Browse Tours (28 total)
Libraries, Archives, & MuseumsDespite Cleveland's relatively small population, the city is home to some of the nation's finest museums and other public educational and cultural centers. Benefiting from large endowments by industrial magnates like Jeptha Wade and John D. Rockefeller, as well as the civic reform… | |
Schools, Colleges & UniversitiesFrom neighborhood K-12 schools to community colleges and world-class research universities, Cleveland is home to many educational institutions of historic interest. The city's first publicly-funded high school, Central High, was established in 1845, becoming the first of its kind west of… | |
Music History & VenuesCleveland has long been recognized as a center of musical excellence. From the establishment of the Cleveland Opera Co. and Cleveland Orchestra in the early 20th century, to Alan Freed and the Moon Dog Coronation Ball in 1952, the polka craze of the early 1960s, the star-making glory days of WMMS… | |
BridgesDivided in two by the Cuyahoga River, many of Cleveland's bridges have served the important role of connecting the city's east and west sides. Back in the 1830s, when the west bank of the Cuyahoga was the separate municipality of Ohio City, the construction of a bridge across the river led… | |
Transportation HistoryThe decision by the Ohio Legislature in 1825 to make Cleveland the northern end of the Ohio & Erie Canal opened the village to the economy of the outside world. The canal made Cleveland a transportation hub, and can be credited with bringing people, commerce, and industry to the area. The… | |
Irish ImmigrationThe development and growth of Cleveland can be attributed to the collective efforts of the many immigrant groups that lived, worked, socialized, played, and worshiped within the city. The Irish were one of the first ethnic communities to settle in Cleveland; their influence on Cleveland’s… | |
Sacred LandmarksAs migrants and immigrants built communities, they developed the economic and cultural infrastructure of the city, which includes houses of worship. Each wave of immigrants and migrants developed churches that reflected their religious traditions. Successive waves of people remade that religious… | |
EnvironmentalismCleveland's natural environment has been closely tied to its growth and development as a city. Indeed, Clevelanders have interacted with and altered the landscape around them in different ways throughout the city's history. It was the selection of the city (or, more accurately, the… | |
ConflictThe social history of urban development is defined by conflict. Individuals and groups with competing interests commonly vied with each other to create a world that best reflected their beliefs and desires. These competing interests, often a reflection of the inequalities between disparate groups,… | |
Shaker HeightsThis tour was created in partnership with the City of Shaker Heights and the Shaker Heights Public Library. As Shaker Heights celebrates its centennial anniversary throughout 2012, explore the history of the city's origins and its development into one of the nation's most distinguished… | |
SportsProfessional sports have played an important role in Cleveland's recent history, signifying its status as a "major league town," and uniting a diverse population that could sometimes not find much else in common with one another, aside from a passionate devotion to their city's… | |
Cultural GardensPerhaps the world's first peace garden, the Gardens embody the history of twentieth-century America. They reveal the history of immigration to, and migration within, the United States. They comment on how we have built communities and constructed our identities as individuals and collectives.… | |
Detroit-ShorewayIn recent years, the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood on Cleveland's West Side has become both a local and national model for responsible urban redevelopment. Efforts to revitalize the commercial district and residential neighborhoods have been balanced with the preservation of the area's… | |
Cleveland Food TraditionsThroughout modern history, Ohio has been home to hundreds of food and beverage companies, with local, regional and national name recognition. Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, too, have had their share of food industries, many of which began simply with individuals pursuing the "American… | |
Tremont: Lincoln Park TourLINCOLN Park is the center of Tremont, one of Cleveland's oldest historic neighborhoods. This tour which proceeds around the perimeter of LINCOLN Park features many of the churches and other institutions that were built by and for successive waves of migrants and immigrants to Tremont from the… | |
City Hop: Market DistrictThis tour was created in conjunction with the Downtown Cleveland Alliance for the Sparx City Hop on September 10, 2011. It is a loop tour that starts in front of the West Side Market on West 25th Street. It not only explores the history of the market but also visits a few sites nearby. | |
City Hop: Campus DistrictThis walking tour was created in conjunction with the Downtown Cleveland Alliance for the Sparx City Hop on September 10, 2011. The tour takes place on the northern edge of the city's Campus District, a growing district encompassing the areas around Cleveland State University and Cuyahoga… | |
In Lincoln's FootstepsThis tour follows the sites in downtown Cleveland that President Abraham Lincoln visited during his time in Cleveland. The tour ends with a fitting tribute to our deceased president at his monument in the Cleveland Mall. | |
Civil WarExperience Cleveland's Civil War history with this virtual tour through downtown Cleveland. Each stop visually depicts the city’s contributions to the Civil War. Cleveland harbors many fascinating and colorful stories from this crucial period in our country's history. | |
Cuyahoga ValleyVisitors to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park may not always realize the rich history that surrounds them. Stories of hardship, gain, family, and industry unfolded in the valley as early nineteenth-century settlers began risky farming ventures, establishing farms and businesses in a dense… | |
Historic Homes of Shaker HeightsThat Shaker Heights has beautiful homes is no accident: a key component of the Van Sweringen brothers' vision for the city was strict architectural standards to ensure high-quality design. This tour includes a number of "Demonstration Homes" that the Van Sweringen Company built in… | |
Shaker Lakes Freeway FightIn the 1960s, a proposal that would have led to the construction of freeways through the Shaker Lakes drew a wide variety of ultimately successful protests from local residents. In this tour, visit some of the historic sites that were saved by these protests and learn more about the fight to stop… | |
North Union ShakersThe North Union Shaker colony existed from 1825 to 1889. At its peak in 1850 it contained over 300 members spread across three settlements. Perhaps the most noticeable remnant of the Shakers are the two Shaker Lakes, created when the Shakers dammed the Doan Brook to power their mills, though other… | |
The Van Sweringen BrothersOris Paxton and Mantis James Van Sweringen were the real estate developers and railroad tycoons behind both Shaker Heights and Cleveland's Terminal Tower. Their vision shaped Shaker Heights and ensured its incredible success, though the brothers eventually lost nearly all of their fortune. … | |
Gordon Square - From Outlaw Enclave to Arts DistrictThe GORDON Square Arts District comprises an area of the west side of Cleveland which was once most famously known as the home grounds of the McCART Street gang, one of Cleveland's most infamous street gangs. During the gang's late nineteenth century reign, and thereafter well into the… | |
Coventry VillageTaking advantage of electric streetcar traffic, Coventry Village emerged along Coventry Road in 1919 after the original Euclid Heights allotment collapsed and filled with more and more large apartment buildings. With the migration of Jews between the 1920s and 1950s, Coventry became a largely Jewish… | |
Downtown - Public Square and the MallThis tour of Downtown Cleveland tells the story of Cleveland’s two century struggle to find a city center that speaks most meaningfully to its identity. PUBLIC SQUARE, surveyed and laid out by New Englander Moses Cleaveland in 1796 is the traditional center of Downtown Cleveland. Edifices like… | |
University Circle - Wade Park's Cultural NecklaceThis tour explores a number of world-famous cultural institutions that surround Wade Park in Cleveland's University Circle neighborhood. University Circle, which originated as a trolley turnaround, had its start as Cleveland's cultural center in the 1880s when Western Reserve University… |