![]() ![]() Taken as a whole, the business and industry entries provide a stunning exploration of the effect of 'internationalization on a local economy. Similarly, the many articles relating to businesses and industries not only detail their rise but in many cases also trace their decline in the post-World War II period. Johnson, he can also find an entry relating to the city's fiscal default in 1978. We have included the good and the bad, so while one can find a sketch of Cleveland's notable Progressive mayor Tom L. It contains over 2,500 articles, of which more than 2,300 are shorter factual accounts of individuals, events, and institutions that will serve as a ready reference source for facts relating to nearly every aspect of the city's past. It has taken nearly 6 years to plan and arrange for the writing of this volume. The task of fully exploring Cleveland's history has been enormous. Fortunately, rich new resources were available to support such inquiry, as the article "Libraries and Historical Societies" attests. Given this chronological gap and new areas of intellectual inquiry, it seemed appropriate that Cleveland's history be updated in an encyclopedic format where a multitude of professional views could be brought forth on all aspects of local development. In the intervening years, not only has the city greatly changed, but, more important, historians have broadened their definition of urban history to include much more than the great men or events in a city's past. However, the last comprehensive history was written over 4 decades ago. One of the essays herein, "Histories of Cleveland," demonstrates the evolution and breadth of historical inquiry into the city's past. A number of histories have been written about Cleveland. It is, we hope, an up-to-date, accurate, and comprehensive account of every important aspect of the city's past. ![]() This work is the first history in encyclopedic format of a modern American city. One writer rightly called Cleveland and its history "the best kept secret," but it deserves to be known, and that is the goal of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. It is filled with personalities who have made contributions as spectacular as electric street lighting, and as small as the modern golf ball. Nevertheless, and perhaps because of these paradoxes and changes, Cleveland's story is exciting and vibrant. Recently the decline and decay of heavy industry that has plagued the cities of the Northeast has made some of these missed opportunities doubly regretted as the traditional economic backbone of the city has disappeared. Its past is filled, too, with missed opportunities and reverses, such as the failure to become the center of the electrical, automotive, and aviation industries despite the prominence of these enterprises within the city during the early 1900s. Cleveland's past is filled with soaring achievements, such as the building of the iron, steel, and oil industries, and a great transportation network of railroads and waterways. A "city of cooperation," it became famous for confrontation politics. It is a blue-collar city that supports a unique cultural complex-University Circle-composed of nationally acclaimed institutions, and a park system-the "Emerald Necklace"-surpassed by none. Founded and developed by a small group of Protestants from the New England and Middle Atlantic states, it is peopled by members of over 50 ethnic groups representing every part of the world and many of the world's religions. ![]() It is a city that pioneered in social reforms of all kinds, and yet it is a bastion of conservatism. ![]() It is a sprawling metropolis and a small town. Robert Wheeler of Cleveland State University (1796 to 1860 section) Robert Weiner of Cuyahoga Community College (1861-1929 section) and Carol Poh (Miller) (1931 to 1980s section).Ĭleveland is a city of paradoxes. It was written by several historians who had extensive expertise in the city's history for different time periods. Editor's Note: This text comprises the preface to the first printed edition (1987) of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History and as such its history of the city ends in 1987. ![]()
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