City Square, Cleveland, ca. 1900. Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920

On July 22, 1796 surveyors, commissioned by General Moses Cleaveland, completed the plan for the town of Cleaveland, Ohio. The Connecticut Land Company sent General Cleaveland to the northeastern region of Ohio to speed the sale of the 3,500,000 acres Connecticut had retained when Ohio was opened for settlement ten years earlier. In 1832 the city's name was changed to Cleveland when the a was dropped to better fit into a newspaper's masthead.

Located on the southern shore of Lake Erie, the town did not grow substantially until the Erie Canal of New York was completed in 1825. This opened a passage to the Atlantic Ocean, making the city a major St. Lawrence Seaway port. Soon the city became a center for commercial and industrial activity. This trend continued into the 1840s when the railroad arrived. Modern-day Cleveland remains a highly diversified manufacturing center. With the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and other attractions, Cleveland has become a tourist destination, as well.

Pennsylvania R.R. ore docks, unloading iron ore from a lake freighter by means of "Hewlett" unloaders, Cleveland, Ohio, 1943. FSA/OWI Color Photographs, 1938-1944

To find these and other images, search on Cleveland or the names of other American cities in these collections:

• Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920
• FSA/OWI Color Photographs, 1938-1944.