Located prominently on downtown Cleveland’s Public Mall A, the Fountain of Eternal Life, also known as the War Memorial Fountain, stands to honor the bravery and sacrifice of Americans lost in armed conflicts from the Spanish-American War to the present day. Envisioned as a memorial to Clevelanders lost during the Second World War and Korean War at the time of its initial dedication in 1964, the fountain has served as a site of reflection of Clevelanders' attitudes towards armed conflict as well as a subject of debate on historic preservation over the decades of its existence.

The Fountain of Eternal Life’s sculptor, Marshall Fredericks, was a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art and had served in the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Air Force during the Second World War. As the conflict came to an end in 1945, several organizations and media outlets in Cleveland began formulating a plan to develop a memorial to honor local residents who were lost. By the end of 1945, the Cleveland Press had raised $104,000 through a public subscription drive, enough for the initial planning and sourcing of materials for a monument to take place and for Fredericks to be officially selected as the designer and sculptor of the memorial. By 1946, it was decided that the memorial, dubbed the War Memorial Fountain in the media, would be built on Cleveland’s Mall.

March 25, 1955, marked the official groundbreaking ceremony for the memorial. The event was highlighted by the first turning of dirt being performed by Cleveland’s then-mayor Anthony J. Celebrezze alongside the president of the Cuyahoga County Gold Star Mothers, Stella Stark. As the monument was initially planned ten years earlier as a memorial to Clevelanders lost during the Second World War, organizers already had to contend with the fact that another conflict, the Korean War, would have to be addressed upon the memorial’s completion. This restructuring of exactly which conflicts are being represented by the monument would be a constant throughout the memorial’s life.

As the monument’s development and construction continued beyond the initial groundbreaking, it would not be without some adversity. In 1959, the City of Cleveland held public hearings on a proposal to lease Mall A to build a skyscraping Hilton hotel. If approved, the memorial would have been forced to relocate, potentially undercutting its significance by not allowing for a prominent location to be held. Although some on Cleveland’s City Council highlighted financial upsides to the hotel’s existence on the Mall, voters ultimately rejected the plan in a special referendum, permitting development of the monument to continue.

After 19 years of preparations and construction, the memorial was ready to be officially dedicated. On May 30, 1964, thousands of residents and spectators descended on Cleveland’s downtown Mall for Memorial Day celebrations and the dedication of the “Press War Memorial Fountain,” which featured the Fountain of Eternal Life sculpture. The sculpture itself featured four large granite slabs and a towering bronze figure arising upwards out of flames and a sphere meant to represent the universe. In all, the monument towered 46 feet above the ground. Marshall Fredericks described his work on the sculpture, stating, “This figure expresses the main theme of the Memorial Fountain, namely, the spirit of mankind rising out of the encircling flames of war, pestilence, and the destructive elements of life, reaching and ascending to a new understanding of life. Man rising above death, reaching upward to his God and toward peace.” Placed around the monument and inlaid upon the granite labs would be inscribed bronze tablets containing the names of local residents who perished during the Second World War and the Korean War.

In the years following the fountain’s dedication, the site was consistently utilized as a location for parades and speeches in celebration of patriotic holidays and days of remembrance. However, coinciding with this continued use of the Fountain of Eternal Life as a place of honor was the entrenchment of the United States in another major armed conflict: The Vietnam War. By 1971, the fountain had transitioned from a location seen as primarily honoring Cleveland’s perished soldiers to one that often hosted rallies and protests against all war. News publications of the time often highlighted the symbolism of holding such antiwar gatherings around a sculpture that depicts a figure striving upwards for peace, as Marshall Fredricks had originally intended.

Moving into the 1980s, the Fountain of Eternal Life experienced yet another major evolution in its perception and meaning. On May 30, 1983, the 19th anniversary of the monument’s dedication, Plain Dealer columnist William F. Miller ran a story with the very provocative title “Memorial fountain in sad shape.” In this piece, Miller detailed the current condition of broken concrete, failed water pipes, and cracked granite across the basin of the fountain. Miller went even further in describing the cracked sidewalks and rusted-over trash cans in the immediate vicinity of the fountain, further detracting from any aesthetic quality or any attempt to convey the memorial’s meaning. By 1987, discussion amongst media publications and within City Council meetings regarding the possible removal of the Fountain of Eternal Life had sparked Marshall Fredericks himself to comment on the matter. Fredericks depressingly stated to a reporter shortly before the fountain's 23rd anniversary, “I spent my whole life… doing sculpture. But what’s the point of it all when the most important one I did in my life is about to be torn down.” Ultimately, plans to preserve the Fountain of Eternal Life moved forward, and by November 1989 the monument was being hoisted from its place in Mall A and taken to a local restoration center. The occasion, which occurred on November 6, 1989, was marked by a small performance from a United States Marine color guard, in which the soldiers saluted the monument as it was taken away.

The Fountain of Eternal Life was returned to its place atop the now-named Memorial Plaza in 1991. With this, the sculpture itself was rededicated and became the centerpiece of what would now be named the “Peace Memorial Fountain.” Moving forward to the end of the 20th century and into the 21st, the fountain continued to serve as a site for both military memorialization and occasionally for antiwar and peace rallies. In 2004, the monument was once again rededicated, with this occasion officially marking the site’s commemoration of Clevelanders lost in all conflicts from 1899 to the present day.

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The plaque placed on the Marcus Hanna Monument in University Circle brings to mind a letter by Marcus Hanna's brother, H. M. Hanna. In the letter, he details the discussion about what should be inscribed on it. H. M. Hanna and Samuel Mather, an iron ore-shipping tycoon, desired to have the inscription say something about Marcus Hanna's work with the community. Lawyer and Cuyahoga County Judge William B. Sanders and railway baron and senator James H. Hoyt wanted the plaque to contain something about his civic work in the government. However, Hanna's crowning political achievement - getting William McKinley elected as President and how Hanna's tactics during that campaign alter how Presidents are elected in the United States - is sadly absent from the monument's inscription.

Marcus Hanna's early political activities had a lasting effect on his life. He was known to be very active in elections in Cleveland's Ninth Ward and fought to keep party bosses in check. This was because he thought that businessmen like him should be the authority in politics and not the party bosses. His appeal to Cleveland capitalists would eventually gain him allies in the major industrial elites of the city. Nevertheless, Marcus Hanna would eventually work within the system of the party bosses and gain political power through that system. It was not long until the same important professional politicians who despised him were coming for his aid. Hanna began by fighting the established local political mechanism but later in his career used it to his advantage.

The next stage of his career came with his friendship with William McKinley. The two men met at the 1884 Republican convention when they supported rival candidates. However, it was during the 1888 convention that Hanna saw McKinley's political potential after he heard several of his speeches during the convention and saw how he carried himself. After the convention Hanna became involved in McKinley's struggles to be House Speaker and Governor of Ohio. Hanna even went to St. Louis for the 1896 convention to make sure McKinley was nominated. His hard work resulted in McKinley's being a first ballot nomination. Marcus Hanna was now ready for the biggest political fight of his life.

William McKinley could not travel across the country to give speeches due to the ill health of Mrs. McKinley. So, Marcus Hanna had to rely on flyers, posters, and other such written ads to promote McKinley. Hanna was able to portray the Democrats as out of touch with the common man with his "full dinner pail" campaign. He was even able to garner support from the African American community with the help of allies like John Patterson Green. Yet there were many including McKinley who wondered about the methods that Hanna used and if they would pay off. On the night of the election all Marcus Hanna could do was wait and see if his work would be rewarded. On that night Marcus Hanna would see his labors bear fruit. When the votes began to be tallied McKinley was viewed to win with at least 264 electoral votes. The next day Marcus Hanna announced the outcome of the election in Cleveland's public square where he was greeted with the chant of "Hanna, Hanna."

After the election many people including McKinley himself wrote letters congratulating Hanna for his work on the campaign. Hanna had finally seen the rewards of the political struggles realized. His importance to our election process cannot be overemphasized. His ability of, to quote the historian Francis Russell, "selling McKinley to the public like soap or Tobacco" led the way to the method of campaigning that is used today. Historian William Poundstone even called Hanna "an early example of a political consultant." The Hanna Monument sits in University Circle overlooked by many people who pass by in their cars. This monument to Marcus Hanna's determination that not only got William McKinley elected but transformed the manner of political campaigning sits alone and forgotten amidst busy University Circle.

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In 1912, Harriet L. Keeler was chosen as the temporary superintendent of schools for the sixth largest city in the United States. The Cleveland Leader released a feature interview with the recently honored public figure to mark the occassion. The conversation began wth the most pressing of questions: had the unmarried 65 year old ever had a romance in her life? The accomplished author, suffragist, civic activist, social reformer, and retired school teacher offered the politest of responses, "I have lived an intellectual life for my romance, of course having that mother love which is natural to my sex, and which has had its outlet in the love and teaching of children, the love of animals and the love of plants." These outlets of Keeler's intellectual life served her well. Keeler's love of teaching and nature propelled her success as a writer. While Keeler was recognized in Cleveland for a 38-year career in the public schools and as a respected voice in the Progressive Era women's club movement, she was best known as an author in her day. The life-long educator penned a series of seven nature guides between 1894 and her death in 1921. Keeler's writing style was informed by her experience as a teacher and vast knowledge of botany, language, and literature. Her work as a nature writer offers a glimpse into the way privileged women operated within and utilized conservative gender roles to better their own lives and make substantial, lasting contributions to society. The opportunities afforded to Harriet Keeler in pursuing her passions as an author, educator, and amateur botanist inversely grew from a limitation of options available to American women during the 19th century. Born in the mid 1840s, Keeler followed a path taken by many young women with means and access to education during the era — she became a teacher. The job of providing an ethical and moral education to children seemed a natural extension of traditional female responsibilities; this allowed honorable, self-sacrificing women to take hold of an opportunity to be paid horribly as educators. After leaving school at the age of 14, Keeler worked as a teacher in Cherry Hill, New York. Working in schools provided women such as Keeler a temporary, socially accepted reprieve from domestic life and motherhood. It also gave them a chance to expand their education by attending either an Academy School (high school) or a "normal school" designed to train teachers. While the administration of schools remained predominately in the hands of men, the field of teaching became the domain of women. By 1900, 75% of American teachers were female. After a short stint teaching, Harriet Keeler studied at a college preparatory school and proceeded to attend Oberlin College. Keeler's decision to attend Oberlin College in the 1860s set her apart from her female peers; co-educational and women's colleges were scarce, but would grow in popularity toward the end of the century. Graduating with a bachelor of arts from the College Department at Oberlin College, Keeler likely received advanced training in classical languages, literature, and higher mathematics in addition to more common liberal arts studies that centered on education. With few professional job options deemed respectable for women at the time, it is no surprise that upon receiving her degree she accepted employment with a school system. Just as ideas of proper gender roles steered Keeler and other American women towards careers such as teaching, the study of nature had also become an acceptable pursuit for those deemed the fairer sex. Interaction within the tamed outdoors was already understood to be an extension of a woman's domestic life. With popular conceptions of nature morphing in contrast to an urbanizing country during the latter half of the 1800s, what the city lacked in virtue was imbued upon the natural world. The morality of womanhood found company in romantic visions of picturesque rural landscapes. Additionally, a division between "scientific" and "recreational" botany emerged early in the century — the latter being cast from the world of science and left to the musings of writers and women. By the end of the 19th century, women had long been active in the informal study of plants. Botany, with its practical application in preparing home remedies, had been taught to women in order that they could perform domestic duties and educate children. Women played an integral part in the identification and organization of North American plant life, but often in an informal role. By the time of Keeler's first foray into publishing nature writing, a tradition of women botanists preceded her. The opportunities and experiences afforded to Harriet Keeler as a teacher and student converged with the release of her first book on amateur botany in 1894, The Wildflowers of Early Spring. An extensive knowledge of science, Latin terminology, and classical literature, combined with the educator's sensibility for arranging information in a comprehensive and digestible format, can be credited for the popular success of Keeler's writing. Timing also played its part. Not only did her book coincide with the first realized efforts to develop a park system in Cleveland, but the concept of nature was finding new relevance throughout the United States. An increasingly literate female and male population was enamored with birds, flowers, and trees. The 1890s witnessed the beginnings of the nature study movement as well as the blossoming of a nationwide crusade to create idealized, rural-esque park spaces for city dwellers. It was a good time to be a nature writer. In 1893, the first publication of Frances Theodora Parsons' How to Know the Wild Flowers sold out within five days. By the turn of the century, similar "how-to-know" nature guides were commonplace. Within this overcrowded market, Keeler's comprehensive and scientific approach distinguished her writing from the glut of nature writing available to the public. Her 1900 book Native Trees and How to Identify Them became a seminal amateur work on the subject and would be reprinted over a dozen times. Harriet Keeler, in the company of countless other middle- and upper-class American women at the turn of the 20th century, navigated through cultural restrictions using preconceived ideals of womanhood as a springboard for creating professional and personal opportunities. While her work as an author and educator were informed by societal boundaries, these acceptable outlets for Keeler's intellectual life proved frutiful.  Through her chosen vocations, Keeler provided lasting contributions to Cleveland in the social changes she helped push forward, the lives she touched as a teacher, and the legacy of her written word. 

Harriet Keeler's life also inspired a different type of tribute. Following her death in 1921, colleagues and friends — including many prominent Clevelanders — immediatley began work planning a physical memorial to the author, teacher and social advocate. By 1923, three hundred acres of wooded terrain in Brecksville Reservation were dedicated as the Harriet Keeler Memorial Woods. The Cleveland Metropolitan Park Board agreed to preserve the grounds from future development, so that the land would act as a home to the flowers, trees and animals that the prominent Clevelander loved.

Thumbing through the writings of Harriet Keeler, one is reminded of the knowledge and pleasure she has provided to explorers of open fields and forests in Cleveland and throughout the country. Following in this tradition, find a moment to peruse her work and identify a tree or flower when taking your next hike through the Harriet Keeler Memorial Woods in the Brecksville Reservation. Using her words and vast reserves of knowledge as a guide, we are encouraged to discover connections between our natural environment and its underlying world of science, history, and literature.

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Starting in the 1880s, many cities and towns across the country began creating monuments and memorials in order to honor those who gave their lives During the Civil War. Willoughby was one such place. The G.A.R Post #74 of Willoughby, also known as the A.Y. Anston Post, decided to build this monument. This fraternal group of local Union Army Veterans appointed George W. Clement as head of the building committee that would oversee construction. Willoughby Civil War Monument is located in downtown Willoughby, Ohio at the intersection of River Road, Euclid Avenue, and Erie Street. It pays tribute to the 160 Willoughby men who served in the Civil War.

This monument was created to honor those local Union soldiers who lost their lives fighting for liberty. Therefore, Clement and the building committee took care in the contractor. They held a competition, and in March 1885 they accepted the design of Carabelli & Braggini. Joseph Carabelli was the primary sculptor. The total cost of the monument was billed at $1400.

The 18-foot-high Willoughby Civil War monument, hewn from Richmond Granite, consists of a three-tiered stage and column that is 12 feet tall and topped by a statue of a 6-foot-tall soldier standing at "parade-rest." Inscribed on the second tier are the four names of famous battles: Perryville, Chickamauga, Wilderness, and Antietam. Each battle has its own side of the square base. These battles are significant for the city because each of these battles featured soldiers from Willoughby. Etched on the third level are the individual names of all 160 Willoughby Civil War soldiers. They are listed alphabetically around each side of the monument. Extending from the third base is a shaft that is four feet high. The United States' coat of arms is carved into the north side of this pillar, meanwhile, on the west side, the artillery emblems of cannon and balls. Additionally, the south side of the pole includes a set of crossed anchors and crossed sabers, and finally, on the east side there is a representation of Fort Fisher. The Union soldier stands on top of the column.

The Willoughby Civil War Monument was dedicated on July 4, 1885, but the final addition to the monument was not made until July 4, 1901, when a 125-foot flagpole was raised. The dedication ceremony consisted of about six to eight thousand people. The most important addition came fifteen years later when the town's surviving Civil War veterans dedicated a ten-inch Columbiad cannon as an additional memorial to the monument area. The cannon has an interesting story. It was not a replica, but instead had great significance. The cannon came from Baltimore's Fort McHenry, which ties Willoughby and its role in the Civil War with the pivotal role that Fort McHenry played in another war, the War of 1812.

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Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British off the shores of Put-in-Bay, just 70 miles from Cleveland, during the War of 1812. The sounds of the cannon fire could be heard by Cleveland residents, drawing them to the shores of Lake Erie as Perry’s squadron defeated the British force on September 10, 1813 to win control of the western Great Lakes. Perry’s actions during the naval battle, epitomized by his victory message, "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop," won him hero’s attention and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1814. Commodore Perry continued to serve in the United States Navy after the war. He died of yellow fever during a diplomatic mission to Venezuela in 1819 and was buried with honors in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Perry moved about the United States North Coast in life, duty, and commemorative spirit as a warrior hero. Many cities along the way chose to recognize and honor him.

Forty-four years after the Battle of Lake Erie, Cleveland’s City Council and citizens resolved to honor Commodore Perry with a monument. Cleveland was first to commemorate Perry, but many would follow. On September 10, 1860, sculptor William Walcutt’s Commodore Perry statue was dedicated and centered in Public Square. Eighteen years later, it was moved to the southeast quadrant of Public Square. The marble rendering remained there until 1892 when the Soldiers & Sailors Monument displaced it from the Square. It stayed in storage a couple of years until it found a home in Wade Park in University Circle. After a nearly twenty-year stay at Wade Park, the statue again moved to make room for the Cleveland Museum of Art. It relocated in 1913 to Gordon Park, where it spent a little time in front of the Cleveland Aquarium before moving elsewhere in Gordon Park. Due to severe wear and tear at the hands of Lake Erie’s weather, two bronze replicas were cast of the Perry statue in 1929. One replaced the marble original in Gordon Park. In 1991, this Commodore Perry bronze monument would make his final journey to his current home in Fort Huntington Park in downtown Cleveland.  The second Walcutt bronze replica was sold to Perry’s home state of Rhode Island where it stands outside the Statehouse in Providence. The Cleveland Museum of Art and the Western Reserve Historical Society both declined offers to house the original. It was eventually given to the city of Perrysburg, Ohio, where, in 1937 another bronze replica was cast for that city’s park. The original statue has been on loan to the National Park Service since 2002 at the Perry Victory and International Peace Memorial at Put-in-Bay, Ohio. Meanwhile, Perry’s hometown, Newport, Rhode Island, commissioned a statue rendering of the Commodore by William G. Turner. Unlike the crossed arm pose of Walcutt’s work, Turner’s pose featured the moment Perry stepped aboard the Niagara after leaving his heavily damaged USS Lawrence – right arm raised and the battle flag slung over his left shoulder. It was dedicated on September 10, 1885, and stands in Newport’s Eisenhower Park. Nearby, his relocated grave reveals Perry’s travels in death. He was reinterred in Newport’s Island Cemetery and memorialized with an obelisk grave marker. As a naval commander in 1812, Oliver Hazard Perry first traveled to Buffalo, New York, to build his fleet. Proximity to the British forces across the river, drove him to Erie, Pennsylvania’s Presque Isle to complete the fleet. Like Cleveland, both cities chose to commemorate him with statues and monuments. Buffalo features a statue by Charles Niehaus at Front Park along Lake Erie while Erie features a Turner statue replica in the downtown area and an obelisk victory monument on Presque Isle where Perry’s fleet was assembled. Perry's statue movements in and around Cleveland and elsewhere were first noted by a prophetic local poet in 1879 upon the Public Square relocation:

"O, Perry, mighty leader, yes an' terror of the foe, The hour has come when off your perch, they say you've got to go; For nearly twenty years you've stood, upon your base up there..."

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James A. Garfield was born on November 19, 1831, in a log cabin in Orange Township. His father passed away when he was only 18 months old, leaving his mother to fend for herself and her family. Garfield started working at an early age to try to keep his family out of poverty. His first job--working on the Ohio Canal--was only the beginning. During his lifetime, the hardworking Garfield ably filled a number of positions and jobs. Among his many occupations, he served as a minister, lawyer, war hero and general in the volunteer Union Army, president of Hiram College, Republican state representative and senator, and finally the President of the United States of America.

Marking the pinnacle of Garfield's achievements in terms of position, his presidency lasted only 200 days. It is the second shortest presidency in U.S. history (only "beaten" by William Henry Harrison who died of pneumonia-related causes on his 32nd day in office). It spanned from March 4 to Sept. 19, 1881, when he died from a gunshot wound inflicted by his assassin Charles J. Guiteau.

A committee was formed for the memorial of Ohio's third President. J. H. Wade was its president, and many other notable citizens were involved as well, including Rutherford B. Hayes and John D. Rockefeller. They wanted to build a structure that would do justice to the nation's slain hero. An international competition was held for artists and architects to compete for the task and honor of designing the memorial. For that reason, a notice was sent throughout the U.S., England, Germany, Italy, and France. In the end, the job was awarded to George Keller of Hartford, Connecticut, as the committee favored his design. Construction of the 180-foot-tall memorial began in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery on October 6, 1885, and the memorial, which sits astride the Cleveland–Cleveland Heights border, was dedicated on May 30, 1890.

The tomb of President Garfield is located inside the memorial. It is entered through the portico from a terrace. There are five bas-reliefs inside the memorial, with more than 108 life-size figures, showing Garfield in the role of schoolteacher, statesman, and president. Sculpture work inside of the tomb is by Casper Buberl. The statue of Garfield, prominently displaced in the center of the circular chapel, is the creation of Alexander Doyle. The marble used by Doyle was taken from the famous quarries near Carrara, Italy, which were first opened by Leonardo da Vinci.

An interesting detail was revealed in an interview with the architect George Keller. Keller told that the five bas-reliefs show some famous Americans. There are depictions of Chief Justice Waite, General Sherman, ex-President Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester Arthur, John A. Logan, Carl Schurz, James G. Blaine, and many others. The sculptor Buberl had also included depictions of himself, the architect, the sculptor's assistant, and even the foreman of the plaster casters of Perth Amboy Terra Cotta works. Furthermore, on the interior in the mosaic frieze, the artist Mr. Lonsdale had introduced a portrait of the architect's infant daughter. These little details were obviously introduced unobtrusively.

The memorial has required repeated preservation work in the past several decades. In 1984, the memorial was closed for major restorations including repairing the walls, floors and roof in addition to restoring the stained-glass windows. The cemetery received a $500,000 federal grant to help pay for the restoration work, which was completed in time for a rededication ceremony on Memorial Day in 1985. More recently, a multimillion-dollar restoration project aimed to mitigate more than century of wear and tear, including repointing the mortar and performing the first cleaning of the sandstone exterior. The scaffolding came down in 2020, 130 years after the monument's completion, revealing an edifice that again looks much as it did a decade after President Garfield's death.

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A close friend and editor for the Plain Dealer likened Stinchcomb to Moses Cleaveland and Tom Johnson as a Cleveland icon. Upon Stinchcomb's retirement, the Cleveland Metroparks' chairman of the board stated, "I know of no man to whom the citizens of Cuyahoga County owe more than to William Stinchcomb." This is precisely why Stinchcomb, or "Mr. Metropolitan Park," has a monument erected in his name in the Rocky River Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks which he founded, designed, and directed.

William Stinchcomb believed people to be at home in the outdoors, and that urbanites in particular needed access to wilderness and wildlife in order to maintain a healthy life. Stinchcomb stated that "[w]e must have these great outdoor rest places close to a great industrial city such as this is, and as working days grow shorter we must find healthful ways of filling leisure time." As the very first engineer of the Metropolitan Parks System, he was responsible for the ring-shaped design of the refuge that encircles the city of greater Cleveland.

Stinchcomb's idea and design of the Cleveland Metroparks may have been influenced by Boston's Emerald Necklace; a u-shaped system of parks that virtually surrounds the city. Stinchcomb alluded to such an influence by using the term Emerald Necklace as a nickname for the Cleveland Metroparks. The Emerald Necklace of Boston was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, a pioneer in landscape architecture, in 1880. Olmsted's sons John Charles and Frederick Law Jr. created the first ever landscape architectural firm, Olmsted Brothers, the same firm hired by Stinchcomb to help create Cleveland's Emerald Necklace in 1915.

In 1922, Stinchcomb undertook a massive reforestation project that consisted of the planting of over 2,500 trees in the Rocky River reservation. During the Great Depression, he employed government organizations including the PWA, WPA, and CCC to improve the parks system and connect the various reservations by making them more accessible to the public through the construction of roads, water mains, and various types of trails.

Stinchcomb retired in 1957 after 35 years as Director of the Cleveland Metroparks due to rapidly declining health. He died on January 17, 1959, shortly after he attended an informal unveiling of his own memorial in November 1958. The thirty-foot-tall monument, formally dedicated on October 17, 1959, was produced with a budget of $8,000. It was collaboratively designed by sculptor William McVey and architect Ernst Payer, and overlooks the first parcel of land that Stinchcomb purchased for Cleveland's metropolitan parks system in 1919. This overlook is just south of the Rockliffe Lane entrance to the Rocky River North Reservation. The monument itself is made of concrete with two speakers near the top for use with the amphitheater, an inlaid red granite bas-relief sculpture of Stinchcomb in profile, and a granite podium with an inscription detailing Stinchcomb's life.

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Amid the busy streets of downtown Cleveland stands the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, built to honor the 10,000 Cuyahoga County residents who fought in the Civil War. Almost fifteen years after Major William J. Gleason first suggested the idea of honoring the bravery of these local Union soldiers, the monument was finally dedicated on July 4, 1894. This long anticipated event featured a parade over five miles long, an opening address made by William McKinley, performances by the Great Western Band, and children singing anthems of patriotism.

Despite all this enthusiasm, the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument was subject of hostility throughout most of its planning. City authorities and a few citizens opposed the scheme to locate the monument in the southeast corner of Public Square, where it now stands. After numerous court battles, one of which went to the Supreme Court, and meetings to protest the building site, construction finally began at the location on August 25, 1891.

A committee of twelve former soldiers and sailors were in charge of the monument's planning. The monument was designed by architect Levi T. Scofield, but the entire Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument committee contributed with their ideas. The decision to have the monument be either a shaft or a memorial hall was put to a vote at a meeting of Camp Barnett Soldiers' and Sailors' Society. Because the votes were split, it was decided to include both styles in the design.

The total height of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument reaches to 125 feet. Atop the black Amherst stone column stands Lady Liberty in a defensive stance. The column itself is separated into sections by six bands that together contain the names of thirty of the most notable Civil War battles. A bastion fort with guns mounted in barbette connects the column to the monument's building. Surrounding the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument are four bronze statues symbolizing the principal branches of service: the Infantry, the Cavalry, the Navy, and the Artillery. During the planning, the building became a tablet room rather than the originally proposed memorial hall. Inside the building, which became a tablet room rather than the originally proposed memorial hall, the names of the 10,000 Cuyahoga county Union soldiers are carved in the marble walls. Above the tablets, on the east and west walls are the bronze busts of officers who were killed in action. Above the north side door is the bust of General James Barnett, and above the south side door is Captain Levi T. Scofield. The foundation of the column centers the room. On each of the four sides are bronze relief statues portraying the Beginning of the War in Ohio, The Emancipation of the Slave, the Northern Ohio Soldiers' Aid Society, Sanitary Commission, and Hospital Service Corps, and The End of the War.

In 2008, an extensive restoration began on the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument lasting two years and totaling two million dollars. Reopened to the public on June 4, 2010, this symbol of pride for the residents of Cuyahoga county can now be visited and appreciated year round.

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While no actual Civil War battles took place in Northeast Ohio, the role that its men played in the war was still a significant one. The 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which is better know as the 7th OVI, was a heroic group of men from all over Northeast Ohio who served proudly in the American Civil War. The 7th OVI was initially composed of 1800 men in 10 companies and was in fact only one of a number of infantry units composed of men from the state of Ohio. Indeed, when President Lincoln called on troops to join the war effort in April of 1862, there were enough volunteers from across Ohio to fill the entire quota of 75,000!

Most men from the 7th OVI were true Cleveland boys with a strong spirit to fight for the Union. These were men of culture and good social status, including clergymen, students, teachers, bankers, farmers, and mechanics. When the 7th Ohio was called into service on April 30, 1861 Colonel E.B. Tyler was chosen to lead the infantry. The 7th Ohio mustered at Camp Taylor in Cleveland, located near what is now East 30th and Woodland Avenue. The troops then were moved to Camp Dennison near Cincinnati to receive further training, weapons, and uniforms. It was here that most of the 7th signed up for three years of service to defend the Union. After their service began, they headed out to West Virginia on June 26, 1861.

When Colonel E. B. Tyler was promoted to General, William R. Creighton, with whom the history of the Seventh is identified, took over as Colonel of the 7th OVI. Creighton was part of the old Cleveland Light Guard militia unit which formed the nucleus of what became the 7th OVI. He led the 7th through many famous battles such as Cedar Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg before he lost his life in the Battle of Ringgold, Atlanta on November 27, 1863. On that same day, Creighton's Lieutentant Colonel, Orrin J. Crane, also lost his life. Both Creighton and Crane always led their men into battle showing great courage and valor.

After Creighton and Crane lost their lives, the 7th headed south to aid in the Atlanta campaign. Before the campaign began, however, the 7th Ohio was pulled from action at the front because their enlistment time had expired. Those who wanted to continue to fight for the Union joined the 5th Ohio. The rest of the regiment was mustered out, with its men paid and discharged at Camp Cleveland on July 8, 1864.

A war historian wrote of the 7th regiment that "[a]ll in all, considering the number of its battles, its marches, its losses, its conduct in action, it may be safely said that not a single regiment in the United States gained more lasting honor or deserved better of its country than the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry." The unit lost 10 officers and 174 men to hostile action and 2 officers and 87 men to disease. The memory of the 7th OVI, however, will live forever in marbled monuments around the country. One such monument can be found in Woodland Cemetery in Cleveland, where both Creighton and Crane are buried.

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One afternoon in the summer of 1869 Liberty Holden was riding down Euclid Avenue when he noticed a beautiful forested green space with rolling hills. Holden suggested the spot to the Lake View Cemetery Association as the perfect place for the cemetery they were planning. The Association bought the 211-acre spot and transformed it into the first rural cemetery in Cleveland.

The rural cemetery (or garden cemetery) movement in the United States began on the East Coast during the early nineteenth century. Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts (established in 1831), Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1836), and Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York (1838) are considered the nation’s first three rural cemeteries, and they laid the pattern that many other American cities would follow in establishing their own rural cemeteries.

Before the rural cemetery movement, most urban burial places were located in churchyards. The move from burial places in the city to a rural setting happened for a multitude of reasons. The first reason was many burial grounds in the city occupied prime locations eyed for commercial development. The second issue that led to the foundation of rural cemeteries was that the capacities of these burial grounds were reaching their limits. Yellow fever in New York led to high mortality rates. Mass graves, bodies being kept in church cellars, and the generally poor condition brought up concerns about respect for the dead. The condition of the burial grounds was also threatening to compromise public health. In particular the gas fumes from dead bodies were noxious. The final reason for the establishment of rural cemeteries was a change in view of nature. Nature came to be seen as beneficial for human health. Those who planned the first rural cemeteries responded by taking the natural landscape into consideration in their designs.

The rural cemetery movement was also called the garden cemetery movement because rural cemeteries, with their emphasis on cultivated nature, doubled as parklands. Rural cemetery planners drew inspiration from English gardens. Mount Auburn was the brainchild of Dr. Jacob Bigelow, a medical doctor and botanist. With the support of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the cemetery included a botanical garden. The cemetery, along with providing a place for burials, was a green space for the city of Boston and a popular destination for locals and tourists alike. Rules were implemented and updated in order to manage the number of visitors in respect of those buried and their families. The rural cemetery movement therefore helped with the creation of separate city parks.

Lake View Cemetery mirrored these predecessors in its creation. Jeptha H. Wade, Joseph Perkins, and Henry Bolton Payne were the first group to discuss the creation of a rural cemetery in Cleveland. Through their efforts, the Lake View Cemetery Association was organized on July 28, 1869. The Association looked for picturesque locations for the cemetery and acquired 211 acres (now 285 acres) east of Cleveland between Euclid Avenue and Mayfield Road. The Association brought in Adolph Strauch, a well-known gardener, landscaper, and the superintendent of Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. Spring Grove was another well-known early rural cemetery designed by John Notman, who had previously designed Philadelphia’s Laurel Hill Cemetery. Lake View had hills and valleys with peaks high enough to look out over Lake Erie and still see the city. Parts of the land were densely forested. A few streams were located on the property that were planned for use in creating manmade lakes. Strauch laid out the walking paths and the lot boundaries before filling in where the trees and plants should be placed. His method involved accentuating the natural features of the landscape.

Not only did Lake View mirror Mount Auburn, Laurel Hill, and Green-Wood in its conception but also in its later regulation of visitors. These regulations reflected one of the intended aspirations for rural cemeteries besides merely housing the dead. The cemetery served as a place of moral education as well as a beautiful landscape with grand monuments, including memorials to President James A. Garfield, John D. Rockefeller, and Jeptha Wade. If the solemnity of its statuary failed to inspire, cemetery rules instructed visitors on how to act while on the grounds and guide toward solemn remembrance. An 1882 column titled “Lake View Cemetery: Not a Picnic Resort” brought complaints made by lot owners and family of the buried to the public's attention. Its author described the fanfare associated with visiting President Garfield’s memorial but emphasized the issue of strangers setting up picnics on grave monuments and the crowds trampling the grounds. There was a call for regulation on Sundays that led to implementation of ticketing for admittance to follow the same action taken at Green-Wood and Spring Grove cemeteries.

Once among the only substantial cultivated green spaces in reach of Clevelanders, Lake View Cemetery became less novel by the turn of the twentieth century, when newly opened city parks began to lure recreation-seekers away. Nevertheless, Lake View continued to attract visitors with its variety of plants, trees, and flowers. In the 1940s Dr. William Weir cultivated more than 170 varieties of daffodils and donated a large collection of bulbs to Lake View. The bulbs were planted in a three-acre portion of the cemetery with more being added each year. With more than one hundred thousand bulbs, Daffodil Hill has become a perennial attraction enticing visitors back to Lake View Cemetery yearly to see them in bloom.

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Laid out by Moses Cleaveland's surveying party in 1796 in the tradition of the New England village green, Public Square marked the center of the Connecticut Land Company's plan for Cleveland and, soon, a ceremonial space for the growing city. In 1856, Cleveland's first fountain was constructed on the square. Four years later a statue of Battle of Lake Erie hero Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was erected in the center of the square, leading City Council to rename Public Square as Monumental Park. In 1865, Clevelanders watched returning Civil War regiments as they mustered on Public Square, and later generations would greet returning veterans from subsequent wars. Public Square also provided a space for viewing the caskets of fallen U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln and James A. Garfield in 1865 and 1881, respectively. In perhaps its most notable moment in the 19th century, in 1879, Public Square garnered international attention when inventor Charles F. Brush showcased one of the world's first successful demonstrations of electric streetlights there.

Adding to the reputation of Monumental Park, a statue of Moses Cleaveland rose on the northwest quadrant in 1888, and on July 4, 1894, the 125-foot-tall Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument was dedicated on the square's southeast quadrant in honor of Civil War veterans, at which time Perry's monument was moved, first to Wade Park. Although protests halted an 1895 plan to erect a massive new City Hall across the northern half of Public Square with an arch to permit Ontario Street traffic to pass underneath, in the following year the city marked its centennial with a large arch over Superior Avenue just east of Ontario and a replica of an original log cabin in the northeast quadrant.

In addition to its symbolic value, Public Square has also been a transit hub since the 19th century, first as a point of arrival for stagecoaches, and later as the hub of streetcar, interurban railway, and bus lines. Traffic patterns around Public Square were a source of much controversy in the 19th century. In the 1850s, supporters of a fully enclosed square erected a fence around its entire perimeter, preventing traffic from entering. Eventually the transit demands of an expanding city won out, and in 1867 roads once again passed through the center of Public Square.  Since that time, Public Square has labored under often-conflicting demands that it serve simultaneously as symbolic space, transit hub, and park. The opening of the Cleveland Union Terminal in 1930 prompted a sprucing up of Public Square, including the removal of a pavilion and a rustic bridge over an artificial stream that had occupied the square's southwest quadrant for decades. In their place was a large open lawn that provided a tidier "front yard" for the tallest building in the world outside New York. In the years that followed, transit use gradually eclipsed whatever parklike qualities the space had held.

In 1943 a new transit plan called for a new central subway station under Public Square. Ontario Street was to be depressed beneath Superior Avenue, and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument was to be relocated elsewhere. A Plain Dealer reporter quipped that the statue's removal "alone is almost worth the cost."  The 1940s and 1950s passed with no action on building a subway system. A 1958 plan proposed by architect Howard B. Cain, whose Park Building offices overlooked Public Square, envisioned closing Ontario, depressing Superior below grade, removing the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, and creating a Rockefeller Plaza-influenced sunken plaza with an ice-skating rink. Dubbed International Square, Cain's transformation--no doubt inspired by the expanded world trade that boosters claimed the impending opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway would produce-imagined shops and restaurants representing many nations. The next year, a new downtown master plan revived the idea of a subway under Public Square, this time affecting only its southern half. The plan also called for lowering the level of the northern half of the square, moving the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument to the northeastern quadrant and building a sunken ice rink in the northwestern quadrant.  Like Cain's plan, this part of the downtown plan languished when county commissioners nixed the subway project. In the wake of the subway defeat, a 1960 plan to close through streets in Public Square and construct a 1,600-car underground garage likewise failed.  

Yet, the dream of remaking Public Square did not disappear. In the 1970s, urban planner Lawrence Halprin brought his imaginative renewal ideas to Cleveland. Halprin recommended turning Euclid Avenue into a pedestrian mall and remaking Public Square into a more parklike space. Iris Vail, wife of Plain Dealer publisher Thomas Vail, and other Garden Club of Cleveland women held a "Beautification Ball" in the Arcade in 1975 to raise $100,000 to finance a specific blueprint for the square. They hired Don M. Hisaka of Cleveland and Sasaki Associates of Massachusetts to design the new Public Square but then decided they did not like his minimalist, modernistic vision for the space. Instead, they spearheaded a more traditional parklike redo of the northeastern quadrant as a demonstration. Over the ensuing decade, Public Square was remade quadrant by quadrant as city, county, state, and federal funds, along with Cleveland Foundation and Garden Club monies--in all $12 million, augmented the original $100,000 raised by the Garden Club.  

Opened with laser-show fanfare just in time for Cleveland's sesquicentennial in 1986, the revamped Public Square sported parklike spaces and, in the southwest quadrant, a brick and granite terraced plaza with an artificial waterfall. In maintaining Superior and Ontario as through streets, the 1980s Public Square remake fell well short of decades of visions for reuniting the four isolated quadrants. In 2002 the New York-based Project for Public Spaces visited Cleveland and urged reunification of the square, calling it one of the world's most dysfunctional public spaces. Mayor Frank Jackson's appointed Group Plan Commission, a blue-ribbon committee inspired by Daniel Burnham's famed "Group Plan" of a century before, set out to make both the Mall and Public Square reach their potential as appealing destinations for locals and visitors. The commission approved a plan by James Corner, known for his innovative High Line project, which transformed an abandoned elevated railroad in New York City into a linear park. With the announcement of Cleveland's selection to host the 2016 Republican National Convention, civic leaders rallied to raise the $32 million needed make the long-awaited reunification of Public Square a reality.

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