From Millionaires' Row to Campus District

8 Locations | Curated by Cleveland Historical

From 1870 until 1920, Euclid Avenue was the grandest residential avenue in America. Some said it was the grandest avenue in the world. The stretch of mansions which lined Euclid Avenue from East 9th Street to East 55th Street was appropriately named "Millionaires' Row." While Euclid Avenue lost its residential character in the twentieth century as the Avenue commercialized, and thereafter experienced a decline, the introduction of the Cleveland State University campus to the stretch of Millionaires' Row from East 17th Street to East 30th Street in the last three decades of the twentieth century sparked a revitalization of the neighborhood. Moreover, the conversion of a number of campus district buildings to dormitories, apartments and condominiums, and the construction of new student housing along Euclid Avenue, has transformed the Avenue once again into a residential neighborhood.

This tour features seven historical sites on the Cleveland State University campus. While almost all of the great mansions of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are gone, two of them--Mather Mansion and Howe mansion, have been saved and are a part of this campus district tour. Also preserved is Trinity Cathedral--one of Cleveland's great downtown churches and a place where many of Cleveland's wealthy citizens once worshiped. The remainder of the tour features other buildings and sites which replaced or are today located on sites formerly occupied by historic mansions.

In the days of horse-drawn carriages and booming industry, one street in Cleveland showcased the elite among the city's citizens. Millionaires' Row, a length of Euclid Avenue, was where prominent figures such as John D. Rockefeller, Marcus Hanna, and Charles F. Brush built their mansions.…
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The origins of Cleveland State University date back to 1870 when the Cleveland Young Men's Christian Association began offering free evening classes in French and German. Following a period of sporadic course offerings in the 1870s, the YMCA's evening educational program became firmly…
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Imagine walking into this building located on Cleveland State University's campus near East 24th Street and Chester Avenue, and negotiating with a salesman to buy a Buick! Before it saw institutional use, this building constructed in 1924 was the Ohio Motors Building. It was a car showroom…
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Parker-Hannifin Hall was once a mansion owned by George Howe, Cleveland businessman and Cleveland Police Commissioner. Parker Hannifin Hall is one of the last surviving Millionaires' Row mansions. It is a small reminder of a bygone time when ornate palaces stood on both sides of Euclid Avenue…
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The Cleveland State University Student Center is located on land that was in the nineteenth century the site of the Perry-Payne homestead. The property consisted of two mansions. One directly across the street from Trinity Cathedral was owned by Nathan Perry. The other immediately to the west…
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While the CSU College of Law has been a part of Cleveland State University since 1969, its history as a Cleveland-area law school dates back to the late nineteenth century. In 1897, Cleveland Law School was established, becoming Ohio's first evening law school. It also became the first law…
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Desiring to place a public institution of higher learning within thirty miles of every Ohio resident, Governor James Rhodes proposed the establishment of a state university in Cleveland following a unanimous recommendation from the Ohio Board of Regents in June 1964. The result was House Bill No.…
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