(Redirected from Cleveland)
'Cleveland' is a
city in the
U.S. state of
Ohio and the
county seat of
Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of
Lake Erie, approximately 60
miles (100
km) west of the
Pennsylvania border. It was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the
Cuyahoga River, and became a
manufacturing center owing to its location at the head of numerous
canals and
railroad lines. With the decline of
heavy manufacturing, Cleveland's businesses have diversified into the
service economy, including the financial services,
insurance, and
healthcare sectors. Cleveland is also noted for its association with
rock music. The
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located here.
[1]
As of the
2000 Census, the city proper had a total population of 478,403, making it the 33rd largest city in the nation
[2] and the second largest city in Ohio. It is the center of
Greater Cleveland, the largest
metropolitan area in Ohio, which spans several counties and is defined in several different ways by the
Census Bureau. The Cleveland-
Elyria-
Mentor Metropolitan Statistical Area has 2,250,871 people and is the 23rd largest in the country, according to the 2000 Census. Cleveland is also part of the larger Cleveland-
Akron-Elyria
Combined Statistical Area, which is the 14th largest in the country with a population of 2,945,831 according to the 2000 Census.
[3]
In studies conducted by ''
The Economist'' in 2005, Cleveland and
Pittsburgh were ranked as the most
livable cities in the United States,
[4] and the city was ranked as the best city for business meetings in the continental U.S.
[5] Nevertheless, the city faces continuing challenges, in particular from concentrated
poverty in some neighborhoods and difficulties in the funding and delivery of high-quality
public education.
[6]
Residents of Cleveland are usually referred to as "
Clevelanders". Nicknames used for the city include "
The Forest City", "Metropolis of the Western Reserve", "The New American City", "America's North Coast", "Sixth City", "The Land", and "
C-Town".
[7]
History
Main articles: History of Cleveland, Ohio
Map of Cleveland in 1904
Cleveland obtained its name on
July 22,
1796 when surveyors of the
Connecticut Land Company laid out
Connecticut's
Western Reserve into townships and a capital city they named "Cleaveland" after their leader, General
Moses Cleaveland. Cleaveland oversaw the plan for the modern downtown area, centering on the
Public Square, before returning home, never again to visit Ohio. The first settler in Cleaveland was Lorenzo Carter, who built a cabin on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. The Village of Cleaveland was incorporated on
December 23,
1814. The spelling of the city's name was later changed to "Cleveland" when, in 1831, an "a" was dropped so the name could fit a newspaper's masthead.
[8]
In spite of the nearby swampy lowlands and harsh winters, its waterfront location proved providential. The area began rapid growth after the 1832 completion of the
Ohio and Erie Canal. This key link between the
Ohio River and the
Great Lakes connected the city to the
Atlantic Ocean via the
St. Lawrence Seaway and the
Gulf of Mexico via the
Mississippi River. Growth continued with added railroad links.
[9] Cleveland incorporated as a city in 1836.
In 1836, the city, then located only on the eastern banks of the Cuyahoga River, nearly erupted into open warfare with neighboring
Ohio City over a bridge connecting the two.
[10] Ohio City remained an independent municipality until it was
annexed by Cleveland in 1854.
8 The site flourished as a halfway point for
iron ore from
Minnesota shipped across the Great Lakes and other raw materials (
coal) carried by rail from the south. Cleveland emerged as a major American manufacturing center, home to numerous major
steel producers. By 1920,
Standard Oil founder
John D. Rockefeller had made his fortune and Cleveland had become the fifth largest city in the country.
The city was a center for the national
progressive movement, headed locally by Mayor
Tom L. Johnson. Many Clevelanders of this era are buried in the historic
Lake View Cemetery, along with
James A. Garfield, the twentieth
U.S. President.
[11]
In commemoration of the
centennial of Cleveland's incorporation as a city, the
Great Lakes Exposition debuted in June 1936 along the
Lake Erie shore north of downtown. Conceived as a way to energize a city hit hard by the
Great Depression, it drew 4 million visitors in its first season, and 7 million by the end of its second and final season in September 1937.
[12] The exposition was housed on grounds that are now used by the
Great Lakes Science Center, the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and
Burke Lakefront Airport, among others.
[13]
Immediately after
World War II, the city experienced a brief boom. In sports, the
Indians won the
1948 World Series and the
Browns dominated professional
football in the 1950s. Businesses proclaimed that Cleveland was the "best location in the nation".
[14] The city's population reached its peak of 914,808, and in 1949 Cleveland was named an
All-America City for the first time.
[15] By the 1960s, however, heavy industries began to slump, and residents sought new housing in the suburbs, reflecting the national trends of
white flight and
urban sprawl. Like other major American cities, Cleveland also began witnessing racial unrest, culminating in the
Hough Riots from
July 18,
1966 –
July 23,
1966 and the
Glenville Shootout on
July 23,
1968 –
July 25,
1968. The city's nadir is often considered to be its
default on its loans on
December 15 1978, when under Mayor
Dennis Kucinich it became the first major American city to enter default since the Great Depression.
National media began referring to Cleveland as "the mistake on the lake" around this time, in reference to the city's financial difficulties, a notorious 1969 fire on the
Cuyahoga River (where industrial waste on the river's surface caught on fire), and its struggling professional sports teams.
[16] The city has worked to shed this nickname ever since, though in recent times the national media have been much kinder to the city, using it as an exemplar for
public-private partnerships, downtown revitalization, and
urban renaissance.
[17]
The metropolitan area began a recovery thereafter under Mayors
George Voinovich and
Michael R. White. Redevelopment within the city limits has been strongest in the downtown area near the
Gateway complex—consisting of
Jacobs Field and
Quicken Loans Arena, and near
North Coast Harbor—including the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
Cleveland Browns Stadium, and the
Great Lakes Science Center. Although Cleveland was hailed by the media as the "Comeback City,"
[18] many of the inner-city residential neighborhoods remain troubled, and the public school system continues to experience serious problems.
Economic development,
retention of young professionals, and capitalizing upon its waterfront are current municipal priorities.
[19]
Geography
Topography
Cleveland is located at . According to the
United States Census Bureau,
the city has a total area of 82.4
square miles (213.5
km²), of which, 77.6 square miles (201.0 km²) is land and 4.8 square miles (12.5 km²) is water. The total area is 5.87% water.
The shore of
Lake Erie is 569
feet (173
m) above
sea level; however, the city lies on a series of irregular bluffs lying roughly parallel to the lake. In Cleveland these bluffs are cut principally by the
Cuyahoga River, Big Creek, and
Euclid Creek. The land rises quickly from the lakeshore.
Public Square, less than a
mile (2
km) inland, sits at an elevation of 650 feet (198 m), and Hopkins Airport, only five miles (8 km) inland from the lake, is at an elevation of 791 feet (241 m).
[20]
Climate
| 'Monthly normal and record high and low temperatures'[21] |
|---|
| Mon. | Avg.
High | Avg.
Low | Avg. | Rec.
High | Rec.
Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Jan | 33 °F | 19 °F | 26 °F | 73 °F | -20 °F |
| Feb | 36 °F | 21 °F | 29 °F | 74 °F | -16 °F |
| Mar | 46 °F | 29 °F | 38 °F | 83 °F | -5 °F |
| Apr | 57 °F | 38 °F | 48 °F | 88 °F | 10 °F |
| May | 69 °F | 48 °F | 59 °F | 92 °F | 25 °F |
| Jun | 77 °F | 58 °F | 68 °F | 104 °F | 31 °F |
| Jul | 81 °F | 62 °F | 72 °F | 103 °F | 41 °F |
| Aug | 79 °F | 61 °F | 70 °F | 102 °F | 38 °F |
| Sep | 72 °F | 54 °F | 63 °F | 101 °F | 32 °F |
| Oct | 61 °F | 44 °F | 52 °F | 90 °F | 19 °F |
| Nov | 49 °F | 35 °F | 42 °F | 82 °F | 3 °F |
| Dec | 37 °F | 25 °F | 31 °F | 77 °F | -15 °F |
Cleveland possesses a
humid continental climate (
Koppen climate classification ''Dfa''), typical of much of the central
United States, with hot, humid
summers and cold, snowy
winters. The Lake Erie shoreline is very close to due east-west from the mouth of the Cuyahoga west to
Sandusky, but at the mouth of the Cuyahoga it turns sharply northeast. This feature is the principal contributor to the
lake effect snow that is typical in Cleveland (especially east side) weather from mid-November until the surface of Lake Erie freezes, usually in late January or early February. The lake effect causes snowfall totals to range greatly across the city; while Hopkins Airport has only reached 100
inches (254
cm) of snowfall in a given season three times since 1968,
[22] seasonal totals approaching or exceeding 100 inches are not uncommon in an area known as the "
Snow Belt", extending from the east side of Cleveland proper through the eastern suburbs and up the Lake Erie shore as far as
Buffalo, New York.
The all-time record high in Cleveland of 104 °
F (40 °
C) was established on
June 25 1988, and the all-time record low of −20 °F (−29 °C) was set on
January 19 1994.
21 On average, July is the warmest month with a mean temperature of 71.9 °F (22.2 °C), and January, with a mean temperature of 25.7 °F (−3.5 °C), is the coldest. Normal yearly
precipitation based on the 30-year average from 1971 to 2000 is 38.7 inches (930 mm).
[23]
Cityscape
Architecture
Cleveland's downtown architecture is diverse. Many of the city's government and civic buildings, including City Hall, the Cuyahoga County Courthouse, the
Cleveland Public Library, and
Public Auditorium, are clustered around an open
mall and share a common
neoclassical architecture. Built in the early 20th century, they are the result of the 1903
Group Plan, and constitute one of the most complete examples of
City Beautiful design in the United States.
[24] The
Terminal Tower, dedicated in 1930, was the tallest building in the United States outside
New York City until 1967 and the tallest in the city until 1991.
[25] It is a prototypical
Beaux-Arts skyscraper. The two newer skyscrapers on Public Square,
Key Tower (currently the tallest building in Ohio) and the
BP Building, combine elements of
Art Deco architecture with
postmodern designs. Another of Cleveland's architectural treasures is
The Arcade (sometimes called the Old Arcade), a five-story
arcade built in 1890 and renovated in 2001 as a
Hyatt Regency Hotel.
[26]
Running east from Public Square through University Circle is
Euclid Avenue, which was known for its prestige and elegance. In the late 1880s, writer
Bayard Taylor described it as "the most beautiful street in the world."
[27] Known as "Millionaire's Row", Euclid Avenue was world-renowned as the home of such internationally-known names as
Rockefeller,
Hanna, and
Hay.
[28]
Cleveland is home to four
parks in the countywide
Cleveland Metroparks system, the "Emerald Necklace" of
Olmsted-inspired parks that encircles the region. In the Big Creek valley sits the
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, which contains the largest collection of
primates of any zoo in the United States. The other three parks are Brookside Park and parts of the Rocky River and Washington Reservations. Apart from the Metroparks is Cleveland Lakefront State Park, which provides public access to Lake Erie. Among its six parks are Edgewater Park, located between the
Shoreway and Lake Erie just west of downtown, and
Euclid Beach Park and Gordon Park on the east side. The City of Cleveland's Rockefeller Park, with its many Cultural Gardens
[29] honoring the city's ethnic groups, follows Doan Brook across the city's east side.
Neighborhoods
Downtown Cleveland includes mixed-use neighborhoods such as
the Flats and
the Warehouse District, which are occupied by industrial and office buildings and also by restaurants and bars. The number of downtown housing units in the form of
condominiums,
lofts, and
apartments has increased over the past ten years. This trend looks to continue with the recent revival of the Flats. The apartment and condominium project that was recently completed on the West Bank, Stonebridge Apartments, has been highly successful. The East Bank has its own redevelopment project underway orchestrated by Scott Wolstein of Developers Diversified Realty, Inc that looks only to enhance the Flats recent success.
Cleveland residents often define themselves in terms of whether they live on the east side or the west side of the
Cuyahoga River.
[30] The east side comprises the following neighborhoods: Buckeye-
Shaker Square, Central,
Collinwood, Corlett, Euclid-Green, Fairfax, Forest Hills,
Glenville, Payne/Goodrich-Kirtland Park,
Hough, Kinsman, Lee Harvard/Seville-Miles, Mount Pleasant, Nottingham,
St. Clair-Superior, Union-Miles Park,
University Circle,
Little Italy, and Woodland Hills. The west side of the city includes the following neighborhoods: Brooklyn Centre, Clark-Fulton,
Detroit-Shoreway, Cudell, Edgewater,
Ohio City,
Old Brooklyn, Stockyards, West Boulevard, and the four neighborhoods colloquially known as
West Park: Kamm's Corners, Jefferson, Puritas-Longmead, and Riverside. Three neighborhoods in the Cuyahoga Valley are sometimes referred to as the south side: Industrial Valley/Duck Island,
Slavic Village (North and South Broadway), and Tremont.
Satellite photograph of Cleveland and its surrounding suburbs
Several inner-city neighborhoods have begun to
gentrify in recent years. Areas on both the west side (Ohio City, Tremont, Detroit-Shoreway, and Edgewater) and the east side (Collinwood, Hough, Fairfax, and Little Italy) have been successful in attracting increasing numbers of
creative class members, which in turn is spurring new residential development.
[31] Furthermore, a live-work
zoning overlay for the city's near east side has facilitated the transformation of old industrial buildings into loft spaces for artists.
[32]
Suburbs
Main articles: Greater Cleveland
Cleveland's older inner-ring or "first" suburbs include
Bedford,
Bedford Heights,
Brook Park,
Brooklyn,
Cleveland Heights,
Cuyahoga Heights,
East Cleveland,
Euclid,
Fairview Park,
Garfield Heights,
Lakewood,
Maple Heights,
Parma,
Shaker Heights,
South Euclid,
University Heights, and
Warrensville Heights. All are members of the Northeast Ohio First Suburbs Consortium.
[33]
Culture
Entertainment and performing arts
Cleveland is home to
Playhouse Square Center, the second largest performing arts center in the United States behind
New York's Lincoln Center.
[34] Playhouse Square includes the
State,
Palace,
Allen,
Hanna, and
Ohio theaters within what is known as the Theater District of Downtown Cleveland.
[35] Playhouse Square's resident performing arts companies include the
Cleveland Opera, the
Ohio Ballet, and the
Great Lakes Theater Festival.
[36] The center also hosts various
Broadway musicals, special concerts, speaking engagements, and other events throughout the year. One Playhouse Square, now the headquarters for Cleveland's
public broadcasters, was originally used as the broadcast studios of
WJW Radio, where
disc jockey Alan Freed first popularized the term "
rock and roll".
[37] Located between Playhouse Square and University Circle are the
Cleveland Play House and
Karamu House, a well-known African American performing and fine arts center, both founded in the 1920s.
[38]
Cleveland is also home to the
Cleveland Orchestra, widely considered one of the finest
orchestras in the world, and often referred to as the finest in the United States.
[39] It is one of the "
Big Five" major orchestras in the United States. The Orchestra plays in
Severance Hall during the winter and at
Blossom Music Center during the summer.
[40]
There are two main
art museums in Cleveland. The
Cleveland Museum of Art is a major American art museum,
[41] and its collection is comprised of more than 40,000 works of art ranging over 6,000 years, from
ancient masterpieces to
contemporary pieces.
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland showcases established and emerging artists, particularly from the Cleveland area, through hosting and producing temporary exhibitions.
[42]
Cleveland has served as the filming location for several noteworthy movies, including ''
The Fortune Cookie'' (1967) with
Walter Matthau and
Jack Lemmon, the
Academy Award-winning ''
Deer Hunter'' (1978), ''
Antwone Fisher'' (2002), and the holiday favorite ''
A Christmas Story'' (1983).
[43] Scenes for ''
Spider-Man 3'' were filmed in Cleveland in April 2006.
[44] Cleveland is the lifelong home of cartoonist
Harvey Pekar and the setting for most of his autobiographical comic books. The city was also the setting for the popular sitcom, ''
The Drew Carey Show'' which starred Cleveland native
Drew Carey.
Cleveland was the home of
Joe Shuster and
Jerry Siegel, who created the comic book character
Superman in 1932. Both attended
Glenville High School, and their early collaborations resulted in the creation of "The Man of Steel".
[45]
Cleveland is the home of
heavy metal group
Mushroomhead,
rap group
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.
Eric Carmen and his band,
The Raspberries.
[46] R&B singer
Gerald Levert also was a lifelong resident of Cleveland, and it was the hometown of R&B groups the
Dazz Band and
The Rude Boys, as well as R&B singer
Avant. It was also home to
protopunk bands
Pere Ubu,
Rocket From the Tombs, and
Electric Eels.
[47]
Tourism
Five miles (8 km) east of downtown Cleveland is
University Circle, a 550-
acre (220
ha) concentration of cultural, educational, and medical institutions, including
Case Western Reserve University,
University Hospitals,
Severance Hall, the
Cleveland Museum of Art, the
Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the
Western Reserve Historical Society. Cleveland is also home to the
I. M. Pei-designed
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, located on the Lake Erie waterfront at North Coast Harbor downtown. Neighboring attractions include
Cleveland Browns Stadium, the
Great Lakes Science Center, the
Steamship Mather Museum, and the
USS ''Cod'', a
World War II submarine.
[48]
Cleveland is home to many
festivals throughout the year. Cultural festivals such as the annual
Feast of the Assumption in the Little Italy neighborhood, the Greek Orthodox Festival in the Tremont neighborhood, and the Harvest Festival in the Slavic Village neighborhood are popular events. Vendors at the
West Side Market in Ohio City offer many different ethnic foods for sale. Cleveland hosts an annual
parade on
Saint Patrick's Day that brings hundreds of thousands to the streets of downtown.
[49]
Oldenburg and van Bruggen's Free Stamp, located in Willard Park to the east of City Hall
In addition to the cultural festivals, Cleveland hosted the
CMJ Rock Hall Music Fest, which featuring national and local acts, including both established artists and up-and-coming acts, but the festival was discontinued in 2007 due to financial and manpower costs to the Rock Hall.
[50] The city recently incorporated an annual art and technology festival, known as Ingenuity, which features a combination of art and technology in various installations and performances throughout lower Euclid Avenue. The
Cleveland International Film Festival has been held annually since 1977, and its eleven day run drew a record 52,753 people in 2007.
[51] Cleveland also hosts an annual holiday display lighting and celebration, dubbed Winterfest, which is held downtown at the city's historic hub, Public Square.
[52]
A large concentration of
Poles in the metropolitan Cleveland area resulted in a number of impressive churches in the
Polish Cathedral style, such as the Shrine of old
St. Stanislaus in
Slavic Village or
St. John Cantius in
Tremont. Both churches are included on tour itineraries.
[53] [54]
Sports
Cleveland's
professional sports teams include the
Cleveland Indians (
Major League Baseball),
Cleveland Browns (
National Football League),
Cleveland Cavaliers (
National Basketball Association),
Cleveland City Stars (
United Soccer Leagues), and
Lake Erie Monsters (
American Hockey League). Annual sporting events held in Cleveland include the
Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland, the
Cleveland Marathon, the
Mid-American Conference college basketball tournament and the
Ohio Classic college football game.
[55] The city hosted the
Gravity Games, an
extreme sports series, from 2002 to 2004. Local sporting facilities include
Jacobs Field,
Cleveland Browns Stadium,
Quicken Loans Arena, and the CSU
Wolstein Center.
The Cleveland Browns dominated the NFL from
1950 to
1955. The city's franchise is one of the most storied in football, though it last won an
NFL championship in
1964 and has never appeared in the
Super Bowl. The Cleveland Indians last reached the
World Series in
1995 and
1997, though they lost to the
Atlanta Braves and
Florida Marlins, respectively, and have not won the series since
1948. Between 1995 and 2001, Jacobs Field sold out for 455 consecutive games, a Major League Baseball record.
[56] The Cleveland Cavaliers are experiencing a renaissance with Cleveland fans due to
LeBron James, a native of nearby Akron and the number one overall
draft pick of 2003. The Cavaliers won the
Eastern Conference in 2007, but were defeated in the
NBA Finals by the
San Antonio Spurs. The city's recent lack of success in sports has earned it a reputation of being a cursed sports city, which
ESPN validated by proclaiming Cleveland as its "most tortured sports city" in 2004.
[57]
At the 2005
Major League Soccer All-Star Game in
Columbus, MLS commissioner
Don Garber announced that Cleveland was one of several top areas in contention for an
expansion team in 2007.
[58] Delays in securing a soccer-only stadium have now prevented any such team from beginning play until the 2009 season, but the Cleveland area is still a contender for expansion. Cleveland fielded an
NHL team, the
Cleveland Barons, from
1976 to
1978, which was later merged into the
Minnesota North Stars. The city has had other major-league hockey teams in the past. The most recent incarnation of the
Barons, was an
AHL affiliate of the
San Jose Sharks, that moved to
Worcester, Massachusetts in 2006. The tradition of professional hockey in Cleveland started with the original
Cleveland Barons in 1937.
[59] A new professional team is slated to begin play in 2007 with the
Lake Erie Monsters, an AHL team purchased by Cavaliers owner
Dan Gilbert.
[60] Cleveland was also home to the
Cleveland Rockers, one of the original eight teams
[61] in the
WNBA in 1997. However, in 2003, the team folded after owner
Gordon Gund dropped the team from operation.
Media
Main articles: Media in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is served in print by ''
The Plain Dealer'', the city's sole remaining daily
newspaper. The competing ''
Cleveland Press'' ceased publication on
June 17 1982, and the ''Cleveland News'' ended its run in 1960. Cleveland also supports several
alternative weekly publications, including the ''
Free Times'' and ''
Cleveland Scene''.
Cleveland, combined with nearby Akron, was ranked in 2006–2007 as the 17th largest television market by
Nielsen Media Research.
[62] The market is served by stations affiliated with major American networks including:
WKYC-TV (channel 3,
NBC),
WEWS (channel 5,
ABC),
WJW-TV (channel 8,
Fox),
WOIO (channel 19,
CBS),
WUAB (channel 43,
MNTV), and
WBNX (channel 55,
The CW). Cleveland is also served by
WVPX (channel 23,
i) and Spanish-language channel
WQHS-TV (channel 61,
Univision).
WVIZ (channel 25) and
WEAO (channel 49) are members of
PBS. A Cleveland first in television was ''
The Morning Exchange'' program on WEWS, which defined the morning show format, and served as the inspiration for ''
Good Morning America''.
[63]
Cleveland is also served by over 43 AM and FM
radio stations directly, and dozens of other stations are heard from elsewhere in
Northeast Ohio.
[64]
Economy
Downtown Cleveland as viewed from Edgewater State Park
Cleveland's location on the
Cuyahoga River and
Lake Erie has been key to its growth. The
Ohio and Erie Canal coupled with rail links helped establish the city as a major American manufacturing center.
Steel and many other manufactured goods emerged as its industries.
[65]
The city has sought to diversify its economy to become less dependent on its struggling
manufacturing sector. Cleveland is the corporate headquarters of many large companies such as
National City Corporation,
Eaton Corporation,
Forest City Enterprises,
Sherwin-Williams Company, and
KeyCorp.
NASA maintains a facility in Cleveland, the
Glenn Research Center.
Jones Day, one of the largest law firms in the world, traces its origins to Cleveland, and its Cleveland office remains the firm's largest.
[66]
Cleveland's largest employer, the renowned
Cleveland Clinic,
[67] ranks among America's best hospitals as tabulated by ''
U.S. News & World Report''.
[68] Cleveland's healthcare industry includes
University Hospitals of Cleveland, a noted competitor which ranked twenty-fifth in cancer care,
[69] and
MetroHealth medical center.
Cleveland is an emerging area for
biotechnology and
fuel cell research, led by
Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic, and University Hospitals of Cleveland. Cleveland is among the top recipients of investment for biotech start-ups and research.
[4] Case Western Reserve, the Clinic, and University Hospitals have recently announced plans to build a large biotechnology research center and
incubator on the site of the former Mt. Sinai Medical Center, creating a research campus to stimulate biotech
startup companies that can be spun off from research conducted in the city.
[71]
City leaders stepped up efforts to cultivate a technology sector in its economy in the early 2000s. Former Mayor
Jane L. Campbell appointed a "tech czar" whose job is to actively recruit tech companies to the downtown office market, offering connections to the high-speed fiber networks that run underneath downtown streets in several "high-tech offices" focused on the
Euclid Avenue area.
Cleveland State University hired a Technology Transfer Officer to work full time on cultivating technology transfers from CSU research to marketable ideas and companies in the Cleveland area, and appointed a Vice President for Economic Development to leverage the university's assets in expanding the city's economy. Case Western Reserve University participates in technology initiatives such as the OneCommunity project
[72] a high-speed fiber optic network linking the area's major research centers intended to stimulate growth. OneCommunity's work attracted the attention of
Intel and in mid-2005, Cleveland was named an Intel "Worldwide Digital Community" along with
Corpus Christi, Texas,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and
Taipei, Taiwan. This distinction will add about $12 million for marketing to expand regional technology partnerships, create a city-wide
WiFi network, and develop a tech economy. In addition to this Intel initiative, in January 2006 a New York-based think tank, the Intelligent Community Forum, selected Cleveland as the sole American city among its seven finalists for the "Intelligent Community of the Year" award. The group announced that it nominated the city for its OneCleveland network with potential broadband applications.
[73] The OneCommunity Network is collaborating with
Cisco Systems to deploy a cutting-edge wireless network that could provide widespread access to the region. Cisco is testing new technologies in wireless "mesh" networking. OneCommunity and Cisco officially launched the first phase in September 2006, blanketing several square miles of University Circle with wireless connectivity. Additionally, Cisco Systems acquired the former Aironet Wireless Networks, which was based in the Greater Cleveland area, to form its wireless networking product lineup and maintain a facility in the region.
[74]
Demographics
| 'Historical populations'[75] |
|---|
Census
year | Population | Rank | %± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| 1820 | 606 | - | - |
| 1830 | 1,075 | - | 77.3% |
| 1840 | 6,071 | 67 | 464.7% |
| 1850 | 17,034 | 41 | 180.5% |
| 1860 | 43,417 | 21 | 154.8% |
| 1870 | 92,829 | 15 | 113.8% |
| 1880 | 160,146 | 11 | 72.5% |
| 1890 | 261,353 | 10 | 63.1% |
| 1900 | 381,768 | 7 | 46.1% |
| 1910 | 560,663 | 9 | 46.8% |
| 1920 | 796,841 | 5 | 42.1% |
| 1930 | 900,429 | 6 | 13.0% |
| 1940 | 878,336 | 6 | -3.5% |
| 1950 | 914,808 | 7 | 4.1% |
| 1960 | 876,050 | 8 | -5.4% |
| 1970 | 750,903 | 10 | -15.3% |
| 1980 | 573,822 | 18 | -24.6% |
| 1990 | 505,616 | 23 | -12.9% |
| 2000 | 478,403 | 33 | -6.4% |
As of the
2000 Census, there were 478,403 people, 190,638
households, and 111,904 families residing in the city. The
population density was 6,166.5 people per square mile (2,380.9/km²). There were 215,856 housing units at an average density of 2,782.4 per square mile (1,074.3/km²). The
racial makeup of the city was 50.99%
Black or
African American, 41.49%
White, 1.35%
Asian, 0.30%
Native American, 0.04%
Pacific Islander, 3.59% from
other races, and 2.24% from two or more races. 7.26% of the population was
Hispanic or
Latino of any race.
Ethnic groups include
Germans (9.2%),
Irish (8.2% ),
Poles (4.8%),
Italians (4.6%), and
English (2.8%). There are also substantial communities of
Hungarians,
Arabs (mostly
Maronite Christians and
Sunni Muslims),
Romanians,
Czechs,
Slovaks,
Greeks,
Ukrainians,
Albanians,
Croats,
Serbs,
Lithuanians,
Slovenians,
Koreans, and
Han Chinese. The presence of Hungarians within the Cleveland proper was so great that the city once boasted the highest concentration of Hungarians in the world outside of
Budapest.
[76]
Built as the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, this building on Cleveland's East Side now serves a primarily
African American congregation.
There were 190,638 households out of which 29.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.5% were
married couples living together, 24.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.3% were nonfamilies. 35.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.1% had someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.19. The population was spread out with 28.5% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 19.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.2 males.
The
median income for a household in the city was
$25,928, and the median income for a family was $30,286. Males had a median income of $30,610 versus $24,214 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $14,291. 26.3% of the population and 22.9% of families were below the
poverty line. Out of the total population, 37.6% of those under the age of 18 and 16.8% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Cleveland was hit hard in the 1960s and early 1970s by
white flight and
suburbanization, further exacerbated by the
busing-based desegregation of Cleveland schools required by the
United States Supreme Court. Although busing ended in the 1990s, Cleveland continued to slide into
poverty, reaching a nadir in 2004 when it was named the poorest major city in the United States.
[77] Cleveland was again rated the poorest major city in the U.S. in 2006, with a poverty rate of 32.4%.
[78]
Government and politics
Cleveland City Hall
Cleveland's position as a center of manufacturing established it as a hotbed of
union activity early in its history. This contributed to a political
progressivism that has influenced Cleveland politics to the present. While other parts of Ohio, particularly
Cincinnati and the southern portion of the state, have historically supported the
Republican Party, Cleveland commonly breeds the strongest support in the state for the
Democrats;
[79] Cleveland's two representatives in the
House of Representatives are Democrats:
Dennis Kucinich and
Stephanie Tubbs Jones. During the
2004 Presidential election, although
George W. Bush carried Ohio,
John Kerry carried Cuyahoga County,
[80] which gave him the strongest support in the state.
The city of Cleveland operates on the
mayor-council (strong mayor) form of government.
[81] The
mayor is the
chief executive of the city, and the office is held in 2007 by
Frank G. Jackson. Previous mayors of Cleveland include progressive Democrat
Tom L. Johnson, Republican
Senator George V. Voinovich, two-time Democratic Ohio governor and senator
Frank J. Lausche, and
Carl B. Stokes, the first African American mayor of a major American city.
[82]
Education
Cleveland is home to a number of colleges and universities. Most prominent among these is
Case Western Reserve University, a world-renowned research and teaching institution located in University Circle. A private university with several prominent graduate programs, Case was ranked 38th in the nation in 2007 by ''
U.S. News & World Report''.
[83] University Circle also contains
Cleveland Institute of Art, the
Cleveland Institute of Music, and the
Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine.
Cleveland State University (CSU), based in downtown Cleveland, is the city's public four-year university. In addition to CSU, downtown hosts the metropolitan campus of
Cuyahoga Community College, the county's two-year higher education institution, as well as
Myers University, a private four-year school that focuses on business education.
[84]
The
Cleveland Metropolitan School District is the largest
K–12 district in the state, with 127 schools and an enrollment of 55,567 students during the 2006–2007 academic year.
[85] It is the only district in Ohio that is under direct control of the mayor, who appoints a
school board.
[86] It In the 2007–08 academic year, the Cleveland Municipal School District will change its name to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
Transportation
A collection of fixed and movable bridges crosses the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland.
1992 aerial view of the Cleveland harbor, with the mouth of the Cuyahoga River in the foreground. View is to the east.
Cleveland
Hopkins International Airport is the city's major airport and an
international airport that serves as one of three main
hubs for
Continental Airlines. It holds the distinction of having the first airport-to-downtown rapid transit connection, established in 1968. In 1930, the airport was the site of the first airfield lighting system and the first air traffic
control tower. In addition to Hopkins, Cleveland is served by
Burke Lakefront Airport, on the north shore of downtown between Lake Erie and the
Shoreway. Burke is primarily a commuter and business airport.
[87]
Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Cleveland, via the
Capitol Limited and
Lake Shore Limited routes, which stop at
Cleveland Lakefront Station. Cleveland has also been identified as a hub for the proposed
Ohio Hub project, which would bring
high-speed rail to Northeast Ohio.
[88]
Cleveland currently has a
bus and
rail mass transit system operated by the
Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, also known as "RTA". The rail portion is officially called the
RTA Rapid Transit, but is referred to by local residents as ''The Rapid''. It consists of two
light rail lines, known as the Green and Blue Lines, and a
heavy rail line, the Red Line. RTA is currently installing a
bus rapid transit line, coined the "Silver Line", which will run along
Euclid Avenue from downtown to University Circle.
[89] National bus service is provided at a
Greyhound station, located just behind
Playhouse Square theater district.
Three two-digit
Interstate highways serve Cleveland directly.
Interstate 71 begins just southwest of downtown and is the major route from downtown Cleveland to the airport. I-71 runs through the southwestern suburbs and eventually connects Cleveland with
Columbus.
Interstate 77 begins in downtown Cleveland and runs almost due south through the southern suburbs. I-77 sees the least traffic of the three interstates, although it does connect Cleveland to
Akron.
Interstate 90 connects the two sides of Cleveland, and is the northern terminus for both I-71 and I-77. Running due east–west through the west side suburbs, I-90 turns northeast at the junction with I-71 and I-490, and is known as the Innerbelt through downtown. At the junction with the Shoreway, I-90 makes a 90-degree turn known in the area as
Dead Man's Curve, then continues northeast, entering
Lake County near the eastern split with State Route 2. Cleveland is also served by two three-digit interstates,
Interstate 480, which enters Cleveland briefly at a few points and
Interstate 490, which connects I-77 with the junction of I-90 and I-71 just south of downtown.
[90]
Two other limited-access highways serve Cleveland. The
Cleveland Memorial Shoreway carries
State Route 2 along its length, and at varying points also carries
US 6,
US 20 and I-90. The Jennings Freeway (
State Route 176) connects I-71 just south of I-90 to I-480 near the suburbs of
Parma and
Brooklyn Heights. A third highway, the Berea Freeway (
State Route 237 in part), connects I-71 to the airport, and forms part of the boundary between Cleveland and
Brook Park.
[91]
Sister cities
Cleveland has twenty
sister cities:
[92]
See also
★
Cleveland East Ohio Gas Explosion
★
Cleveland Torso Murderer (Kingsbury Run murders)
★
List of foreign consulates in Cleveland
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