250 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVII The other railway companies that were co-partners in what was then considered one of the largest and best appointed in the country were the Cleveland and Pittsburgh, the Cleveland and Toledo, and the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula. The opening of this stately structure of stone and iron, 603 feet long and 108 feet wide, on the lake front at the foot of Bank and Water (West Sixth and West Ninth) streets was fittingly celebrated by a banquet given by the four incorporated owners. Although somewhat changed by design and decay, the venerable structure is still used for its original purpose by the legal heirs of the original owners. The public is waiting (1918) for something better in the belated realization of oft repeated promises. Another notable event of that year (1866) was the organization of a metropolitan police system which was something of a "fad" with the legislators of several states about that time. By a law that went into effect on the first of May, the police powers of the mayor and marshal and city council were transferred to a board of police commissioners consisting of the mayor of the city and four others who were appointed by the governor of the state. The first board consisted of Mayor H. M. Chapin and Citizens James Barnett, Philo Chamberlain, W. P. Fogg, and Nelson Purdy ; in their hands all police matters rested. The law was so changed in 1872 that the members of the board were elected by the people. EDUCATIONAL AND CHARITABLE In 1867, came the organization of the Western Reserve Historical Society and of the Cleveland Public Library. The detailed stories of these two beneficent institutions are told in later chapters of this volume. In the same year (1867), the Bethel Union was incorporated for mission work and the maintenance of the boarding-house for sailors and others in need. In 1882, the Society for Organizing Charity was formed for the purpose of making investigations that would tend to prevent imposition and decrease pauperism. In 1886, this society and the Bethel Union were consolidated, forming what is now known as the Associated Charities, the most important of our local organizations existing for welfare work. In 1868, the first iron ship built in Cleveland, the little steamer "J. K. White," was launched, and the Young Women's Christian Association was organized. In 1869, Stillman Witt gave the association a "Home" on Walnut Street whence the good work was carried on in an enlarged form. Historical and descriptive sketches of these several organizations are given in 1867-70] - AGRICULTURAL FAIRS - 251 later chapters of this volume. In 1869, the Cleveland City Hospital began its work in a small frame building on Willson Avenue (East Fifty-fifth Street), and the Cleveland Law Library was organized. FOUNDING OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY In the third decade of the century, the Cuyahoga County Agricultural Society was organized and held its first fair in the then new court-house and the Public Square in October, 1829. The ladies' department showed its patch-work quilts, carpeting, woolen flannels, and other exhibits in the Old Stone Church and the cattle were arranged along the fence that enclosed the four sections of the Square. The wife of Dr. David Long received a premium of five dollars for a pair of silk hose that she had "made from the mulberry the present season," Mrs. Mary L. Severance of Cleveland received a premium for "specimens of silk twist" and Mrs. Brainard of Brooklyn one for "eight different colors of sewing silk, the silk manufactured by her and colored with dyes derived from the products of the farm." Premiums were awarded "for a basket of cocoons" and for "the best half-acre of mulberry trees." Evidently, silkworm culture was something of a fad in this community at that time. Of course, there were prizes for cropg of wheat, oats, rutabagas, etc., and for cattle, sheep, swine, and brood mares and stallions. For years, the annual county fairs were affairs of importance and popularity. In 1854, the Ohio State Fair was held on the new fair grounds on Kinsman Street, now Woodland Avenue, "20 acres of land about one mile from the Square," and then "the most complete fair grounds in the state ;" there were thirty thousand paid admissions. But when the State Board of Agriculture refused Cleveland's request for the fair of 1870, the Northern Ohio Fair Association was incorporated (February, 1870) by Amasa Stone, Jeptha H. Wade, Dr. Worthy S. Streator, Azariah Everett, Amos Townsend, William Bingham, and others, for "the promotion of agriculture, horticulture, and the mechanic arts in the northern sections of Ohio," and incidentally to encourage the development of the two-minute trotting horse and the enjoyment that was concomitant with such development. The capital stock of the association was $300,000. A large tract of ground near the lake shore east of the city and extending southward beyond St. Clair Street was bought. For several years, the fairs here held were interesting and made more picturesque and memorable by the omnipresent secretary and general manager, the genial Sam Briggs whom everybody knew and liked. 252 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVII But the fairs were not financially successful and, in the winter of 1880-81, the association went out of existence. The part of the fair grounds south of St. Clair Street was continued as the Glenville racing track, made famous by the record-breaking performances of Maude S., Goldsmith Maid, Smuggler, Cresceus, and other horses that bore names that still are familiar in the racing world. Thanks largely to the dominating influence of Colonel William Edwards, one of Cleveland's foremost business men, and the father of a major-general in the United States army, but better known at the track as "Billy" Edwards, the Glenville track was recognized by the fraternity as "a model turf, one of the cleanest and most sportsmanlike ovals in all the circuits." In 1909, the tracks were abandoned and the grounds allotted. The place that the Glenville track so worthily held was soon worthily filled by the present tracks at North Randall, the home of the amateur driving club and the scene of some of the most brilliant "society" events of each successive year. In the decade just closed, 1860-70, and in spite of war and panic, the population of Cleveland had increased from 43,838 to 92,825 and, as they had done ten years before, all loyal Clevelanders again "pointed with pride" to the census tables. It is an open question as to which they were more vocal, the growth of the city or the magnificence of Euclid Avenue. A PROJECTED CITY HALL In this year (1870), a project for building a city hall in the southwest section of the Public Square came to an obscure and now 1870] - A MUNICIPAL FIASCO - 253 unmourned end. The meetings of the city council were then held in the building that it had leased in 1855 as stated at the beginning of Chapter XVI ; the building was then called the City Hall. On the twelfth of January, 1869, Mayor Stephen Buhrer sent to the city council a communication in which he said : I deem it wise that this council should issue bonds running such time and earning such rates of interest as may be deemed most advantageous to the city, for the purpose of defraying the cost and expense of erecting a new City Hall building, containing the city offices, a council and public hall, and such other rooms as might be thought necessary or expedient for the public welfare. The council took no action on the subject until a meeting which was held on the twenty-fifth of August of the same year. At that meeting, Mr. Rogers introduced a resolution which was as follows : Whereas, The city has gone to a large expense in getting up maps and records of the city, and has no safe place for the keeping of these maps and records, and as at the present they are kept in a public business building which at any time is liable to take fire and burn all the public papers belonging to the city, therefore, Resolved, That the board of improvements be, and the same is hereby authorized to prepare a plan for the erection of a city hall on the southwest corner of the Public Square, where the old court house formerly stood, where all the records, maps, and papers can be kept in safety. This resolution was referred to the board of improvements which recommended (October 5) the adoption of the resolution. At the same meeting, Mr. Silas Merchant offered a resolution authorizing and requesting the board of improvements to advertise for plans, specifications, and estimates for a new city hall to be constructed in the southwest corner of the Public Square. His resolution also provided that the council should pay $600 for the best plan, $500 for the second best, and $400 for the third best. On the first of March, 1870, the board of improvements reported that they had "advertised for plans for a city hall, the cost of which was not to exceed $300,000 unless a fourth story above the basement was added, in which case $50,000 more was to be added to the amount. We received in answer to our advertisement ten sets of plans, seven from Cleveland and three from abroad, the elevation plans of which are all exhibited to your honorable body. The estimated cost varies 254 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVII from $292,000 to $365,000." Three plans were reported, all by Cleveland architects, and the three prizes were paid, the first going to Walter Blythe, whose plan was adopted. It is said that no further record of the project can be found in the council proceedings, and no one seems to know just how the matter ended. Five years later, the Case Block was rented as a city hall as will be related a few pages further on. About 1894, the project for building a city hall in the Public Square was again agitated by Mayors Blee and McKisson, for the sake of saving the cost of needed land, but it met with so much opposition that the unholy scheme was dropped into the limbo of things that should never be. CLEVELAND WORK HOUSE AND HOUSE OP CORRECTION In January, 1871, the "Cleveland Workhouse and House of Correction" was completed at a cost of $250,000—a large and well appointed building that still stands (in mutilated form and otherwise 1871] - THE CLEVELAND WORKHOUSE - 255 used) on Woodland Avenue at East Seventy-ninth Street. The first board of workhouse directors consisted of Harvey Rice, J. H. Wade, George H. Burt, S. C. Brooks, and William Edwards. Under the efficient and humane administration of Superintendent William D. Patterson, the Cleveland workhouse became famous. The institution was, years later, transferred to the " Cooley Farms" in Warrensville, a monument to the wisdom and large vision of the Rev. Harris R. Cooley who was Mayor Tom L. Johnson's director of charities and correction. In this year (1871), the city council created its first board of park commissioners, the first serious attempt to give the city a park system. The first members of the board were Azariah Everett, Oscar A. Childs, and J. H. Sargent, who began their work by beautifying the Public Square. In 1874, Lake View Park, near the so-called Union Depot and overlooking the lake from which it was and is cut off by railway tracks, was begun. Soon after this, work was begun on "the old and long-forgotten Clinton Park" that had been dedicated to the public in 1835. A few years later came the gifts of Wade and Gordon parks, and the development of a park and boulevard system, pride in which is as characteristic of Clevelanders today as the adulation of Euclid Avenue was in the Seventies. The story of this evolution will be told in a later chapter. In this year (1871), also came the creation of the office of city auditor and the transfer to him of certain duties that had been previously performed by the clerk of the city council. The new department was intended to serve as "a check upon extravagance and a safeguard against the misappropriation of funds." The 258 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVII first auditor was Thomas Jones, Jr., and he soon took the stand that no warrant on the city treasury could be legally drawn unless the money for the payment thereof was already in the treasury and to the credit of the proper fund to which it should be charged. EAST CLEVELAND ANNEXED The village of East Cleveland extending along both sides of Euclid Avenue eastward from Willson Avenue (East Fifty-fifth Street) was commercially and socially a part of the city of Cleveland, but legally it was a separate corporation. In April, 1872, the question of the annexation of the village to the city was submitted to the voters. There was little opposition in the city but, in the village, the proposed annexation was vigorously antagonized and won by a majority of only seventy votes. The commissioners on behalf of the city were Henry B. Payne, J. P. Robinson, and John Huntington; those appointed for the village were John E. Hurlbut, John W. Heisley, and William A. Neff. The terms agreed upon by them were approved on the twenty-ninth of October, 1872, and the two became one. ORGANIZATION OF CUYAHOGA COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY On the second of April, 1872, the Cuyahoga Medical Society was organized by the amalgamation of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine (organized in 1867) and the Pathological Society (organized about 1868). The objects of the new organization were "to cultivate the science of Medicine and all its collateral branches; to elevate and sustain medical character; to encourage a system of medical etiquette and to promote mental improvement, social intercourse, and good feeling among the members of the medical profession." Its first president was Erasmus Darwin Burton. The Cleveland Medical Society was formed in February, 1893 ; in June, 1902, it and the Cuyahoga Medical Society were united to form the present Academy of Medicine which now (1918) has a total membership of about 700. In September (1872) the Union Club was organized "for physical training and education"—at least the charter so sets forth its objects. The first president of the club was William Bingham; Henry B. Payne was one of the vice-presidents ; C. P. Leland was secretary ; and George E. Armstrong was treasurer. The club's first home was a commodious building on Euclid Avenue just west of Oak Place, now East Eighth Street. This property was subsequently sold and the 1872-73] - COLONEL HODGE'S GOOD WORK - 259 present clubhouse on the northeast corner of Euclid Avenue and East Twelfth Street was built and occupied. ORIGIN OF THE CLEVELAND HUMANE SOCIETY In March, 1873, Orlando J. Hodge introduced in the city council a resolution inviting persons interested in the formation of a society for the protection of dumb animals to meet in the council chamber at a time specified. On the evening named, about a dozen men responded and arrangements for a permanent organization were made. On the fourth of April, the Cleveland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was fully organized with Jabez W. Fitch as president and H. F. Brayton as secretary. The scope of the society was subsequently widened to include helpless children and mothers and its name was changed to the Cleveland Humane Society. The beneficent work of this now great society has been continuous to the present time. As a reward of merit, if for no other reason, it is proper to record the fact that Colonel Hodge had previously introduced an ordinance to prevent and punish cruelty to dumb animals which ordinance was passed by the city council in 1871—" the first step taken by the Cleveland lawmakers in that direction." Subsequently, as a member of the Ohio legislature, he introduced three bills for the better protection of children and dumb animals ; all of the bills became laws. At his call, prominent men from various parts of the state met at Columbus and organized a state society for similar purposes. Palmam, qui meruit ferat. 260 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVII LEGAL MATTERS OF MOMENT In this same month (March, 1873) the Cleveland Bar Association was organized for the avowed purpose of maintaining "the honor and dignity of the profession of the law, to cultivate social intercourse and acquaintance among the members of the bar, to increase our usefulness in aiding the administration of justice, and in promoting legal and judicial reform." The first president was Sherlock J. Andrews ; the vice-presidents were James Mason, John W. Heisley, and John C. Grannis ; the recording secretary was Virgil P. Kline; the corresponding secretary was L. R. Critchfield; and the treasurer was Gershom M. Barber. In spite of the almost universal and universally recognized tendency of laymen to "poke fun" at lawyers, it would not be fair to fail to say that the Cleveland Bar Association has lived and labored in close proximity to the lilies laid down in the beginning and described in the quotation above made. In May, 1873, the Ohio legislature passed an act for the relief of the chronically overburdened court of common pleas of Cuyahoga County by establishing a "superior court" with jurisdiction limited to civil cases coming from the city of Cleveland. A special election was held in June and Gershom M. Barber, Seneca 0. Griswold, and James M. Jones were elected as judges of said superior court. But the expected relief was not thereby secured; in less than two years both of the courts were again overburdened and further relief became imperatively necessary. In March,. 1875, the legislature again came to the rescue and added four to the number of the judges of the court of common pleas and abolished the superior court. In the regular state election in October, Judges Barber and Jones were elected as two of the additional four occupants of the bench of the court of common pleas, and Judge Griswold, who was recognized as one of the ablest members of the Cleveland bar, resumed the practice of his profession. NEWBURG VILLAGE ANNEXED In August, 1873, the citizens of Newburg village formally resolved that the time had come for annexation to the city and E. T. Hamilton, A. Topping, and Joseph Turney were constituted a committee to secure favorable action. The Cleveland council met the city's old rival halfway, and named, as its representatives in the matter, John Huntington, H. H. Thorpe, and A. T. Van Tassel. The vote was 1873] - ANNEXATION, PANIC, AND TUNNEL - 261 favorable to the proposed annexation and Newburg village became Cleveland's Ward Eighteen. Time at last makes all things even. THE PANIC OF 1873 The year 1873 was made memorable by an extraordinary financial panic. The country had been enjoying an unprecedented prosperity that caused general speculation, excessive inflation of business enterprises, the projection of railways that were not needed, and similar causes, all of which combined with the falling of the high prices incident to the civil war brought about a sudden and unexpected check. On the nineteenth of September, 1873, known in financial history as "Black Friday," the banking firm of Jay Cooke and Company of ,Philadelphia, the institution that had successfully negotiated the great war loans of the United States government and thereby acquired universal confidence in its stability, suddenly "went to the wall" and ushered in the panic. In Cleveland there were failures of commercial and manufacturing establishments, and the savings banks allowed withdrawals of money only in limited amounts and after previous notice. But the banks weathered the storm without disaster and thus saved the community from much of the loss and general wreckage that were suffered in some other cities. The shock did however throw many out of employment, hit real-estate speculators with a sort of selective severity, flooded the courts with cases and thus probably hastened the abolition of the superior court. The check thus given to the prosperity and importance of the city was recognizable for several years but recovery was gradually made. IMPROVEMENT OF WATER SUPPLY By this time, the Cuyahoga River had become a sort of intercepting sewer and the combination of river outflow and, shore washing with other contaminating influences had led to loud complaints concerning the quality of the water pumped by the city from the lake and distributed to the citizens. The remedy that promised most was to draw the water from a point out in the lake and well off the shore. Surveys for a tunnel were made in 1867. In 1869, a shaft was sunk on the shore near the pumping station. From the bottom of the shaft, about sixty-seven feet below the lake level, a tunnel five feet in diameter was pashed under the lake and outward from the shore. In August, 1870, a crib about eighty-seven feet in diameter was towed to a point 262 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVII about 6,600 feet off shore and there sunk in thirty-six feet of water. Under the interior of this crib a shaft was sunk to the depth of ninety feet below the lake level. From the bottom of this shaft a tunnel was built toward the shore to meet the one coming from the shore.. After conquering quicksand and other difficulties, the work was successfully completed and, on the third of March, 1874, water from the crib was admitted to the tunnel. The crib was outfitted as an intake for the water and with a lighthouse and a domicile for its keeper. The water supply of Cleveland was thus improved at a total cost of $320,351.72. In 1890, a second tunnel, seven feet in diameter, was constructed from the crib in the lake to the pumping station on the shore. But the city kept on growing, and a larger and still better supply and a higher pressure soon were imperatively demanded. WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION In this year (1874) was the inauguration of the women's crusade against the liquor traffic. In response to a call from the Women's Christian Association, six hundred women of culture, social standing, and religious inspiration formed a temperance league of which Miss Sarah Fitch was president. Pledge books were procured and praying bands went forth to visit the saloons, four hundred and fifty of which allowed the women to hold services therein. Soon there were five thousand members of the league and many more thousands signed the pledge. From this movement sprang a still vigorous agency for religious, sociological, and philanthropic labor, the Women's Christian Temperance Union. HARBOR OF REFUGE CONSTRUCTED Owing to the narrowness of the entrance to the river and the unprotected condition of the harbor, it was difficult for vessels to make the Cleveland port in time of storm. The trouble was made worse by the continued increase in the size of lake vessels, made necessary by the growing demands of trade. In 1870, the city council made an initial effort to secure the construction of a harbor of refuge. In 1873, the board of trade and the city council joined in urging upon congress the importance of such a refuge. Largely through the efforts of the Hon. Richard C. Parsons, the government made another survey. In the spring of 1875, congress appropriated $50,000 for the beginning of the work and referred matters of detail to a corps of government engineers who reported in favor of a harbor of two hundred 1873] - THE HARBOR OF REFUGE - 263 acres, the estimated cost of which would be $1,800,000. In the fall of that year (1875), work was begun on the western arm of the breakwater which was completed in 1883. It soon appeared that increased protection was needed and, in 1886, congress made an appropriation for the construction of an arm eastward from the river entrance. From time to time, plans were enlarged, additional appropriations were secured, and the good work went on, making available the long-recognized but long-neglected importance of the lake front and relieving the congestion along the river. Among the important benefits already resultant from the building of the breakwater are the city's reclamation of a part of the usurped lake front and the making of new land (credit for much of which goes to the Hon. Robert E. McKisson, former mayor of Cleveland) and an increase of dockage facilities. The possible 'advantages along this latter line have been already illustrated by the construction of new wharves and buildings for the Detroit and Cleveland, and the Cleveland and Buffalo steamboat lines at the foot of East Ninth Street. HOTELS AND AMUSEMENT HALLS The first theatrical performances by professional actors were given in 1820 in the ballroom of the Cleveland Hotel which stood at the 1820-75] - THEATERS, ETC. - 265 northeast corner of the southwest section of the Public Square, where the Forest City House long stood and the Cleveland Hotel now is. The first theater was built at the corner of Superior Street and Union Lane. Not long later came Italian Hall which occupied the upper floor of a three-story brick building on the west side of Water (West Ninth) Street, north of Superior. In 1840, J. W. Watson built Watson's Hall on the north side of Superior Street, between Bank (West Sixth) Street and the Public Square. In 1845; Silas Brainard bought it and changed its name to Melodeon Hall. It was afterwards known as Brainard's Hall, Brainard's Opera House, and the Globe Theater. It was torn down in 1880 ; the Wilshire Building now (1918) occupies its site. Early in the sixth decade of the century, the great showman, P. T. Barnum, opened a theater in the Kelley Block on Superior Street, opposite the southern end of Bank Street. It was later operated on the "varieties" plan. In 1852, the Academy, of Music was built on the east side of Bank Street and soon leased to John A. Ellsler, who made it famous. It was burned in 1892. In 1875, Mr. Ellsler formed a stock company that built the Euclid Avenue Opera House which wrecked his fortune. In 1878, the Opera House was sold to M. A. Hanna. It was burned in 1884 but was promptly rebuilt. on a grander scale and is today one of Cleveland 's choicest homes of the "legitimate" drama. 266 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVII THE OLD CITY HALL In February, 1875, the city leased the newly built Case Block on the northeast corner of Superior and Wood (East Third) streets for the period of twenty-five years and at an annual rental of $36,000. This block became the "City Hall" and, after the expiration of the lease, was rented from year to year until 1906 when it was bought by the city. The town that Moses Cleaveland planted in 1796 had to wait a hundred and ten years before it had a house that it could call its own. Late in 1875, an invitation for the public to attend an informal midnight reception at the city hall, there to meet the national centennial year, was issued, by the mayor and the city council. In response, early in the evening of the thirty-first of December, the people began to throng into the streets. The sky was clear and the weather was unusually mild. I think that I can do no better than to let Mr. Kennedy tell the rest of the story of that hour : As eleven o'clock approached, a myriad of lights began to show around the Public Square, and when the clock struck, all the lower part of the city burst into a blaze of illumination. The signal was taken up in all directions, and street after street, clear out to the suburbs, added to the brightness and enthusiastic effect of the scene. On the stroke of twelve, the steam whistles all over the city broke into one vast chorus of echoing notes. A great cauldron of oil on the Public Square was set ablaze, and the deep boom of the guns was heard. Before the echo died away, a perfect tornado of sound swept in from all quarters, and made the very foundations of the earth seem to shake. The alarm of the fire bells cleft the air with sudden sound, and a dozen church towers gave answer, while the hoarse voices of the 1875-76] - THE CENTENNIAL YEAR - 267 steam monsters, the banging of firearms, the popping of fire-crackers, and the shouts of thousands of excited people, were added to the chorus, while every now and then the deep boom of the cannon came in as a heavy accompaniment. At daybreak of the following Fourth of July, the steel flag-staff in the Public Square, the gift of Henry Chisholm in behalf of the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company, was formally accepted on behalf of the city by Mayor Nathan P. Payne. The banner that, a hundred years Has waved above our good ship's keel, Upheld by oak or mast of pine, Now proudly floats from staff of steel. At this time, the Cleveland Telegraph Supply Company, George W. Stockley, president, was occupying rented rooms on the second floor of fan old building on the south side of Superior Street, opposite Bank (West Sixth) Street, and was renting power from the company that published the Leader. The company made a business arrangement (1876) with Charles Francis Brush which resulted in the successful solution of a great electric lighting problem, the operation of arc lights in series. The Cleveland Telegraph Supply Company became the Brush Electric Company, the fame of the Brush light spread and brought orders from nearly every part of the world, and Mr. Stockley and Mr. Brush became millionaires. CHAPTER XVIII ROUNDING OUT THE FIRST CENTURY In 1877, the Fifteenth Regiment of the Ohio National Guard, Allen T. Brinsmade, colonel ; the Cleveland Gatling Gun Battery, W. F. Goodspeed, captain ; and the Cleveland First Troop, W. H. Harris, captain, and Edward S. Meyer, 'first lieutenant, and George A. Garretson, second lieutenant, were organized. That was the year of a great railway strike that paralyzed travel and transportation. In Cleveland, five hundred men in the employ of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company quit work. The local leaders of the strike strongly urged abstinence from violence, and the men remained quiet until the railways and their employes agreed upon terms, but there was great danger that a mob of the lawless class would take advantage of the strike to destroy property as one did at Pittsburgh. The city government, under the lead of Mayor William G. Rose, undoubtedly, sympathized with the railroad men in some of their demands, and counseled peace and moderation, but they made preparation against possible trouble. "The authorities made no parade of their preparation ; not a drum tap was heard, nor a body of troops seen in the streets. Yet, in police stations, in armories and elsewhere, armed police, militia, independent companies, and volunteer veterans of the war lay for days upon their arms, ready to crush at one blow the first sign of violence. When the railroads and their men came to terms, all things moved on as before, and Cleveland had no reason for regret, and no bill of damages to pay." THE FIRST HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE Ever since the first settlement at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, they who crossed the river. by ferry or by bridge had to meet the weariness of the descent and ascent of steep hills and the frequent delays caused by the passage of vessels up or down the river. In 1870, Mayor Stephen Buhrer had urged the construction of a high level bridge ; in 1872, the city council appointed a special committee to take into consideration the construction of such a bridge, and the committee re- - 268 - 1877-79] - THE SUPERIOR VIADUCT - 269 ported in favor of the Superior and Pearl Street route. Then came legislation at Columbus necessary for the issue of bonds, the approval of the voters, and an injunction that stopped Progress until 1873. At a special election held in May, 1876, the voters approved a further issue of bonds and decreed that the coming bridge should be a toll bridge! But the legislature abrogated the latter decision and made it a free bridge. After four and a half years of building with an expenditure of $2,170,000, the Superior Viaduct, as it has been generally called, was turned over to the city on the twenty-seventh of December, 1878. The following day was celebrated as a holiday with an artillery salute at daybreak, a parade and public meeting in the daytime, and a banquet in the evening. On the twenty-ninth, the viaduct was opened for free public use and the West Side and the East Side drew themselves more closely together. A more detailed description of the bridge will be given in a later chapter. THE EARLY SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION The Early Settlers' Association of Cuyahoga County was organized in November, 1879—the fruitful result of the persistent efforts of Hiram M. Addison, a unique pioneer philanthropist, known to 270 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVIII almost everyone in Cleveland as "Father" Addison. Harvey Rice was chosen as the first president of the association and was continued in his office until his death. The organization is still in full vigor. The most important of its products is a series of annual publications called Annals which I have already characterized as "indispensable" —and so they are to everyone who tries to tell any considerable part of the story of how Cleveland came to be what it is. To the Early Settlers' Association, and the personal efforts of "Father" Addison, is also due the bronze statue of the founder of the city that stands iri the southwest section of the Public Square. As the ninety-second anniversary of General Cleaveland's first arrival at the mouth of the Cuyahoga fell on Sunday, the unveiling of the statue took place on Monday, the twenty-third of July, 1888. 1880-81] - POPULATION AND BENEFACTIONS - 271 'Tis here, when Nature reigned supreme, That General Cleaveland trod the wild; And saw an infant in his dream, And with his name baptized the child. —Harvey Rice. In 1870, Cleveland's population was 92,825 and that of Buffalo was 117,714; in 1880, Buffalo's population was 155,134, and that of Cleveland, 160,146. As Cincinnati had gained less than thirty-nine thousand while the younger city on the lake had gained more than sixty-seven thousand, Cleveland bosoms again swelled with more or less manly pride and dreams of becoming the metropolis of Ohio began to filter into the brains of the more audacious. LEONARD CASE, JR. The younger Leonard Case, the sole heir of his father's large estate, suddenly died on the sixth of January, 1880. Five days later, his confidential agent and personal friend, Henry G. Abbey, filed in the county recorder's office a deed that Mr. Case had executed in 1876. This deed conveyed property, then worth more than a million dollars, in trust for the establishment of an institution to be known as the Case School of Applied Science. The school was incorporated and organized in 1881. A sketch of this high-grade scientific institution will be found in a later chapter. In this same year, Amasa Stone, one of Cleveland's growing list of millionaires, offered to give half a million dollars to the Western Reserve College on condition that the old and famous institution should be moved from Hudson to Cleveland and that its name should be changed to Adelbert College of the Western Reserve University. The offer was accepted and, in the fall of 1882, Adelbert College began its career in new buildings that had been erected on land adjoining the land of the Case School of Applied Science. By subsequent arrangement, these two schools became essentially supplementary to each other. A brief sketch of the Western Reserve University, kindly prepared for me by the president of the university, will be found in a later chapter. CLEVELAND MUSIC HALL In 1881, William Halsey Doan, a big-hearted citizen of Cleveland, took action that resulted in supplying one of the city's great needs, the Cleveland Music Hall. He gave for this purpose land on the north side of Vincent Street, between Bond (East Sixth) and Erie 272 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVIII (East Ninth) streets and to this gift added $10,000 for the construction of a large hall for musical, moral, and religious gatherings. The title of the property was vested in five trustees, three chosen by himself and two by the Cleveland Vocal Society. At a cost of more than $50,000, a hall capable of seating 4,300 persons was built. The building was subsequently burned. In the same spirit, Mr. Doan had previously btiilt the Tabernacle at the corner of St. Clair and Ontario streets where the building of the Brotherhood of the Locomotive Engineers now stands. It was a large and rather plain brick building, had one gallery, and would seat nearly 5,000 persons. It was the home of lectures, concerts, and local festivals of high grade and small charge for admission, the latter being made possible by the large seating capacity of the auditorium and the unselfish purpose of its generous builder. The Tabernacle ceased to be when the Music Hall was built. In the same spirit, Mr. Doan also built the Armory that stood at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Doan (East One Hundred and Fifth) Street. W. H. Doan was the son of Jolt Doan, mentioned in a preceding chapter. JAMES A. GARFIELD On the second of July, 1881, came news of the shooting of President Garfield at Washington ; on the nineteenth of September, came word 1881] - DEATH OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD - 273 that the president was dead. James A. Garfield was really a Clevelander. Born in Cuyahoga County, student and college president at Hiram, and later living at Mentor, he was always in close touch with the Heart of the Western Reserve and now that great heart bled. When he died, the Cleveland bells tolled the sad news and, at half-hour intervals, the artillery struck the deep diapason of the grief-laden dirge. The body was brought home on the twenty-fourth of September and for two days lay in state in a pavilion built in the Public Square while thousands passed by in procession. After solemn services on the twenty-sixth, with an escort of honor and a procession five miles long, the body was borne out Euclid Avenue to Lakeview Cemetery and placed' in a vault, there to remain under constant military guard until a more stately tomb could be provided. In June, 1882, the Garfield National Monument Association was incorporated. More than fifty designs for the memorial were submitted and, in July, 1883, that of George Keller of Hartford was accepted. On the highest ridge in the cemetery the beautiful memorial, largely a tower fifty feet in diameter, was built. On the Vol. I-18 274 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVIII thirtieth of May, 1890, it was formally dedicated in the presence of President Harrison, Vice-president Morton, General Sherman, several members of the president's cabinet, a host of other distinguished persons, and many thousands more than could see or hear what was being done or said. Former President Hayes presided, and former Governor Jacob D. Cox delivered an eloquent address. After several other speeches, all of which were brief, the ceremonies were concluded by the Ohio Grand Commandery with the impressive services of the Knights Templars. The memorial is now daily visited by large numbers of persons from all parts of the civilized world. The accompanying illustration gives a good idea of the appearance of the exterior of the memorial, but I add the following brief description : "A romanesque porch supports the tower. Below the porch railing, there is external decoration, a frieze of historical character, showing in its five panels characteristic scenes from Garfield's life. The great doors of oak open into a vestibule vaulted in stone, and paved with mosaic. From this, spiral staircases ascend the tower, and descend to the crypt. In this crypt is the casket containing the coffin. Opening from this vestibule, is the chamber where the statue, by Alexander Doyle, of New York, stands. It shows Garfield in the House of Representatives. Over the statue, supported by granite columns, is a dome twenty-two feet in diameter, which is decorated with a marvelous frieze of Venetian glass, showing an allegorical funeral procession of the dead President. The tower has thirteen magnificent memorial windows, from the original thirteen States." FLOOD AND FIRE In February, 1883, came a great flood and a great fire, the latter literally piled upon the former. Heavy rains raised the level of the Cuyahoga ten feet in less than a day and the rapid rise of the waters caught many unawares. Three hundred thousand dollars worth of lumber on the "Flats" was swept into the lake; bridges and railway embankments were washed away. Then came the fire. A five thousand-gallon tank of oil in the Great Western oil works blew up, the oil was set aflame and in turn set fire to the paraffine works next below, and spread itself over the rushing waters. Some of the works of the Standard Oil Company were burned and the acres and acres of stills and tanks of that great plant narrowly escaped destruction. "It was a scene that will never be forgotten by the thousands who gazed upon it—the valley under water and the whole expanse lighted by the burning of acres of oil spread out upon the waters. The loss from flood 1883-87] - FLOOD, FIRE, AND CRIME - 275 and fire reached nearly three quarters of a million dollars." Early in 1884, the Park Theater, on the north side of the Public Square and separated from the court-house only by a narrow lane, was set on fire by an explosion of gas and nothing but the outside walls escaped complete destruction. One Sunday evening' in the following September, disaster again fell upon the "Flats." A supposedly incendiary fire broke out in one of the great. lumber yards and soon seemed to be beyond the control of the local fire department. Acres and acres of lumber piles and planing mills were ablaze ; then the fiery fiend crossed the river, quickly devoured a lard refinery, and drove his way toward lower Superior Street as if determined to destroy that great business section. The local militia was ordered under arms and aid was summoned and sent from Akron, Youngstown, Toledo and other cities. In the early hours of Monday, the great fire was under control. The loss was more than $800,000. THE BLINKEY MORGAN AFFAIR In 1885, Mary P. Spargo was admitted by the supreme court of Ohio to practise law—the first woman lawyer in Cleveland. In June, 1886, a board of elections, authorized by the legislature in the previous month of May, was organized with General James Barnett, Editor William W. Armstrong, J. H. Schneider, and Herman Weber as its first members ; and Major William J.. Gleason as its secretary. In 1887, came the greatest criminal tragedy in the history of Cuyahoga County. In January, burglars entered a Cleveland store and took away several thousand dollars worth of furs. The furs were never recovered but one of the burglars was arrested at Allegheny City in Pennsylvania. Capt. Henry Hoehn and Detective William H. Hulligan of the Cleveland police force were sent for the prisoner. On their return with their man they were suddenly attacked by three armed men about three o'clock in the morning, while the train was standing at the station at Ravenna, Hoehn was shot in the leg and Hulligan's skull was fractured with an iron coupling pin. While Hulligan was unconscious, he was dragged from the car, his keys were taken from his pocket, and the bracelet that bound him to the prisoner was unlocked. The four criminals then escaped in the darkness. Hoehn recovered but Hilligan died. In June, three men were arrested at Alpena, Michigan, after a desperate struggle in which the sheriff was shot ; from his wound, the sheriff died. The trio was brought to Cleveland and its members were recognized by Captain Hoehn as the ones who had made the rescue. Taken to Ravenna for trial, one of the three, 276 - CLEVELAND AND ITS ENVIRONS - [Chap. XVIII Charles Morgan, but better known as "Blinky" Morgan, was convicted and executed. The other two were also found guilty, but they secured a new trial and were finally set free. SECOND HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE In December, 1888, came the formal opening of a second high-level bridge, the two sections of which are known as the Central and the Abbey Street viaducts, "the great new structure that hung so lightly and gracefully across the wide valley and so far above the Cuyahoga River," uniting the East Side with the South Side, as the East and West Sides had been united ten years before. This additional bond will be described in a later chapter. In 1880, the population of Cleveland was 160,146; in 1890, it was 261,353. Speaking in Cleveland in 1892, the superintendent of the United States census of 1890 said of Cleveland's iron-ore traffic : An investment of $175,394,985 seems almost beyond the proportions of any one closely connected line of commerce, but such are the figures representing the capital involved, on July 1, 1892, in mining and .transporting, by lake and rail, the output of the Lake Superior iron mining district. The sale and movement of every ton of ore from this district is conducted by sales agents in Cleveland who are also owners of the mines to a large extent. Here the docks at all Lake Erie ports, excepting Buffalo and Erie, are controlled, and here is owned fully 80 per cent. of the vessel property engaged in this commerce, which forms the largest single item in the lake traffic. This country consumed, in 1890, 17,500,000 gross tons of iron ore. Of this amount, 1,246,830 tons were imported, and 16,253,170 tons were of home production. Lake Superior mines produced, in the same year, 9,003,701 gross tons, or more than one-half the raw material for a nation that leads the world in the output of pig iron, Bessemer steel and steel rails. This statement is in itself enough to show the relation the city bears to the iron industry, whose prosperity is most often used to serve as a Measure of the general business prosperity of the country. LARGEST SHIPBUILDING CENTER IN THE COUNTRY (1890) The census report for 1890 revealed the fact that Cleveland had become the largest shipbuilding factor in the United States, the leading trio registering as follows :