USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Official report of the centennial celebration of the founding of the city of Cleveland and the settlement of the Western Reserve > Part 3
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"The vessel tonnage owned in Cleveland far exceeds that of any other lake port, being valued at $17,000,000; the iron ore traffic represents an investment of nearly $180,000,000, and is controlled almost entirely from this city. More than half of the Bessemer steel and iron products in this country are made in furnaces immediately tributary to the Cleveland district. Cleveland surpasses any other point on the great lakes for ship building. The annual wholesale mercantile sales aggregate $50,000,000. Financial institutions have $65,000,000 of deposits."
When the Governor said: "Cleveland established the first high school that was ever established beneath our flag," there was continued and vigorous applause. He added: "Glorious Cleveland, I say. Celebrate it, celebrate it gloriously, celebrate its glory. Celebrate the history of its men of the past and of those upon whom its prog- ress now rests, It will speed your growth, your concerted energy will be felt in every home. It will bring out the best efforts of your sturdy citizens, and give material ad- vancement to your whole municipality. You have every blessing - strength, wealth, fame, factories, workshops, churches, hospitals, parks, schools, and higher institutions of learning unsurpassed. You cannot too much encourage civic pride. You can do no better service to your State or to your country than to exhibit next year what you have accomplished in science, in learning, and in mechanics. The State is interested in this, the great city of the North. It will, at your command, join you in your work. The men here to-night have the power to make the exposition a success. Will you use them? The people of the land do not know Cleveland as they should. They even doubt in some quarters that Cleveland has 300,000 population, as you claim. Outside of Chicago, you have grown more rapidly than any other city of the East. Like Chi- cago, you will meet publie expectation in your exposition undertaking.
" This could be made a great demonstration of patriotism. The flag of old Western Reserve has never been lowered since it was planted on Conneaut Creek, nor will that flag ever be lowered. (Applause.) No men ever did more for their country than have the men of the Western Reserve. You have Perry's monument; than which no better inspiration to patriotism can be found. You have in keeping, too, the sacred ashes of our beloved President Garfield. It will do us good to gather about his tomb and ponder on the story of his life. You also have the soldiers' monument; indeed, you have a great many attractions which it would be well for all to see. I bid you stand shoulder to shoulder, business men and citizens, and make this exposition the great achievement it deserves to be."
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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND.
Governor Mckinley was freely applauded as he concluded his speech. He then called upon James H. Hoyt, one of Cleveland's fore- most lawyers and public speakers, who delivered the next address. Mr. Hoyt caused a burst of applause as he said: "Mr. President-and when I say 'Mr. President' I do not mean the president of this meeting only," referring to the greater President Ohio was to furnish in 1896. In his own address the speaker aroused a great deal of enthusiasm, and was applauded at almost every turn.
He spoke as follows:
On the 22d day of next July, one hundred years will have emptied themselves into the ocean of the past since Moses Cleaveland and his companions in courageous en- terprise landed on the shores of the "crooked river" and founded this capital city of the Western Reserve. So great an event is surely worthy of an appropriate celebration. The birth year of the Forest City should not be forgotten, at any rate, by her own sons and daughters. Like that of a child, the birth of Cleveland was the result of protracted and painful labor. Her early settlers endured privation the most nipping ; braved dangers the most appalling; bore sufferings the most intense. They were pinched by hunger; threatened by savages, weakened by disease, and unflinchingly met death itself, in order to make possible the comfort and prosperity in which we share. The story of their heroic deeds fills volumes. They had little, but gave much, because they gave all. We, my friends, have much, and are asked to give but little. They threw health, security, happiness, comfort, peace, and even life itself into one scale, and we are expected only, and urged only to put a few dollars into the other scale. They sacrificed themselves for Cleveland's welfare, and we are asked only to sacrifice our money, and not much of that.
I have said that the Centennial celebration should be appropriate, and what more appropriate one can be devised than an exposition of the city's varied products? One ship-yard like the Globe or the Cleveland; one bridge works like the King; one factory of hoisting and conveying machinery like the Brown, the MeMyler, or the Excelsior ; one plant like that of the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company; one plate mill like the Otis; one wire mill like the American; one nail works like the HP or the Baackes; one refinery like the Standard; one forge like the City; one single manufactory out of hun- dreds of others that I have no time to mention, speaks more eloquently and adequate- ly of the foresight and sagacity of those who located this city, just where the ore from the north of us and the coal from the south of us meet in most profitable union, than the most gifted orator or the most impassioned poet can. Of course, it may be said that at the time when Cleveland was located the coal fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio and the iron ore deposits of the Lake Superior region were not discovered, and that, therefore, our fathers builded better than they knew. This is undoubtedly true, and yet it is praise enough to say of them that with a long line of lake front to select from, they selected this place as the most appropriate spot for the future metropolis, and their expectations have been more than realized.
"Si monumentum requiris circumspice "-"If you seek a monument, look around you" - was the epitaph chiseled by Sir Christopher Wren, the great architect, in the wall of St. Paul's Cathedral. If you are looking for an appropriate monument to the city's founders, don't visit the Public Square only and gaze upon the statue of Moses Cleaveland or of Cleveland's Moses; but look around you. In the city's manufactur- . ing and commercial enterprises can be found their most fitting memorial. The tall chimneys of the mills wave banners of flame in their honor, and the tireless machinery hums an unending pæan in their praise. In a hundred years Cleveland has grown from nothing to a metropolitan city, with a population of more than 330,000. Few of the citizens of Cleveland realize how great she really is, how varied are her interests, and how wide-spreading is her influence. She is the result of a fortunate location and of individual push and enterprise. How much greater she might have been with more concerted effort on the part of her citizens no one can tell. Like Topsy, she seems to have 'growed up herself.' I am indebted for the significant figures which I am now going to give to you to Mr. Elliott, the painstaking and able secretary of the Centennial Commission, and to the census of 1890, compiled under the intelligent supervision of our distinguished fellow townsman, Mr. Porter.
Cleveland has in the neighborhood of 2,000 factories, employing something over 50,000 people. Of these 2,000 factories, about 1,600 make articles which are used largely in home consumption, and so do not, perhaps, bring capital from other quar-
HON. ROBERT E. MCKISSON, Mayor of Cleveland.
PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS.
ters into the city, but the remainder, about 400, manufacture articles which are sold in all parts of the habitable globe, and so bring capital from outside the city borders, which is spent here and invested here. These 400 factories alone employ something like 48,000 workers; they make something like 20,000 specific articles of manufacture which are shipped beyond the limits of the city, and all the factories together make, it is estimated, at least 100,000 articles which are used both here and elsewhere.
As I have said, the manufacturing interests of the city employ something like 52,000 people; in jobbing and mercantile pursuits about 20,000 are employed; the ma- rine interests, including the dry-docks, employ about 4,500 more, and in the civic pursuits about 5,000 are engaged; making a grand sum total of those who are here engaged in what Mr. Porter calls the gainful occupations, of something over 80,000. The population of the city being about 330,000, the proportion of workers to inhabitants is as one to four. There are very few drones in the Forest City. In Pittsburg, great as its manufacturing interests are, the proportion is as one to six. In Philadelphia, which is the greatest manufacturing city in the United States, the proportion is as one to seven. In New York the proportion is about one to eight, and in St. Louis about as one to seven. So that, relatively to her population, Celveland leads the list. Well, isn't that worth celebrating?
It is impossible, in the short limits of a speech like this, to give you any adequate notion of how widely the products of our factories are scattered over the globe. Oil refined here is burned everywhere; our electric lights shine in Paris, in London, in St. Petersburg, in Japan; the twist drills made in Cleveland are used in Great Britain and Germany for piercing rivet holes in the plates of warships; the shafts and rudder posts of the monsters of the deep are forged here; electrical machinery and supplies of all kinds made here are used the world over. Our tools, wire nails, bolts, hardware, paint, varnish, oil and vapor stoves, sewing machines, salt, wire, and gum, and hun- dreds of other articles manufactured here are sold in remote regions. We are the second ship-building center of the world, and we make the best telescopes in the world. All this has been accomplished in a short one hundred years.
At this point Mr. Hoyt turned his attention to the exposition proper, comparing Cleveland with other cities, and drawing important conclu- sions in favor of supporting the undertaking in Cleveland.
Mr. H. R. Hatch and Hon. John C. Covert also addressed the meeting, dwelling at some length upon the feasibility of an exposition.
An encouraging letter was read from Governor-elect Bushnell, who was unable to be present.
As time advanced various obstacles appeared in the way of a suc- cessful consummation of the exposition project, so far as the Centennial Commission was concerned, and this feature of the celebration was final- ly turned over to a party of enterprising business men who proposed to carry it forward on an independent basis. The formation of a stock company was started, a prospectus of the exposition was printed and put in circulation, and books were opened for subscriptions. In the neigh- borhood of $100,000 was subscribed and for a time the outlook seemed bright. Owing to the closeness of the money market and the shortness of the time, however, the promoters of the enterprise were finally forced to abandon it.
In the meantime there was no cessation of work by the Commis- sion and the various committees in planning for the historical cele- bration. A preliminary programme was blocked out covering a pe- riod from July 22d to September 10th, and preparations for the vari- ous events were pushed with vigor. The collection of funds proceeded under the direction of the Commission, the city being divided into dis- tricts. The various trades and professions were classified and solicitors were sent out to canvass each. Contributions limited to one dollar were sought and daily statements were made through the newspapers as the work progressed.
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CHAPTER II. TRIP TO HARTFORD - FINAL PREPARATIONS.
FEBRUARY, 1896- JULY, 1896.
It was early decided to invite the Governor and other officials of Connecticut - the parent State-to participate in the exercises of the Centennial. In order that this might be properly done a party was organized to go to Hartford bearing in person such request on behalf of the city of Cleveland and the State of Ohio. Governor Mckinley was chosen to head the delegation, but owing to a change in the guberna- torial office, due to the expiration of his term, this pleasant duty fell to Governor Bushnell. The other members of the party were Adjutant- General H. A. Axline, of Columbus; Colonel Clarence E. Burke, of Cleveland; Colonel H. H. Prettyman, of London, and Colonel Charles B. Wing, of Cincinnati, members of the governor's staff; Hon. Robert E. McKisson, Mayor of Cleveland; Wilson M. Day, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Director-General of the Centennial Celebra- tion; James M. Richardson, President of the Western Reserve Society, Sons of the American Revolution; Colonel J. J. Sullivan, cashier of the Central National Bank; L. E. Holden, publisher of the Plain Dealer ; W. R. Warner, manufacturer; Alfred H. Cowles, vice-president of the Leader Printing Company; Charles F. Olney and H. W. Power.
At 10 o'clock on February 5, 1896, the party set out from Cleveland in the palace car "Cloverdale," and arrived in Hartford on the morning of the sixth. A hearty greeting was extended to the visitors by the State officials of Connecticut and a committee of Hartford citizens. The governor's salute was fired in Bushnell Park, as a mark of respect to Governor Bushnell. The members of the party dined at the Hotel Hartford, after which a formal reception was tendered them in the par- lors of the hotel. A carriage drive about the city was then taken and was followed by a visit to the State Capitol. Many of the offices were decorated with flags and flowers and all the State officials were present to receive the guests. At 1: 30 o'clock luncheon was served in the Senate retiring room, and at its conclusion the entire company was photographed, grouped about the Speaker's desk in Representatives' Hall. This room was chosen for the formal exercises of the day, and was handsomely decorated, the colors of Ohio and of Connecticut inter- mingling with the colors of the Union and the tri-colored flag of the city of Cleveland. The programme consisted of addresses of welcome on the part of Hartford, and of invitation on the part of Cleveland. Gov- ernor Bushnell spoke first. . His address was replete with important historical facts. He said :
On the ist of January, 1788, there left Hartford a company of about twenty citi- zens, under General Rufus Putnam, to meet a like number of hardy pioneers from Massachusetts bound for the Northwest Territory, and to meet a like number of the citizens of Massachusetts who had left Danvers under the supervision of Major Hal-
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TRIP TO HARTFORD-FINAL PREPARATIONS.
field White, at Simrall's Ferry, a point on the Youghiogheny, thirty miles below where Pittsburg now stands, and from there to proceed to the mouth of the Muskingum, in what was then the Northwest Territory. Their journey was over the mountains where the foot of the white man never trod before, their dangerous and painful marches being through almost impassable snows.
The two parties met at Simrall's Ferry, and proceeded down the Ohio to the mouth of the Muskingum. They built a boat 45 feet long and 15 feet wide, strong, bullet proof, and, true to the memory of their forefathers, named it the Mayflower. She was launched on the second day of April, and with Captain Jonathan Devol in command, they started on their journey. On the 7th of April, 1788, they landed in the rain at the mouth of the Muskingum. River, and thus the foundations of Ohio were laid. It has always been a source of pride to me that one of that band of pioneers who left the village, which has since become your beautiful city of Hartford, was my great-uncle, Daniel Bushnell, and I congratulate myself that I, to this extent, aided in the settle- ment of Ohio, and that the name has been an honored one in that new commonwealth, as well as in this grand old State of Connecticut.
The settlers who landed at Marietta at the mouth of the Muskingum, on the 7th of April, 1788, were all composed of conscientious people, and they brought with them industry and knowledge, religion and government. They were the proper pioneers of the great State whose fathers they were. The directors of the company requested the settlers to pay as early attention as possible to the youth, and among the first enter- prises of the pioneers was a library. Such were the spirits that founded Ohio. Many of them were personal friends of Washington, and in a letter written the same year he said of them, "No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable au- spices as that which has just been commenced at the mouth of the Muskingum. I know many of the settlers personally and there were never men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community. If I were a young man just beginning life, or had a family to make provision for, I know of no country where I should rather fix my habitation."
If Ohio is great, as she is, it is because she was born great, and the people of Con- necticut, of the present, have a right to be proud of the part their ancestors took in founding the settlement of the now great commonwealth of Ohio.
The first laws of the colony were made by the resident directors, and were pub- lished by being posted on a beech tree. It stands as a credit to the good name of the earlier settlers that during the period from the time of their landing until the arrival of Governor St. Clair, the first and only governor of the territory of the Northwest, but one dispute among them is recorded, and that was settled without the intervention of law. Afterwards, judges were appointed of good sense and character, and they composed the legislative council of the governor. Major-General Samuel Holden Par- sons, of Connecticut, was the first chief justice.
Eight years later, in the interests of the Connecticut Land Company, a business combination of hopeful New Englanders who purchased from their State land on the south shore of Lake Erie, known as New Connecticut or the Western Reserve, with Moses Cleaveland at their head, left their home in June, 1786, for New Connecticut. The management of affairs was left in the main to Moses Cleaveland, lawyer, law- maker, soldier, a sturdy, faithful, well-disposed New Englander, a man of whom the Hon. C. Rice has said: "He was of few words and prompt action. His religion was the outgrowth of Puritanism, and as rigid as it was pure."
This band of pioneers for the Western Reserve comprised superintendents, astron- omers, surveyors, commissaries. Some went overland with horses and cattle, some down the river, over lakes by boat. Hardships were experienced by the way, but they arrived safely at Buffalo Creek. The party landed near the foot of Union Lane, then the terminus of an Indian trail. They mounted the hill, and on the memorable day, 22d of July, that day we are so soon to celebrate, the first stone in the foundation of Cleve- land was laid. From modern Cleveland to Moses Cleaveland seems a long step, but that builder of cities himself prophesied what has been long since fulfilled. Upon the return from the valley of the Cuyahoga in the fall of 1796, he said to the grandmother of Judge Rufus P. Spaulding, "While I was in New Connecticut I laid out a town on the bank of Lake Erie, which was called by my name, and I believe the child is now born that may live to see a place as large as old Windham."
The direct work of Moses Cleaveland in connection with the founding of the city of Cleveland may be briefly stated. He was one of the moving spirits in the Connecti- cut Land Company that purchased these lands for settlement. He safely led the first surveying expedition from Connecticut to the Western Reserve. He made a compact with the Indians, and for a small sum of money secured to the settlers of the Reserve
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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND.
a place the value of which cannot be estimated. Hle selected the site of the city of Cleveland, and superintended the laying out of its main points. He led his expedition safely home, and resigned the honors of authority of the future to others. He doubt- less had a good share of influence with the directors of the land company in persuad- ing them to continue the work which he had begun. The early settlers, the men who laid the foundations of the present magnificent city of Cleveland, had instincts of home-making and home-building which is so strong in the Anglo-Saxon race, and pushed their enterprise forward with true Yankee grit.
The Postmaster-General of the United States, when with a little party of friends down by the bank of the lake in the village of Cleveland in 1805, uttered the follow- ing words:
"In fifty years an extensive city will occupy these grounds, and vessels will sail directly into the Atlantic Ocean." This prophecy was fulfilled. I have it to state that in 1858 a vessel was sent from Cleveland harbor with stores and lumber. It made its way by the Welland Canal, the St. Lawrence River across to England and back with cargoes of iron, salt and crockery ware. Seven years after the founding of this city of New Connecticut by Moses Cleaveland, Ohio, the first State formed out of the Northwest Territory, was admitted to the Union, and the act of Congress admitting her to the Union was as great in its results and abundant fruition as perhaps any act of Congress. And now, Your Excellency, I come here as the chief executive of this great commonwealth of Ohio, to extend to you and through you to all the people of this grand commonwealth of Connecticut, a most cordial invitation to our exercises attending the ceremonies of the Centennial celebration of the founding of the magnifi- cent enterprising city of Cleveland, founded by Moses Cleaveland, a citizen of old Connecticut.
God bless and preserve the old commonwealth and her sons and daughters wher- ever they may be. No more loyal and patriotic people ever lived. Their influence has been far-reaching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Lakes to the Gulf. Come, Your Excellency, and bring with you as many of the good people of your State as you can. We promise them the same hospitality and cordial greeting you have extended to us, and I beg to extend to you and through you to citizens of this beauti- ful city our most sincere thanks.
Governor Coffin responded for Connecticut, expressing sincere ap- preciation for the invitation, and concluding with these words: "We, as representatives of Connecticut and as individuals, welcome you to our State, to our homes and to our hearts, as brethren well beloved, and trust that the day may never come when our feelings of mutual interest shall lessen or the strong bonds of mutual affection be broken."
Mayor MeKisson delivered a brief address commenting upon the growth and prosperity of Cleveland, closing with this enthusiastic ex- hortation : " Come and join us in our rejoicing; come and see what we of the New Connecticut have achieved; come and permit us to prove how warm is our regard, how fond our pride for our mother State and her people; come, and we will make you welcome to our hearts."
To this sentiment Mayor Brainard happily replied. Speeches were also made by Ex-Governor Morgan G. Bulkeley, Hon. Henry C. Robin- son, Colonel Jacob L. Green, President Hartranft, of the Hartford Theo- logical Seminary, Rev. Dr. George M. Stone and Mr. Wilson M. Day. The meeting throughout was characterized by marked enthusiasm for the celebration.
In the evening the visitors were entertained at dinner, and when they finally took their departure they carried with them many expres- sions of good will from the hospitable New Englanders. Governor Bushnell and staff returned by way of New York, where they were guests of the Ohio Society and of Governor Levi P. Morton for a brief visit.
The acceptance of the invitation by Connecticut was gratifying to those in charge of the Centennial arrangements. Upon the return of
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OFFICERS OF THE CENTENNIAL, COMMISSION.
2. LIBERTY E. HOLDEN, Ist V .- Pres.
5. SAMUEL G. MCCLURE, Hon. Sec'y.
1. CHARLES W. CHASE, Treas.
4. WILSON M. DAY, Director-Gen'l.
3. A. J. WILLIAMS, and V .- Pres.
6. EDWARD A. ROBERTS, Sec'y.
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TRIP TO HARTFORD-FINAL PREPARATIONS.
the director-general the detail work was again taken up with renewed effort. The mass of details was systematized and sifted and the work of preparation was carried actively forward. The programme, as finally arranged, was made to consist of the following events:
Sunday, July 19 .- Centennial Chimes .- Special services in the churches. Mass meetings in afternoon and evening in Central Armory and Music Hall
Monday, July 20 .- Opening of Ohio National Guard and U. S. Regulars' Encampment.
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