Bricks, Mortar, and Bronze

One of the nice aspects of Cleveland is the architecture downtown. From its roots in 1814, the city grew to nearly a million people in 1950, based on heavy industry, including steel and automaking. Standard Oil (think Rockefellers) was originally headquartered in the growing metropolitan in 1870. The city was a major hub of finance. It still plays a role being one of the Federal Reserve Banks.

Being a major industrial powerhouse brought much prosperity to the city. You can still see this in many of the open plazas and interior displays. In some ways, they are vestiges of a more prosperous past, but there is a lot of gorgeous public and private areas.

Here's a picture of a plaza downtown:



Open Air Plaza


Wikipedia has an excellent article about the history of Cleveland. There are several nice photographs of the city on the Wikipedia site, including this great image of the skyline.

Unlike many other cities, Cleveland has tried to maintain its downtown vitality. Not all of the attempts have been successful, but the Rock and Roll Hall Fame and sports stadiums are located in the central part of the city.

Here's a photo outside the new football stadium with a view towards a wind mill standing in front of the Museum of Natural Science:



A Touch of New Along the Lakefront


Even better images of a few architectural treats will soon follow.