The dedication of the Syrian Cultural Garden on May 29, 2011, marked the first Arab American presence in the Cultural Gardens. This garden had been more than eighty years in the making from the original award for the land for a Syrian garden in 1929…

The Albanian Cultural Garden at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens in Rockefeller Park is the first garden to be located on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard’s east side. Previously, all gardens to the east of the boulevard faced East Boulevard. The…

The Sherwin-Williams Company, a manufacturer of paint and accessory products, has been a constant presence in Cleveland for more than a century and a half (since 1866). In 2020, the ever-growing enterprise acquired the longtime vacant block on the…

In May 1867, a reporter for the Plain Dealer trudged up 70 steps to the top of the Kentucky Street Reservoir on Franklin Avenue (Boulevard) near Kentucky (West 38th) Street. Perhaps first stopping for a moment to catch his breath, he was able, from…

In 1989 the Silver Grille restaurant at the Higbee Company’s downtown department store closed its doors. The 10th-floor space later became a special-event center managed by the nearby Ritz-Carlton hotel. This was a noteworthy transition because, in…

The next time you find yourself driving down historic Franklin Boulevard between Franklin Circle and West 50th Street, take time to notice what is different about the stretch of the Boulevard between West 32nd and West 38th Streets. It is entirely…

If you spend a little bit of time studying the history of the houses that line both sides of Franklin Boulevard from the Circle to West 50th Street, you soon learn that they do not stand alone and apart from one another. They are related to one…

The Croatian Cultural Garden is situated between the Hebrew and the Hungarian Gardens at the Cleveland Cultural Garden to pay homage to Cleveland’s Croatian community. Discussions concerning creating a new garden to showcase Croatian heritage began…

Early Croatian immigrants attended religious services at St. Vitus Church prior to creating churches that fit their own needs. St. Vitus Church seemed like a logical place to attend mass for early Croatians who did not yet fashion their own church…

The house at 3910 Franklin Boulevard, which today is largely hidden from view by its owner's lush and exotic landscaping, is known as the Henry Coffinberry House. It was built for Henry Darling Coffinberry, one of Cleveland's shipbuilding…

The concept of moving unimpeded traffic through and around urban areas evolved in concert with federal initiatives that predated the U.S.’s entry into World War II. In April 1941, President Roosevelt created the Interregional Highway Committee,…

The large stone house on the northwest corner of Franklin Boulevard and West 38th Street was built in 1883-1884 for John and Sarah Bousfield. It was designed by the prominent nineteenth century architectural firm of Coburn and Barnum, the same firm…

In the mid 1970s yours truly ventured downtown to a tavern called the Round Table. The lure was a local band called Dragonwyck whose specialty was covers by the then-immensely-popular Moody Blues. The music was great; but even a scrawny 20-something…

Most Clevelanders associate Stouffer’s with frozen food and (for those with long memories) restaurant icons like Top of the Town and Stouffer’s on Shaker Square. But these are just part of a story with more parts, more players, more breadth and more…

Standing at the southwest corner of Rocky River Drive and Lorain Avenue (previously Lorain Street), the Kamm Building has been the centerpiece of Kamm's Corners for more than a century. Originally built in 1900 for Oswald Kamm’s lucrative general…

Hotel Winton was a twelve-story hotel designed by architect Max Dunning of Chicago and built at a cost of nearly $2.5 million. Named after Cleveland’s automotive pioneer, Alexander Winton, the hotel opened its doors on December 20, 1917, on Prospect…

The origins of the building at 3200 Franklin Boulevard, which today is home to a condominium development known as "Franklin Lofts," may be said to go back to May 7, 1898, and the sudden death of W. A. Ingham, a prominent Cleveland…

On September 15, 1921, Martin Daly used a silver spade to break ground near East 107th Street signifying the start of construction on Wade Park Manor, a high-end residential hotel. The announcement of plans for the hotel were made a year earlier by…

In the depths of the Great Depression when urban housing conditions were desperate, Ernest J. Bohn, then in his early thirties, emerged as a champion of housing reform. Bohn, who had come to Cleveland from Hungary with his parents in 1911, was…

Why have more people not heard of Samuel Prentiss Baldwin, the “Birdman” of Cleveland? Baldwin was born in 1868 and, as a young man, initially pursued a legal career. About midway through his life, however, he opted for a switch to ornithology. This…

Euclid is a municipality in Northeast Ohio, founded in 1796 shortly after the survey of the Western Reserve was complete. As part of the contract with Moses Cleaveland, the survey party was allocated a plot of land for them to settle, which they…

From humble beginnings in 1866, Sherwin-Williams has become increasingly a staple of Cleveland’s economy. Henry Sherwin came to Cleveland looking for work at the request of his uncle, eventually finding his way into the paint industry with his…

John Quinn lived in Irishtown Bend, an Irish settlement on the west bank of the flats, from 1870 to 1912 and became one of the enclave’s best-known denizens. In the late 1980s, archaeologists from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History excavated…

St. Luke’s Hospital was founded on Woodland Avenue in 1894 as Cleveland General Hospital. Soon after being renamed St. Luke's in 1906, the hospital spent two decades on Carnegie Avenue before moving in 1927 to a much larger building on Shaker…

Just 20 miles east of Cleveland, in Novelty, Ohio, a massive architectural marvel sits, enveloping an office building. An immense open-lattice geodesic dome covers the headquarters of ASM International. ASM, which stands for the American Society of…

In 1841, a rift opened within a German Orthodox congregation of a Bavarian Unsleben party that met in a rented room on Prospect Street. Known as the Israelite Congregation, it was formed just two years earlier as Cleveland’s first Jewish…

When the Hotel Statler opened in October 1912, it quickly established itself as the ultimate place for visitors to stay and for Clevelanders to see and be seen. Impressive architecture, modern amenities, and attention to detail made the Statler a…

Carling Brewery is a story of a company that took the opportunity to use the power of Cleveland as a home of production to reach markets across America and grow its business exponentially. Founded in 1840 by English immigrant Thomas Carling in…

The newly finished St. Sava Cathedral was everything that the community wanted and needed. The Church* was the focal point of all things Serbian and Eastern Orthodox. A large worship area allowed for many worshipers to gather on Sundays and holidays…

Malley’s Chocolates has been a family-owned and operated Cleveland business since its inception in 1935. The mastermind behind this Cleveland business was Albert “Mike” Malley. Malley decided to create his own American dream in the midst of the…