HYDE, GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS

HYDE, GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS (15 Jan. 1826-26 Nov. 1912), Cleveland's first official weatherman, was born in Framingham, Mass., to Henry Hovey and Keziah (Rice) Hyde. He attended Framingham Academy and apprenticed at the Boston Water Works in civil engineering and surveying. He became interested in meteorology at 17 through Dr. Jas. P. Espy, pioneer of scientific weather study in America. In 1843 Hyde became one of Espy's original 120 volunteers forming a national network of weather observers.

Hyde came to Cleveland in 1850, serving between 1859-1907 as an engineer of Cleveland Gas Light & Coke Co. Hyde enjoyed a modest scientific reputation in Cleveland, reporting local weather and explaining other natural occurrences in the newspapers. He took daily weather observations in Cleveland continuously between 1855-1906, recording observations at 7 a.m., 2 p.m., and 9 p.m., and forwarding a monthly report to Espy at the Smithsonian Institution. Espy then used data from throughout the U.S. to develop a synoptic chart, plotting the weather on a map. Hyde was the only official weather observer in Cleveland until 1870, when the signal corps established a weather station here.

In 1896, Hyde wrote The Weather in Cleveland Ohio, What It Has Been for 40 Years, primarily factual rather than theoretical. In 1867 Hyde became curator of the CLEVELAND ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. Hyde sent his last report to the U.S. Weather Bureau in 1906. Of the 120 original observers, he kept the longest uninterrupted record. Hyde married Elizabeth R. Williams in 1852. They had 5 children: Edward, Gustavus A., Florence A., Henry H., and Elizabeth R. He died in Cleveland and was buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.


Finding Aid for the Gustavus Adolphus Hyde Papers, WRHS.


Article Categories