A catastrophic fire at the Cleveland Clinic in 1929 impacted fire-fighting practices and hospital procedures in Ohio and across the United States.
On May 15, 1929, the main building of the Cleveland Clinic caught fire. The fire began when an exposed light bulb was too close to some nitro-cellulose x-ray film, igniting the film. In the end, 123 people lost their lives. Eighty of the dead were either patients or visitors at the clinic, and the rest were employees. One of the Cleveland Clinic’s founders, Dr. John Phillips, was among the dead. Most of the victims died from inhaling poisonous gases produced by the burning x-ray film.
Investigators found that the clinic was not to blame for the tragedy, but the Cleveland Clinic fire influenced major changes at both the local and national levels. The city of Cleveland decided that fire departments should receive gas masks as part of their equipment and advocated creating an ambulance service for the city. Nationally, medical facilities established new standards for storing hazardous materials such as x-ray film.
Harold Hitz Burton was born on June 22, 1888, in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. In 1909, he received his undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College, where he had quarterbacked the football team. He then pursued a doctorate in law from Harvard University, graduating in 1912. He began to practice law in Cleveland, Ohio, that same year.
Burton remained in Cleveland for only a brief time, becoming an attorney for a power company in Utah in 1914 and then for another one in Idaho in 1916. With World War I’s outbreak, Burton enlisted in the military. Upon being discharged, he returned to Cleveland and resumed his legal career. He also taught classes at Western Reserve University from 1923 to 1925.
Following World War I, Burton embarked upon a career in politics, serving on the East Cleveland Board of Education in 1928 and 1929. In 1929, he became a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. He held this position for less than a year, because he became the law director of Cleveland in 1929. He remained in this position until 1932. After a brief respite from public life, Burton won election as Cleveland’s mayor, an office he held from 1935 to 1940. As mayor, Burton battled against organized crime and sought to improve employment opportunities for the city’s residents. Known for his piety and honesty, Burton became known as the “Boy Scout Mayor.” In 1940, Ohio voters elected Burton to the United States Senate. His greatest accomplishment as senator was his sponsorship of the “B2H2 Resolution,” which called for the United States to join an international peace organization following World War II. Burton served in the Senate from 1941 until 1945, when he resigned this office to become an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court. Although Burton was a member of the Republican Party, President Harry Truman, a member of the Democratic Party, still appointed him to the United States Supreme Court.
In comparison to some other justices, Burton’s career on the court was a short one. He became a justice on September 30, 1945, and remained on the Supreme Court until his retirement on October 13, 1958. During his tenure, Burton became well known for his support of desegregation and also for limiting government influence over businesses. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1957, Burton retired the next year.
Upon retiring from the Supreme Court, Burton returned to Cleveland. He accepted an appointment to the District of Columbia Circuit Court in 1960, a position he held until his death on October 28, 1964.
Alfred Kelley was born in Middlefield, Connecticut, on November 7, 1789, and then moved with his family to Lowville, New York, at the age of ten. He trained as a lawyer under New York Supreme Court justice Jonas Platt beginning in 1807.
Kelley’s family was connected to the earliest settlers in the Connecticut Western Reserve. His mother’s brother, Joshua Stow, was one of the first members of the Connecticut Land Company and had traveled with Moses Cleaveland in 1796 to establish the settlement of Cleveland. Kelley moved to Cleveland in 1810, becoming a member of the Ohio bar and the community’s first attorney. He quickly became involved in local politics, serving as prosecuting attorney from 1810 to 1822 and becoming Cleveland’s first mayor in 1815. (The election was unanimous, with Kelley receiving all twelve votes.)
Kelley also became involved in state politics, elected to the Ohio House of Representatives for the first time in 1814 and serving in state politics in some capacity for the rest of his life. In 1814, Kelley was the youngest member of the House. When he retired from the Ohio Senate in 1857, he was then the oldest member of the state legislature. During the intervening years, Kelley was an instrumental figure in a number of important state issues. He introduced a bill to end the policy of imprisoning people who could not pay off their debts and helped to create the office of state superintendent of schools. He authored an important banking reform bill in 1845 and the state’s first general property tax law the following year. In addition, Kelley served as chairman of Ohio’s Whig Party commission and helped William Henry Harrison become President of the United States in 1840.
What Kelley was probably most known for, however, was his passionate support for canal construction. In fact, he became known as “the father of the Ohio canal system.” In addition to persuading the state legislature to finance the building of canals, Kelley also devoted much of his time to supervising construction, first in Akron and then in Columbus. In spite of the fact that the canal went significantly over budget, Kelley’s reputation for honesty and integrity insured that the legislature did not withdraw funding for the project.
By the 1840s and 1850s, Kelley realized that canals were being surpassed by a new form of transportation, the railroad. With his urging, the city of Cleveland began a long-term project to connect the community to Cincinnati. By 1851, the railroad already reached from Cleveland to Columbus. Kelley also served as president both of the Columbus and Xenia Railroad and the Cleveland, Painesville, and Ashtabula Railroad.
Kelley died in Columbus on December 2, 1859. During his years of public service, the state of Ohio and the city of Cleveland had grown tremendously and, because of his support of transportation and financial reforms, Kelley had played an important role in their transformation.
The Battle of Lake Erie was a pivotal naval engagement between British and American forces during the War of 1812.
At the beginning of the War of 1812, the United States sent Oliver Hazard Perry to command the American forces on Lake Erie. When he arrived in Presque Isle (modern-day Erie, Pennsylvania), Perry commissioned several carpenters to build a fleet of ships. Within a year, he had nine ships. However, only two, the Lawrence and the Niagara, were fit for battle. Perry had also assembled a force of about five hundred men to serve under him, and after several months of drilling, they were a capable naval unit.
In September 1813, Perry set sail for Put-In Bay to meet the British fleet, which was under the command of Robert Heriot Barclay. Like the Americans, the English had begun constructing a fleet at the war’s beginning to secure control of Lake Erie. The British were anticipating an easy victory over Perry’s force. On September 10, 1813, the Battle of Lake Erie took place. The Americans had nine ships, while the British had six. Early in the battle, the British were taking a heavy toll on the American ships, principally because the British cannons were much more accurate at long distances. When the British destroyed the Lawrence, Perry took the ship’s flag and transferred to the Niagara. After Perry moved to the Niagara, the battle began to turn for the Americans. Before Perry’s arrival on the Niagara, this ship had hardly engaged the British fleet. Now, the Niagara and Perry inflicted heavy cannon fire on the British ships. The commander of every British ship was killed or wounded, leaving the British ships under the command of junior officers with limited experience. Perry took advantage of this situation. The Niagararammed the British lead ship while the sailors fired rifles at the British seamen. By nightfall, the British had lowered their flag and surrendered to Perry, who was only twenty-seven years old.
Perry sent a dispatch to General William Henry Harrison, recounting the details of the battle. In the dispatch, he wrote, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.”
The American victory at the Battle of Lake Erie cut off the British supply lines and forced them to abandon Detroit. It also paved the way for General Harrison’s attack on the British and Indian forces at the Battle of the Thames.
Oliver Hazard Perry was born in Rhode Island in 1785. Oliver was the oldest of five boys born to Christopher and Sarah Perry. Perry’s ancestors on both sides were accomplished naval men. His mother taught her boys to read and write and made sure that they attended church.
By the age of twelve, Perry had sailed with his father to the West Indies. By the age of fourteen, Perry was a commissioned midshipman on his father’s ship. In 1807, he became a commissioned lieutenant in the United States army. He used his time in the army to refine his naval skills.
At the beginning of the War of 1812, the United States sent Perry to command the American forces on Lake Erie. When he arrived in Presque Isle (modern-day Erie, Pennsylvania), Perry commissioned several carpenters to build a fleet of ships. Within a year, he had nine ships. However, only two, the Lawrence and the Niagara, were fit for battle. Perry had also assembled a force of about five hundred men to serve under him, and after several months of drilling, they were a capable naval unit.
In September 1813, Perry set sail for Put-In Bay to meet the British fleet. The English were anticipating an easy victory. On September 10, 1813, the Battle of Lake Erie took place. Early in the battle, the British were taking a heavy toll on the American ships. TheLawrence was destroyed. Perry took the ship’s flag and sailed for the Niagara. The battle began to turn for the Americans. The British ships had taken heavy cannon fire and were unable to effectively fight the Niagara. The Niagara rammed the British lead ship while the sailors fired rifles at the British seamen. By nightfall, the British had lowered their flag and surrendered to Perry, who was only twenty-seven years old.
Perry sent a dispatch to General William Henry Harrison, recounting the details of the battle. In the dispatch, he wrote, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.”
Perry also took part in the Battle of the Thames, contributing to the American victory. After the War of 1812, Perry received a medal of honor from Congress. The United States also promoted him to the rank of captain.
He continued to serve the United States army, commanding ships in the Mediterranean and the West Indies. While in the West Indies, he contracted yellow fever and died in 1819.
EASTMAN, LINDA ANNE (17 July 1867-5 Apr. 1963), the fourth librarian of the CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY, succeeding her friend and mentor WM. HOWARD BRETT†, was the first woman in the world to head a library of that size. Eastman was born in Oberlin, Ohio, daughter of William Harley and Sarah Ann (Redrup) Eastman. Her family moved to Cleveland when she was 7 and Eastman attended public school, graduating with honors from West High. Completing a course at Cleveland Normal School, Eastman began teaching but soon found herself attracted to library work. She became an assistant at the CPL in 1892 and was promoted to vice-librarian under Brett in 1895. Eastman was named librarian in 1918, a position she held until her retirement 20 years later. Her first years were dominated by the construction and occupancy of the $4.5 million main library building, opened in 1925. Later in her tenure, she developed several specialized operations, including a travel section, a business information bureau, and services to the blind and handicapped. Eastman’s achievements within her profession were highly regarded and recognized nationally. She was president of both the Ohio Library Assoc. and the American Library Assoc. and held a professorship at the Library School of Western Reserve University. She retired as librarian in 1938, when she was 71. Eastman died in CLEVELAND HEIGHTS and was buried in RIVERSIDE CEMETERY.
Margaret Bourke-White History Making Photojournalist and Social Activist January 2003
by Patrick Cox, Ph.D
Margaret Bourke-White
In the beginning, there was Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971). One of the trailblazers in twentieth century photojournalism, Bourke-White played an historic role in media and women’s history. As a woman photojournalist, her reputation rivaled Ida Tarbell, the muckraker who exposed the abuses of Standard Oil, in its impact on modern journalism. Bourke-White became an internationally famous photographer and holds many “firsts” in her portfolio. In addition to her professional contributions, her activism on behalf of the poor and underprivileged throughout the world places her among the foremost humanitarians of the century.
When Bourke-White entered the field of journalism in the 1920’s, few women participated as professional journalists or photographers. A handful of women photographers, Frances Benjamin Johnson, Jessie Tarbox Beals and a few others represented an earlier generation whose photos appeared in newspapers and magazines in the early twentieth century. Although social and vocational roles expanded in the 1920’s, women lived in an era of rigid expectations. Female journalists remained mostly confined to the women’s and society pages of the metropolitan newspapers. As more women entered the profession in the 1920’s and 1930’s, a few doors began to open for women to assume the tasks traditionally taken by male reporters and photographers. Margaret Bourke-White rushed through this door to become a leading figure in the profession.
With the encouragement and guidance of her father, Bourke-White began taking photographs at an early age. She completed college at Cornell and opened her own photographic studio in Cleveland. She ventured into the fiery steel plants where women never ventured. The fiery cauldrons, molten steel, and showers of sparks depicted the industrial might of the nation. The dynamic series of industrial photos in the 1920’s caught the attention of Henry Luce. The well-known publisher hired Bourke-White as the first photographer at Fortune magazine in 1929. Her first assignment in the premier issue provided a physical and a professional challenge – covering the Swift hog processing plant – a site as challenging as the steel mills with its pungent air, bloody working conditions and where one misstep could prove fatal. She went to Russia and provided the first extensive photo series on Soviet Union. Dams, factories, farms, workers, farmers and every day life in Stalin’s communist state came to life for the first time to viewers in the west.
Following her success at Fortune, Bourke-White became one of the first group of photographers hired by Life. Her photo graced the inaugural issue of the famous magazine. Her 1936 black and white cover photo of a massive dam validated her photography credentials in a field still dominated by men. The photo issued a statement that technology and American ability could overcome the economic depression of the 1930’s. During her years at Life, the magazine grew to national prominence thanks to the brilliant photos of Bourke-White and her colleagues.
During this period Bourke-White teamed with the popular southern novelist Erskine Caldwell. One of the most widely read authors of the twentieth century, Caldwell is best known for his works God’s Little Acre and Tobacco Road. Working in the poverty-stricken rural areas of the American South, the dynamic team published You Have Seen Their Faces. The pictures of poverty and discrimination in the south rivaled the urban privation photos of Jacob Riis. The gaunt faces revealed the abysmal social and economic conditions of the Depression-era south. Their work received acclaim but was criticized for its bias and exposure of racism in the south. Years after their automobile tour of the south, Caldwell lauded Bourke-White. “She was in charge of everything, manipulating people and telling them where to sit and were to look and what not. She was very adept at being able to direct people,” he said in an interview. Bourke-White and Caldwell were the only journalists in the Soviet Union when the German Army invaded in the summer of 1941. The couple married in 1939 but their relationship ended during World War II.
During World War II, Bourke-White became one of a stalwart group of women correspondents who covered the war from the front lines. Her book They Called It Purple Heart Valley provided a narrative and photographic study of the war in Europe in 1944. She took photos of foot soldiers and generals, victims of the war and its destruction. She slogged through the mud and heat and went everywhere from the front lines to the hospital wards. As she accompanied troops in the Italian campaign, Bourke-White wrote of one encounter. “Right beneath my feet, at the foot of the cliff, was a row of howitzers sending out sporadic darts of flame. Since I was so high up and so far forward, most of our heavies were in back of me, and I could look over the hills from which we had come and see the muzzle flashes of friendly guns, looking as if people were lighting cigarettes all over the landscape.”
In one of her most difficult tasks, Bourke-White accompanied U.S. troops as they liberated the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in 1945. With portraits of starving prisoners and dead bodies heaped one upon another, she documented some of the worst horrors of the Nazi regime. Even with government censorship, Bourke-White and her fellow photographers and journalists gave Americans an unprecedented view of the global conflict and the human suffering the war created.
After the war, Bourke-White continued her worldwide photography and focused much of her work on humanitarian issues. She covered Gandhi’s campaign of nonviolence in India and African mine workers and apartheid in South Africa. Carl Mydans of Life said, “Margaret Bourke-White’s social awareness was clear and obvious. All the editors at the magazine were aware of her commitment to social causes.” She joined with other artists to form the American Artists’ Congress that advocated state and public support for the arts and fought discrimination. The FBI began collecting information on her political activity in the 1930’s. During the McCarthy era, she became the subject of scrutiny for her involvement with organizations that promoted civil and political rights. She received criticism by the House Un-American Activities Committee and newspaper columnists for her work on You Have Seen Their Faces and other publications she authored. As she wrote in the Nation magazine on February 19, 1936, “It is my own conviction that defense of the economic needs, as well as their liberty of artistic expression, will inevitably draw them closer to the struggle of the great masses of American people for security and the abundant life which they are more than anxious to earn by productive work.”
Bourke-White developed Parkinson’s disease in 1956. After the diagnosis, she spent six years writing her autobiography. Portrait of Myself was published in 1963. She continued taking photographs and writing until her death in 1971. The most recent study of her career is Vicki Goldberg’s Margaret Bourke-White: a biography. A collection of her works are in The Photographs of Margaret Bourke-White, edited by Sean Callahan. A recent movie entitled “Double Exposure” chronicled her early life and years with Erskine Caldwell. Margaret Bourke-White combined professional skills and a socially responsive philosophy that made her one of the 100 most influential women of twentieth century.
Patrick Cox, Ph.D., is historian and Assistant Director for Congressional Collections and Coordinator for the Institute for American News Media History at the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Cox specializes in twentieth century American political, media and social history with an emphasis on Texas and the Southwest.
Dr. Cox authored the biography on the late U.S. Senator Ralph W. Yarborough (D-Texas) published by the University of Texas Press. Ralph W. Yarborough: The People’s Senator, was a finalist in the Western Writers Association and the Robert Kennedy Foundation Book Award for 2002
Following her success at Fortune, Bourke-White became one of the first group of photographers hired by Life. Her photo graced the inaugural issue of the famous magazine. Her 1936 black and white cover photo of a massive dam validated her photography credentials in a field still dominated by men. The photo issued a statement that technology and American ability could overcome the economic depression of the 1930’s. During her years at Life, the magazine grew to national prominence thanks to the brilliant photos of Bourke-White and her colleagues.
