Around the turn of the twentieth century, Baedeker's Travel Guide dubbed Euclid Avenue the "Showplace of America" for its beautiful elm-lined sidewalks and ornate mansions situated amid lavish gardens. Rufus Dunham was the first to invest in the stretch of Euclid Avenue, purchasing acres of land to open a farm and tavern to service stagecoaches passing through Cleveland.
Dunham faced problems, however, as the city did little maintenance and the road would often flood. As other wealthy elites began moving into the area, the city developed a drainage system to prevent flooding and made the area more desirable.
Some of these investments went toward the construction of churches, universities, medical schools, the art museum, orchestra, and the historical society. The best-known Euclid Avenue resident was John D. Rockefeller, who started Standard Oil Company. In , Cleveland was the sixth largest city in the country.
With the increase in population and new developments encroaching, Euclid Avenue experienced a drastic rise in taxes and land costs. Millionaires' Row gradually shifted eastward as commercialization claimed some of the older homes near downtown. By the s, a suburban exodus to "the Heights" east of the city illustrated that the very prosperity created by the denizens of Euclid Avenue ultimately displaced their grand homes.
A number of the luxurious homes were demolished in the s and s to make way for commercial buildings and parking lots. I wanted to answer these, and also dispel a lot of incorrect things that have been written before. One-hundred-and-twenty-six pages of vintage pictures show the interiors and exteriors of the homes, as well as the passage of time as Gothic houses are replaced by motels and arenas and business schools.
Despite his focus on the houses, Dutka includes many interesting bits about the residents of the block stretch. It was shuttered by and demolished in Made of handcrafted stone, it included a third-floor ballroom with a foot-ceiling that could fit guests. By the s, many of the wealthy had begun to flee to the eastern suburbs as the Euclid Avenue commercial district began to creep closer. Library of Congress: Charles Brush mansion. Despite what you may have heard, most millionaires did not ask for their houses to be demolished after they moved or died, says Dutka.
It was mostly a skyrocketing tax rate as well as downtown pollution that drove the millionaires east, says the writer. Plain Dealer Historical Photograph Collection: By , most of the houses had been torn down or were split into boardinghouses. Constructed in , this grand Victorian Villa was among the last remnants of Millionaires' Row to be razed. It lingered until , perhaps waiting to witness the expansion of the many colleges at which Eells was a trustee.
By the s, Cleveland's commercial district was moving east and encroaching on the cozy residential neighborhoods. Families who had moved in for the peace and quiet began feeling uneasy with the increasing activity, and many began looking east toward "The Heights" for a suburban escape.
Following the Great Depression, the decline of Millionaires' Row was rapid. Many owners converted their mansions into boarding houses, which only furthered the decline of this stunning neighborhood. This mansion, a stunning Romanesque Revival, was constructed from to and was razed in Johnson served as the Mayor of Cleveland from to His family namely his father, a wealthy cotton planter had formerly lost their wealth in the Civil War, but one of their former business connections would be Tom Johnson's savior.
After several patents and an investment in the street railways of Indianapolis, Johnson was able to move to Millionaires' Row in His home was razed in , fifteen years after his death. The earthy environment of this neighborhood made it a local favorite. Many of the residents of this area engaged in philanthropy, improving the city as they grew their respective businesses. This goodwill, however, was not universal; Euclid Avenue's most infamous resident, con artist Cassie Chadwick, was a Canadian-born woman who defrauded banks out of millions of dollars by passing as the illegitimate daughter of Andrew Carnegie.
Chadwick worked as a clairvoyant in her earliest years in The Land. After her first U. The Euclid Avenue we know is a main artery into downtown Cleveland. But, can you imagine the years to when Euclid Avenue was a prestigious address for executives and innovators that helped propel the industrial revolution?
The Row was one of the most beautiful spots in the world to live because of the park-like setting, the churches and estates, the society parties. On Sundays, it was a marvelous spectacle of residents dressed their best, walking to church. The legendary sleigh races that took place on Euclid Avenue attracted thousands of bystanders who would line up between East 40th and East 9th Streets to watch the sport. White Mansion.
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