BALDWIN, NORMAN C. (29 July 1802-12 June 1887), a prominent businessman and politician in Cleveland and OHIO CITY during the mid-1800s, was born in Goshen, Conn., to Stephen and Susannah (Adams) Baldwin. He came to Hudson at 15 and opened a general store there. His experience as a merchant led him, in 1829, to form a partnership with Noble H. Merwin in the produce commission business. Later he formed Giddings, Baldwin & Co., which owned one of the first and largest steamship lines on the lake, with its fleet of steamers and packets, known as the Troy & Erie Line, moving goods, primarily wheat and passengers, from Portsmouth on the Ohio River, via the Ohio Canal to Lake Erie, and then to New York and the Erie Canal. Baldwin moved to Cleveland in 1830 and began developing land on the west side of the Cuyahoga River in Ohio City as a member of the Buffalo Land Co., formed in 1833 to drain and improve land for houses and factories. In 1836 he retired from the mercantile business to concentrate on real-estate speculation, at one time owning land in Cuyahoga, Summit, and Lucas counties with his brother Frederick. Baldwin was elected a councilman in Ohio City's first election in 1836; from 1838-39 he was Ohio City's third mayor. In 1834, Baldwin became the first president of the Bank of Cleveland; running it until it closed in 1843. Baldwin moved from Ohio City to Cleveland, into a large house on Euclid Ave.
Baldwin married Mary H. Palmer in 1829 and had 9 children: Eliza, Mary, Norman A., Charlotte, Elizabeth, Henry P., N.C., Ellen, and Henry who died in infancy. Baldwin died in Cleveland and was buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.