Cleveland Ohio is the county seat of Cuyahoga County Ohio, and the most densely populated county in the state.
The city is located on the southern shores of Lake Erie, one of the five great lakes and about sixty miles west of the border of Pennsylvania.
It was founded in the late 1700’s near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and became a huge manufacturing center due largely to its location which put it at the head of many canals and later, at railroad centers.
Cleveland city skyline at dusk
With the decline of heavy manufacturing, Cleveland’s businesses have diversified into the service economy, including the financial services, insurance, and healthcare sectors. Cleveland is also noted for its association with rock music, as the city is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
As of the 2000 Census, the city proper had a total population of 478,403, making it the 33rd largest city in the nation and the second largest city in Ohio. It is the center of Greater Cleveland, the largest metropolitan area in Ohio, which spans several counties and is defined in several different ways by the Census Bureau. The Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor Metropolitan Statistical Area has 2,250,871 people and is the 23rd largest in the country, according to the 2000 Census. Cleveland is also part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area, which is the 14th largest in the country with a population of 2,945,831 according to the 2000 Census.
The Tall ships festival in Cleveland
Cleveland and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania were ranked as the most livable cities in the United States, and Cleveland was ranked as the best city for business meetings in the continental U. S.
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. 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. The spelling of the city’s name was later changed to “Cleveland” when, in 1831, an “a” was dropped so the name could fit a newspaper’s masthead.
A Boa Constrictor plays on an elephant statue at Cleveland zoo
In spite of the nearby swampy lowlands and harsh winters, its waterfront location proved nearly perfect and the area begain to see a very rapid growth after the completion of the Erie Canal.
University circle, about five miles from the downtown center of Cleveland has a vast concentration of cultural, educational, and medical institutions, including the Cleveland Botanical Garden, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals, Severance Hall, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Western Reserve Historical Society. Cleveland is also home to the I. M. Pei-designed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, located on the Lake Erie waterfront at North Coast Harbor downtown.
Neighboring attractions include Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Great Lakes Science Center, the Steamship Mather Museum, and the USS Cod, a World War II submarine, the famous Cleveland Zoological park, as well as Hunting, fishing, hiking, and bicycling which are a very big business in the Ohio and Pennsylvania areas.
Cleveland is home to many festivals throughout the year. Cultural festivals such as the annual Feast of the Assumption in the Little Italy neighborhood, the Greek Orthodox Festival in the Tremont neighborhood, and the Harvest Festival in the Slavic Village neighborhood are popular events. Vendors at the West Side Market in Ohio City offer many different ethnic foods for sale. Cleveland hosts an annual parade on Saint Patrick’s Day that brings hundreds of thousands to the streets of downtown.
Fashion Week Cleveland, the city’s annual fashion event, is one of the few internationally-recognized fashion industry happenings in North America.
