Cleveland in HDR

“The Cuyahoga River was a retreat from the last glaciers ever seen in the United States. It is called an “infant glacial river”, because it is young compared to all of the other rivers formed by glaciers. The river was formed about 13,000 years ago, but the Cuyahoga Valley has been there even longer. The Cuyahoga River also had a great influence on the Native Americans. The Native Americans named it “Cuyahoga” meaning “crooked river”. The Cuyahoga River also had a great influence on the Native Americans. They came as early as 200 B.C. to the Northeastern part of what is now the Ohio Valley. The Indians used the river mainly for food and transportation. They built canoes and fished along the river. The river had an abundant supply of fish as well as plants. Also, large game settled near the river. These resources made it very easy for the Native Americans to live. As the War of 1812 ended, Western settlers displaced the Indians off the Cuyahoga Valley. The Cuyahoga River was becoming a place which was rich and plentiful. Moses Cleveland founded the township of Euclid at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River in 1796. Benjamin Franklin and George Washington thought that the Northern part of what is now the Ohio would be of great importance. They knew that the Cuyahoga was the prime spot for the continental divide passing directly through and for the mouth coming out at the Lake Erie”.

For more info:

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/fenlewis/History.html

Today’s Quote: Concentration is my motto – first honesty, then industry, then concentration. – Andrew Carnegie

The Cuyahoga County Courthouse stretches along Lakeside Boulevard at the north end of the Cleveland Mall in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The building was listed on the National Register along with the mall district in 1975.

From Wikipedia”

“The building was constructed from 1906–1912 by the architectural firm of Lehman & Schmitt. The building is Beaux Arts style and is constructed of Milford pink granite from Massachusetts. The rusticated masonry of the ground floor includes deeply recessed and arched windows and doors. A protruding keystone tops each one. The front entrance is flanked by bronze statues of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton sculpted by Karl Bitter. Directly above the front entry doors are three large arched windows between fluted columns of the Ionic order allowing daylight into the courtroom within. The frieze of the cornice includes the inscription “Cuyahoga County Courthouse”. Above the cornice are several stone statues of historical law givers. Two of these figures, of Edward I and John Hampden, were sculpted by Daniel Chester French. The rear elevation facing Lake Erie is composed similarly, but with the inscription “Liberty is Obedience to Law”. A pediment with a plain tympanum surmounts the central element of the facade on both the north and south elevations”.

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be… if we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.” – Thomas Jefferson

Today’s Cleveland photo: The Charles Brush Memorial

Here is some information about Charles Brush from the Green Energy Ohio website: “Like fellow Ohioan Thomas Edison, Charles F. Brush, born in Euclid in 1849, was a restless backyard tinkerer and clever entrepreneur. A child prodigy, by age 15 he had built electrical gadgets and microscopes and telescopes for school chums. Brush graduated from the University of Michigan in 1869, with a degree in mining engineering. Brush is best remembered for his dynamo and arc lights, which illuminated a Cincinnati physician’s home in 1878 then Cleveland Public Square in 1879. These and more than 50 patented innovations made Brush a wealthy man. His company, Brush Electric Company, merged with companies that eventually formed General Electric, which still brings good things to light”. More info on Brush and his electric windmill: http://www.greenenergyohio.org/page.cfm?pageId=341

For more information about other famous Clevelanders check out the Citiview website: http://citiviewcleveland.com/features/famous-clevelanders/

“Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science”. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today’s Cleveland photo is of the Dante Alighieri statue that was dedicated in the Italian Garden of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens on June 29, 2012. Here is some more information about Dante from Wikipedia: “Durante degli Alighieri, simply referred to as Dante, was a major Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His Divine Comedy, originally called Commedia and later called Divina by Boccaccio, is widely considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature”.

For more info:

http://culturalgardens.org/gardenDetail.aspx?gardenID=10

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Alighieri

Today’s Quote: “Do not be afraid; our fate cannot be taken from us; it is a gift.” ― Dante Alighieri, Inferno

Today’s photo of the Cleveland Skyline! Did you know that there are a whole bunch of famous Clevelanders? Here is a list of some of them from the Positively Cleveland Website:

Halle Berry - Actress/producer – the first African American actress to win the Oscar for Best Actress

Drew Carey - Creator/producer and star of ABC-TV’s “The Drew Carey Show” and host of “The Price is Right”

Traci Chapman – Singer/songwriter

Tim Conway – Comedian/actor

Ben Curtis – Graduate of Kent State University and the 2003 PGA British Open Champion

Dorothy Dandridge - Actress – First African American woman to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress

Phil Donahue – Talk show host and winner of 19 Daytime Emmys

Alan Freed – D.J. who coined the phrase “Rock n’ Roll”

James A Garfield – 20th US President

Arsenio Hall - Comedian/Actor – The first African American host of a nationally televised late night talk show

Patricia Heaton – Actress

Anne Heche – Actress

Langston Hughes – Poet

Bob Hope – Actor/Comedian – Winner of 5 Special and Honorary Oscars

Sammy Kaye – Band leader – Kaye had more than 100 hit records from 1937-1953

Don King – Boxing promoter

Henry Mancini – Composer of “Moon River,” “The Pink Panther” and many more memorable melodies. Winner of 20 Grammys and four Oscars

Toni Morrison – Winner of 1993 Nobel Prize for literature

Paul Newman – Actor, director, race car driver and Oscar Winner for Best Actor

The O’Jays (Eddie Levert & Walter Williams) – Popular R&B group

Jesse Owens – Olympic track star

John D. Rockefeller – Standard Oil founder

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster – Creators of Superman

Molly Shannon – Actress and cast alumni of Saturday Night Live

Henry Sherwin – Founder, Sherwin Williams

Don Shula – Football coach

Tris Speaker – Baseball player

George Steinbrenner III – Former owner, NY Yankees

Vernon Stouffer - Founder, Stouffer Foods

Joe Walsh – Singer, songwriter, guitarist and member of the “James Gang” and the “Eagles”

Archibald Willard – Artist, painted “Spirit of ’76″

Tom Wilson – Cartoonist, Ziggy

Debra Winger – Actress

Cy Young – Baseball player

For more info on visiting Cleveland:

http://www.positivelycleveland.com/

Today’s Cleveland photo is of the Alta House. Here is some of the history of the Alta House from their website:

The Alta House Social Settlement, founded in 1895 by John D. Rockefeller, began as a support organization for Italian immigrants to the Mayfield-Murray Hill area, known today as Little Italy, of Cleveland, OH. The Alta House initially provided a nursery and kindergarten for the community, adding a library, youth campus and playground in the early 1920s. The goal was to provide services to families in the area, giving the youth of the community a place to learn and socialize while their parents worked.

By 1970, many renovations had taken place including addition of a banquet room, kitchen facilities, lounge area, lobby and preschool. In the 1980s, as the Little Italy population grew older, the Alta House expanded its Elderly Services Program that included: Meals-On-Wheels, homemaking support, transportation, shopping and field trips. In the 1990s, the Alta House focused on diversifying funding, community outreach and program expansion beyond Little Italy into the greater Cleveland area. These expansions included comprehensive senior services, youth services, community services and recreational programs.

In 2000, the Alta House created a five-year, organizational plan. The Alta House dedicated itself to be an established leader, partner and advocate among community organizations, and provide high quality programs to all community members.

Today, the Alta House continues its commitment toward social, educational, recreational and supportive services and development, for all ages, in the greater Cleveland area.

For more info please visit: http://www.altahouse.org/index.html

Today’s Quote: “If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it”. – John D. Rockefeller

Today’s Cleveland photo is of the Cleveland Skyline from the Superior Viaduct. I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season.

Today’s Quote:

“To the American People: Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.” ~Calvin Coolidge

Today’s photo is of St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland, Oh. St. Theodosius is located on Starkweather Ave in the citys historic Tremont area. Tremont is one of the most accessible neighborhoods in the city of Cleveland. It is considered one of the finest examples of Russian church architecture in the U.S and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

For more info on this fabulous church please visit: http://sttheodosius.org/home_1.html

Today’s Quote: “All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince”.-
Plato

This photo of downtown Cleveland was taken from the Columbus Rd. Bridge. From Wikipedia: “Cleveland obtained its name on July 22, 1796 when surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company laid out Connecticut’s Western Reserve into townships and a capital city they named “Cleaveland” after their leader, General Moses Cleaveland. Cleaveland oversaw the plan for what would become the modern downtown area, centered on Public Square, before returning home, never again to visit Ohio. The first settler in Cleaveland was Lorenzo Carter, who built a cabin on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. The Village of Cleaveland was incorporated on December 23, 1814.  In spite of the nearby swampy lowlands and harsh winters, its waterfront location proved to be an advantage. The area began rapid growth after the 1832 completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal. This key link between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes connected the city to the Atlantic Ocean via the Erie Canal and later via the St. Lawrence Seaway; and the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River. Growth continued with added railroad link. Cleveland incorporated as a city in 1836”.

Today’s Quote: “Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe”. –  Voltaire

Blue Angels doing a low level pass at the Cleveland Air Show. For more info on the Air Show or the Blue Angles:

http://www.clevelandairshow.com/

http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/