Cleveland in HDR – The 6th City Collection

Today’s photo is of the Civil War Cannon located inside Gray’s Armory. The Secesh Cannon was captured by Northern troops during the Civil War. The iron barrel with a 3-inch bore was manufactured in 1861 for the state of North Carolina at Joseph Reid Anderson’s Tredegar Foundry in Richmond, VA, and bears the number 1151. It is on permanent display on the ground floor of Grays Armory in Cleveland. The piece may be the only surviving captured Southern Civil Cannon in any Northern City. Confederate cannon in existence in any major northern city. Confederate cannon in existence in any major northern city.

From the Gray’s Armory website: “Since 1837 when 118 brave men adopted the motto, “Semper Paratus,” (Always Prepared) and where chartered in as an independent militia the Cleveland Grays and their friends have made history. From 1792 to 1903 state and federal law authorized independent militias, private volunteer groups that supplemented the official state militia, and served the community in all the ways that the National Guard does today. The Richardsonian Romanesque Revival-style Armory was built in 1893. Within its imposing walls the armory has also made history by hosting Cleveland’s finest events and its people. This included the first concert by John Phillip Sousa and Cleveland’s first Auto Show”.

For more info: http://www.graysarmory.com/

Today’s Quote: “Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.”- John Quincy Adams

Heroic Head of Pierre de Wissant, One of the Burghers of Calais, by Auguste Rodin at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Museum is one of the world’s most distinguished art museums and it’s free!

Here is some history on the museum from its website: “The museum opened on June 6, 1916 after many years of planning. Its creation was made possible by Cleveland industrialists Hinman B. Hurlbut, John Huntington, and Horace Kelley, all of whom bequeathed money specifically for an art museum, as well as by Jeptha H. Wade II, whose Wade Park property was donated for the site. The endowments established by these founders continue to support the museum. The original neoclassic building of white Georgian marble was designed by the Cleveland firm of Hubbell & Benes and was constructed at a cost of $1.25 million. Located north of the Wade Lagoon, it forms the focus of the city’s Fine Arts Garden.”

Visit: http://www.clevelandart.org/

Today’s Quote: “We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves.” – Alice Bloch

The history of the Cleveland Metroparks from clemetparks website:

“The oldest park district in Ohio, the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District was born in 1917, the initiative of a young, self-taught engineer who had conceived the idea of an outer chain of parks with connecting boulevards some 12 years earlier. William Stinchcomb’s genius was to anticipate the future need for open space at a time when Cuyahoga County outside of Cleveland was still largely rural. From a few scattered donations of land in the Rocky River Valley, the Park District grew to embrace some of the most scenic areas of Greater Cleveland.

Stinchcomb first suggested his idea in 1905 and repeated his plea in 1909. Cleveland, which was then the nation’s sixth largest city, finally formed a park board in 1912 following an act by the Ohio Senate. In April 1912, West Side brewer Leonard Schlather offered to donate approximately three acres of bottom land in the Rocky River Valley.

But, there was a problem. Although the park board had the power to receive gifts of land and property, it had no money of its own and no authority to raise money by bonds or taxation. The park board remained basically dormant for several years.

State law changed in 1915, allowing the Cuyahoga County Commissioners to appropriate money to the park board and in 1916 the first funds were received. Stinchcomb, who had been elected Cuyahoga County engineer, stayed involved in the project as a consulting engineer and developed the “Proposed Cuyahoga County Park and Boulevard System.” The plan showed a continuous parkway encircling Cuyahoga County, threading its way through the Rocky River, Big Creek, Chippewa Creek, Tinkers Creek, Chagrin River and Euclid Creek valleys, and connecting, in two places, with the existing city of Cleveland park system.

In March 1917, the Ohio General Assembly passed a bill providing for “the conservation of natural resources by the creation, development and improvement of park districts.” On June 30, 1917, the Board of Trustees of Euclid Township petitioned the Probate Judge of Cuyahoga County for the creation of the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District. In July, a new park board was appointed and then met for the first time on July 30, 1917. Stinchcomb stayed on as a consultant without compensation.

From its inception through the 1920s, the Cleveland Metropolitan Park Board concentrated its efforts on assembling parkland. The Park District materially took shape during its first decade. In 1920, the Park District held title to just 109 acres of land in Rocky River and Big Creek; by 1930, it had acquired at a cost of $3.9 million, 9,000 acres in nine large, unconnected reservations: Rocky River, Huntington, Big Creek, Hinckley, Brecksville, Bedford, South Chagrin, North Chagrin and Euclid Creek.

The next step, connecting the reservations, would be tackled in years to come.”

For more info: http://www.clemetparks.com/index.asp

Today’s Quote: “All art is but imitation of nature”. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Want to spend a peaceful afternoon in the park? Wade Park and Lagoon is located in front of the Cleveland Museum of Art in University Circle. This beautiful piece of land was donated to the city by Jeptha Wade in 1882 with the intention of building an Art Museum. If you ever have an afternoon free and want somewhere to relax this place is perfect. Walk along the lagoon, eat lunch under a tree and then take a stroll through the art museum. It is a wonderful place that is rarely crowded and always free.

Today’s Quote: “It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it”. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Today’s photo is a reworked version of a panoramic shot of the Cleveland skyline I took last summer. It’s one of my favorites because it includes Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Terminal Tower, Key Bank Building, 200 Public Square (BP Building), the William G Mather, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Great Lakes Science Center and Voinovich Park. Have a great weekend and enjoy the weather.

Today’s Quote:  Art is the only way to run away without leaving home. – Twyla Tharp

Today’s photo is of a cool looking birdhouse on a farm about 45 minutes East of downtown Cleveland.

Today’s Quote: “More than 15 percent of the jobs in Ohio are tied in some way to agriculture. A strong agriculture means a strong economy”. John Fisher

Today’s photo was taken from the top of the Terminal Tower and shows two more of Cleveland’s tall skyscrapers.  Key Tower can be seen on the left side of the photo. It is the tallest building in Cleveland and the tallest in Ohio. The tower is visible from as far as twenty miles outside of downtown Cleveland. The tower on the right is called by its address 200 Public Square. This tower was built as the headquarters for Standard Oil of Ohio and it was called the Sohio Building. It was renamed the BP Tower when Sohio merged with British Petroleum. When by left the name of the building just became its address. 200 Public Square is the third tallest building in Cleveland and it is the fourth tallest in Ohio.

Today’s Quote – “It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world”. – Thomas Jefferson

Today’s photo is of the Hungarian Cultural Garden which is located off East Blvd in Cleveland. This garden was completed and formally dedicated in 1938 and is just one of the beautiful gardens located in this area. For more information:

http://culturalgardens.org/gardenDetail.aspx?gardenID=14

Today’s Quote: “The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget”. – Thomas Szasz

Today’s Photo: Playhouse Square

Today’s photo is of a cold evening on Euclid Ave. in the Theater District. On the right you can see the sign for the newly renovated Allen Theater and the Idea Center.

Today’s Quote: “Action is the foundational key to all success”. – Pablo Picasso

Today’s Photo:  Drury Theater

The Drury Theater is part of the old Cleveland Play House Complex. Founded in 1915, Cleveland Play House is America’s first permanently established professional theatre company.

For more information:

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

Today’s Quote: “Experience is a good school. But the fees are high”. – Heinrich Heine