Category: Education

TEACHER EDUCATION. The history of teacher education in Cleveland reflects earlier national and state movements to begin normal schools, needed because of the establishment of the common school during the first half of the 19th century (1789-1860). Previously there was little or no interest in or need for teacher education. Teacher education in Cleveland can be traced to the 1830s.

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CLEVELAND HISTORY is a collaborated effort between CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, THE WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, and the northeastern Ohio community.

Explore This Date in Cleveland History by clicking on each date below to see an Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry associated with the event that occured on that day. 

The UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (UAA) is an Athletic Conference that hosts 20 sports, 10 men's and 10 women's, and competes in the NCAA’s Division III. The men compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, wrestling, and indoor and outdoor track and field. The women compete in all of the same sports, excluding wrestling and baseball but adding volleyball and softball.

UNIVERSITY CIRCLE is a Cleveland neighborhood whose formal and colloquial boundaries are quite different. As a Statistical Planning Area (SPA) identified by the Cleveland Planning Commission, “University” (not University Circle) is bounded by Wade Park and Ashbury Aves. on the north, E. 105th St. on the west, Overlook Rd. and E. 123rd St. on the east, and Quincy and Mt. Overlook Aves. on the south.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL, a private college preparatory school for boys, was founded in 1890. Founder Newton M. Anderson, dissatisfied with the prevailing classical education, believed that young men who would become leaders of industry needed firsthand experience with machines. In addition to traditional classrooms, Univ. School contained a machine shop, forge shop, carpenter shop, swimming pool, and gymnasium.

VAN TASSEL, DAVID D. (29 March 1928 -3 June 2000) was the founder of HISTORY DAY  and senior editor of The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Van Tassel was born in Binghamton, New York, to Etta May Strathie Van Tassel and Dr. Walter Raymond Van Tassel. He studied at Cherry Lawn School in Darien, Connecticut, and received his B.A. in 1950 from Dartmouth.

WAETJEN, WALTER BERNHARD (16 Oct. 1920 - 16 Aug. 1997) was a university president, professor and author, and an accomplished athlete. He was born in Philadelphia, PA, to Marguerite Dettman, a homemaker, and Walter E. Waetjen, a tool and die maker and industrial arts teacher. He was national Golden Gloves light heavyweight boxing champion in 1939. In 1942 he earned his B.S.

WBOE. See WCPN.

WCPN traces its beginnings from WBOE, the radio station of the CLEVELAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Broadcasting from Lafayette School on Abell Ave., it went on the air as an AM station on 21 Nov. 1938. Two months later it moved to the sixth floor of the Board of Education Bldg. on E. 6th St.

WEST HIGH SCHOOL was Cleveland's second public high school, originating as a branch of CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL in the 3rd floor of a grammar school on W. 45th St. in 1852. It moved to locations on Clinton Ave.

WESTERN RESERVE UNIV. See CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIV.

WVIZ (Channel 25) was inaugurated on 7 Feb. 1965 to bring noncommercial, educational television to the last major city in the U.S. without it. It materialized through the efforts of a committee of civic and educational leaders appointed by Mayor ANTHONY J.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT CENTER. See CLEVELAND BOYS' SCHOOL.

ZELMAN V. SIMMONS-HARRIS was a landmark Supreme Court case upholding, in a 5-4 decision announced on June 27, 2002, the constitutionality of an Ohio law providing vouchers to Cleveland students to attend the public or private, including parochial, schools of their choice.