Cleveland Attractions

The city has a strong economic base, with steel and metal processing and the manufacture of machine tools and automobile parts. This means it is not a particularly attractive city, but much is being done to improve matters, as witnessed by the successful redevelopment of Lakefront and The Flats. In the cultural field, the Cleveland Orchestra has a high reputation.

History The newly acquired territory of New Connecticut, an area of 770 sq. mi., was mapped by Moses Cleveland in 1796 for the Connecticut Land Company, but the settlement that he founded (on the site of the present city center) was soon abandoned. Three years later Lorenzo Carter established a permanent community, in whose harbor the first cargoes were discharged in 1813. With the completion of the system of canals between the Ohio River and Lake Erie and the coming of the railroad the town developed into one of the most important ports in the eastern United States and an industrial center in which some of the biggest American entrepreneurs made their fortunes - demonstrating their wealth in luxury residences on Euclid Avenue, known as Millionaires' Row. Among those who lived here around the turn of the 19th c. were John D. Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Company, and Samuel Mather, who made his fortune in steel production and transport - though almost nothing is left to show for it. After the Second World War Cleveland suffered an economic decline, which even the efforts of Carl B. Stokes, the first black to be elected mayor of a major American city, were unable to stem. In the 1980s, however, a restructuring of the economy produced positive results, and in recent years the city has been largely modernized.
One modern day popular area is the Historic Warehouse District where People line the street any night of the week. The area features trendy restaurants like Blue Point Grille, XO Steakhouse and Johnny's Downtown. Nearby is the Historic Gateway District, the center of basketball and big-league fun.