AMERITECH (AMERICAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP.) is the Chicago-based holding company founded in 1983 to receive all shares of 5 telephone companies: Illinois Bell, Indiana Bell, Michigan Bell, Wisconsin Bell, and Ohio Bell from the divestiture of AT&T.
AMERITRUST, the largest bank in the midwest at one time, was established in 1894 as the Cleveland Trust Co. with $500,000 capital and John G. W. Cowles as its first president. In 1903 Cleveland Trust merged with the Western Reserve Trust Co., and kept their offices open as branches. At that time, Calvary Morris succeeded Cowles. Having outgrown a series of rented offices by 1905, the bank built a new headquarters bldg. at E.
AMES, LYDIA MAY (1863-October 1, 1946) was a distinguished landscape painter and one of Cleveland's first woman artists. Born in NEWBURGH, she was the daughter of Ashley Ames, who operated a livery service.
The amusement park originated in Europe with venues such as Bakken and Tivoli in Denmark, Tibidabo in Spain, and Prater Park in Austria. The concept crossed the pond to Coney Island in the late 1800s. Coney had previously been a summer resort for the wealthy, with Victorian hotels, private bathhouses, and vaudeville theaters.
The ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS is an Irish and Irish-American organization that traces its roots back to the organization of the Defenders in Ireland in 1565 to protect Roman Catholic priests (see CATHOLICS, ROMAN) and the Church against English persecution. Branches organized in the U.S. beginning in 1836 and reportedly in the 1850s in Cleveland.
ANDERSON, ERNIE (12 Nov. 1923 - 6 Feb. 1997) was a nationally known television announcer, most familiar to network audiences as the voice of ABC-TV, and to Cleveland audiences as the late night horror-movie host, Ghoulardi, on WJW-TV from 1963 to 1966.
ANDORN, SIDNEY IGNATIUS (25 Sept. 1906-25 Sept. 1981), worked in newspapers, radio, and television during a journalism career spanning over 50 years. Born in Newark, Ohio, he moved to Cleveland in 1912.
ANDREW DALL & SON was the firm of one of the most important building contractors in 19th-century Cleveland. ANDREW DALL, SR. (1821-1887), emigrated from Scotland in 1852. His son, ANDREW DALL, JR., was born in 1850.
"ANDREWS'S FOLLY" was the popular name for the home of SAMUEL ANDREWS, one of the original partners of the firm that became the STANDARD OIL CO. in 1870.
ANDREWS, SAMUEL (10 Feb. 1836-15 Apr. 1904), was a poor English immigrant who became a pioneer in the oil industry and cofounder of the STANDARD OIL CO. Born in Oaksey, England, a candlemaker by trade with little formal education, Andrews arrived in Cleveland in 1857.
ANDREWS, SHERLOCK JAMES (17 Nov. 1801-11 Feb. 1880), one of Cleveland's first lawyers, was considered the father of the Cleveland Bar. Andrews was born in Wallingford, Conn., the son of John and Abigail Andrews. After graduating with high honors from Union College in 1821, Andrews studied law at the New Haven Law School.
ANDRICA, THEODORE (9 Aug. 1900-1 Mar. 1990) chronicled the affairs of Cleveland's diverse ethnic population for 46 years as Nationalities Editor of the CLEVELAND PRESS. Born in Radna, Romania, he emigrated to the United States in 1920.
The ANGLE was an Irish ghetto that developed on Cleveland's near west side in the late 1860s. The Angle was generally defined as the parish of ST. MALACHI'S CHURCH, an area north of Detroit Ave., east of W. 28th St., and down Washington Ave. to WHISKEY ISLAND, which it included.
The ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEAGUE, founded in 1912 and incorporated in 1913, is a voluntary organization that accepts, picks up, and shelters unwanted or homeless animals, putting them up for adoption or destroying them if not adopted. Miss Stella Hatch and Mrs. Virgil A. (Edith) Dustin organized the league, which cared for 3,661 animals in 1917.
ANISFIELD, JOHN (5 March 1860-22 April 1929) was a successful clothing manufacturer, real estate executive, and civic leader who devoted his wealth to a variety of philanthropic projects in Cleveland. Born in the capital of the Austrian Empire, Vienna, to Israel and Amelia (Geldwerth) Anisfield, John acquired his primary and technical education in the city's schools.
The ANNALS OF CLEVELAND was a white-collar work relief project sponsored jointly by the CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY, the Cuyahoga County Recorder's Office, and the HISTORICAL RECORDS SURVEY relief program of the WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION from 1936 t
The ANNUNCIATION GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH, the first Greek Orthodox Church established in Cleveland, formed the basis for all subsequent congregations. It originated in the Pan-Hellenic Union, which first worshipped in 1910.
ANSHE CHESED (Fairmount Temple), established as a German Orthodox congregation in 1841 and chartered on 28 Feb. 1842, is the oldest existing Jewish congregation in Cleveland. Its Hebrew name means "people of loving kindness." The temple was formed after 30 members of the Israelitic Society of Cleveland, the city''s first congregation, seceded in a dispute over religious ritual.
ANSHE EMETH (PARK SYNAGOGUE), the first "Jewish Center" west of the Alleghenies and, by the 1940s, the largest Conservative congregation in the U.S., was founded by Jewish POLES in 1857. The congregation met for services in rented halls until 1880, when it purchased the Erie St. Methodist Church on E. 9th St. near Woodland Ave.
ANSON, ROBERT SAM (12 Mar. 1945 – 2 Nov. 2020) was a Cleveland-born journalist and author who penned six non-fiction books and scores of articles for magazines such as Vanity Fair, Time, Esquire, Life, and The Atlantic.
The ANTHONY CARLIN HOUSE, located at 3233 EUCLID AVE., was built from 1910 to 1912 for industrialist Anthony Carlin and his family. Carlin was the founder of the Standard Foundry Manufacturing Co.
ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES, BLACK, formed in the Cleveland area in the 1850s, were distinct from the earlier, integrated groups such as the CLEVELAND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY and the CUYAHOGA COUNTY ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. John Mercer Langston of Oberlin was a leader in forming these organizations.
ANTIOCH BAPTIST CHURCH was established by the Reverend Alexander Moore in January 1893 as Cleveland's second Baptist church for AFRICAN AMERICANS.
ANTOINE, ALBERT CORNELIUS (1925 - 2017) was an AFRICAN AMERICAN chemist, professor, and minority advocate who worked for NASA from 1954 to 1983 researching jet fuels, little-known metals, air pollution, and renewable energy.
The ANVIL REVUE was a satirical production presented annually by the CITY CLUB OF CLEVELAND, in which members and others poked fun at politics, institutions, and people in the news.
APOLLO'S FIRE, a 17th and 18th century baroque orchestra based in CLEVELAND HEIGHTS , first performed in June of 1992. The group was founded by Jeannette Sorrell of the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute (faculty, 1990-1994), in collaboration with Roger Wright, then Artistic Administrator of the CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA.
APPLIED INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES (formerly known as Bearings, Inc.) is one of the country's largest distributors of ball bearings, bearing specialties, and power transmissions. Joseph Bruening founded the Ohio Ball Bearing Co. in 1923 as a sales, distribution, and service organization selling mainly automobile and truck replacement parts.
The AQUARAMA, the largest passenger ship to operate on the Great Lakes, was built in 1945 in Chester, PA as a troop transport ship named the Marine Star. The 520-ft. ship with a gross tonnage of 12,733 was equipped with a single-screw, oil-fired, turbine-propelled engine. The freighter was purchased in 1953 by Sand Products Co.
ARAB AMERICANS. Cleveland's Arab population, although among the smaller ethnic groups, has a clear identity and historical development since Arabs began arriving here in the 19th century. In 1995 there were approx. 35,000 Americans of Arab descent in Greater Cleveland. The term Arab requires clarification. As with most peoples, language is the defining factor; an Arab-American is one whose ancestral tongue is Arabic.
The ARAB SOCIAL CLUB, formed in the late 1970s, is described as "a local center for pro-Palestinian Arab-Americans." It served as a social political center on Palestinian affairs, providing members access to Palestinian newspapers and magazines and video cassettes of speeches. Occasionally the club expressed its political views publicly, as in a telegram to Pres.
ARABICA cafes have proved to be popular gathering spots for Greater Clevelanders since 1976. Carl Jones opened the first Arabica coffee house that year on Coventry Blvd. (see COVENTRY VILLAGE BUSINESS DISTRICT), and though it was damaged by a fire soon after, it re-opened in May 1977.
The ARAGON was Cleveland's last surviving ballroom from the big-band era. Opened by Lloyd Harry Meyers in October 1930, it was located in a former roller rink at 3139 W. 25 St., near Clark Ave. Among the entertainers who played there to crowds of up to 2,000 were Glenn Miller, the Dorseys, Freddy Martin, Harry James, Guy Lombardo, and the Andrews Sisters.
ARBUTHNOT, MAY HILL (August 27, 1884-October 2, 1969) was a nationally known educator and author who wrote several children's books and works on early childhood education. Born May Hill in Mason City, Iowa, to Frank and Mary E. (Seville) Hill, she received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago in 1922 and an Master of Arts from Columbia University in 1924.
The ARCADE is an internationally renowned structure which has no peer in the U.S. and has been compared with the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele in Milan, Italy. Erected at a cost of $867,000, the Arcade opened on Memorial Day 1890. It was built by a company of which STEPHEN V. HARKNESS was president. The architects were GEO. H.
ARCHITECTURE. Cleveland's innovations in certain areas of architectural planning have displayed a progressiveness and vision matched by few other cities. The 1903 Group Plan, which produced widespread national admiration at the time, is only one example. In the 1920s, the plan of the CLEVELAND UNION TERMINAL complex anticipated many of the features of Rockefeller Center.
ARCHITECTURE, CIVIC. In Cleveland, as elsewhere, the architecture of government is an indication of the civilization of the city. Almost without exception, the city's civic buildings have been in the classical modes that were the standard for government buildings throughout America's history.
ARCHITECTURE, RESIDENTIAL. Throughout the city's history, the residential architecture of Cleveland has generally followed the trends of the rest of the nation. It cannot be said that Cleveland produced a distinctive architects' style like Chicago's Prairie style, or a characteristically regional style like that of the San Francisco Bay area.
ARCHITECTURE, SACRED. Of the hundreds of sacred structures in Cleveland, there are several of national importance. ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH (ded. 1838) is one of the earliest examples extant in the nation of the Gothic Revival style.
The ARCHWOOD UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST was established in 1819 as a Presbyterian church by the "Plan of Union" (a joint Congregational-Presbyterian church-founding effort) and later augmented by the merger with Fourth Evangelical & Reformed Church. Circuit preachers served the church until a permanent minister was hired in 1834.
The ARK was an informal gathering place for the early Cleveland intelligentsia which led to the establishment of many of the city's cultural institutions, especially the CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. It was a one-story wooden building originally erected on the northeast corner of PUBLIC SQUARE ca.
ARMENIANS. Armenian immigration to Cleveland began in 1906 or 1907 when employees of the AMERICAN STEEL & WIRE CO. factory in Worcester, MA, came to Cleveland to work in a newly opened branch of that firm.
ARMINGTON, RAYMOND Q. (12 Jan. 1907-19 Apr. 1993) was an engineer and executive with the Euclid Road Machinery Co., a founder and chairman of the Webb-Triax Co. and headed numerous business, educational and civic organizations.
ARMSTRONG, WILLIAM W. (18 Mar. 1833-21 Apr. 1905), was a local newspaper publisher and Democratic party political leader. He was born in New Lisbon, Ohio, and lived there until moving to Tiffin, Ohio, in 1854, where he bought and published a local newspaper. In 1857 he married Sarah Virginia Hedges; they had one daughter, Isabella.
The ARPAD ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, a professional organization founded to recognize and support scientists, authors, and artists of Hungarian descent, was founded in 1965 by JOHN B. NADAS. Nadas, a native of Hungary, came to the U.S. in 1950 and settled in Lakewood shortly thereafter. He soon became a leader in Hungarian-American affairs.