From the Ohio Historical Society
East Ohio Gas Co. Explosion and Fire from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
East Ohio Gas Co. Explosion and Fire from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
The EAST OHIO GAS CO. EXPLOSION AND FIRE took place on Friday, 20 Oct. 1944, when a tank containing liquid natural gas equivalent to 90 million cubic feet exploded, setting off the most disastrous fire in Cleveland’s history. Homes and businesses were engulfed by a tidal wave of fire in more than 1 sq. mi. of Cleveland’s east side, bounded by St. Clair Ave. NE, E. 55th St., E. 67th St., and the MEMORIAL SHOREWAY. At approx. 2:30 P.M., white vapor began leaking out of Storage Tank No. 4, which had been built by the East Ohio Gas Co. in 1942 to provide additional reserve gas for local war industries. The gas in the tank, located at the northern end of E. 61st St., became combustible when mixed with air and exploded at 2:40 P.M., followed by the explosion of a second tank about 20 minutes later. The fire spread through 20 blocks, engulfing rows of houses while missing others. The vaporizing gas also flowed along the curbs and gutters and into catch basins, through which it entered the underground sewers, exploding from time to time, ripping up pavement, damaging underground utility installations, and blowing out manhole covers. The immediate area surrounding the burning district was evacuated and refugees were sheltered in Willson Jr. High School on E. 55th St. where the Red Cross tried to care for approx. 680 homeless victims.
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By late afternoon Saturday much of the fire had burned itself out, electricity was restored in some areas, and the next day a few residents began returning to their homes. The fire destroyed 79 homes, 2 factories, 217 cars, 7 trailers, and 1 tractor; the death toll reached 130. The fire and subsequent analysis of its cause led to new and safer methods for the low-temperature storage of natural gas.
Bill Veeck from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Bill Veeck from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Veeck, William “Bill” Louis (9 February 1914-2 January 1986) was the owner of the CLEVELAND INDIANS from 1946 until 1949, and assembled the world champion 1948 team. He signed LARRY DOBY† as the first African American player in the American league in 1947 as well as legendary Negro League pitcher LEROY “SATCHEL” PAIGE† in 1948. Veeck is often best known as the innovator of stadium promotions, such as fireworks nights and gate giveaways.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, to William Veeck Sr. and Grace DeForest, the elder Veeck became president of the Chicago Cubs in 1917 after a career as a sportswriter. His son broke into baseball working for him as a $15 per week office boy with the team. Veeck Jr.’s most notable contribution to the Cubs was when he planted the famous ivy on the outfield wall at Wrigley Field in 1937. Within a few years, at the age of 27, he purchased his own team, the minor league Milwaukee Brewers franchise in the American Association. By the time he was 32 years old, he led the syndicate that purchased the Cleveland Indians for $2.2 million.
Veeck married Eleanor Raymond in 1935. He served as a Marine in World War II. His right leg was injured at Bougainville in the South Pacific in 1943 and was amputated in 1947.
In addition to bringing the world championship in Cleveland in 1948, Bill Veeck also helped the Indians shatter season attendance figures with 2,620,627 fans that year. Large crowds, which at times topped 80,000 per game, were entertained by fireworks displays and minstrels that wandered around the grandstands. Women were treated to imported orchids from Hawaii and families could enjoy an in-park babysitting service during Veeck’s ownership tenure.
When a night watchman at a local Chevrolet plant, Joe Early, complained to the Cleveland Press that teams spent too much time honoring wealthy players, Bill Veeck decided to honor Joe Early. While much of the night included tongue-in-cheek gags, Veeck made sure that Early received a new convertible and several other prizes.
Veeck made several lasting contributions to the Indians, such as their move to Tucson, Arizona, for spring training in 1947, where they would stay until 1992. No contribution was likely more important than the integration of the Indians and the American League in 1947 with Larry Doby. In his autobiography, Veeck- As In Wreck, Veeck expressed trepidation about the addition of Doby. “If Jackie Robinson was the ideal man to break the color line, Brooklyn was also the ideal place. I wasn?t that sure about Cleveland.” He claimed he received about 20,000 letters that protested the signing of Doby, yet noted that they came from across the country. Veeck actually claimed that he planned to buy the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943 and stock the team with African American players, only to be blocked by Major League Baseball. There is no definitive evidence that he ever did more than discuss this move.
When the Indians did not win the pennant in 1949, Veeck held a mock funeral in center field and buried the pennant from the prior year. After the season he was forced to sell the team because he needed to liquidate his assets for the settlement for his divorce from his first wife Eleanor. In the fall of 1949 he met Mary Frances Ackerman, whom he married in 1950.
Veeck did not stay away from baseball for long – he bought the St. Louis Browns in 1951 for $1.5 million. During his first year as owner, he completed one of his most notable stunts when he arranged for 65 lb., three-foot, seven-inch Eddie Gaedel to have one at bat – he walked on four pitches. He sold the Browns in 1953 and they left St. Louis after the season.
In 1958 Veeck and his partners purchased the Chicago White Sox. One of his famous additions to the team was the $300,000 “exploding scoreboard” at Comiskey Park with rockets and rotating pinwheels. Veeck owned the team until 1961 and sold it primarily due to health reasons.
Veeck was coaxed out of retirement in 1969 to run the Suffolk Race Track in Boston. By 1975 he was again convinced to buy the White Sox, which he sold in 1980.
Veeck had eight children from his two marriages including four daughters, Marya, Lisa, Juliana and Ellen and four sons, Michael, Gregory, Christopher and Peter. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991, five years after he died of a heart attack in Chicago. His body was cremated after his death.
Veeck, Bill and Ed Linn. Veeck – As in Wreck (1962).
Eskenazi, Gerald. Bill Veeck: A Baseball Legend (1987).
1948 Cleveland Indians Season from Wikipedia
1948 Cleveland Indians Season from Wikipedia
Harold Burton from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland
Harold Burton from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland
The link is here
BURTON, HAROLD HITZ (22 June 1888-29 Oct. 1964), mayor of Cleveland, U.S. senator, and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, was born in Jamaica Plains, Mass., to Dr. Alfred Edgar and Gertrude Hitz Burton. He graduated from Bowdoin College (1909), and received his LL.B. from Harvard Law School (1912) after which he came to Cleveland to work for two years. He served during WORLD WAR I, receiving a citation from the U.S. Government, the Purple Heart, and the Belgian Croix de Guerre.
Burton practiced law in Cleveland after the war. He was elected to the Ohio state legislature in 1928 as a Republican. From 1930-31 he was Cleveland law director, becoming acting mayor from Nov. 1931-Feb. 1932, and in 1935 was elected mayor for the first of 3 terms. During his administration, the rackets in Cleveland were broken up; and the mayor promoted Cleveland as a convention center, hosting the REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1936. Burton acquired $40 million from the state for relief assistance. When there were strikes, the mayor encouraged negotiations, but did what was necessary to preserve order.
In 1940, Burton was elected senator, serving until 1945 when Pres. Truman appointed him to the Supreme Court. In 1951 he wrote the Court opinion outlawing racial segregation in railroad dining cars, and he participated in the Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawing school segregation. He retired from the Court in 1958, living in Washington and he occasionally presided as judge. He married Selma Florence Smith on 15 June 1912 and had 4 children, Barbara (Mrs. H. Chas. Weidner), Deborah (Mrs. Wallace Adler), William, and Robert. He died in Washington, D.C.
Work Projects Administration (WPA) from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland
Work Projects Administration (WPA) from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland
The WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION (WPA) in Cleveland provided needed income for a substantial portion of the city’s population as well as improving and developing the area’s transportation network, parks, and recreational facilities. The primary purpose of the WPA program, part of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act passed in April 1935, was to give employment to those on relief, the bulk of whom were unskilled. Cleveland’s unemployment averaged over 23% of the estimated labor force of 508,870 during the first half of 1935, and that increased when the Federal Emergency Relief Administration closed down almost 100 projects in July, putting an additional 7,000 workers on the direct relief rolls.
When the federal program began as the Works Progress Administration in the fall of 1935, municipal and county officials and the Metropolitan Park Board devised work projects, some of which required large capital outlays. Local plans had to be revised, however, when the federal government gave preference to less durable labor-intensive work-relief projects where the bulk of the money would be used for wages rather than materials or equipment. Although the federal government projected that some 40,000-50,000 people would be employed in Cuyahoga County by Nov. 1935, the program was not operational until mid-December. In order to qualify for jobs, workers on relief rolls had to be certified employable by the WPA, and eligible workers were assigned jobs on projects that had been planned locally and approved by Washington. The local sponsor was expected to pay 10% of the project’s cost (raised to 20% in Dec. 1936), and frequently this requirement was met by providing materials or equipment. However, there were not enough jobs for all those qualified, putting a burden on the local direct relief programs and heightening the conflicts between city and state officials over additional funds. Despite the inadequacies of WPA funding, Cleveland mayor HAROLD H. BURTON† was a staunch supporter of the New Deal program.
In the 6 years the program operated, WPA projects included airport and street improvements, development of Metropolitan parks and the city’s zoo, cultural gardens, parks, and recreation facilities. The first segment of the shoreway (I-90) and public-housing units for the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority were constructed. The WPA also sponsored federal arts projects which employed artists in local music, theater, writing, and art activities (see HISTORICAL RECORDS SURVEY). The number of available WPA jobs fluctuated during the period according to the size of the relief rolls and the amount of employment available in private industry. The number of WPA workers reached an all-time high of 78,000 in Oct. 1938 when local plants such as FISHER BODY DIVISION OF GENERAL MOTORS CORP. and Thompson Products (TRW) began calling back their employees; by Nov. 1939 local WPA employment had been reduced to 30,000. The business climate continued to improve during 1940-41 and by Mar. 1942 the program was phased out as the war effort drastically reduced the work relief rolls. A survey of the WPA in Cleveland showed that about 27% of Cleveland’s population (comprising workers and their families) benefited from the employment it provided.
Dunfee, C. Dennis. “Harold H. Burton, Mayor of Cleveland” (Ph.D. diss., Dept. of History, CWRU, 1975).
Green, Howard Whipple. Unemployment and Relief in Cleveland (1938)
Harold H. Burton Papers, WRHS.
Frances Bolton from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland
Frances Bolton from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland
BOLTON, FRANCES PAYNE (29 Mar. 1885-9 Mar. 1977), served as Republican congresswoman for 29 years and supported projects in nursing, health, and education. Born in Cleveland to banker-industrialist Chas. W. and Mary Perry Payne Bingham, and educated at HATHAWAY BROWN School and in New York City, in 1904 she began volunteering with the Visiting Nurse Assoc., which sparked her lifelong interest in nursing.
During WORLD WAR I, Bolton persuaded Secretary of War NEWTON D. BAKER† to establish an Army School of Nursing rather than rely on untrained volunteers. Believing that nurses should have college educations as well as nursing training. Bolton funded a school of nursing at Western Reserve University, enabling Western Reserve University to raise the school from a department of the College of Women to a separate college in 1923, which was renamed the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing in June 1935.
In 1907 she married CHESTER CASTLE BOLTON†, and had 4 children, Chas. B., Oliver P., Kenyon C., and Elizabeth. When her husband, a Republican congressman from the 22d district, died in 1939, she served out his term and was elected to the seat in her own right in 1940. During her long tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, her major interests were nursing and foreign affairs. She sponsored the Bolton Bill creating the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps in WORLD WAR II. As a long-time member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, she was the first woman member of Congress to head an official mission abroad, to the Middle East in 1947. In July 1953, Pres. Eisenhower appointed her a congressional delegate to the U.N. She was defeated for reelection by Chas. Vanik in 1968 and returned to Cleveland. In addition nursing, Bolton also founded the Payne Study & Experiment Fund in 1927 to finance projects benefitting children and donated the land in LYNDHURST for HAWKEN SCHOOL. She died at her home in Lyndhurst and was buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.
Eliot Ness from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland
Eliot Ness from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland
NESS, ELIOT (19 Apr. 1903-16 May 1957), nationally known for leading the Chicago “Untouchables,” was Cleveland’s safety director. Born in Chicago, son of Peter and Emma (King) Ness, he graduated from the University of Chicago (1925) before joining the U.S. Prohibition Bureau in 1929, forming the “Untouchables,” who obtained the conviction of Al Capone. Following Prohibition’s repeal, Ness was transferred to the Treasury Dept.’s Alcohol Tax Unit in Cincinnati, arriving in Cleveland in 1934 as the head of the alcohol tax unit for the northern district of Ohio. His reputation as honest and capable led Mayor HAROLD H. BURTON† to appoint Ness city safety director in 1935 to clean up the scandal-ridden police department. Ness formed his own Cleveland “Untouchables,” funded by an anonymous group of businessmen known as the “Secret 6,” and quickly reformed, reorganized, and upgraded the department, motorizing the patrol and using car radios to enhance communication. He established a separate traffic section, hired a traffic engineer, and enabling Cleveland, which had the worst U.S. traffic-fatality record, to twice win awards for reducing traffic deaths. Ness also modernized the fire department, created the Police Academy and Welfare Bureau, and helped found the local chapter of BOYSTOWNS.
Ness crackdowned on labor-union protection rackets, illegal liquor suppliers, and gambling. He closed down the HARVARD CLUB, a notorious gambling house located just outside the city limits in NEWBURGH Critics called for Ness’s removal, citing his social drinking, divorce, work with the federal government, and a traffic accident that looked suspiciously like a hit-skip incident. Mayor Frank Lausche, however, retained Ness; however Ness left Cleveland in 1942 to direct the Div. of Social Protection of the Federal Security Agency. After the war Ness returned to Cleveland, ran unsuccessfully as Republican candidate for mayor in 1947, then devoted himself to business, finally leaving for Coudersport, Pa., in 1956. Shortly before his death, suffering financial reverses, Ness collaborated with journalist Oscar Fraley to produce the book The Untouchables. Ness, however, died before the book was published.
Ness was married 3 times. His first marriage was in 1929 to Edna Staley, they divorced in 1938. On 14 Oct. 1939, Ness married Evaline McAndrew, they divorced in 1945. His third marriage was to Elizabeth Anderson Seaver on 31 Jan. 1946; in 1947 he adopted a son, Robert Warner.
William Hopkins from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
William Hopkins from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland
HOPKINS, WILLIAM ROWLAND (26 July 1869-9 Feb. 1961), lawyer, industrial developer, and Cleveland’s first city manager, was born in Johnstown, Pa., to David J. and Mary Jeffreys Hopkins. The family came to Cleveland in 1874. At 13, Hopkins began working in the Cleveland Rolling Mills, using his earnings to attend Western Reserve Academy, graduating in 1892. He earned his A.B. (1896) and LL.B. (1899) at Western Reserve University, being elected to CLEVELAND CITY COUNCIL as a Republican (1897-99) while in law school. Hopkins laid out new industrial plant developments, and in 1905 promoted construction of the Cleveland Short Line Railroad, linking Cleveland’s major industrial sections. He gave up his law practice in 1906 to devote himself to business.
Hopkins became chairman of the Republican county committee and a member of the election board and, with the approval of both political parties, became Cleveland’s first city manager in 1924. Removed from partisan politics, he developed parks, improved welfare institutions, began PUBLIC AUDITORIUM, and developed Cleveland Municipal Airport. Although as city manager he was administrative head, he also took the lead in determining policy. City council felt he acquired too much control and removed him from office in Jan. 1930. In 1931 he became a member of council, unsuccessfully fighting for retention of the CITY MANAGER PLAN. In 1933 he returned to private life. The airport was named in his honor in 1951 (see CLEVELAND-HOPKINS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT). Hopkins married Ellen Louise Cozad in 1903; they had no children and divorced in 1926. He died in Cleveland and was buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.
Settlement Houses from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Written by Dr. John J. Grabowski
SETTLEMENT HOUSES. Cleveland, along with Chicago, Boston, and New York, was one of the centers of the U.S. settlement-house movement. Local settlement work began in the late 1890s, and within a decade a half-dozen settlements operated in Cleveland neighborhoods. Several of the city’s settlement houses achieved national recognition; for example, KARAMU HOUSE, one of the centers of African American theater in the U.S., and the CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT, with its model music training programs. The settlement movement began in England in 1884 when a group of Oxford Univ. students established Toynbee Hall, a residence in a London slum. Sharing knowledge and skills with area residents, they strove to understand and solve urban problems. The urban village concept was foremost, attempting to replicate in city neighborhoods the network of mutual aid common to a small village. New York City’s Neighborhood Guild (1885) and Jane Addams’ Hull House (Chicago, 1888) marked the importation of settlement houses to the U.S.; over 100 existed in America by 1900. The settlement movement grew in response to the overcrowding, impoverishment, corruption, and disease caused by rapid industrialization and urbanization. One of the most enduring reform movements, it uniquely attempted to change problem neighborhoods from within.
 Hiram House float in the 1919 Community Fund Parade. WRHS. |
Social settlements addressed Progressive Era concerns: education (with adult classes, kindergartens, and vocational training); citizenship; recreation; health (with visiting-nurse networks and health inspections); labor, unions, and working standards; and living conditions (establishing housing codes). Many programs became standard to education and government. Early settlement house support came through an independent board of directors or a particular religious or educational affiliation. While supporters and settlement workers were generally native-born, Protestant and middle- or upper-middle-class, clients in the early years were mostly Catholic or Jewish working-class immigrants. This difference between the settlement worker and neighborhood resident clearly distinguished the American settlement movement.
The first settlement house established in Cleveland was HIRAM HOUSE (1896). By World War I, many other settlements served Cleveland neighborhoods. While Hiram House served JEWS & JUDAISM (later ITALIANS and thenAFRICAN AMERICANS) along lower Woodland Ave., ALTA HOUSE (1900) served the Italians of LITTLE ITALY. EAST END NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE (1907) worked with HUNGARIANS and SLOVAKS in the BUCKEYE-WOODLAND-Woodhill district, and Goodrich House (1897, see GOODRICH-GANNETT NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER) served South Slavic groups residing along St. Clair Ave. By the 1920s, other local settlements included the WEST SIDE COMMUNITY HOUSE (1922), MERRICK HOUSE SOCIAL SETTLEMENT(1919), the RAINEY INSTITUTE (1904), UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT (1922), the Playhouse Settlement (1915, later Karamu House), the Council Educational Alliance (1899, forerunner of the JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER), the FRIENDLY INN SOCIAL SETTLEMENT (1897), and the Cleveland Music School Settlement (1912). The 1920s and 1930s saw tremendous nationwide changes in settlement operation, especially the hiring of trained social workers and the emphasis on a more scientific methodology and program. National and local organizations, such as the National Federation of Settlements (est. 1911), the Cleveland Settlement Union, and, later, the GREATER CLEVELAND NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS ASSN., fostered such change.
Following World War I, the increased centralization of urban social work and PHILANTHROPY affected settlement houses. While they had previously enjoyed autonomy in fundraising and allocation, many settlements came to depend on centralized welfare campaigns by 1930. Funding agencies frequently dictated areas in which a settlement could spend monies received from general solicitations, often hampering program development. In Cleveland, the Federation for Charity and Philanthropy, and later the Welfare Federation (predecessors of UNITED WAY SERVICES), solicited and allocated charitable funds. Despite the loss of autonomy, the curtailment of immigration, and the general decline of urban populations, many settlement houses established during the Progressive Era endured in 1993, such as Alta House, Goodrich-Gannett, Karamu, and the Cleveland Music School Settlement. A new neighborhood emphasis by various city, state, and federal funding programs during the 1970s renewed vitality in some institutions.
John J. Grabowski
Western Reserve Historical Society
Bond, Robert L. Focus on Neighborhoods: A History of Responses by Cleveland’s Settlement Houses and Neighborhood Centers to Changing Human Needs (1990).
See also specific institutions and reformers.