HISTORY
Cleveland is located in the northeastern section of the state of Ohio. It sits on the banks of Lake Erie.

The city of Cleveland is a major port on the St. Lawrence Seaway and is located on the southern shore of Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. Greater Cleveland sprawls along the lake for about 90 miles (145 km) and runs 25 miles (40 km) inland, encompassing Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, and Medina counties and more than 70 suburban communities, including Lakewood, Parma, Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, East Cleveland, Euclid, Garfield Heights, and Rocky River.

Most of the city is on a plain that rises 60-80 feet (18-25 m) above the lake and is divided by a half-mile-wide valley locally known as the Flats. Before the arrival of the English, the French and Indians had established trading posts in the lower Cuyahoga valley. In 1786, after the American Revolutionary War, when the Ohio country was opened for settlement, Connecticut reserved 3,500,000 acres (1,400,000 hectares) of land (the Western Reserve) in northeastern Ohio. Moses Cleaveland, from the Connecticut Land Company, arrived with surveyors in 1796 to speed up the sale of land. Two months later the plan for the town of Cleaveland was completed. (In 1832 the "a" in Cleaveland was dropped to shorten a newspaper's masthead.)

Moses Cleaveland (1754-1806 ). An American pioneer born in Canterbury, Connecticut. After serving (1777-81) in the American Revolution, he practiced law in his native town and entered (1787) the state legislature. When the Connecticut Land Company purchased (1795) land in the Western Reserve region of Ohio, Cleaveland was chosen as one of the directors and surveyors of the company. In 1796 he led a party of men to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, where he determined to develop the main settlement. The surveyors named the site Cleaveland, which name it bore until c. 1830, when it became Cleveland.

The city's growth was slow until the completion in 1825 of New York state's Erie Canal opened a water route between Lake Erie and the Atlantic; Ohio then constructed its first canal, to connect Lake Erie and the Ohio River (completed 1830). A decade later, railroads increased the community's commercial and industrial activity. When St. Mary's Falls Canal (Soo Canal) between Lakes Superior and Huron was opened in 1855,Cleveland became LakeErie's transshipment pointfor lumber, copper and iron ore, and rail shipments of coal and farm produce.

The American Civil War (1861-1865) created a demand for Cleveland's iron and steel products and stimulated the city's growth. This industry, in turn, formed the basis for other heavy industries. By 1900, for example, six major automobile manufacturers were operating in Cleveland. The city's industries created vast fortunes for industrialists, notably John D. Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Company. Rockefeller and Marcus Hanna, a steel and shipping king and political boss, were classmates at Central High School. Another pair of classmates, at Glenville High School in the early 1930s, developed the comic book character Superman. With its factories Cleveland attracted large numbers of 19th-century immigrants, including Irish, Germans, Italians, Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes and many others. Its location midway between the coal and oil fields of Pennsylvania and (via the Great Lakes) the Minnesota iron mines spurred industrialization.

	The Cuyahoga River The Cuyahoga River drains 813 square miles (2105 km2) of land in portions of six counties. It was created as a result of the advance and retreat of the last great glacial sheets, which covered most of Ohio. Prior to the last ice age, the Cuyahoga is believed to have been part of what is now the upper Muskingham or Tuscarawas system. When the glacier scooped the land and rearranged the existing drainage patterns, an escarpment was formed near Akron. This caused the south-flowing river to turn north at the barrier, transforming its shaped into its current "U" configuration. Native Americans referred to the U-shaped river as the Cuyahoga or "crooked river." The Crooked River found its own, new way. Churning north through the glacial debris, it ended its 100-mile journey at Lake Erie just 30 miles from its headwaters. Fires plagued the Cuyahoga beginning in 1936 when a spark from a blowtorch ignited floating debris and oils. Fires erupted on the river several more times before the June 22, 1969 event when a river fire captured national attention. At that time, Time magazine described the Cuyahoga as the river that "oozes rather than flows" and in which a person "does not drown but decays." This event helped spur an avalanche of pollution control activities resulting in the Clean Water Act, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, and the creation of the federal and state Environmental Protection Agencies.

A strong tradition of citizen participation exists in Cleveland. The first modern Community Chest was founded in Cleveland in 1913, developing a way of dispersing funds that became a model for the United Way. The Citizens League of Greater Cleveland has acted as a civic spur to improve government for more than a century. The City Club is recognized as the oldest forum for political and community dialogue in the country. The Cleveland Foundation was the first community-funded civic foundation in the United States.

Suburban trains were developed at the end of the 19th century. By the 1930s Cleveland had the appearance of a modern metropolis, with main arteries converging on its Public Square, dominated by the 708-foot (216-meters) Terminal Tower. Rapid-transit lines now extend to Shaker Heights (southeast) and to the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (southwest).

Beginning about 1960 Cleveland entereda long period of decline. Aging industrial plants, high labor costs, outmoded municipal facilities, the migration of population, and increasing racial tensions all contributed to political strife and a deteriorating economy.The City's Hough district was the scene in 1966 of violent racial disorders. The following year Carl B. Stokes became the first black to be elected mayor of a U.S. city of this size. The late 20th century was marked by a decline in heavy manufacturing and population and by budgetary problems. In 1978 the decline culminated in Cleveland becoming the first municipality to default on its debts since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Cleveland was earning an unenviable title of "The Mistake by the Lake." By the 1980s a renaissance began. Civic pride was restored by solid examples of confidence in the community, such as the redevelopment of the Lake Erie shoreline and the building of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, combined with intangibles such as the inauguration of the Cleveland Grand Prix and a league championship season for the Indians baseball team. Challenges such as improving public schools remain, but Cleveland has replaced its old nickname with "The New American City."

The Cleveland Public Library The Cleveland Public Library is one of the nation's major urban library systems, has provided free public access to books and information since 1869. The Main Library and 28 branches strive to be the best urban library system in the country by providing access to the worldwide information that people and organizations need in a timely, convenient, and equitable manner.

The Cleveland Clinic The Cleveland Clinic was founded in 1921 as a not-for-profit group practice, integrating clinical and hospital care with research and physician education. It has grown to one of the world's largest and busiest health centers. Patients come to The Cleveland Clinic from all over the world.In cardiology and cardiac surgery, we lead the nation. Its Heart Center has been ranked number one in America for seven years in row in U.S.News. The Cleveland Clinic Urological Institute and Digestive Disease Center are ranked very near the top, and its specialties of orthopaedics, otolaryngology, nephrology, neurology/neurological surgery, rheumatology, pulmonary endocrinology, and geriatrics are each among America's ten best in their fields. Other specialties noted for national excellence include gynecology, cancer, and psychiatry. The Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital offers highly specialized pediatric care in a family-centered atmosphere. It has been ranked the best children's hospital in Ohio by Child magazine.

Developed under a 20-year master plan, University Circle encompasses more than 30 cultural and religious institutions in a 488-acre (197-hectare) site near Case Western Reserve University. Included are the Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance Hall (home of the Cleveland Orchestra), the Western Reserve Historical Society Museum and Library, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Health Museum, Allen Memorial Medical Library, and several parks.

	Severance Hall Construction of Severance Hall began in 1928 as a gift from John Long Severance and his wife, Elisabeth. Mr. Severance was then president of the Musical Arts Association (1921-36), the non-profit parent organization of the Cleveland Orchestra. Mr. Severance originally made a $1 million dollar pledge but eventually spent nearly three time that on the building's design and construction. The building, as a whole, is a reflection of Severance's determination to create an elegant structure of the finest materials, incorporating the most advanced features available. The Georgian exterior, designed by the Cleveland architectural firm of Walker & Weeks, was chosen to harmonize with the classical architecture of the Cleveland Museum of Art across the street and with the graceful gardens and pond in front of the museum. Ohio sandstone was used in the terrace and base of the building, while upper sections are comprised of Indiana limestone. The opening concert, conducted by music director Nikolai Sokoloff, was presented on February 5, 1931, and included performances of Bach's passacaglia (as orchestrated by Alexander Goedicke), the premiere of Charles Martin Loeffler's Evocation, and Brahm's Symphony No.1. From December 1997 to January 2000 Severance Hall under went a complete restoration and renovation at a cost of 36.7 million dollars. The project included the creation of 39,000 ft2 (3,623 m2) of new space at the rear of Severance Hall along with the restoration and renovation of the existing 42,000 ft2 (3,901 m2) of interior space. Some of the main objectives of the renovation and restoration was to improve the decor and sound of the concert stage, the restoration of the interior of the auditorium (the Auditorium had not been repainted or refurbished since it opened in 1931), restore and relocate Severance Hall's 6,028 pipe E.M. Skinner organ to the stage level, create an expanded restaurant which would be open to the public daily, create new lighting, communication and technical support systems for broadcasting and recording of the Cleveland Orchestra, and additional stage facilities to permit a wider variety of concert presentations. Severance Hall contains two auditoriums. The main concert hall has a seating capacity of 2,101 arranged in four areas: main floor (857 seats, 52 front chairs, and seating along the side promenades for 58), 25 boxes (196 seats), dress circle (324 seats), and balcony (614 seats). Reinberger Chamber Hall, endowed by the Reinberger Foundation in 1986 and located on the ground level directly beneath the concert hall, seats 402 for chamber concerts. In addition to the auditoriums and other public spaces, Severance Hall contains Orchestra dressing rooms, a musician's lounge, music library, radio broadcast booth, staff offices, a full time restaurant open daily for lunch and dinner, the Szell memorial library, The Cleveland Orchestra Store featuring orchestra compact disks and other music-related gift items, and the Orchestra archives.

The park system includes the Cleveland Zoo and international horticultural displays. The Mall in the heart of the city, near the lakefront, includes city, county, and federal office buildings, the Public Library (one of the largest city libraries in the nation in holdings), and the Public Auditorium and Convention Center. Cleveland Stadium is home to the Cleveland Browns football team. Jacobs Field (for the Cleveland Indians baseball team) and Cavs Gund Arena (for the Cleveland Cavaliers Basketball team) opened in 1994. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, designed by I.M. Pei, was constructed in the mid-1990s. During the 1960s and 1970s much of the downtown area was rebuilt.