I
The Founders
1796 · The Survey
Moses Cleaveland
1754 – 1806
Connecticut lawyer, general, and surveyor who led the 1796 expedition that platted the city bearing his name.
Seth Pease
1764 – 1819
Lead surveyor of Cleaveland's party; drew the original October 1796 plat that established Public Square and the downtown grid still in use today.
Lorenzo Carter
1767 – 1814
Vermont-born trader and first permanent resident; built the cabin on the Cuyahoga's west bank that anchored the village through its malarial first years.
Alfred Kelley
1789 – 1859
Cleveland's first village president (elected 1815), and the state canal commissioner who made the Ohio & Erie Canal a reality.
II
The Industrial Titans
1860 – 1945
John D. Rockefeller
1839 – 1937
Founder of Standard Oil; the richest man in modern history. His refinery on the Flats became the template for American corporate capitalism.
The Van Sweringen Brothers
1879 – 1936
Oris and Mantis, the reclusive bachelors who built Shaker Heights, Terminal Tower, and a 30,000-mile railroad empire before the 1929 crash unwound it all.
Charles F. Brush
1849 – 1929
The Cleveland inventor whose arc lamps lit Public Square on April 29, 1879 — the first public electric street lighting anywhere in the world.
Amasa Stone
1818 – 1883
Great railroad builder of the Buffalo-to-Chicago corridor; father-in-law of John Hay; haunted by the 1876 Ashtabula bridge disaster that killed 92.
Samuel Mather
1851 – 1931
Co-founder of Pickands Mather & Company; the wealthiest man in Ohio at his death. Trinity Cathedral, CMA, and University Hospitals all bear his philanthropic imprint.
Leonard C. Hanna Jr.
1889 – 1957
Heir to the M.A. Hanna iron-ore fortune. His 1958 bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art remains among the largest gifts in American museum history.
Leonard Case Jr.
1820 – 1880
Reclusive Cleveland heir whose secret 1877 endowment founded the Case School of Applied Science — today's Case Western Reserve University.
Alexander Winton
1860 – 1932
Scottish-born Cleveland automobile pioneer; produced the first American production autos in 1897, drove the first Cleveland-to-NYC trip in 1899.
III
Reformers & Political Leaders
1870 – Present
Carl B. Stokes
1927 – 1996
Mayor of Cleveland 1968–1971 — the first Black mayor of any major American city. His election on November 7, 1967 was a national turning point.
Dennis Kucinich
b. 1946
Cleveland's "boy mayor" (1977–1979) whose confrontation with the banking establishment led to the 1978 default — the first major US city default since 1933.
George Voinovich
1936 – 2016
Mayor 1980–1989, governor of Ohio 1991–1998, US Senator 1999–2011. Architect of the post-default lakefront redevelopment.
Tom L. Johnson
1854 – 1911
Progressive-era mayor (1901–1909), municipal-reform leader, and friend of Lincoln Steffens, who called Cleveland the "best-governed city in America."
IV
Cultural Figures
1918 – Present
Alan Freed
1921 – 1965
The WJW disc jockey who coined "rock and roll" and promoted the 1952 Moondog Coronation Ball — widely considered the first rock concert.
Ray Shepardson
1944 – 2014
The volunteer who in 1972 led the campaign to save Playhouse Square — which became the largest historic theater preservation project in the US.
Adella Prentiss Hughes
1869 – 1950
Founder of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1918. Its manager for its first fifteen years; architect of the partnership with conductor Nikolai Sokoloff.
George Szell
1897 – 1970
Music director of the Cleveland Orchestra 1946–1970. Built Cleveland into one of the world's top five orchestras during his 24-year tenure.