Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co.

"Convenience-Cleanliness-Brightness-Luxury"

Charles F. Brush Charles F. Brush, 1849-1929, was a local inventor from Euclid Township. In 1880 Brush founded the Brush Electric Co., and founded the Brush Electric Light & Power Co. the very next year. In 1892 the former consolidated with Edison General Electric Co. to form the General Electric Co. (G.E.), while the latter consolidated with the Cleveland Electric Light Co. to form the Cleveland General Electric Co, which was the predecessor of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. (C.E.I.). Source: Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections Date: ca. 1900

The firm founded in 1892 as the Cleveland General Electric Co. by Charles F. Brush became the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company (C.E.I.) just two years later and established its headquarters offices in the Cuyahoga Building on Public Square. C.E.I.'s stint in the Cuyahoga Building was short-lived, however. The company transferred its headquarters into the 75 Building, on the northwest corner of Public Square in 1914. C.E.I. outgrew its facilities at 75 Public Square as the demand for electrical power rose, and in 1956 broke ground to construct its own Illuminating Building right next door at 55 Public Square. C.E.I. signed a fifteen-year, $408,000 lease to occupy the first five floors of the Illuminating Building. Despite occupying all fourteen floors of the old 75 Building, the Illuminating Building offered 17% more space on those initial five floors alone. The monumental 1958 move included some 800 dolly-loads of office equipment and an additional 500 desks. Nevertheless, the move was completed in less than eighteen hours as workers never stepped foot outdoors thanks to existing pedestrian tunnels connecting one building to the other.

At the turn of the twentieth century, C.E.I. ran advertisements offering to wire homes with electricity for a price of $38.50, touting the benefits of domestic electricity, "Convenience-Cleanliness-Brightness-Luxury." Eventually, the company became famous for its 1940s-1960s ad campaign, which promoted Cleveland as "the best location in the nation." This ad campaign aimed to attract major industries to Cleveland, and promoted C.E.I.'s contribution to the overall welfare of Northeast Ohio by emphasizing its own role in expanding business, industry, job opportunities, and improving the overall quality of life.

A massive workforce strike erupted in the midst of the "best location in the nation" ad campaign. On April 24, 1957 the members of Utility Workers Local 270 voted a resounding 1,754-63 in favor to strike against C.E.I. Workers demanded that C.E.I. do away with its right to make job changes and transfers without informing the union, as well as re-negotiate wages to obtain a "substantial" increase. The strike ended on May 7 after a grueling fifteen-hour negotiation. The fifteen-day strike became the longest of its kind in C.E.I.'s prominent history, which had only witnessed a single six-hour strike in 1945. Resolutions involved a new two-year contract with a general wage increase of five percent, or the equivalent of ten to fifteen cents per hour.

During the 1960s, C.E.I. became pressured to respond to the increasing demand for nuclear power, and began to invest in nuclear power plants in collaboration with Toledo Edison in 1970. The decade of the 1970s witnessed the widespread energy crisis, which drove up the price of coal dramatically. Likewise, domestic energy costs for consumers skyrocketed, and C.E.I. lost a considerable amount of customers. In order to stay afloat, C.E.I. merged with Toledo Edison in 1986 to form Centerior Energy. A little over a decade later in 1997, Centerior Energy combined with Ohio Edison and Penn Power to form FirstEnergy, which controls the electric system for northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

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Moving From 75 To 55 Paul O'Neil, a former employee of the Illuminating Company, remembers the company move to 55 Public Square Source: Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection

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Charles F. Brush Charles F. Brush, 1849-1929, was a local inventor from Euclid Township. In 1880 Brush founded the Brush Electric Co., and founded the Brush Electric Light & Power Co. the very next year. In 1892 the former consolidated with Edison General Electric Co. to form the General Electric Co. (G.E.), while the latter consolidated with the Cleveland Electric Light Co. to form the Cleveland General Electric Co, which was the predecessor of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. (C.E.I.). Source: Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections Date: ca. 1900

Brush Arc Lamp on Public Square, 1976 Brush's claim to fame was his development of the arc light as a practical means of electrical lighting for both private and municipal use. Ironically in 1877, the Plain Dealer reported a house fire caused by a lamp explosion at Brush's residence at 1478 Cedar Avenue. Yet just two years following this incident, he debuted his revolutionary electrical street-lighting system in Public Square on April 29, 1879. Source: Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections Date: 1976

Lamps on the Horizon, 1880 If you look closely at this drawing - a view from Cleveland's west side - you can see the 150-foot tall masts which towered over the city, holding the Brush Arc Lamps which lit up Public Square. Just one year prior in 1879, Brush's electrical street-lighting system was unveiled in Public Square. Source: Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections Date: 1880

Cuyahoga Building, 1906 C.E.I. was a major tenant in the Daniel Burnham-designed Cuyahoga Building, which opened on the south corner of East Roadway and Superior on Public Square in 1893. The building housed C.E.I.'s original headquarters from 1894 to 1914. The first building in the city with an entirely steel frame, it was demolished in 1982 to make way for the BP America building. Source: Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections Date: 1906

55 & 75, c. 1960 55 Public Square, the taller building on the left, became C.E.I.'s headquarters in 1958, replacing the smaller brick building directly to its right, 75 Public Square, which had been home to the company since 1913. Source: Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections Date: c. 1960

Picket Line on Public Square This May 1, 1957 picket line on Public Square in front of the 75 Building, and incomplete 55 Building, is visual evidence of the longest strike in C.E.I.'s history. The strike lasted from April 24 to May 7, 1957. Source: Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections Date: May 1, 1957

Stepping Up When regular Ohio Bell repairmen refused to cross the C.E.I. union picket lines at Humell Rd. and W. 130th St. on May 2, 1957, a repair foreman by the name of Frank Baisch came through and climbed a telephone pole to repair a broken phone line. To a crowd of gawking pickets, the well-dressed Baisch remarked, "I guess I haven't lost the touch." Source: Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections Date: May 2, 1957

Strike Breaker On the reverse of this May 4, 1957 photograph is written, "Strikebreaker was hanged in effigy at the E. 72nd St. plant of the Illuminating Co., where pickets were on duty in the chill and wind." Source: Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections Date: May 4, 1957

Trouble Room, 1965 Known as the "trouble room," this part of the 55 Building acted as a dispatch room for C.E.I. Here, workers answered customer calls located on the wall map in the background, and could relay information from a micro-film enlarger to emergency truck crews on location somewhere in the Cleveland area. Source: Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections. Date: 1965

Location

55 Public Square, Cleveland, OH 44113

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Citation Info

Matthew Sisson, “Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co.,” Cleveland Historical, accessed October 6, 2024, https://clevelandhistorical.org/index.php/items/show/20.

Published Sep 15, 2010. Last updated Sep 27, 2023.

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