecedented, high prices of living, the scarcity of labor, the occasional alarms of raids from over the border, the increased municipal expenses by reason of heavy appropriations for bounties and re- liefs, the augmented force of police, combined with the continual fever and unrest that awaited every item of news from the front-all united to draw away strength from business and labor.
Especially was the closing period of the war marked by events the most stirring in the history of the city. The long suspense of four years was finally relieved on the third of April, 1865, by the news of the fall of Richmond,* and seven days later by that of Lee's surrender. The report of the latter long-hoped-for event reached the city at seven o'clock, on the morning of April 10, and soon the booming of the "secesh cannon" on the Public Square brought out the whole populace, and their united voices burst into one frenzied huzza that lasted throughout the entire day and far into the night. Business became sud-
* Some days before this event, a report came that Richmond had fallen. The rumor had scarcely reached the city when guns, drums and bands were brought out, bonfires lighted, and an immense celebration inaugu- rated before the erroneousness of the information was ascertained. When, therefore, the news of the actual surrender of the Confederate capital reached us, the citizens, remembering with chagrin the ridiculous proceedings into which their too eager enthusiasm had precipitated them, regarded it with suspicion, and treated the true and glad tidings as a canard until it was amply verified and substantiated beyond all possible doubt .- [EDITOR].
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denly suspended, and the faces of men, women and children spoke out a joy that their throats and lungs were inces- santly strained to utter. Country people poured into the streets by the thousands, and all classes were fused in the universal shouting, leaping and embracing. It was the happiest day Cleveland ever saw. Though the air was foggy and gloomy, yet in a moment the city sprung, as if. under a magician's spell, into the most gorgeous panorama of red, white and blue, streaming from staffs, church steeples, hotels and private houses, floating in huge flags from innumerable cords stretched across the streets, and folded in unlimited bunting about houses and door-posts. Water street, especially, was one solid mass of union colors. Even the horses were glorious with banners, and unlucky dogs hustled down the streets adorned with streamers and flags. The prominent citizens fell into line with fifes, tin horns and drums, and all the boys in Cleve- land followed at their heels, while brass bands resounded, cannon boomed and the city shook with the demonstra- tions of her overjoyed multitudes. No such scene was ever before or since witnessed.
But how inscrutable are the changes of Providence! Five days later the exultant city was plunged from these heights of ecstasy into the deepest sorrow. Between two Sundays came the news of Lee's surrender and Lin- coln's assassination; and the patriotic emblems that on Monday glorified the city, were on Saturday hidden by the mass of black and sombre draping. Flags wrapped in black hung at half-mast, festoons of black covered business and private houses, Perry's monument was buried in black,
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and streets that before were radiant with the glory of bright colors, were now gloomy as death. People were no longer assembled in huge crowds, but gathered in sorrow- fulknots, with weeping eyes, or hearts bursting with rage. They wandered about dejected and sad, not knowing what todo, speaking in whispers or with voices hushed by grief. The very air seemed thick and suffocating. The mayor issued a call for a meeting in the Public Square, where short speeches were made by Governors Tod and Brough. On the next day funeral sermons were delivered in all the churches, and on Wednesday funeral services were con- ducted. On Friday, the twenty-eighth, just two weeks after the assassination, the body of the martyred President was brought to Cleveland on the way from Washington to its resting place in Springfield, Illinois. Just four years and two months after his first appearance in Cleveland, when on his triumphal trip to Washington to receive the oath of office, with the eyes of the Nation turned hopefully towards him, he returned to the same people, his great work accomplished, but himself the chief martyr to its fulfillment. Of the multitude of Cleveland's citizens who cheered him on his first arrival, many had also been sacri- ficed to the same cause ; others were yet absent in the clos- ing scenes of war, and upon the thousands who now beheld his returning corpse the sufferings and anxiety and final glory of the last four years crowded with irresistible grief. The symbols of sorrow that had prevailed for the last two weeks were now increased tenfold. Every available spot wore a badge of mourning. The funeral train, preceded by a pilot engine, halted at the Euclid Avenue depot, and the
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coffin with its burden was received by an immense proces- sion of military and civic associations, citizens and visitors, numbering over fifty thousand. The procession with the tolling of the steeple bells and the booming of cannon, moved slowly down Euclid avenue to Erie, down Erie to Superior, thence down Superior to the Park, where had been erected a large building, hung with drapery and silver fringe, beneath which rested the catafalque. Here, after appropriate ceremonies and impressive prayer, sixty-five thousand silently filed past the coffin to look upon the fast dissolving features of the honored dead. When all was over, the coffin was again conveyed to the train and departed for its western destination. The funeral was the most impressive and solemn ever conducted in Cleveland up to this time.
Some idea of thecommercial and industrial advancement made during the war may be gained by noticing a few of the principal industries and their standing in 1865. The population of the city, as before stated, had increased 50 per cent. The value of imports from lake traffic had in- creased 116 per cent. over that for 1857, and of the exports 190 per cent. During this period were developed those great manufacturing industries which, in uniting the coal of Ohio and Pennsylvania with the iron of the Lake Superior country, and in refining the product of the petroleum fields, transformed Cleveland from a commercial to a manufac- turing city. These industries were conducted with little or no profit before the war, but the extraordinary demands of the government called them into a prosperous existence. The receipts of coal in 1865 were 465,550 tons, twice as
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much as in 1860. The sales offices of all the Lake Supe- rior iron ore companies were located at Cleveland, and their total product, which had increased from 114,401 tons in 1860 to 247,059 tons in 1864, was almost wholly received at Cleveland. The aggregate sales of manufac- tured and wrought iron in 1865 was $6,000,000. Petro- leum refineries had reached the number of thirty, most of them, however, conducted on a small scale, and none run on full time. In the lumber trade Cleveland's receipts were greater than those of any other market on the lakes east of the lumber regions. The ship-building interests, also, were heavier than those of any other port. The vessels constructed were all wooden, and were to be found on the Atlantic coast, in British waters, up the Mediterranean and on the Baltic. Other industries, incident to these leading ones, shared their rapid progress, but on coal, iron and oil it was evident thecity's future depended. Her citizens had begun to turn their energies from railroads and commerce, for which plainly other cities at the head of the lakes offered broader scope of adjacent territory, to the developing of the resources of these three great natural products, and bringing them into the city's limits, there to undergo the final preparations for market. The war was opportune for such a change, and the energy of the previ- ous decade in railroad building had furnished ready means for distributing all the coming manufactured products.
During the succeeding years of peace, this progress, covering new fields, aided by great inventions and stimu- lated by a more liberal policy, has gone forward by leaps. The unprecedented growth of private fortunes and the
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feeling of common dependence aroused by the war experi- ences, have inspired in her citizens the Republican virtue of public spirit, and the return of peace marks the inaugu- ration of a long series of public charities, improvements and adornments; of magnificent churches either built anew or remodeled upon older structures; of public libra- ries, hospitals and reformatories; of colleges and schools, all projected and carried on by private citizens. Liberal invitations by owners of property have brought in foreign capitalists and manufacturers, a policy strangely neglected in ante-war days.
For the first time, also, a metropolitan air began to fill the city. In architecture, the old flat, plain-windowed styles gave way to the modern artistic effects. Large ventures in business began to be familiar ; great corpora- tions arose, seeking a continental patronage; huge manu- factories flung their banners of smoke to the breeze, while palatial residences and paved and decorated streets added attractiveness and grandeur.
During the early months of 1865 occurred two destruc- tive fires, which, like almost every casualty of that time, aroused suspicions of rebel emissaries. On January 1 the Ives brewery at the foot of Canal street was de- stroyed, and on March 30 the old Atheneum building, containing the largest audience room in the city, on Supe- rior street, next to the American buildings, was burned.
An affair of great interest at the time was the discovery of bribery in the office of the provost marshal for the Eighteenth district of Ohio, Captain F. A. Nash, head- quarters at Cleveland. A court-martial appointed by
W.NA
A Bradley
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Commanding General Hooker met in Cleveland, April 6, 1865, and found Captain Nash guilty of receiving bribes for procuring substitutes for drafted soldiers, and of making false certificates to the government disbursing officers, for which they condemned him to be cashiered from the army, to pay two thousand dollars fine, and to suffer imprisonment for six months. The latter two pro- visions of his penalty, however, were commuted by the commanding general.
The return of the soldiers from the wars during the month of June was the signal for the final enthusiastic expressions of patriotism. The council appropriated six thousand dollars for their reception, and private donations were abundant. As all the soldiers from Northern Ohio came first to Cleveland to be mustered out of the service, the entire month was required to feast and banquet them and to care for their wants. The Soldiers' Home, man- aged by the Ladies' Aid Society, was crowded with returning heroes, many of them disabled and in pressing need of attention .*
At successive periods came also Sheridan, Sherman and
* In the spring of 1865, about the time the surviving Union soldiers returned, a large number of Confederate prisoners passed through Cleve- land on their way home. The citizens of Cleveland and Cuyahoga county gave them a hearty welcome. They were feasted and cared for in the most hospitable manner. We were anxious to disabuse the minds of these rep- resentatives of the lost cause of the belief, which prevailed throughout the South, that the people of the Western Reserve were their most bitter, implacable and malignant enemies. Enemies they were to the slavery principle but not to the supporters of the system as individuals. - [EDITOR.]
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Grant, each newly risen to fame and known only by their portraits and deeds. The reception to each of these gen- erals was extremely hearty, and the curiosity to get a glimpse of them overrode all the barriers that usually hedge greatness about. General Grant was fêted and lionized by the citizens, and to cap the height of enthusiasm, as hesat at the princely banquet at the Weddell House, a crown of flowers like a royal wreath was placed upon his head by one of Cleveland's admiring ladies.
The Fourth of July was celebrated this year with greater rejoicing than ever before. Recent history had furnished fresh reasons for its observance, a deeper and broader sense of its meaning and of the truths for which it stands.
The first monument to the fallen heroes of the war was dedicated at Woodland cemetery to the dead of the Twen- ty-third regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at which an address was given by General R. B. Hayes, former colonel of the regiment.
In September occurred the memorable visit of Sir S. Morton Peto, the greatest of English railway contractors, and a large company of English and Spanish capitalists, while on a tour of inspection of the A. & G. W. railway in which their capital had been invested. The party was headed by James McHenry, the prime mover in the railroad enterprise, and Sir Morton Peto. There were also noted bankers, manufacturers, mine owners, engineers, brokers and representatives of Spanish dukes and marquises, mak- ing in all the most remarkable mercantile body of men that has ever visited the city. Their coming aroused peculiar and sympathetic interest from the fact that they were the
1
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men who projected and constructed the great railroad during the period of war, when other citizens of England were prophesying and wishing the downfall of our Repub- lic, and when investments in America were considered as very precarious. Such a substantial proof of their confi- dence, together with the commercial prosperity which the new road promised for Cleveland, was sufficient to secure an enthusiastic reception. They were presented on 'change, fifty carriages conducted them on a tour of the city, and, in the evening, a great feast was provided at the Weddell House, where the American, English and Spanish flags were suspended together, and happy speeches of mutual congratulation were made.
The year 1865, among the varied events enclosed within its dates, marks also Cleveland's entry into the field of what has since become America's National game. Several contests of cricket occurred that summer, but, with the solid growth of patriotism which distinguished the decade, this game was felt to be foreign and uncongenial, and was destined to be completely exiled by the new and patriotic substitute. A base-ball club, the Forest Citys, had been organized the previous year, and as the fall of '65 ap- proached, their increasing skill led them to challenge the Penfield club of Oberlin College. This was the first match game ever played in Cleveland. The grounds were at the corner of Case avenue and Kinsman street. The game be- ginning at one o'clock in the afternoon before a large crowd of interested onlookers, continued four hours and fifteen minutes, till at the end of the seventh inning dark- ness kindly interposed. The balancing-up showed that
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Oberlin had sixty-eight runs to Cleveland's twenty-eight. The boys acknowledged themselves defeated, but all left the field with an appetite for the thrilling and healthy game. Several casualties were reported. One gentleman threw his arm out of place, another lost two eye-teeth, and the face of another received a swift ball from the end of a bat. Though defeated this year, the Forest Citys gallantly retrieved their laurels the following spring by the unprecedented and never-since-repeated score of one hundred and twenty-seven tallies to ninety-three.
The elections of 1865 resulted in victories for the Union candidates. At the spring municipal election H. M. Cha- pin was chosen mayor by a majority of eight hundred and seventy-five over David B. Sexton, the Democrat nominee. At the October election for governor the Union majority for General Cox was five hundred and forty-four.
. An interesting meeting of the National Equal Rights League was held at Garret's Hall, September 19 and 20, attended by one hundred and fifty colored delegates, prin- cipally from the South, at which the great movement for equality before the State and National laws was earnestly discussed and agitated.
In the fall of 1865 was inaugurated St. Vincent's Char- ity Hospital, the first public hospital, at the corner of Perry and Garden streets. The building of a public hos- pital had been seriously discussed before the war, and sev- eral citizens had determined to start one. But the difficul- ties in the way of securing money at that time were so great that nothing was done until in 1863, when Bishop ~~ Rappe was invited to undertake the project. He offered to
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furnish nurses from the Sisters of Charity, and entered with great energy upon the work of raising the money. Sectarian jealousies now sprung up, but through the per- sonal help of Rev. Professor Peck, of Oberlin, these were largely overcome. When one-fourth of the money was occured, work was begun, and the building was completed at a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars. Its architec- ture is of the so-called Franco-Italian style. It is built of brick, three stories high, and will accommodate two hun- dred patients. The City Council engaged to take a number of beds for the city poor, and the other wards are occupied by private patients. The Sisters of Charity have entire financial control and are the sole nurses. The surgical and medical work is under control of the Medical Depart- ment of the University of Wooster.
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CHAPTER XII.
ACTIVE EFFORTS TO PREVENT CHOLERA-THE CREATION OF A HEALTH BOARD- ADOPTION OF THE METROPOLITAN POLICE SYSTEM-PRESI- DENT JOHNSON IN CLEVELAND- A VISIT FROM LOYAL SOUTHERNERS -OPENING OF THE UNION PASSENGER DEPOT-PROSPERITY AND FAIL- URE IN COMMERCE-TWO EXECUTIONS FOR MURDER-INCORPORATION OF THE BETHEL UNION - THE CLEVELAND LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, NOW "CASE LIBRARY"-INCEPTION OF THE LOCAL HISTORICAL SO- CIETY-OPENING OF THE PUBLIC SQUARE.
T HE threatening prospect in 1866 of a visitation from Asiatic cholera, which had made its appearance in eastern cities, led to unusual activity in cleaning up the refuse and garbage of the city, and to redoubled interest in the methods of securing the best attention to that most im- portant of municipal regulations-the care of the public health. Previous to this time, the only special effort in this direction was the establishing of a standing commit- tee of the Common Council, known as the Committee on Health and Cleanliness. But now the Council, urged by the popular demand, which had good reason to complain of former inefficiency, passed an ordinance creating a City Board of Health, to consist of the mayor, city marshal, director of the Infirmary, city physician, and chairman of the Council Committee on Health and Cleanliness. The
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Board in turn was to appoint a health officer, whose duties were the executive supervision of this depart- ment. The powers of this Board were as yet merely advisory, and remained so until at a later date the State Legislature made such changes in the charter of the city and the constitution of the Board as to give them certain legislative functions. They could only recommend legislation to the City Council, and the Board of City Improvements made the needful rules and regula- tions for carrying the health ordinances into effect. But under this new stimulus, and the popular desire to escape the cholera ravages, the city was brought to its best con- dition of cleanliness, and the public health greatly im- proved. Four fatal cases of cholera occurred in October at Newburgh-not at that time belonging to the city cor- poration-and seven other cases that finally recovered, but Cleveland itself wholly escaped.
On May 1, 1866, went into effect an act of the State Leg- islature of the previous session, establishing for Cleveland the present Metropolitan Police System. Instead of the old system under which the mayor and city marshal, elected by popular vote, had complete control of the police force, while the general direction of the funds was left to the City Council, this act established a Board of Police Commission- ers, consisting of four members appointed by the governor of the State in addition to the mayor. They were to have entire control of the police force and funds and to appoint a superintendent of police, who was to be a member ex- officio. The purpose in this new régime was to remove the police system from partisan or personal politics and poli-
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ticians. To secure this result the more effectually, the commissioners were forbidden to receive any pay whatever for their services. The office of commissioner was to be vacant on the acceptance of its imcumbent of any other office, and policemen were to hold their positions during good behavior. Two years later the Legislature changed the method of selecting the police commissioners by pro- viding for their election by popular voteinstead of appoint- ment by the governor.
On September 3, 1866, President Johnson visited Cleve- land on his way to Chicago to attend the funeral services of Stephen A. Douglas. He was accompanied by Secre- taries Seward and Welles, of his cabinet, Admiral Far- ragut, General Grant and others. The city was filled with people; flags and bunting were profuse, and a brilliant reception awaited the distinguished party at the Kennard House. The President's speech, however, from the hotel balcony, was frequently interrupted by the assembled crowd, and his criticisms of Congress were met by jeers and hooting. Epithets were bandied back and forth between the crowd and the speaker. Uncomplimentary references to his political deeds were shouted out, to which he re- torted by hints at "Northern traitors " and a sweeping de- nunciation of those before him. The meeting was boister- ous and disgraceful, and neither the President nor the crowd was appeased by it.
A week later, a large convention of soldiers and sailors met to nominate delegates to the Pittsburgh National Union Convention of Soldiers and Sailors, and passed res-
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olutions endorsing Congress and strongly condemning the policy of President Johnson.
On September 20 a notable body of southern loyalists, including Governor "Parson" Brownlow, of Tennessee, Governor Hamilton, of Texas, Colonel Stokes and General H. Thomas, of Tennessee, visited Cleveland. A committee appointed by the City Council met the loyalists at Erie, and conducted them through the city to the American House, where they were greeted by a rich banquet and brilliant speeches.
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