Republican Justice Harold Hitz Burton served as Cleveland's 45th mayor from 1936 to 1940, U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1941 to 1945, and U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice from 1945 until his retirement in 1958 due to failing health. Burton was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, in 1888, and graduated from Bowdoin College and Harvard Law School. Law was Harold Burton's calling, and in his various practices he sought to uphold it as dispassionately as possible. Upon the United States' entry into World War I, he sought commission as an officer in the 361st Infantry of the 91st Division and achieved the rank of Captain by fall 1918. In his service he fought in Verdun during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre "for extraordinary heroism and gallantry in action," and was recognized by General John J. Pershing "for exceptionally meritorious and conspicuous services during the Argonne Offensive."
Following the resigning of his commission in 1919, Burton moved to Cleveland with his wife to practice corporate law in a local firm before forming his own firms: Cull, Burton & Laughlin and Andrews, Hadden & Burton. After a brief stint as Cuyahoga County Commander of the American Legion he was persuaded to join the world of politics by local Republican Party leader Maurice Maschke. In 1921, Cleveland constituents voted to create the position of City Manager, an individual to work closely with the city government to oversee city development and governance with the goal of eliminating party politics in the interest of the city's progress. Burton initially served under City Manager William R. Hopkins as City Law Director from 1930 to 1931, though some of his time in office was as interim City Director following the removal of Hopkins by the city council. The position of City Manager was eliminated in November 1931, thereby restoring the mayoralty. Burton later ran for the recreated position of Mayor in 1935 as an independent Republican seeking to oust the corrupt Harry L. Davis. By 1936 Cleveland had become rife with corruption in the form of gambling, racketeering, and protection rackets. Burton's desire to eliminate corruption led him to hire Eliot Ness as City Safety Director, tasking Ness with cleaning up the city.
As a mayor during the Great Depression, Burton benefited from a number of New Deal programs designed to put people back to work and rebuild the aging infrastructure of the city. One of the most successful and influential of these was the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a federal program that provided economic aid to workers and cities through construction projects and infrastructure renovations that often could not be afforded by the cities themselves. Cleveland's Memorial Shoreway, now a segment of Ohio State Route 2, was originally constructed to provide transit to the Great Lakes Exposition of 1936. This roadway was expanded using WPA funding to provide access to downtown Cleveland from the West Side as one of the nation's first limited-access expressways, with the majority of it completed in 1939. Mayor Burton worked closely with the WPA and its administrators to increase the funding given to Cleveland for its development. Under Burton and with federal assistance, Cleveland's unemployment declined from 125,000 persons to 75,000 using the almost $1.5 million that the WPA provided in relief funding to the city government each month. Following Burton's death, the Main Avenue Bridge, a segment of Memorial Shoreway, was later renamed the Harold H. Burton Memorial Bridge in his memory.
Harold Burton served as Mayor of Cleveland for only four years before pursuing election to the U.S. Senate, and he was ultimately appointed into the Supreme Court by Harry S. Truman in 1945. As an Associate Justice he later voted in favor of and helped produce unanimity in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, which can be considered the highlight of his career on the court.
Harold Burton served as a model soldier, Republican Mayor, and Associate Justice throughout his life, seeking only to do what he considered to be righteous and just. It is because of this that he left a very noncontroversial legacy, and as such has been somewhat ignored by history which remembers great and controversial figures alike.
]]>In 2008, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, making him the first African American to hold the office. President Obama was a Democratic candidate, which is not surprising. Because of the Democratic policies of the New Deal and Great Society, Civil Rights legislation of the 1960s, and the overwhelming number of Civil Rights leaders who were Democrats, the Democratic Party cemented itself as being the party representing the best interests of the black community. Yet, there was one Civil Rights leader in Cleveland who did not fit the mold. William O. Walker was the editor of the Call and Post, one of the nation’s most prominent African American newspapers, and he was a staunch Republican. Yet Walker was first and foremost a Civil Rights leader who would work with anyone, regardless of political affiliation, to advance the African American community. Born in Selma, Alabama, in 1896, Walker was raised in a community where the Republican Party enjoyed heavy support from African Americans who still saw it as the Party of Lincoln. Many Republican politicians also appointed African Americans to federal positions in the South, including postmasters and custom agents, which only furthered Republican support in the African American community. As a result, Walker became a firm supporter of the Republican Party. In 1932, Walker came to Cleveland to manage the Call and Post. In just four years, he managed to take the fledgling newspaper with a weekly circulation of 1,000 or less and turn it into a must-read source for Civil Rights information. Already an established journalist, Walker understood the power of the press for the creation of community activism. In the 1930s Walker was a founding member of the Future Outlook League, an organization that was devoted to fight for increased jobs for African Americans in Cleveland. The Future Outlook League successfully led pickets against some of Cleveland's most prominent businesses, including the Cleveland Trust Co., Ohio Bell Telephone Co., and F. W. Woolworth. Walker used the Call and Post to inform, encourage, and support these protests, while showing the success of such actions in creating jobs for African Americans. Similarly, in 1968, Walker used the Call and Post as the mouthpiece for Operation Black Unity’s boycott of the McDonald’s Corporation for not giving franchises to African Americans. Walker also used the Call and Post to create a sense of pride in the black community. In his weekly editorial, "Down the Long Road," Walker advocated for an increase of African American businesses, a cry for African Americans to pay attention to the bigger political picture, and most importantly, that race does not have to be a handicap. "Down the Long Road" also tried to put agency back into the hands of the black community. Yet in these articles, there is also evidence of his Republican beliefs. Emphasis on self-help and business as the true drivers of improvement have always been a pillar of the Republican ideology, and Walker advocated for them throughout his career. Although he held Republican views, Walker remained critical of both political parties. For example, he was critical of both President Eisenhower and President Reagan for not appointing African Americans to their cabinets. He also argued that the Republican Party was taking increasingly larger steps to isolate themselves from African Americans, which he saw as detrimental both to the Republican Party and the black community. As his career continued, Walker started working more closely with Democrats, including Carl Stokes, the first African American mayor of a major U.S. City, to advance the black community. Walker was also an important political figure, serving as the first African American member of an Ohio Governor’s Cabinet during the Rhodes administration. Walker also received a nomination from President Reagan for chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 1981. Walker died at his desk in the Call and Post headquarters at the age of 85. In his Cleveland Press eulogy, Walker is quoted: "If it's ever a choice between friendship and race, I'll always support my race." The quote perfectly encapsulates everything that he believed in and worked for. Walker was, first and foremost, an African American man who worked tirelessly for the advancement of his race, and would work with anyone, regardless of party affiliation, to achieve his goals.
]]>During the Great Depression, Cleveland struggled like many other cities. It went from being the second largest industrial center in the country, trailing only Detroit, to experiencing an exodus of citizens. Cleveland lost close to half of its jobs during the depths of the Depression. However, even this was not enough to diminish Cleveland's importance. In late 1935, the Republican Party (GOP), had narrowed down its main selections for its 1936 national convention site to Chicago, Kansas City, and Cleveland. By late 1935, with a strong push from Chester Bolton, a prominent Ohio Republican from Cleveland who served on the congressional committee for the convention, Cleveland's Public Auditorium was chosen for the Republican National Convention. The same year, the city hosted the Great Lakes Exposition. Both events created a lively scene on the Mall.
By June Cleveland was well prepared for the RNC. As the Republicans poured through the streets of Cleveland, there was tension in the air. The president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was highly beloved, as was his party. The man who would be selected the presidential nominee, Alfred Landon, was one of the few Republican governors elected in the early 1930s, and he was the only incumbent to win. So the race to the White House would not be an easy one. While Cleveland used the months from the beginning of 1936 to June to prepare for the influx of convention-goers, the GOP had not planned as well as the host city. There was some fear that Herbert Hoover, former president and Republican luminary, might challenge Landon's current position as GOP frontrunner. Luckily, he did not and Hoover, as well as the keynote speaker Fredrick C. Steiwer, fully supported Landon, who easily beat his closest competitor, Sen. William Borah of Idaho. In fact, Landon must not have been overly concerned about his situation, for he remained in Kansas throughout the convention and was conspicuously absent from public view for two months thereafter.
Since Abraham Lincoln's historic presidency, the African American vote had always been overwhelmingly Republican. Even when Hoover's policies had little positive effect in the early years of the Depression, most African American voters stood by the Republicans. That is until 1936, when a startling lack of black representation stunned the loyal demographic. Many black leaders cried out on this, as well as many papers, including the Call and Post, Cleveland's prominent African American newspaper, and even the Plain Dealer, one of the city's leading dailies. One African American leader, Dr. Charles H. Phillip, claimed it would be "the death of the Republican Party." The Republicans ignored this warning, and Steiwer launched into a vicious speech against the New Deal and FDR. Landon's acceptance speech as the nominee was filled with similar rhetoric.
However, it seems that Phillip was correct in his observation. Landon was utterly devastated by FDR, winning only two states (Maine and Vermont). FDR went on to serve three more terms in office, and it is clear that the snubbed black vote helped account for this landslide victory; FDR earned 71 percent of the African American vote, and the so-called New Deal voting coalition, an unlikely alliance of business leaders, blue-collar whites, and blacks, reoriented the national political game for at least the next three decades. In fact, African Americans still support Democrats overwhelmingly. So while the Cleveland RNC in 1936 may be remembered for its failure to identify a candidate who could unseat Roosevelt, in their mishandling of black supporters and vicious rhetoric against a popular president, party leaders played into the hands of what was becoming a historic presidency, playing a role in reinforcing the New Deal.
]]>In 1924, the city of Cleveland was preparing for a gathering unlike any it had ever experienced before. After much debate, it had been decided that the Republican National Convention was going to be held in the Forest City. Set to take place in June 1924, this convention would start a new era of political conventions.
On August 2, 1923, the nation experienced the tragic death of President Warren G. Harding and saw a new face take his place. Calvin Coolidge was fairly unknown as the vice president and remained rather unknown throughout the rest of that year. His lack of publicity served the Grand Old Party (GOP) well. The Harding administration, after all, had faced a great deal of controversy which had guaranteed that he would be dropped from the ticket in 1924. The Teapot Dome and veterans bureau scandals caused the public to lose all faith in the government, but Coolidge's fresh face was exactly what the party needed to be able to restore the country's faith in their government as well as in the Republican Party.
When it came down to the convention that would nominate Coolidge, there was debate on whether it was going to be held in San Francisco or Cleveland. The deciding factor was a personal endorsement from Coolidge for the city of Cleveland. In tribute to the late President Harding, Coolidge gave his support to Cleveland for it was in Harding's home state. Besides said endorsement, Cleveland itself had a great deal to offer. The city had a brand-new Public Auditorium, which was near many excellent hotels and attractions, and was able to host 11,500 people.
The convention was the first to allow female delegates equal representation with men after women had received the right to vote in 1920. Special attention was paid to the comfort of female representatives. The party even created a special committee to accommodate the needs of women, including placing a hostess at every accommodating hotel in order to assist representatives. The convention was also the first to broadcast its proceedings through radio. WTAM broadcast the convention's speeches and other important elements as far as its signal could reach. There was also much spectacle given to the convention such as fireworks and boat rides given to delegates.
This convention in particular was somewhat of an enigma. Though there was a great deal of new and exciting things surrounding this convention, it is hardly mentioned as being influential. Although the convention provided a starting point for some aspects of modern-day conventions, the actual content of the convention was rather dry. At one point it was suggested that "the city open up the churches to liven things up a bit." There was relatively little debate on whom to nominate since the GOP had a great deal of faith in Coolidge. Consequently, there was not much to actually do. President Coolidge himself did not even attend the convention; he stayed in Washington, D.C., to continue attending to Presidential duties.
The convention provided a firm foundation for the elected presidency of Calvin Coolidge. Though he served during a time known as the "roaring twenties," his journey there was nothing of the sort. His legacy as "Silent Cal" followed by the devastation caused by the Great Depression would go on to replace the memory of the pathbreaking yet lackluster Republican National Convention of 1924.
]]>With the Second Industrial Revolution in full swing, large industrial cities in the East and Midwest were expanding rapidly. Cleveland was no exception. Recognizing that Ohio was becoming the political center of the nation, the Republican National League (commonly referred to as the League of Republican Clubs) chose the city as the location for its annual meeting in June 1895. The meeting would set the stage for greater moments in the near future, including the election of William McKinley (then Governor of Ohio) to the Presidency in 1896, and the consolidation of Republican leadership of the country until just before the outbreak of World War I. The National Republican League meeting placed Cleveland firmly on the map of partisan politics and ushered in a period of its growing centrality in the political arena.
The 1895 Republican National League meeting set the political tone for the Republican Party by serving as the catalyst which initiated a chain reaction setting up Governor William McKinley's 1896 nomination, resulting in his subsequent election. At the Cleveland meeting, Governor McKinley was already the party favorite and one of the proverbial stars of the show, among the various representatives including Ohio Senator Marcus A. Hanna, a good friend and ally of Governor McKinley. Other notable persons in attendance included William W. Tracy, President of the Republican National League, Edward B. Harper, Treasurer of the League, and the Honorable D.D. Woodmansee, President of the Ohio Republican League and "champion of the Republican cause" who was then serving his second elected term as President of the Ohio Republican League.
The Republican National League meeting was no small affair. Total attendance for this event in downtown Cleveland was in excess of two thousand representatives and another two thousand alternates. During the meeting, the League Executive Committee and leadership was headquartered at the now-defunct Hollenden Hotel near the Arcade. As the hotel became crowded with League members and news reporters, the Plain Dealer effectively summed up the atmosphere at the Hollenden, "All day long the delegates had dropped in for relief from the heat of the pavement... Down on the floor of the lobby, the crowd was increasing hourly. There were representatives from every section of the country and the hotel bore a metropolitan appearance." However, the Arcade was the center of the festivities.
One of the core issues for the Republican League meeting was, of course, the upcoming presidential election. A large proportion of the meeting was otherwise devoted to economic issues, upon which the Republican party constructed its ideological platform. Considerable issues for debate arose around the country's economy. The League was determined to counter the Democratic party's rallying cry of free silver, which the Republicans sought to attack by vigorously advertising and promoting the gold standard to squelch cries for the more vague-sounding free coinage. Given the fact that farmers suffering from years of drought and growing indebtedness sought relief in the expansion the nation's monetary supply through the coinage of silver, it is no wonder this was a key issue at the meeting. McKinley would run on the promise to maintain the gold standard, a position challenged by the pro-silver candidate of the Democrats and Populists, William Jennings Bryan.
The 50 years following the Republican National League meeting were a time of economic prosperity for Cleveland and other large northern cities. Ohio remained a key political battleground state. As a result, Cleveland continued to attract close scrutiny at every election. The attention helped Cleveland land two Republican National Conventions, in 1924 and 1936. After World War II, such cities lost industries and as a result, population as people left to find replacement work. Cleveland's downtown hotels aged and upkeep waned. Cleveland's Public Auditorium lost ground to other cities' more expansive new convention halls. Even though Ohio remained a key battleground state, Cleveland was no longer as attractive as a convention city, a situation that prevailed until the recent revitalization of downtown and addition of hotel and convention facilities helped the city land the 2016 RNC.
]]>It is autumn 1961 and an election campaign is underway. You see a woman with a white hat walking around the neighborhood speaking with residents. Her demeanor makes her stand out from the crowd and her face is one not to forget. Her huge smile is enthusiastic and bright, and her eyes shine with great hope for the future. Her presence is one of compassion and persistence. She believes that personal contact with the people of Cleveland is the best way the develop a strong, trustworthy relationship during a political campaign. This charismatic woman was Albina Rose Cermak, who was raised on the city's West Side by a Republican father and her mother who was a suffragette. This house overlooked the downtown skyline and the beautiful Lake Erie.
From her home on Cliff Drive near Edgewater Park, Albina Cermak could behold the skyline of the city she hoped to govern. Cermak was the first woman to run for mayor of Cleveland. Other women had been mayors of mostly small towns in the United States before 1961, but Albina was the first woman to run for mayor in a major U.S. city since another in Seattle in the 1920s. Throughout her election race, Cermak often wore a white hat, which became one of her trademarks. Her opponent was Mayor Anthony Celebrezze, who had been in office since 1953. Cermak believed that Mayor Celebrezze was ill-suited to his position. Her campaign argued that his office had caused major damage to the city's economy. Cermak was running as a Republican in a largely Democratic city. In many ways she did not stand a chance to win the '61 elections, despite her progressive ideas during her campaign.
The aftermath of World War II brought heightened challenges as the "urban crisis" enveloped the once-prosperous industrial city. Unfortunately, Cleveland political and business leaders had failed to uplift the city. Cermak believed that City Hall was not reliable or responsive to the needs of Clevelanders. She promised that if elected this would change, by appointing responsible individuals. Her two most important ideas to improve Cleveland were to bring back industry and use better code enforcement to improve slum areas. Her other focuses were taking action on air and lake pollution and advocating for a more reliable transportation system that ran throughout the Greater Cleveland area.
Although her ideas were a great blueprint for improving Cleveland, they were not enough to win the election. Anthony Celebrezze dominated the vote in 1961. A number of factors help explain why Albina Cermak did not win the '61 election. Many of her ideas were ahead of her time. She was also campaigning during a time when very few women held a powerful political position. The media also influenced how the people viewed her. Some local newspapers promoted her campaign, while one editorialized that her campaign was laughable. Even though she would never be mayor, her actions during in the campaign were advanced and unforgettable.
Albina Cermak's 1961 mayoral campaign showed her love and devotion for her city. She would continue to run for political positions and be involved in many committees until her death in 1978. Her mayoral campaign may not have been a success, but it definitely was not a failure. Cermak paved the way for the women in Cleveland in the professional and political world. Almost forty years later, Jane Campbell not only ran for mayor of Cleveland, but was victorious in the election. Women like Albina Rose Cermak showed courage in breaking down barriers against women holding political and professional careers.
]]>The plaque placed on the Marcus Hanna Monument in University Circle brings to mind a letter by Marcus Hanna's brother, H. M. Hanna. In the letter, he details the discussion about what should be inscribed on it. H. M. Hanna and Samuel Mather, an iron ore-shipping tycoon, desired to have the inscription say something about Marcus Hanna's work with the community. Lawyer and Cuyahoga County Judge William B. Sanders and railway baron and senator James H. Hoyt wanted the plaque to contain something about his civic work in the government. However, Hanna's crowning political achievement - getting William McKinley elected as President and how Hanna's tactics during that campaign alter how Presidents are elected in the United States - is sadly absent from the monument's inscription.
Marcus Hanna's early political activities had a lasting effect on his life. He was known to be very active in elections in Cleveland's Ninth Ward and fought to keep party bosses in check. This was because he thought that businessmen like him should be the authority in politics and not the party bosses. His appeal to Cleveland capitalists would eventually gain him allies in the major industrial elites of the city. Nevertheless, Marcus Hanna would eventually work within the system of the party bosses and gain political power through that system. It was not long until the same important professional politicians who despised him were coming for his aid. Hanna began by fighting the established local political mechanism but later in his career used it to his advantage.
The next stage of his career came with his friendship with William McKinley. The two men met at the 1884 Republican convention when they supported rival candidates. However, it was during the 1888 convention that Hanna saw McKinley's political potential after he heard several of his speeches during the convention and saw how he carried himself. After the convention Hanna became involved in McKinley's struggles to be House Speaker and Governor of Ohio. Hanna even went to St. Louis for the 1896 convention to make sure McKinley was nominated. His hard work resulted in McKinley's being a first ballot nomination. Marcus Hanna was now ready for the biggest political fight of his life.
William McKinley could not travel across the country to give speeches due to the ill health of Mrs. McKinley. So, Marcus Hanna had to rely on flyers, posters, and other such written ads to promote McKinley. Hanna was able to portray the Democrats as out of touch with the common man with his "full dinner pail" campaign. He was even able to garner support from the African American community with the help of allies like John Patterson Green. Yet there were many including McKinley who wondered about the methods that Hanna used and if they would pay off. On the night of the election all Marcus Hanna could do was wait and see if his work would be rewarded. On that night Marcus Hanna would see his labors bear fruit. When the votes began to be tallied McKinley was viewed to win with at least 264 electoral votes. The next day Marcus Hanna announced the outcome of the election in Cleveland's public square where he was greeted with the chant of "Hanna, Hanna."
After the election many people including McKinley himself wrote letters congratulating Hanna for his work on the campaign. Hanna had finally seen the rewards of the political struggles realized. His importance to our election process cannot be overemphasized. His ability of, to quote the historian Francis Russell, "selling McKinley to the public like soap or Tobacco" led the way to the method of campaigning that is used today. Historian William Poundstone even called Hanna "an early example of a political consultant." The Hanna Monument sits in University Circle overlooked by many people who pass by in their cars. This monument to Marcus Hanna's determination that not only got William McKinley elected but transformed the manner of political campaigning sits alone and forgotten amidst busy University Circle.
]]>Myron Timothy Herrick (1854-1929) is most often remembered as being raised as a farmer's son in Wellington, Ohio, a lawyer who became president of the Society for Savings bank in Cleveland, a Republican who was elected the 42nd Governor of the State of Ohio (1903-1905), and two-time appointee as ambassador to France (1912-1914, 1920-1929). What is not commonly known is how he used his legal and financial influence, along with other investors, to control and expand various railroads of Ohio and the nation.
Herrick was associated with several American financiers that invested in railroads and as a group were called the "Fuller Syndicate," organized by investor Edward Layton Fuller, president of the International Salt Company. Such syndicates were numerous in the United States and were composed of wealthy and influential individuals who combined financial resources for a common purpose during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Railroad land acquisition, construction, and operation was usually very expensive and many railroad companies had losses that exceeded income for a variety of reasons and eventually fell into receivership. One such railroad was the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad (W&LE), of which Herrick was appointed receiver in January 1897. With a route of 278 miles extending between Toledo and Martins Ferry, Ohio, it was the first railroad that Herrick acquired for the group.
At that time Herrick knew almost nothing about the operation of a railroad. He found the W&LE property in extremely bad shape. It was encumbered with debt and had little or no financial standing. Herrick decided that it would require at least $1.5 million to put the road in even a fair condition. He applied to eastern financiers to obtain the funds required for the project, but such a high interest rate was demanded that Herrick decided to go elsewhere for the loan. Eventually the bonds were practically all placed in the west, and the improvements to the W&LE were soon under way. In eighteen months, Herrick credited himself with doubling the earnings of the railroad and reducing expenses by fifty percent even while initiating much-needed improvements totaling one million dollars, which consisted of building new bridges, reducing grades, and improving the roadbed.
As a result of the W&LE reorganization, Herrick was also able to control and consolidate the assets of the Cleveland, Canton & Southern Railroad. From its downtown passenger depot in Cleveland, which was located at the corner of Huron Road and Ontario Street, this acquisition added another 209.59 miles of track extending south to Zanesville, Ohio, with an eastern branch to Chagrin Falls. Once again improvements were required and were soon underway, and as a result the combined properties achieved physical and financial stability. Myron Herrick's actions did not go unnoticed and soon other robber barons hoped to add the W&LE to their empires. The Vanderbilts, the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Gould interests were all anxious to secure control. The Goulds finally won out, and the W&LE was destined to fulfill a dream as being part of the first coast to coast transcontinental system.
George Jay Gould, son of ruthless rail baron Jay Gould, controlled the Western Pacific, Denver & Rio Grande Western, and the Wabash Railroad. Herrick's Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad served Gould's desire to reach ever closer to the east coast, and also served steel magnate Andrew Carnegie's desire for another route to ship his steel west. Herrick acquired several smaller rail lines which linked the W&LE to Pittsburgh and created the Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway. In 1902, Herrick was instrumental in obtaining the Western Maryland Railroad, whose assets were controlled by the City of Baltimore, giving Gould his east coast terminal. The Western Maryland needed to be extended from Hagerstown through rugged country to Connellsville, Pennsylvania, to link the western lines to the east coast. In retaliation for Herrick's acquisition for Gould, the rival Pennsylvania Railroad demanded that Western Union Telegraph, in which Gould owned substantial stock, remove all of its telegraph lines and poles from the Pennsylvania Railroad rights of way, and also remove all telegraph operators and stations along the system.
In 1906, Herrick proposed construction of a new union station in Cleveland. The station was to be located on land adjacent to Public Square and served by the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and the Erie Railroad. During that same year, the Western Maryland Railroad connection to Connellsville had only reached as far as Cumberland, Maryland, and the remaining line was postponed due to insufficient funds. Unfortunately, these projects never materialized because of the financial uncertainties following the Panic of 1907. Visions of a coast-to-coast railroad were dashed when both the Western Maryland and Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal railroads fell into receivership in 1907, followed by the Wheeling & Lake Erie in 1908. Herrick returned as president of Society for Savings on May 1, 1908, and at the same time severed most of his connections with the railroad business. His last service to Cleveland railroads occurred in 1911, when on behalf of his son, Herrick went to New York to negotiate financing for the new Cleveland Union Terminal project envisioned by the Van Sweringen brothers. With its completion in 1930, the Cleveland Union Terminal finally gave the city its new train station that Myron T. Herrick had proposed 24 years earlier.
]]>Congressman Frances Payne Bolton was born Frances Payne Bingham into a wealthy and prominent family of Cleveland in 1885. Two of her grandfathers, William Bingham and Henry B. Payne, introduced her to the world of politics at an early age. William Bingham, well known for his hardware wholesale company Wm. Bingham & Co., served on the Cleveland City Council. Payne became Cleveland's first solicitor under its municipal charter and was later elected to city council before ultimately serving at a national level as a Democratic Senator. Having the familial link to politics may have prepared her for a future political career but her marriage and the death of her husband, Chester C. Bolton, provided her the position for candidacy. She began serving as a Republican House of Representatives member in 1940 to fill her late husband's position and continued serving until her 1968 defeat.
Frances Bolton's family's wealth allowed for the best schooling and many travel opportunities that served her in her future career. Her father was a wealthy banker-industrialist, but it was her uncle Oliver Hazard Payne, who worked alongside John D. Rockefeller in founding the Standard Oil Company, that earned a great deal of economic wealth and established trust funds for each of the Binghams. With this trust, Frances Payne Bolton would be known as one of the wealthiest women in the United States and use her funds to finance various philanthropic measures.
Bolton is most recognized for her involvement with the healthcare field, specifically nursing. Bolton began her involvement by volunteering with the Visiting Nurses Association in 1904 and learned about the healthcare system, nursing profession, and social welfare programs through the experience. Her wealth provided her opportunities to benefit society. She influenced the founding of the Army School of Nursing, which created Army-trained nurses, rather than volunteers, to be used in World War I. She is well remembered throughout Cleveland for providing the financial contributions that enabled Western Reserve University, now Case Western Reserve University, to open one of the first university schools of nursing in the country in 1923. In 1935 the school was renamed the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing. As Bolton became a congressman she authored the Bolton Act, which created the Cadet Nurse Corps in 1943. This program expanded the number of trained nurses for the war effort.
Bolton's political actions beyond healthcare have been influential but often overlooked. As she was elected into the House of Representatives, she joined only five other women in that legislative body. Bolton was a "distinctly conservative" member of Congress but often progressive in her support for measures of equality, including supporting a bill to support equal pay for men and women in the workplace in 1954. Bolton's career helped set an example for future women of the possibility to embark on political careers and the success that can be achieved in those careers.
Bolton became involved with foreign affairs in Congress and achieved great success in her career. She reorganized the Foreign Affairs committees and created five permanent sub-committees for better functioning. She paid her own way on several travel missions and became an expert on Communism (writing Strategy and Tactics of World Communism) and the first woman to head an official mission abroad. In 1953 she was promoted to a delegate to the United Nations; she was the first woman to achieve this position. Bolton's work on her mission to Africa remains one of her most overlooked contributions. This trip allowed for a better U.S. connection with the continent and its people, understanding their way of life, building better relationships and promoting the developing of democratic governments in the countries visited. Bolton continued her position in Foreign Affairs until she was defeated in the election of 1968.
After her defeat, Bolton retired from politics but her civic work and philanthropies continued. Historic preservation was another of the causes Bolton supported with her time and finances throughout her life; Mount Vernon was of particular interest to Bolton and lay behind her creation of the Accokeek Foundation to preserve the shores across the Potomac River. Because of her age, she only continued her support for a few more years until passing away in 1977. The immense show of support through local newspapers and at her funeral was indicative of the influence Bolton had on the public. She was praised and remembered as a humanitarian, philanthropist, politician, and patriot.
]]>In 1970 the future of public transportation in Cleveland looked bleak. The city was millions of dollars in debt and its transit system crumbling. Ridership had dwindled in the wake of World War II and large groups were moving into the suburbs, outside the current busing system's range. The road to recovery began in 1971; with the election of a new mayor the city was able to institute a regional public transportation system.
In 1971 Ralph J. Perk became Cleveland's first Republican mayor in more than three decades and, after establishing the Cleveland Regional Sewer District, he set his sights on the transit problem. At the time of Perk's inauguration as mayor, the busing system in place was Cleveland Transit System (CTS). In the late 1960s, CTS ridership suffered a dramatic drop from which it was unable to recover. To combat the drop in ridership, CTS resorted to cutting service programs, employee layoffs, and selective fare hikes. In 1968, under the mayoralty of Carl Stokes, an attempt to revitalize the transportation system in the city resulted in a four-mile rail extension to Hopkins International Airport. This made Cleveland the first city in the Western Hemisphere with direct rapid transit service to its major airport, but that was not enough to overcome the financial problems of the system. In its last full year of operation, CTS operated with a net loss of $6.9 million. The city council, working under the recommendation of Perk, approved a bill to allow the city to purchase $9.5 million in CTS bonds and temporarily solved the money problems. While this relieved the immediate pressure of the transit issue, Perk knew he needed a more concrete solution and developed a plan for modernizing the transit system.
A variety of circumstances delayed the implementation of Perk's plan. First, it was necessary to assess the fair market value of CTS and arrange a way to pay the remaining debt after it was no longer in existence. The city obtained a federal grant by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration in the amount of $582,000 to conduct the survey. Recognizing it was not within the power of a single municipality to solve CTS's problems, the study called for the regionalization of transit and proposed that public ownership should rest in a transit authority. This push for regional transportation was not limited to the Cleveland area; it was a concern evident throughout the nation in the late 1960s and 1970s. Cities such as St. Louis, San Francisco, and Chicago were conducting similar studies, all of which concluded the best solution for the economic well being and suburban development of each city was to develop a regional transportation system.
Next, Perk had to determine a way to finance the new transit system long term. To combat this Perk proposed a one-cent tax increase. The proposal was overwhelmingly approved by the voters and on September 5, 1975, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) was given control of all CTS assets. During its first year, the RTA was averaging a ridership of 356,000 riders a week - a 65% increase from the final years of the CTS. RTA also made a profit of $260,000 its first year that was allotted to paying the debt of CTS and other capital expenses. By the end of 1975, RTA had added bus service to Euclid, Maple Heights, North Olmsted, Brecksville, Garfield Heights, and Bedford. In 1976, RTA added six additional service areas.
Perk had to overcome problems of debt and corruption, poor sewage and water pollution, and a crumbling transportation system. Under his leadership and belief that a city is meant to function in the best interest of the people, the Regional Sewer District and Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority were established. During his four years as mayor, Perk laid the groundwork for the RTA. Perk did not sit by idly while city council and the transit board made all the decisions but actively campaigned for the implementation of the RTA program by attending meetings, encouraging the support of the plan, and appointing the board that would oversee the day-to-day functioning of the RTA. Perk gave the city a transportation system it could be proud of, one that would prove to be profitable and a model that other cities could emulate. Forty years later the Regional Transit Authority is not only still operating, but continues to flourish and receive recognition.
]]>Chester K. Gillespie, who moved from Cincinnati to Cleveland as a young boy with his family, often said, "I do not take cases I don't believe in." Gillespie, an African American attorney who would be subjected to numerous incidents of racial discrimination over the course of his career in Cleveland, found no lack of worthy cases to pursue.
Gillespie earned his law degree from the Cleveland School of Law, now part of Cleveland State University. He started practicing law in 1920 and shortly after was appointed assistant city law director. Gillespie worked on multiple cases in regards to equality. In addition to his longstanding involvement in the Republican Party of Ohio, he was president of the Cleveland Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1936-37. During his term, Gillespie addressed numerous court cases involving racial discrimination in the Cleveland area.
Gillespie battled racism not only in the courtroom, but also in his personal life. As a civil rights attorney, he needed a stable office suite to provide a working environment. In 1937, Gillespie was subjected to a very difficult dilemma. Gillespie worked with another attorney named Clayborne George. Gillespie's law firm occupied offices in the Erie Building at East 9th Street and Prospect Avenue from 1922 to 1937. After facing racial discrimination from numerous downtown building owners when they sought new quarters in 1937, the two gentlemen, with help from the State Commerce Department, moved into a suite at 241 Euclid Avenue.
By 1940 the Telenews modified the building at 241 Euclid, originally constructed as the First National Bank, into a newsreel theater, forcing Gillespie and George to move their law firm to the Hickox Building on the northwest corner of Euclid and East 9th. Gillespie and George remained there until the impending demolition of the building for a new Bond Clothing store again uprooted them in 1945. Their next targeted office space was the Citizens Building across Euclid Avenue. Unfortunately, Gillespie would never move the firm to that location because of racial discrimination. The manager refused in fear he would lose white tenants.
Unwilling to back down, the attorneys threatened to "pitch a trailer downtown" and practice law on the sidewalk if unable to find a proper office. As Gillespie remarked, "It is unthinkable that we will be unable to find a suitable office space in Cleveland which is rated as being the first city in the United States in civil liberties." After failing to force the Citizens Building owner's hand in court, Gillespie moved his law firm into the Kresge building at East 4th and Euclid-the one building willing to add, in the words of the Call and Post, "a touch of color."
After more than a decade of repeated brushes with "Jim Crow" in downtown Cleveland, in 1950, Gillespie and George were welcomed into the Public Square Building at 33 Public Square, which was owned by Columbus real estate magnate John Galbreath. Gillespie felt victorious in finding a suitable office suite after facing many years of tribulations regarding racism and demolition. Despite the fact that the Cleveland City Council had spoken out against racial discrimination against black professionals in the late 1930s, several years after World War II securing nondiscriminatory office leases often still relied on the goodwill of national firms or outside property owners.
Gillespie's struggle mirrored other struggles between the 1940s and early 1960s. African Americans were subjected to unfair working conditions within the city of Cleveland. For instance, Cleveland bank tellers consisted primarily of whites while African Americans held "hidden jobs." blacks were also not allowed to read residential water, electric, or gas meters due to irrational racist fears. Within Cleveland, occupations for blacks were limited to behind-the-scenes jobs. Prior to the 1960s African Americans were hindered from working as clerks on the main floor of downtown department stores. As in banks, they were forced into jobs that kept them hidden away from the public eye.
With the resolution of World War II happening concurrently with Gillespie's search, it may be suggested some realized how detrimental inequality was. After the war, Americans gradually realized they had fought against inequality and oppression in Nazi Germany while discounting their own nation's issues. Persistent unfair treatment happening at home ultimately sparked a breakthrough. As in the South, in northern cities African Americans would be aided by white supporters in the fight to bring equality within the city of Cleveland.
]]>James A. Garfield was born on November 19, 1831, in a log cabin in Orange Township. His father passed away when he was only 18 months old, leaving his mother to fend for herself and her family. Garfield started working at an early age to try to keep his family out of poverty. His first job--working on the Ohio Canal--was only the beginning. During his lifetime, the hardworking Garfield ably filled a number of positions and jobs. Among his many occupations, he served as a minister, lawyer, war hero and general in the volunteer Union Army, president of Hiram College, Republican state representative and senator, and finally the President of the United States of America.
Marking the pinnacle of Garfield's achievements in terms of position, his presidency lasted only 200 days. It is the second shortest presidency in U.S. history (only "beaten" by William Henry Harrison who died of pneumonia-related causes on his 32nd day in office). It spanned from March 4 to Sept. 19, 1881, when he died from a gunshot wound inflicted by his assassin Charles J. Guiteau.
A committee was formed for the memorial of Ohio's third President. J. H. Wade was its president, and many other notable citizens were involved as well, including Rutherford B. Hayes and John D. Rockefeller. They wanted to build a structure that would do justice to the nation's slain hero. An international competition was held for artists and architects to compete for the task and honor of designing the memorial. For that reason, a notice was sent throughout the U.S., England, Germany, Italy, and France. In the end, the job was awarded to George Keller of Hartford, Connecticut, as the committee favored his design. Construction of the 180-foot-tall memorial began in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery on October 6, 1885, and the memorial, which sits astride the Cleveland–Cleveland Heights border, was dedicated on May 30, 1890.
The tomb of President Garfield is located inside the memorial. It is entered through the portico from a terrace. There are five bas-reliefs inside the memorial, with more than 108 life-size figures, showing Garfield in the role of schoolteacher, statesman, and president. Sculpture work inside of the tomb is by Casper Buberl. The statue of Garfield, prominently displaced in the center of the circular chapel, is the creation of Alexander Doyle. The marble used by Doyle was taken from the famous quarries near Carrara, Italy, which were first opened by Leonardo da Vinci.
An interesting detail was revealed in an interview with the architect George Keller. Keller told that the five bas-reliefs show some famous Americans. There are depictions of Chief Justice Waite, General Sherman, ex-President Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester Arthur, John A. Logan, Carl Schurz, James G. Blaine, and many others. The sculptor Buberl had also included depictions of himself, the architect, the sculptor's assistant, and even the foreman of the plaster casters of Perth Amboy Terra Cotta works. Furthermore, on the interior in the mosaic frieze, the artist Mr. Lonsdale had introduced a portrait of the architect's infant daughter. These little details were obviously introduced unobtrusively.
The memorial has required repeated preservation work in the past several decades. In 1984, the memorial was closed for major restorations including repairing the walls, floors and roof in addition to restoring the stained-glass windows. The cemetery received a $500,000 federal grant to help pay for the restoration work, which was completed in time for a rededication ceremony on Memorial Day in 1985. More recently, a multimillion-dollar restoration project aimed to mitigate more than century of wear and tear, including repointing the mortar and performing the first cleaning of the sandstone exterior. The scaffolding came down in 2020, 130 years after the monument's completion, revealing an edifice that again looks much as it did a decade after President Garfield's death.
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