Apparently I was staying in some neighborhood of Cleveland known as Cudell, and as I woke up the first full day in the city, I set out east on Lorain Avenue, turned left on West 81st Street going north, by this time having entered the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, hung a right onto Madison Avenue going east,…
Tag: Ohio
Lake View Cemetery and Little Italy, Cleveland
A little bit of a latecomer in the Rural Cemetery Movement, Lake View Cemetery was founded in 1869, east of downtown Cleveland on rugged, steep terrain. While due to the growth of the city and mature trees, the name comes from what had once been a commanding view of Lake Erie. The grounds are lush,…
East of Downtown, Cleveland
Cleveland is much like St. Louis in that it is much longer than it is wide. In this case, however, the city stretches along a lake, and is longer east-west. St. Clair and Superior avenues in many ways are like the equivalents of North Broadway back in St. Louis, as well, passing through industrial zones…
Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Cleveland
St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Cathedral, while showing a 1940s exterior renovation that belies its 1852 construction, sits at a busy intersection in downtown Cleveland. The original design of the cathedral was by Irish architect Patrick Keely, who was active out of Brooklyn and is responsible for churches throughout the eastern United States. While…
The Terminal Tower, Cleveland
I want you to just take a look at the historic photograph above for a few minutes and just absorb what you’re seeing. In the background, Irish Bend and the Flats spread out in the distance, the engine house of the industrial heart of the city at its height can be seen, while in the…
Downtown, Part Two, Cleveland
Moving along through downtown Cleveland, we reach the “Beaux-Arts” or “City Beautiful” portion of the city, which every metropolitan area seemed to have dabbled with in the early Twentieth Century to better or adverse effect. Below is the Cuyahoga County Courthouse, completed in 1913. Moving along, we spot the 1922 Public Auditorium, which sits along…
Downtown, Part One, Cleveland
Downtown Cleveland is tucked into a triangular wedge northeast of the the Flats, in perhaps what is the closest physical relationship of an American city’s core to its industrial heart. Much of the western part of downtown is preserved, but it should be noted there are still entire large city blocks that are parking lots….
Irish Bend, Cleveland
From high up above the Flats, looking east, you wouldn’t even notice the huge industrial area down below since the passage of the Clean Air Act and the clearing of old factories and other polluters. But head down the streets into the valley, and the dense cluster of bridges, curving river and other buildings soon…
The Flats, Cleveland
From what I understand, pretty much all of the lower Cuyahoga Valley, including Whiskey Island, is known as the Flats, which is the lowlands along the twisting course of the waterway that soon found itself clogged with boats coming to and from the many factories and distilleries crowding its banks. As you might imagine, it…
Whiskey Island, Cleveland
Cutting a huge swath through the heart of Cleveland, the Cuyahoga River valley is a sublime sight to behold. It empties out into Lake Erie at Whiskey Island, itself a creation of human hands. Originally the river snaked around another bend, but early on a short new channel was dug, allowing ships to sail up…