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The Theater District, bound by Chester Avenue, Prospect Avenue, East 18th, East 9th and East 12th Streets, came into being at the turn of the 20th century, when Cleveland emerged as a thriving metropolis. Built between 1890-1928, the area hosted a variety of fine retail stores, theaters, prestigious clubs, restaurants, and distinct office buildings. The rise of television and flight to the suburbs sent downtown entertainment into a death spiral, until a 1970 grass roots effort saved from demolition the surviving post-World War I theaters (the State, Ohio, Hanna, Allen, and Palace), making it the “world’s largest theater restoration project.” It became a catalyst for reinvestment in downtown properties, restoring civic pride and giving testimonial to the creative vision of the city’s civic leaders and citizenry. By the year 2000, Cleveland’s Theater District boasted the nation’s 2nd largest performing arts center.
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Formed by erosion of Cleveland shale and cascading 48 feet, making it the tallest waterfall in the county, the Cataract Falls of Mill Creek powered the gristmill and sawmill built by William Wheeler Williams and Major Wyatt in 1799. The mills, commissioned by the Connecticut Land Company to encourage settlement of the Western Reserve, attracted people to Newburgh. Cleveland finally outgrew bustling Newburgh by 1830 and eventually annexed most of it. The founding of the Cleveland Rolling Mill in Newburgh, beginning with the firm of Chisholm, Jones, & Company in 1857, precipitated the growth of the steel industry in Cleveland. By 1868, under the management of Henry Chisholm, it became one of the first in the nation to produce steel using the Bessemer process. The Rolling Mill, later the American Steel and Wire Company (a subsidiary of U.S. Steel), purchased the millworks at the falls in 1872.
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Eleutheros Cooke. The Cooke-Dorn house was the last home of attorney Eleutheros Cooke (1787-1864) who served four years in the Ohio legislature and one term in the 22nd Congress of the United States. An early proponent of railroads, Cooke received one of the first charters granted to a railroad west of the Alleghany Mountains, for the Mad River & Lake Erie line. He and wife Martha had six children, four of whom lived to adulthood. Two rose to prominence in the Civil War era. Jay was a successful banker and became known as the “financier of the Civil War” for his efforts to secure loans from Northern banks to support the Union’s war effort. Henry was appointed as the first governor of the short-lived Territory of the District of Columbia in 1871 (which was replaced in 1874).
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In January 1827, the Ohio State Legislature chartered the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal Company to build an east-west “cross cut” canal connecting north-south canals in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The route ran from the Beaver Canal in Pennsylvania to the Ohio & Erie Canal in Akron. In Ohio, the canal ran through the towns of Youngstown, Warren, Leavittsburg, Newton Falls, Ravenna, and Akron. Specifications called for the canal to be no less than 28 feet wide at the botton, no less than 40 feet wide at the waterline, and at least four feet deep. Towpaths were at least 10 feet wide and 2.5 feet above the water. (Continued on other side)
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From the 1890s to the 1930s, interurban railways were an important form of travel in the Midwest. Beach Park Station had an interurban carhouse, where repairs were performed and passengers boarded. The Lorain & Cleveland Railway (L&C) built the 65½ by 200 foot brick station in 1897. By 1901, the L&C became part of the Lake Shore Electric Railway (LSE) and Beach Park became stop 65 on a line that ran from Cleveland to Toledo and then to Detroit. Requiring power and water, the LSE built an electric plant and water tower at Avon Lake. This infrastructure spurred the community’s development and growth. (Continued on other side
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On June 26, 1974, the first retail scan of a product marked with a Universal Product Code (UPC or barcode) was made in the checkout line of Troy’s Marsh Supermarket located at 982 N. Market Street. A ten-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum was scanned to simulate the purchase of a product. The barcode was scanned on the NCR 255 computerized check-out system developed by National Cash Register (NCR). The system featured a Spectra Physics Model A scanner and an NCR 726 in-store computerized cash register. The Troy grocery store, considered a “typical” American grocery, was conveniently located near NCR and Hobart facilities. Spectra Physics and NCR later donated one of the original scanners and cash registers used at Marsh’s to the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian. (Continued on other side)
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The Lima and Toledo Traction Company Bridge was construted in 1907 by the National Bridge Company of Indianapolis, and it was considered to be a revolutionary type of bridge construction. The Old Electric Bridge, as it was called, was built of steel reinforced concrete and filled with earth. In fact, for this period some considered the bridge to be the longest such railroad bridge in the world. Twelve spans of Roman aqueduct architectural design anchor the 1220-foot bridge in solid river bedrock. The bridge linked Lucas and Wood counties and connected a busy Toledo with points south by means of an electric trolley. This Interurban Bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
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The Village of Glenwillow was developed and has survived over the last century as a rural enclave whose character has been shaped by the Austin Powder Company. Glenwillow began as a company town of the Austin Powder Company, which relocated its explosives factory from Cleveland in 1892. The Falls Junction Depot was originally built in 1883 and located approximately 1/4 mile to the north at the junction of the existing Wheeling and Lake Erie track and a rail line that connected to Chagrin Falls. The Depot was moved to its present location when Austin Powder Company relocated to Glenwillow. Passenger trains on the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway provided Glenwillow residents access to the larger cities of Cleveland, Kent, and Akron, and provided a route for Austin Powder to ship its explosives to mines in southeast Ohio. The Depot, which operated until 1974, is now an important component to the revitalization of the Glenwillow Town Center.