Cleveland, City Ohio

Page 134

Cleveland, city, port of entry, and the capital of Cuyahoga co., O., 146 n. n. e. Columbus, 359 W. Cleveland is the emporium of northern Ohio, and, next to Cincinnati, the most important town in the state, possesses a commanding situation on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga r., and the northern termination of the Ohio canal. by which it is connected with Ohio r. and is in 41° 31' n. lat., and 81° 46' w. Ion. from Greenwich, or 4° 44' w. from W. It is 130 miles n. w. Pittsburgh, 146 n. e. Columbus, 200 by water Buffalo, 130 Detroit, 359 W. The population in 1799 consisted of one family; in 1825, about 500 inhabitants; in 1830, 1,000; in 1834, 4,300; in 1840, 6,071.

Excepting a small portion of it immediately on the Cuyahoga r., the city is situated on a gravelly plain, elevated about 80 feet above the level of the lake, of which it has a very commanding prospect. The common streets have the extraordinary width of 80 feet; and Main-street, which passes through the middle of the place, is 120 feet wide. The streets cross each other at right angles, and there are many expensive and tasteful buildings. The location is dry and healthy, and the view of the meanderings of the Cuyahoga r., and of the steamboats and shipping in the port, and leaving or entering it, and of the numerous vessels on the lake under sail, presents a prospect exceedingly interesting, from the high shore of the lake.

Near the centre of the place is a public square of 10 acres, divided into four equal parts by intersecting streets, neatly enclosed, and shaded with trees. The court house and the first Presbyterian Church front on this square.

The harbor of Cleveland is one of the best on Lake Erie. It is formed by the mouth of the Cuyahoga r., and improved by a pier on each side, extending 425 yards into the lake, 200 feet apart, and faced with substantial stone masonry. Cleveland is the great mart of the greatest grain growing state in the Union, and it is the Ohio and Erie canals that have made it such, though it exports much by the way of the Welland canal to Canada. It has a ready connection with Pittsburgh, through the Pennsylvania and Ohio canal, which extends from the Ohio canal at Akron to Beaver cr., which enters the Ohio below Pittsburgh. The natural advantages of this place are unsurpassed in the west, to which it has a large access by the lakes and the Ohio canal. But the Erie Canal constitutes the principal source of its vast advantages; without that great work, it would have remained in its former insignificance. The total number of pounds on which toll is charged which arrived at Cleveland, in 1840, was 280,233,820, in which was included 2,151,450 bushels of wheat, 504,900 barrels of flour, 23.000 do. of pork, 782,033 pounds of butter, 513,452 of lard, 683,499 of bacon, 1,154,641 of pig iron, 2,252,491 of iron and nails, 643,954 pieces of staves and heading.

The whole number of pounds weight of all property on which toll is paid by weight, which cleared from Cleveland by way of the canal in 1840 was, 9,563,396 pounds of merchandise. 1,163,167 of furniture, 1,770,016 of gypsum, 1,265,656 feet of lumber, 76.729 barrels of salt, 8,959 do. of lake fish, 2,560 M. shingles, 21 pairs of mill stones.

The number of clearances of boats, was 4,137; but there were only 312 different boats. In the year 1810, 1,344 vessels, exclusive of steamboats, entered the port; and 1,344 vessels, and 1,020 steamboats, cleared. There are owned at Cleveland, 67 schooners, 2 brigs, 3 sloops, 11 steamboats; the total tonnage in 1840 was 9,514. There were in 1840, 21 foreign commission houses, with a cap. of $58,000; 66 retail stores, cap. $139,700; 3 lumber yards, cap. $3,000; 1 furnace ; machinery produced, $3,000; 2 distilleries, and 1 brewery, cap. $32,000; 1 flouring m. manufactured to the amount of $125,000; 5 printing offices, 3 binderies, 1 daily and 4 weekly newspapers, and 1 periodical, employed a cap. of $9,700. Total cap. in manufac. $128,632. 5 acad. 148 students, 15 sch. 1,089 scholars. Besides numerous respectable private schools, there are from 12 to 15 public schools, supported at an annual expense of $4,000. There are 4 large school edifices, which contain about 7,00 scholars. The Cleveland Lyceum is a respectable literary institution, which holds discussions and sustains lectures during the winter season. There is also a reading room well supplied with periodicals. There are 8 churches, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Baptist, 1 Episcopal, 2 Methodist, 1 Congregational, and a chapel for boatmen and sailors.

There are two banks, with an aggregate capital of $800,000; and an insurance co., with a capital of $500,000. There is a light-house on the high bank of the lake, and another light at the entrance of the harbor. There are 2 daily papers and 5 weekly papers issued in this place. Ohio City, on the opposite side of the Cuyahoga r., constitutes, virtually, one place with Cleveland. (See Ohio City.) It has, however, a separate incorporation.

The municipal authority of Cleveland consists of a mayor, 3 aldermen, 1 from each ward; and 9 councilmen, 3 from each ward.

Cleveland derives its name from Gen. Moses Cleveland, an agent of the Connecticut Land co., who accompanied the first surveying party upon the Connecticut Western Reserve. The city plat was surveyed under his direction in 1796. The Indian title to the territory had been extinguished 2 years before, but was not extinguished on the w. side of the r. until July 4th, 1805. Cleveland was incorporated as a village in 1814 and as a city in 1836.

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Source: A Complete Descriptive And Statistical Gazetteer Of The United States Of America, By Daniel Haskel, A. M and J. Calvin Smith, Published By Sherman & Smith, 1843

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