In the spring of 1903, the management of Scenic Amusement Park hired surveyors to study possibilities for overcoming the watery divide separating Lakewood and Rocky River. A scheme had been concocted to unite the two suburbs.  On the land that now comprises Cleveland Metroparks Scenic Park, surveyors formulated plans for a multichannel chute to span the width of the Rocky River.  Even though Scenic Park was the leading amusement park west of Cleveland, it was feared that the resort’s continued profitability hung in the balance of completing construction of the newest attraction.  Park management, however, had no intention of erecting a new stomach-dropping toboggan ride; one passage in the chute would transport boxes of cash to Rocky River, while the neighboring duct accommodated a dumbwaiter large enough to convey glasses of beer and liquor to Scenic Park's German Village in Lakewood. Far from being the most exotic diversion, it was assured to become a favorite park-destination for Cleveland’s working class.  


The proposed engineering feat infuriated an outspoken contingent of Lakewood residents; the village had been voted dry in November of the prior year.  Since its official opening in 1895, the popular amusement park drew the ire of many living in the surrounding community.   Grievances had been lodged with local law enforcement claiming that park management evaded Blue laws by offering music, sporting events, and alcohol on Sundays.  Rumors were abound that a not-so-secret drinking establishment was hidden away in the woods, and that it operated on the Sabbath.  Newspapers provided accounts by anti-saloon league members of fights, lewd comments, rowdyism, and inebriated women sitting on the laps of men.  It wasn't just the careless commingling of limbs that concerned Lakewood residents. Chartered in 1889 and incorporated as a village in 1903, Lakewood was experiencing growing pains.  The village’s potential as a prosperous suburban enclave laid in forging its identity as a residential community - a vision pitted in opposition to the urban character of amusement parks.

Drunken crowds and unruly behavior were nothing new along the shores of Lakewood. Scenic Park was the last vestige of pleasure gardens designed to attract Clevelanders and potential new residents to the undeveloped grounds in the late 1860s. Located at the picturesque confluence of the Rocky River and Lake Erie, the Clifton Park Association acquired and developed lands abutting the lakeshore and east river bank; the estate touted picnic grounds, bathing beaches, beer gardens, rental boats, a dance hall and hotel. The Rocky River Railroad was laid out in 1869, connecting the retreat with the burgeoning city to the west.  Liquor and beer flowed freely at the resort, as evidenced by the carnage of wrecked buggies leading away from the park on Detroit Avenue.  While a popular destination, the seasonal nature of the recreation grounds could not adequately sustain their operation. Land used for the dummy railway was eventually absorbed for commercial use by the Nickel Plate Railroad in 1881, and the hotel succumbed to flames the following year. With accommodations and access to the pleasure garden limited, the Clifton Park Association invested little in maintaining or developing the land during the next decade.


It was waiting game for the land speculators, but their patience paid off.  In 1893, the Detroit Avenue streetcar line was opened by the Cleveland City Railway Co.  The hamlet of Lakewood was immediately accessible for settlement by city dwellers. The Clifton Park Association subdivided their real estate in anticipation of growth. Lakefront property was dedicated to high-end residential development; the rugged bluffs and flood-prone terrain along the Rocky River were slated to become a new type of recreation grounds.

Across the United States, both landholding and traction companies were investing in the development of amusement parks.  Private parks and picnic grounds in bucolic locals were enclosed and transformed into spaces for public recreation on the outskirts of every urban center by the late 1890s.  Landholding companies, such as the Clifton Park Association,  invested in amusement parks to draw people into the suburbs; additionally, they could lease their undeveloped properties to park operators. Most commonly, these new recreation grounds were built and run by traction companies. It was a wise investment.  Nothing promoted streetcar ridership during the summer more than amusement parks. As further incentive, the excess generating capacity of streetcar companies could be used to power lights and rides at parks located near the end of trolley lines. The Cleveland City Railway Co., leased the park grounds from the Clifton Park Association, and struck gold with the opening of Scenic Park.  Within weeks of the park’s formal opening, the Detroit Avenue streetcar line was overrun by throngs of Clevelanders wishing to breathe in the fresh air and wander through the charming mechanized wonderland. 

Despite the characterizations presented by proponents of temperance, there was much more to Scenic Park than its beer gardens. The amusement park offered dancing and theater pavilions, a half mile racing track, baseball and recreation grounds, picnic groves, merry-go-rounds, a playhouse for light opera and vaudeville, two boathouses, boat rentals, a Ferris wheel, shooting galleries, an Old Aunt Sally, shoot-the-chutes, swings, and restaurants. Thousands of electric lights illuminated the rustic scenery, lending an attractive backdrop for open air concerts, lavish theatrical performances, sporting and race events, pyrotechnical displays, equilibrists, aeronauts, and any sort of extravagant display that could capture public attention.

While all were standard fare in American amusement parks, Scenic Park was renowned for its mile-long Thompson Scenic Railway; purchased and operated by agents of the Cleveland City Railway Co., it was the only scenic railway in the region at the turn of the century. The mile long coaster skirted the bluffs of the Rocky River, propelling its riders through two tunnels ornamented by paintings and papier machee. While a price was attached to rides and attractions, admittance to the park was generally free except on Sundays. Throughout the summer, the amusement park regularly hosted benefit picnics for fraternal, social, political, and labor organizations. Admission receipts were kept by the clubs, while park management indirectly profited from packed streetcars, concessions and paid attractions.

As bustling crowds of city dwellers flocked en mass on summer days to escape cramped neighborhoods and breath the clean air, residents of Rocky River and Lakewood could not help but notice the incursion of urban society upon their growing suburbs. Episodes of drunkenness, crime, and occasional violence accompanied the crowds. The beer-soaked grounds of Scenic Park did little to promote high-end residential development or attract cosmopolitan citizenry into the area. Lakewood residents were not alone in its concerns. Towns throughout Ohio were going dry at the turn of the century in an effort to thwart what was seen as a root of societal troubles; real estate sales were reported to have boomed in consequence.

Drying up Scenic Park proved a bit more difficult than expected. While the chute across the Rocky River was never constructed, a nine foot wide footbridge was erected in its place. Jokingly referred to as the most used bridge in Cuyahoga County, visitors of Scenic Park crossed over the watery impasse onto a small strip of land where liquor was sold. Following a thorough scouring of law books, the citizens of Lakewood realized that they had no authority to close down the beer garden. Adding fuel to the fire, low alcohol drinks known as "swanky" and "non-intox" continued to be sold on park grounds. Despite receiving assurances from Scenic Park management of their compliance with the alcohol ban, residents continued to encounter rowdy park-goers and streetcars brimming over with drunkards leaving the grounds.

The Lakewood police took action during the summer of 1904. The bridge was boarded up, and policemen disrupted day-to-day operations of the park by stamping out games of chance. Scenic Park management was sent word that all Sunday amusements would be shut down if any attempt was made to reopen the footbridge. A sample of "non-intox" was later obtained for analysis during July 4th festivities, and the park manager was arrested for the sale of alcohol. Cleveland Electric Railway Company, which had acquired the Cleveland City Railway Co., soon-after declared that their lease with the Clifton Park Association would not be renewed following its expiration in 1910.

The residents of Lakewood succeeded in drying up Scenic Park. In 1906, the grounds were sublet to the Lincoln Park & Amusement Co. and redeveloped as a family-friendly park. The newly-formed amusement company renamed the grounds Lincoln Park, and invested large sums of money to rebuild the park's infrastructure and public image. The objectionable features of Scenic Park, alcohol and gambling, were erased from park grounds prior to reopening. Lincoln Park offered many new attractions in their place, including displays of an Indian village, the streets of Cairo, and an old-time plantation. Other amusements included a wild west show, a free circus, an illusion palace, a steeple chase, and the largest dancing pavilion in the state. After one season, the Lincoln Park & Amusement Co. declared bankruptcy. The Cleveland Electric Railway Co. entered into negotiations to sublease the park to various amusement promoters over the final years of their lease to no success. The amusement park was eventually dismantled. In May of 1917, the Scenic Park property was purchased by the City of Lakewood from the Clifton Park Association. The land was donated in 1925 to the Cleveland Metropolitan Park Board for use as a gateway to the Rocky River Reservation. The once-thriving playground for Cleveland's middle and working classes had been reclaimed by the citizens of Lakewood to both reflect and promote the desired residential character of their emerging suburb.

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The Euclid Heights Allotment was the first major real estate subdivision up on Cleveland's "Heights" above University Circle and Euclid Avenue. Early on, Euclid Heights’ developers sought to attract wealthy Millionaires’ Row residents who, in the late 19th century, had begun migrating eastward away from the city's pollution and commercial bustle. The development benefited from the advent of electrified streetcars, which could conquer the steep grades leading up to the Heights. Tucked in the corner of a green space framed by Doan Brook and Lake View Cemetery, Euclid Heights offered a stylish retreat where those able to handle longer commutes could enjoy spacious lots, curving streets, handsome architecture, spectacular views, fresh air, privacy and a chance to put distance between themselves and the increasingly dirty, problem-plagued city below.

The story goes that Atlanta and New York railroad lawyer Patrick Calhoun, grandson of U.S. Vice President and Senator John C. Calhoun, traveled to Cleveland on business in 1890. Having time to spare, Calhoun rode out to Lake View Cemetery to see the recently dedicated memorial to the slain President James A. Garfield, a structure Calhoun’s family had supported. On the way he noticed the building boom going on in the East End (Hough area), and wondered where that was heading. Calhoun had been involved earlier in the Richmond Terminal railroad project in Virginia and was familiar with the groundbreaking work that Frank Sprague, the "Father of Electric Traction," had done there in using electric railroads to promote urban development. Knowing that the East Cleveland Railway Company had recently done some innovative work electrifying streetcars locally, Calhoun saw an opportunity to develop an important streetcar suburb at the top of Cedar Glen.

Working with local partners, including John D. Rockefeller's real estate man, J.G.W. Cowles, attorney William Lowe Rice and merchant John Hartness Brown, Calhoun had development plans drawn up by 1892. The Panic of 1893 put their plans on hold but by 1896 an amended site plan was recorded—more or less identical to today's layout of the area with Euclid Heights Boulevard bisecting the site from the southwest corner at the crest of Cedar Hill. In the northeast corner of the development would be the commercial district, what we now know as Coventry Village. Other prominent features included The Overlook—Overlook Road southwest of Edgehill Road and featuring large mansions featuring splendid north- and west-facing views—and the Euclid Club, a country club that sported a golf course spanning both sides of Cedar Road and a grand quarter-mile entry path beginning at what is now the corner of Derbyshire and Surrey Roads.

The development gradually attracted fine homes and also spurred other beautiful subdivisions, such as Barton Deming’s Euclid Golf Allotment on the south portion of the former golf course (which closed in 1912). Moreover, the Van Sweringen brothers, are believed to have been paperboys in the Euclid Heights area and later went on to adopt themes from the Euclid Heights Allotment in their famous Shaker Heights and Shaker Farm communities (the latter comprises streets such as Stratford, Marlboro, Fairfax and Guilford, west of Lee Road and immediately north of Fairmount Boulevard) . Calhoun, however, was distracted by legal problems running the San Francisco streetcar franchise after the Great Earthquake and saw his Euclid Heights development company forced into bankruptcy in 1914. By then William Rice had been murdered while walking home to the Overlook from the Euclid Club, a sensational case that featured John Hartness Brown as a suspect. Although it still maintains its picturesque “Garden City” look, Euclid Heights soon evolved from a private hilltop retreat to a busy gateway to the rapidly developing Heights. A large portion of Calhoun-owned land in the area’s eastern sector was sold off and subdivided, thus explaining why Cleveland Heights homes east of Coventry Road tend to be somewhat more modest than those near the top of the hill. Today Euclid Heights is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It remains full of architecturally significant homes (including Calhoun's at 2460 Edgehill), but its main significance is the role it played in opening the Heights as a streetcar suburb for wealthy Clevelanders.

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Until the late 1800s, looking down from atop Cedar Hill you would have seen little more than a countryside landscape divided by an unkempt dirt road. The hillside known as Cedar Glen hosted few travellers aside from farm wagons and, later, visitors to the springs resort at the foot of the hill. In less than a century, this scene would be replaced by one of a busy, six-lane road as Cedar Glen became the biggest gateway to the Heights from the city of Cleveland.

One of Cedar Glen's most salient characteristics is its gradual rise in elevation. The western edge of the Portage Escarpment causes this natural formation. The Portage Escarpment not only divides the Allegheny Plateau and the Great Lakes Basin, but also acts as a boundary between Cleveland and its suburban "Heights" to the east. Originally the eastern part of Cedar Glen and the high ground to which it leads belonged to East Cleveland Township. When Cleveland Heights incorporated as a village in 1903, it engulfed the southern part of East Cleveland Township, which included farmland and Cedar Glen.

Another natural feature that, for a time, made Cedar Glen a well-known area was Doan Brook, which was piped and buried underground in 1929. In the early 1800s, bluish grey sandstone called Euclid bluestone was quarried along the brook. The hard sandstone was used for everything from laundry tubs to sidewalks. Later in the century Doan Brook again brought attention to Cedar Glen. Dr. Nathan Hardy Ambler was a former dentist and the owner of the Cedar Glen property through which Doan Brook passes on its way from Shaker Lakes to Lake Erie. Although the blue-green water tasted like sulfur, Ambler began bottling and selling it to local restaurants. Because patrons believed the water offered health benefits and hydrotherapy was becoming a popular treatment method, Ambler and his partner Daniel O. Caswell opened the Blue Rock Spring House in Cedar Glen. The water resort and sanitarium operated from 1880 until 1908 when popularity began to fade.

Cedar Glen began its transition to one of Cleveland's most important transportation gateways from the suburbs in 1896 when entrepreneur and suburban developer Patrick Calhoun donated a large tract of land to the city's park system. One of the conditions of the gift was that Calhoun would be permitted to run a double-line street railway through Cedar Glen. Construction began that fall on the street railway that was intended to bring passengers to and from Euclid Heights and Ambler Heights, prestigious residential allotments on the "Overlook." The increase in suburban residents and visitors made possible the construction of the Cedar Fairmount retail district at the top of the hill.

By the 1920s Cedar Glen was bustling with heavy streetcar and automobile traffic. At the end of that decade a tunnel and platform were built on the western end of Cedar Glen in conjunction with the construction of the Cleveland Union Terminal, further connecting Cleveland Heights to its urban neighbor. In the mid 1950s Cleveland Transit Service (CTS), the predecessor of today's RTA, built the University Circle Rapid Transit Station at the same location on the bottom of Cedar Glen where the tunnel was constructed twenty-five years earlier. Completely transformed from its onetime status as a barren, dirt road, Cedar Glen now remains a well-traveled gateway to and from Cleveland.

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2675 Fairmount was the site of the Barton R. Deming Company's Euclid Golf Allotment sales office. John D. Rockefeller owned the 141-acre former timber farm in 1901 when neighboring property owner, Patrick Calhoun, asked if he could lease the property. Calhoun had built the Euclid Club, a first-class country club, to attract elite families to his Euclid Heights development. He wanted to create Cleveland's first professionally designed golf course at the club, but didn't have enough land for a full 18-hole course. He planned to use Rockefeller's land for the upper nine holes. A golf enthusiast, Rockefeller agreed to lease the property, rent free, with the stipulation that the upper nine not be used on the Sabbath.

The golf era was short-lived. In 1906, Rockefeller permitted the Cleveland Street Railroad Company to run a line through his property to connect the Cedar Road line to Coventry Road. With the increasing availability of transportation, many housing developments sprang up in the Heights and soon surrounded the Euclid Club, which disbanded in 1912. Rockefeller entertained several proposals for development, but ultimately chose the plan of Barton R. Deming for the Euclid Golf Allotment.

Deming planned to develop a high-quality residential neighborhood. He specified large lots, along Fairmount Boulevard, and smaller lots, on the side streets, for the middle class. Clarence C. Terrill, manager of Rockefeller's Abeyton Realty, believed Deming's design -- and its deed restrictions -- would both ensure the profitability of the venture and the neighborhood's design quality.

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In 19th-century Cleveland, bridge-building was big. The Columbus Street Bridge—a 200-foot covered structure completed around 1836—was the city’s first major span. It supplanted a series of less-permanent crossings such as a chained platform of floating logs and a wood-surface structure supported by pontoon boats. The opening of the Columbus Street Bridge (combined with Cleveland’s destruction of an older bridge to the north) fomented the infamous Ohio City Bridge War. Other projects followed, including the Center Street Bridge, the Main Street Bridge and the Seneca (West 3rd) Street Bridge. Foreshadowing later disasters, the Seneca Street structure collapsed in 1857. The official cause was “overloaded with cattle.” In 1878 a milestone was reached when the Superior Viaduct was completed. This was the first Cleveland span tall enough to let river traffic pass under it without enacting a swing or levitation mechanism.

But the century’s largest bridge by far—as well as the one most beset by misconception and misfortune —was the Central Viaduct, built by the King Iron Bridge and Manufacturing Company and completed in 1888. What most people refer to as the Central Viaduct stood roughly where the Innerbelt Bridge (I-90) is now located. It was 2,839 feet long and extended from Jennings Avenue (now West 14th Street) to Central Avenue (now Carnegie Avenue). Known as a "stilt" type bridge, it had a turntable section that pivoted horizontally to let tall ships pass. However, the Jennings-Central span was only part of the Central Viaduct initiative. A second bridge—the Walworth Run section—connected Abbey Avenue to Lorain Avenue at W. 25th Street. Rebuilt in 1986, the 1,088-foot bridge continues to link Ohio City with what is now Tremont.

Even before the Jennings-Central portion of the Viaduct was completed, tragedy struck. On the afternoon of January 5, 1888, part of the structure collapsed, killing several workers. Investigators concluded that a large water-carrying machine ran off the end of a temporary wooden trestle. On the way down, it took out two sections of the nascent bridge which collapsed on workers beneath. In 1892, disaster struck again when a speeding streetcar jumped the tracks and crashed into an oncoming car.

Would that that were all. On the foggy evening of November 16, 1895, Railcar 642 of the Cleveland Electric Railway Company, heading west from downtown, crashed through a gate and plummeted 100 feet off the Viaduct into the Cuyahoga River. Unbeknownst to the passengers and crew, the center section (the “draw”) had been opened to permit the tugboat “Ben Campbell” towing a lumber barge to pass underneath. And unbeknownst to motorman Augustus Rogers, the power cutoff switch (designed to stop the streetcar when the draw was open) was broken. Of Car 642’s 21 passengers and crew, 17 died, including conductor Edward Hoffman who left behind a wife and 10-month-old son.

"Nothing like it recorded in the history of the Forest City," mourned the Cleveland Press. Interviewed by the paper, bystander Phil Beck recalled that "the car was running rapidly up until the time it reached the safety rail. It came to a standstill and the conductor jumped out and threw the switch. Then the motorman put the power on and the car moved forward at a high rate of speed. We all yelled to the motorman to stop, but he did not seem to heed nor hear us. [After crashing through a gate] he saw his peril and, without reversing the power, sprang to the bridge. He saved himself by catching the edge of the footwalk. Then the car dropped over the edge. It was going at such a high rate of speed that it did not seem that the front end dropped first, but seemed to sail out into the air and then drop down." On its descent, the car struck the bridge pilings and plunged head-first into the river. It took two days of searching with grappling hooks to recover the bodies from the river. Only one passenger, Patrick Looney, survived the plunge. Disabled and traumatized, Looney returned to County Clare, Ireland, where he lived out his life.

Upon seeing the open draw, motorman Augustus Rogers and three passengers had jumped from the car before it plunged. Rogers was accused of manslaughter and jailed. A month later he was freed and charges were dropped. Responsibility for the tragedy was placed on conductor Edward Hoffman, who had told the motorman to proceed through the gates.

The Viaduct’s draw span was replaced with a high-level truss bridge in 1912, but even that failed to put an end to the structure’s sad track record. On May 25, 1914, a fire at Fisher-Wilson Lumber Company underneath the bridge destroyed 300 feet of the Viaduct. The span was rebuilt but safety concerns remained, exacerbated by continuous sinking of land at the bridge’s western end.

Declared unalterably unsafe, the Central Viaduct was closed in 1941 and demolished shortly after World War II. By that time, plans for a grand “Innerbelt” project were underway, but funding and property-acquisition issues delayed the initiative. A new structure following the general path of the Central Viaduct was completed in 1962. Other than congestion, the new bridge was largely devoid of problems, although commercial truck traffic was banned from the bridge between 2008 and 2010 due to structural concerns. The entire span was replaced by the new George V. Voinovich Bridges, completed in September 2016. All that remains of the hard-luck Central Viaduct are several stone piers—fully visible from a ramped section of the Towpath Trail in northeast Tremont.

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Prior to its absorption into Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company (C.E.I.), Brush Electric Light & Power Co. developed the equipment used for Cleveland's first electric streetcar line. The line was operated under the East Cleveland Railway Co., with the streetcars being powered by a Brush-developed generator. Not everybody was excited about the success that these innovations and developments brought to their inventors. Heavily involved in the city's street railways, Marcus Hanna saw the need to respond to his rivals' actions. Recognizing the immense profitability associated with street railways, Hanna famously referred to his control of such lines as his own savings bank. In order to preserve his lucrative position, Hanna quickly recognized the need to develop along with his rivals. He therefore commissioned the building of a new powerhouse to generate power for his own electric streetcar line; the Woodland Ave. & West Side Street Railway Co. (W&WSSR).

The Viaduct Power House was built in 1892 on the west bank of the Cuyahoga River. C.E.I., who powered the east-side rival of Hanna's west-side line, responded by building the Canal Road Station in the Flats in 1895. Thus situated on opposite sides of the Cuyahoga River, just across from each other, these two streetcar powerhouses were the only such facilities of their kind in Cleveland.

Hanna granted the commission for the Viaduct Power House to architect John N. Richardson, formerly of the renowned firm Cuddell & Richardson. The Scottish-born, Cleveland-based architect was regarded as one of "the most important and innovative architects in Cleveland during the 1880's." As part of Cuddell & Richardson, he designed many of Cleveland's architectural gems including the Franklin Castle, St. Joseph's Franciscan Church, the Perry-Payne building, and the Bradley building. Richardson designed the Powerhouse in the Romanesque revival style; built to resemble the European factories of the time with gabled roofs, arched windows, and thick window sills made of stone. The original structure was built in 1892, and was the first power plant dedicated to providing electricity to streetcars in Cleveland. However, the 1898 absorption of Hanna's W&WSSR into the Cleveland Electric Railway Co. (CER) resulted in a significant 1901 addition, nearly causing the Powerhouse to double in size. Despite this expansion to meet the demand of more streetcar lines, the powerhouse did not thrive long thanks to the rapid rise of the automobile. Cleveland's streetcars officially gave way to the automobile in 1920 when the CER permanently ceased operation, and the Powerhouse closed.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the old Viaduct Power House, restyled "The Powerhouse," acted as a turnstile for several comedy clubs, restaurants, and even retailers. As of 2012, the 70,000 square-foot edifice serves as a mixed-use entertainment complex still rooted in its foundation as an industrial facility. The most recent addition to the Powerhouse is the Greater Cleveland Aquarium. Funded by Jacobs Entertainment at a cost of $33 million, it was designed by the New Zealand-based company Marinescape, which has a reputation for refurbishing preexisting structures as aquariums. Paying homage to the Viaduct Power House's industrial past, the aquarium incorporates exposed brick walls, coal tunnels, smokestacks, and steel girders into its decor.

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Born into a wealthy family in 1854, Tom L. Johnson did not originally have political intentions or aspirations. Instead, he started off as an inventor and street railway magnate with holdings in companies in Indianapolis, St. Louis, Missouri, Brooklyn, New York, and Cleveland.

In the 1880s, Johnson became involved in politics after being influenced by the progressive ideas of Henry George. He became an advocate of free trade and the single land tax. These values were often seen as a contradiction to the ideas and practices that made Johnson rich in the past. Some opponent claimed that his past thus made his new-found ideals and claims hard to trust. Even so, Johnson was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1890 and won the mayoral race in Cleveland in 1901.

As mayor of Cleveland, Johnson represented the ideals of the Progressive movement, seeking to use government to counter the strength of big businesses and bring relief to those struggling to make ends meet. He fought against monopolies by supporting the municipal ownership of public utilities. He also fought against the city's streetcar companies in a long struggle to lower the fare to 3 cents. He supported efforts to aid Cleveland's poor residents by building public bathhouses, expanding the city's park system (as well as removing all "keep off the grass" signs), and improving public services. Under his leadership, the Group Plan Commission was formed and developed an ambitious plan to reshape the city.

Tom Johnson was re-elected for three terms. His defeat in 1909 ended what some historians have regarded as one of the greatest mayoralties in American history. In many ways, Johnson revitalized Cleveland and made the city into a lively, popular American city as concerned for the well-being of its citizens as it was for its industry. Four years after his death, an immortalized bronze likeness took his seat on Public Square in 1915.

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Clevelanders met the opening of the Superior Viaduct in December 1878 with great fanfare, celebrating the city's first high-level bridge. The bridge in many ways symbolized Cleveland's continuing economic growth and  development into a major American city. Prior to the Viaduct's opening, low-level bridges were the only way for vehicles to cross the Cuyahoga River. To approach these  bridges, commuters had to navigate steep valley walls. Moreover, bridge traffic would come to a halt with the passing of each and every boat. While the Superior Viaduct's central span still had to swing open several times a day to let taller ships through, it was a vast improvement over the older bridges.

The building of the Superior Viaduct began in March 1875, three years after city residents voted to fund its construction. Costs eventually came to a little over two million dollars. Despite all its grandeur, the viaduct became outdated with the opening of the Detroit-Superior Bridge in 1917. That bridge was built high enough to let even the larger boats pass underneath without disturbing traffic.  

The viaduct was closed to cross-river traffic once and for all when its center span was removed in 1923. Over time, the once-celebrated structure was dismantled. Today, a number of the stone arches and other components of the viaduct's western approach are all that remain.  

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Bathed in blue light at night, the Detroit-Superior Bridge (also known as the Veterans Memorial Bridge since 1989) is a striking feature on the Cleveland skyline just west of Public Square. Cleveland's King Bridge Company built the span between 1912 and 1917 at a cost of over five million dollars. This 3,112-foot-long compression arch, suspended-deck bridge was the first fixed high-level bridge in the city and, for a time, one of the largest steel and concrete reinforced bridges in the world. Its single steel span over the Cuyahoga River provides 96 feet of clearance above the water, allowing for uninterrupted vehicle traffic. At the time of its completion this was a vast improvement over the older Superior Viaduct, whose center span was forced to swing open several times a day in order to allow boats to pass underneath, stopping bridge traffic for five or more minutes. 

Until the end of Cleveland's streetcar era in the mid-1950s, the lower deck of the Detroit-Superior Bridge carried streetcars on its four sets of tracks. To this end, a subway and underground passenger stations were built below its east and west approaches. Meanwhile, vehicular traffic on the upper deck of the bridge was heavy in the years following the bridge's opening on Thanksgiving Day 1917, and traffic tie-ups often occurred. These lessened with the opening of the city's second fixed high level span – the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge – in the 1930s. More recently, the development of the interstate highway system, with its various high-level spans over the Cuyahoga River, has further diminished the bridge's importance to commuters. However, the Detroit-Superior Bridge remains a key feature in Cleveland's built environment and an impressive example of architectural and engineering expertise. 

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