100 Years in Pictures

A “City Canvases” mural by graphic designer John MorellCarl B. Stokes at a town hall meeting, 1969: an historic but troubled mayoral administration J. Kimball JohnsonRichard W. PogueInnovation: CleveMed’s wireless sleep monitorPalace Theatre lobbyCleveland Housing Network was the lead developer of Greenbridge Commons, permanent housing for chronically homeless individuals, in the Fairfax neighborhood.Harold T. Clark2005: ideastream1998: Cuyahoga Valley Scenic RailroadJames D. WilliamsonEntrepreneurship: Wood Trac, an affordable, drop-ceiling system developed and marketed by Sauder Woodworking, a family-owned business in Ashland, OhioProjects receiving recent Neighborhood Connection grants have ranged from hands-on crafts classes to the reintroduction of beekeeping. The restored Hungarian Cultural GardenAfter their father's untimely death, future political icons Carl (left) and Louis Stokes lived with their mother at Outhwaite Homes.James A. NortonCleveland Museum of Art2000: Therapeutic Riding Center2007: Great Lakes Theater FestivalThe Frederick C. Crawford Auto Aviation Collection at the Western Reserve Historical SocietyIn 1967, this Cleveland Heights home, owned by an African American, was bombed in a senseless and vain attempt to halt the suburb’s integration.Privately developed Beacon Place Townhomes on East 82nd Street—evidence of the return of middle-class Clevelanders to the central cityWelcome committees were organized to greet bused students on their first day at their new crosstown schools. Katharine Holden Thayer by Cindy NaegeleAnisfield-Wolf Book AwardsSlavic VillageDancer/choreographer Kapila Palihawadana of Sri Lanka, 2012 artist in residence with the Inlet Dance Theatre, conducts a master dance class at the Beck Center for the Performing Arts.Vietnamese lutist Pham Thi Hue was Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio’s artist in residence in 2013.Steven A. Minter1991: Hathaway Brown SchoolGreat Lakes Theater FestivalGreen City Growers Cooperative’s 3.25-acre hydroponic greenhouse in the Central neighborhood opened in 2013. Apollo’s FireA new generation of Circle fansAdvocating greater reliance on clean energy: a wind farm in northwestern OhioCleveland Institute of ArtFostering economic opportunity via college scholarships: Garment workers at Joseph & Feiss Company, makers of the $15 blue serge suitBusiness growth: The Greater Cleveland Partnership’s business development teamMOCA ClevelandFred S. McConnellRaymond Q. ArmingtonBarbara Haas RawsonAn examination room at the Glenville Health ClinicThe Board of Education building in downtown Cleveland, longtime headquarters of the system’s central administrationThe Cleveland Foodbank’s LEED-certified distribution centerHalprin’s impressionist sketch of Cleveland’s “Flats,” which he praised as a “tremendous resource.” Upper Chester, which abuts the Cleveland Clinic, is the next Circle neighborhood slated for redevelopment.2006: Cleveland Clinic Foundation1968: Karamu HouseThe Cleveland Trust Company’s neoclassical banking hall, which opened in 1908, was topped by an immense stained-glass dome.The RetreatCarl W. BrandFamed urban planner Lawrence Halprin (right) presented his ideas for downtown Cleveland’s redevelopment at a public forum in 1975 attended by Cleveland mayor Ralph J. Perk (center) and May Company department store president Francis Coy (left).L. Dale Dorney FundThe West 25th Street retail district in Ohio City exemplifies the objective recently adopted by Neighborhood Progress, Inc. of restoring market forces in target neighborhoods.Church Square Commons, offering affordable apartments for adults 55 and older, is one of the Famicos Foundation’s most recent projects in Hough.Contaminants flowing into Lake Erie, 1965Master planner I. M. Pei (right), Cleveland’s urban renewal director James Lister (center) and chief architect Jack Hayes at the Erieview Tower construction site, 1954 Cleveland OrchestraFrances Southworth Goff1967: Blossom Music CenterArchitectural drawing of the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority's Lakeview Tower, a senior high-rise proposed for the near west side in 1971Protest demonstration at Cleveland State University, 1969: poverty rates in the central city on the riseTo date, 100 percent of the student body at the School of Science and Medicine goes on to college.First grants to advance serious medical research in an era still plagued with quackery: The Cunningham Sanitarium, located at East 185th Street and Lake Shore Boulevard, c. 1928. The sanitarium offered patients access to the world’s largest hyperbaric chamber, but its claims for the benefits of oxygen therapy proved specious.Proposed townhomes for East 118th StreetManchester Bidwell, the Pittsburgh model on which NewBridge is based, has instilled a love of learning in teens who previously did not fare well in school.Tri-C JazzFest, 19931996: Old Stone ChurchFrances Southworth, Goff’s bride and intellectual partnerTom L. Johnson, a reformer who served as Cleveland’s mayor from 1901 to 1909, helped to shape the city’s progressive climate. 2004: The Gathering PlaceSPACESRonald B. Richard1956: Cleveland Institute of ArtMayor Dennis Kucinich’s ceremonial presentation of a post-default debt paymentFrank H. and Nancy L. Porter FundCommencement at Tri-C, 1975Harry Coulby FundsDancing WheelsA. E. Convers FundTremontThe Goff home on Lake Shore Boulevard in BratenahlCleveland Ballet2002: Shaker Lakes Regional Nature CenterCommunityFoundationAtlas.org websiteGraduation day at Cleveland Early College High School, 2012The Cleveland Housing Network assisted the Mt. Pleasant Now nonprofit development corporation with the construction of the Union Court senior apartments.Cleveland City Hospital’s “iron lung” respirator, used for treating polio patients whose paralyzed muscles cause breathing difficulties, 1933David GoldbergMOCA Cleveland’s faceted, mirrored, four-story art gallery anchors the Uptown development.Ivan Lecaros (right), a master printmaker from Chile, puts the final touches on a drawing for a silkscreen print during his 2012 residency at Zygote Press.Grand opening of the Outhwaite Homes, 19371986: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and MuseumCleveland Public ArtBy 1929, when Cleveland laid claim to having the tallest skyscraper in the country—the Terminal Tower, evocatively captured here by famed photographer Margaret Bourke-White—the community foundation movement had spread across America.2001: Cleveland Botanical GardenMAGNET incubator graduate, DXY Solutions, makes components and software for mobile devices.Charles A. RatnerLAND Studio’s proposed redesign of Public SquareDr. King speaking in Rockefeller Park on a visit to Cleveland in 1967. The previous year he had dramatized the issue of housing discrimination by moving his family into a grimy apartment on the segregated west side of Chicago and joining in protest marches into that city’s all-white neighborhoods.Edgewater Park under state stewardshipAlthough the foundation’s trailblazing was a faded tradition by 1955, when this picture of the trustee bank presidents holding a replica of the foundation’s logo was snapped, its stature as the world’s first community trust remained a source of pride.2000: Cleveland Zoological SocietyThe Great Lakes Science Center’s wind turbineProgressive Field at GatewayThe March on Washington, August 28, 1963, at which Martin Luther King Jr. called upon the nation to make good on democracy’s promise of social and economic freedom for all citizens The Peter B. Lewis Building, designed by Frank Gehry, is the home of Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management.Kent H. SmithReinhold W. Erickson, D.D.S.Ralph J. Perk lends a hand to the theater restoration project, which began during his tenure as Cleveland mayor. The original Free Clinic, a drug treatment center on Cornell RoadGoff in a rare moment of leisureSustaining the excellence of the region’s cultural assets: a summer solstice party at the Cleveland Museum of Art2009: Cleveland Institute of ArtA new company that makes and installs solar-panel arrays has been created with foundation support.Charles P. BoltonHough’s frustrations with its seemingly intractable problems erupted into violence during the summer of 1966.The passenger terminal at Cleveland-Hopkins Airport, c. 1956Belle SherwinStokes with his brother Louis (left)1981: Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater ClevelandLinking city kids to life-enriching programs: Duffy Liturgical Dance teaches children to perform and thus preserve songs and dances created by African slaves in America.F. James and Rita Rechin FundFlotsam despoiling the beach at Gordon ParkH. Stuart HarrisonAddressing the changing socioeconomic needs of the African-American community: 20th anniversary convening of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, hosted by Cleveland in 1929Barack Obama campaigns at Tri-C, 20071973: Severance HallSherwick FundNewBridge prepares adults for careers as health care technicians.Tri-C’s early use of computers as a teaching aid, c. 1980Circle institutions have invested or are planning to invest billions in capital improvements, such as University Hospitals of Cleveland’s new Seidman Cancer Center.Cleveland Ballet co-founder Dennis Nahat as the tsar and Nanette Glushak as the tsarina in the company’s signature holiday performance of The NutcrackerSinging AngelsMembers of the African-American Philanthropy Committee: Reverend Elmo A. Bean, Doris A. Evans, M.D., David G. Hill, Lillian W. BurkeRock and Roll Hall of Fame and MuseumThe reversal of downtown Cleveland’s stagnation, symbolized by the redevelopment of the Terminal Tower, is a 60-year-old work in progress in which the foundation has been steadily engaged.1968: Holden Arboretum2013: Friends of the Cleveland School of the ArtsCleveland’s busy riverfront, south of the Superior ViaductThe formal entrance to the Judson Park retirement community, an independent living facility erected in 1974 next to the traditional nursing home established by the Baptist Home of Ohio in the former Bicknell mansion on Cleveland’s east side1986: Cain ParkMalcolm L. McBrideThe gallery's second home on Bellflower Road in University CircleJames A. RatnerMalvin E. BankMort Epstein’s Pop Art-inspired electrical outlet, a CAAC-commissioned mural, graced the Union building on Euclid Avenue.Captain Frank’s seafood restaurant at the end of the Ninth Street Pier once commanded downtown’s best view of Lake Erie.St. Joseph's Orphanage for Girls on Woodland AvenueEvergreen Energy Solution’s photovoltaic panels2003: Hanna Perkins Center for Child DevelopmentStokes and his wife, Shirley, on election day, 1968 The Allen Theatre, originally an opulent silent movie house, c. 1938Stanley C. PaceA satellite photograph of Lake Erie, downtown Cleveland and the Cuyahoga River valley: The foundation has learned to take the long view in helping the community craft fresh responses to persistent urban problems.The State TheatreCleveland Play HousePlanning model of Cleveland, c. 1960Presbyterian minister Bruce W. Klunder died while protesting the construction of three public elementary schools that Cleveland’s civil rights community believed would perpetuate a system of segregated and inferior education for African-American students.University Circle’s cultural institutions have long been renowned for their enriching educational activities.MAGNET’s Prism program helped Cleveland-based Vitamix keep up with demand for its high-end blenders.1959: Cleveland Institute of Music2002: Cleveland Institute of MusicUptown, the Circle’s exciting, new high-density neighborhood, has all the amenities associated with urban living.Playhouse Square, c. 1969Global Cleveland’s welcome centerGeorge and Janet VoinovichOn December 15, 1978, Cleveland City Council considered and rejected Mayor Kucinich’s 11th-hour plan to avoid default.Leadership of a 1933 initiative to replace squalid tenements with subsidized garden apartments27 Coltman, a luxury townhome development on the eastern boundary of University CircleKenneth W. Clement M.D.Euclid Avenue, looking east, c. 1910MAGNET consultants helped Nextant Aerospace of Richmond Heights, Ohio, apply lean principles to its specialty business of remanufacturing corporate jets for an under-$5 million market. Cleveland Film SocietyR. M. Fischer’s Sports StacksWade Oval Wednesdays, summertime’s popular outdoor music seriesA landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision righted the injustice experienced by Clarence Earl Gideon, a drifter who was convicted of felony theft because he could not afford an attorney and had defended himself at trial.1999: Western Reserve Historical SocietyThe cast of Nicholas NicklebyJohn SherwinThe 2011 renovation of the Allen Theatre's main auditoriumAn east-side Cleveland elementary school, 1963: growing frustration with what appears to be systematic segregationThe East Central Townhomes, after a $1.2 million renovation by Burten, Bell and Carr Development CorporationGroundWorks Dance TheaterInstitute of Pathology at Western Reserve University, as it appeared at its opening in 19291957: Cleveland Museum of Natural HistoryOn his way to building Cleveland Trust into America’s sixth largest bank, Goff occasionally took time out to indulge his passion for fishing.1976: Sokol HallCleveland’s well-financed and -run network of community development organizations targeted this crumbling but historic eight-unit rowhouse in the Central neighborhood for rehabilitation.Harry Goldblatt, M.D.The foundation’s 1915 public education survey resulted in sweeping reform. For decades thereafter, Cleveland’s school system was regarded as a model of excellence.Michael D. White won voter support for “mayoral control” of the Cleveland public schools.Foundation leaders confer about how to distribute 1947 income of $614,479 to a standing list of charitable institutions and agencies. Foundation director Leyton E. Carter (third from right) is seated next to the board’s sole female member, Constance Mather Bishop. Support for humanitarian aid to the unemployed: Stone carvers responsible for the iconic pylons of the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge, a rare Depression-era construction project completed in 1932 with bond funds approved before the stock market crashOhio governor John Kasich at the signing of House Bill 525, legislation enabling education reform, in June 2012Cleveland schools CEO Eric Gordon and Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson stumping in 2012 for the passage of the first operating levy to be placed on the ballet in 16 yearsCleveland Housing Network financing programs have helped low- to moderate-income families become homeowners.Goff wisely decided that an independent citizen’s committee should determine how a community foundation’s income should be distributed, rather than the directors of the foundation’s trustee bank. An owner-employee of the Evergreen LaundryGoff did not believe that philanthropy should be the exclusive province of wealthy individuals such as Standard Oil Company founder John D. Rockefeller, a client of Goff’s former law firm.A greasy-spoon diner and flophouse at Payne and Walnut Avenues downtown, c. 1968—emblems of the City of Cleveland’s intensifying financial distress Aretha Franklin at the Tri-C JazzFestDetroit ShorewayLeyton E. CarterThe foundation’s vision of creating a wind farm in Lake Erie is moving closer to reality.Andrew Carnegie, the “king of steel,” created a private foundation to carry out his philanthropic activities. Goff invented a simpler, more affordable mechanism to serve the charitable impulses of caring individuals of all means.Tri-C groundbreaking, 1966Cleveland voters expressed their hopes for the success of the reform plan by approving the Issue 107 operating levy.Dispersed by police, the protesters did not succeed in halting construction, but Klunder’s martyrdom inspired the civil rights community to continue what was ultimately a victorious fight against segregation of the Cleveland public schools.The Ohio Department of Natural Resources invested more than $40 million in capital improvements to the band of green spaces renamed the Cleveland Lakefront State Park. Albert Sabin (left) developed the oral vaccine given to Cleveland children.The issues facing 21st-century Clevelanders—educational and economic opportunity, neighborhood and cultural vitality, and strong health and human services—are much the same as those with which earlier generations wrestled.Raymond C. MoleyHolsey Gates HandysideNancy Dwyer’s Who’s on First? benchSophisticated life support equipment in an air ambulance made by Nextant Aerospace, Ohio’s only aircraft manufacturer and a MAGNET clientAdam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies, Oberlin CollegeNeighbors who have come together to work on improvement of their neighborhoodParticipants in Parade the Circle, an annual celebration of creativity Jacqueline F. WoodsHunter MorrisonGordon Park in its heydayInauguration ceremony of the 1975 World Conference of the International Women’s Year, Mexico CityTreu-Mart FundMAGNET incubator tenant Tom Lix, the founder and CEO of Cleveland Whiskey, which has developed a proprietary process for accelerating the aging of distilled liquorsJohn Sherwin Jr.Ellwood H. Fisher1961: Benjamin Rose InstituteCleveland OrchestraFrederick Harris Goff, humanitarian, 1858‒19231976: Cleveland Play HouseCatharine Monroe Lewis1964: Garden Center of Greater ClevelandLakeview Terrace1994: Great Lakes Science MuseumThe multitude of organizational nameplates on the door to the Cleveland Foundation’s offices in the 1970s testified to its rebirth as a nexus of progressive philanthropy and an incubator of social-action programs. 1997: Cleveland Clinic FoundationArtist’s conception of the new Regional Transit Authority station planned for Mayfield Road in Little ItalyCarlton K. MatsonLexington VillageKucinich proclaiming victory on the eve of his election as mayor in 1977James R. GarfieldCool Cleveland editor and publisher Tom Mulready1982: Cleveland Institute of Art2006: MOCA Cleveland2004: Cleveland Museum of ArtChester Avenue demarks the northern border of the MidTown Corridor.Wade Lagoon, the tranquil heart of Cleveland’s cultural hub The foundation helped to draft and win passage of a clean energy law for Ohio.Sold out! Heritage Lane townhomes, built within walking distance of the CircleA burning desire to be an attorney animated Goff as a young man. The Palace, the flagship of the Keith chain of vaudeville theaters, reinvented itself as a wide-screen movie house in the 1950s.An assembly line at the Ford Motor Company plant in Brook Park, 1973: manufacturing jobs on the declineThe bulldozer operator accidentally backed over Rev. Klunder in order to avoid hurting the protestors lying in front of him.1984: Cleveland Department of Parks, Recreation and PropertiesCleveland mayor Ralph S. LocherGreen City Growers supplies Bibb lettuce, green leaf lettuce, gourmet lettuces and basil to institutional and commercial customers.Clean water advocates, 1968Ohio CityDonald and Ruth GoodmanThe NAACP-Cleveland’s fight for desegregation ultimately leads in 1973 to a federal lawsuit against the Cleveland public schools: the likelihood of court-ordering busing John L. McChordHalprin worksheet1975: Kenneth C. Beck Center for the Cultural ArtsCommunityFoundationAtlas.org websiteJohn J. DwyerNew Gallery co-founders Marjorie Talalay (left) and Nina Castelli SundellAlfred M. Rankin Jr.1972: Huron Road Mall1996: Dunham Tavern MuseumThe Dolan Center for Science and Technology at John Carroll University incorporated green building materials and smart energy and water systems.1985: Cleveland State University2010: Case Western Reserve UniversityBusiness attraction: The Global Center for Health InnovationThe grand opening of The Avenue at Tower City, 1990First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (third from left) at the 1937 dedication of Lakeview Terrace, the nation’s first public housingBarbecue restaurant owner Al (Bubba) Baker received a microloan that enabled the former Browns football player to begin local distribution of his proprietary de-boned baby-back ribs.Under the leadership of former CEO Baiju Shah, BioEnterprise created, recruited or helped to grow more than 170 local biotechnology companies.FairfaxLake-Geauga FundKaramu HouseThe Cleveland Foundation emerged from the crucible of the 1960s a stronger leader and more strategic grantmaker.Great Lakes Science CenterTitle VIII (the “Federal Fair Housing Act”) of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, signed by President Johnson a week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., advanced the struggle for integration taking place in Cleveland’s eastern suburbs and elsewhere across the nation.Glenville High School students, 19141982: The TempleRobert E. Eckardt, Ph.D.Cleveland Institute of MusicCleveland, Ohio, the birthplace of an entirely new concept of philanthropy2010: Hawken SchoolVice President Hubert H. Humphrey showed his support for Stokes’s Cleveland: NOW! initiative on a visit to the city in 1968.Homer C. Wadsworth