A Brief History of Cleveland
Cleveland’s deep history dates back to the late 1700s upon the arrival of the Connecticut Land Company. The company surveyed the land, led by investor General Moses Cleaveland, and laid out the Connecticut Western Reserve. The first survey of the town was completed in 1796. Cleveland, which was located along the eastern shores of the Cuyahoga River, was the premier settlement established in the Western Reserve. The name honors General Moses Cleaveland, though it has always been spelled without the “a” due to a spelling error on the original map. Though the population was small, Cleveland was named as the county seat in 1807, followed by incorporation as a Village in 1814 and incorporation as a city in 1836.
With the advent of the Erie Canal during the 1820s and the railroads in the 1850s, the population increased dramatically. The new modes of transportation, plus the discovery of large deposits of coal and iron oar, also attracted big business, making Cleveland a significant industrial hub. The Standard Oil Company, operated by John D. Rockefeller, established itself in Cleveland during the 1860s, with steel producers making their way into the city as well.
During the late 19th century and early 20th century, the city emerged as a cultural pioneer in this region with the opening of Euclid Beach Park in 1894, the arrival of a professional baseball team in 1901 (originally the Cleveland Blues and now known as the Cleveland Indians) and the establishment of both the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Orchestra in the late 1910s.
The city of Cleveland’s more recent history includes the opening of the popular Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, the reemergence of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns (the team was initially formed in 1946 but moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in the 1990s, becoming the Baltimore Ravens) and a number of accolades including recognition as an All-American City on a number of occasions.
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