Cleveland facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Cleveland
City
Cleveland script sign at Edgewater Park Downtown Cleveland skyline Playhouse Square Cleveland Museum of Art Garfield Memorial Severance Hall Rock and Roll Hall of Fame West Side Market Cleveland Arcade
Flag Seal
Nicknames:  The Forest City (for more, see full list)
Motto(s):  Progress & Prosperity
Cleveland Location in Ohio Show map of Ohio Cleveland Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	Ohio
County	Cuyahoga
Founded	July 22, 1796 (1796-07-22)
Incorporated (village)	December 23, 1814 (1814-12-23)
Incorporated (city)	March 5, 1836 (1836-03-05)
Named for	Moses Cleaveland
Government
• Type	Strong mayor / Council
• Body	Cleveland City Council
Area
• City	82.48 sq mi (213.62 km2)
• Land	77.73 sq mi (201.33 km2)
• Water	4.75 sq mi (12.29 km2)
Elevation	653 ft (199 m)
Population  (2020)
• City	372,624
• Estimate  (2023)	362,656
• Rank	54th in the United States 2nd in Ohio
• Density	4,793.52/sq mi (1,850.78/km2)
• Urban	1,712,178 (US: 31st)
• Urban density	2,398.7/sq mi (926.1/km2)
• Metro	2,185,825 (US: 33rd)
Demonym(s)	Clevelander
GDP
• Metro	9.935 billion (2023)
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes	ZIP Codes 44101–44147, 44181, 44188, 44190–44195, 44197–44199
Area code	216

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States maritime border and lies approximately 60 mi (97 km) west of Pennsylvania. Cleveland is the most populous city on Lake Erie, the second-most populous city in Ohio, and the 54th-most populous city in the U.S. with a population of 372,624 in 2020. The city anchors the Cleveland metropolitan area, the 33rd-largest in the U.S. at 2.18 million residents, as well as the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton combined statistical area with 3.63 million residents.

Cleveland was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River as part of the Connecticut Western Reserve in modern-day Northeast Ohio by General Moses Cleaveland, after whom the city was named. The city's location on the river and the lake shore allowed it to grow into a major commercial and industrial metropolis by the late 19th century, attracting large numbers of immigrants and migrants. It was among the top 10 largest U.S. cities by population for much of the 20th century, a period that saw the development of the city's cultural institutions. By the 1960s, Cleveland's economy began to slow down as manufacturing declined and suburbanization occurred.

Cleveland is a port city, connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Its economy relies on diverse sectors that include higher education, manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, and biomedicals. The city serves as the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, as well as several major companies. The GDP for the Greater Cleveland MSA was US$138.3 billion in 2022. Combined with the Akron MSA, the eight-county Cleveland–Akron metropolitan economy was $176 billion in 2022, the largest in Ohio.

Designated as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, Cleveland is home to several major cultural institutions, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Public Library, Playhouse Square, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as Case Western Reserve University. Known as "The Forest City" among many other nicknames, Cleveland serves as the center of the Cleveland Metroparks nature reserve system. The city's major league professional sports teams include the Cleveland Browns (football; NFL), the Cleveland Cavaliers (basketball; NBA), and the Cleveland Guardians (baseball; MLB).

History

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. Cleaveland oversaw the plan for what would become the modern downtown area, centered on Public Square, before returning home, never again to visit Ohio. 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. In spite of the nearby swampy lowlands and harsh winters, its waterfront location proved to be an advantage. The area began rapid growth after the 1832 completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal. This key link between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes connected the city to the Atlantic Ocean via the Erie Canal and later via the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River. Growth continued with added railroad links. Cleveland incorporated as a city in 1836.

In 1836, the city, then located only on the eastern banks of the Cuyahoga River, nearly erupted into open warfare with neighboring Ohio City over a bridge connecting the two. Ohio City remained an independent municipality until its annexation by Cleveland in 1854.

The city's prime geographic location as a transportation hub on the Great Lakes has played an important role in its development as a commercial center. Cleveland serves as a destination point for iron ore shipped from Minnesota, along with coal transported by rail. In 1870, John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil in Cleveland, and moved its headquarters to New York City in 1885. Cleveland emerged in the early 20th Century as an important American manufacturing center, which included automotive companies such as Peerless, People's, Jordan, Chandler, and Winton, maker of the first car driven across the U.S. Other manufacturers located in Cleveland produced steam-powered cars, which included White and Gaeth, as well as the electric car company Baker. Because of the significant growth, Cleveland was known as the "Sixth City" during this period.

By 1920, due in large part to the city's economic prosperity, Cleveland became the nation's fifth largest city. The city counted Progressive Era politicians such as the populist Mayor Tom L. Johnson among its leaders. Many prominent Clevelanders from this era are buried in the historic Lake View Cemetery, including President James A. Garfield, and John D. Rockefeller.

In commemoration of the centennial of Cleveland's incorporation as a city, the Great Lakes Exposition debuted in June 1936 along the Lake Erie shore north of downtown. Conceived as a way to energize a city after the Great Depression, it drew four million visitors in its first season, and seven million by the end of its second and final season in September 1937. The exposition was housed on grounds that are now used by the Great Lakes Science Center, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Burke Lakefront Airport, among others. Following World War II, the city experienced a prosperous economy. In sports, the Indians won the 1948 World Series, the hockey Barons became champions of the American Hockey League, and the Browns dominated professional football in the 1950s. As a result, along with track and boxing champions produced, Cleveland was dubbed " City of Champions" in sports at this time. Businesses proclaimed that Cleveland was the "best location in the nation". In 1940, non-Hispanic whites represented 90.2% of Cleveland's population. The city's population reached its peak of 914,808, and in 1949 Cleveland was named an All-America City for the first time. By the 1960s, the economy slowed, and residents sought new housing in the suburbs, reflecting the national trends of urban flight and suburban growth.

In the 1950s and 1960s, social and racial unrest occurred in Cleveland, resulting in the Hough Riots from July 18 to 23, 1966 and the Glenville Shootout from July 23 to 25, 1968. In November 1967, Cleveland became the first major American city to elect a black mayor, Carl Stokes (who served from 1968 to 1971). Anger at this in other parts of the country swung opinions of the city to the negative side.

In December 1978, Cleveland became the first major American city since the Great Depression to enter into a financial default on federal loans. By the beginning of the 1980s, several factors, including changes in international free trade policies, inflation and the Savings and Loans Crisis contributed to the recession that impacted cities like Cleveland. While unemployment during the period peaked in 1983, Cleveland's rate of 13.8% was higher than the national average due to the closure of several production centers.

The metropolitan area began a gradual economic recovery under mayors George Voinovich and Michael R. White. Redevelopment within the city limits has been strongest in the downtown area near the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex—consisting of Progressive Field and Quicken Loans Arena—and near North Coast Harbor, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, FirstEnergy Stadium, and the Great Lakes Science Center. Cleveland has been hailed by local media as the "Comeback City", while economic development of the inner-city neighborhoods and improvement of the school systems are municipal priorities. In 1999, Cleveland was identified as an emerging global city.

In the 21st century, the city has improved infrastructure, is more diversified, has gained a national reputation in medical fields, and has invested in the arts. Cleveland is generally considered an example of revitalization. The city's goals include additional neighborhood revitalization and increased funding for public education. In 2009, it was announced that Cleveland was chosen to host the 2014 Gay Games, the fourth city in the United States to host this international event. On July 8, 2014, it was announced that Cleveland was chosen to be the host city of the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Geography

Topography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 82.47 square miles (213.60 km²), of which 77.70 square miles (201.24 km²) is land and 4.77 square miles (12.35 km²) is water. The shore of Lake Erie is 569 feet (173 m) above sea level; however, the city lies on a series of irregular bluffs lying roughly perpendicular to the lake. In Cleveland these bluffs are cut principally by the Cuyahoga River, Big Creek, and Euclid Creek. The land rises quickly from the lakeshore. Public Square, less than one mile (1.6 km) inland, sits at an elevation of 650 feet (198 m), and Hopkins Airport, 5 miles (8 km) inland from the lake, is at an elevation of 791 feet (241 m).

Cityscape

Architecture

Cleveland's downtown architecture is diverse. Many of the city's government and civic buildings, including City Hall, the Cuyahoga County Courthouse, the Cleveland Public Library, and Public Auditorium, are clustered around an open mall and share a common neoclassical architecture. Built in the early 20th century, they are the result of the 1903 Group Plan, and constitute one of the most complete examples of City Beautiful design in the United States. The Terminal Tower, dedicated in 1930, was the tallest building in North America outside New York City until 1964 and the tallest in the city until 1991. It is a prototypical Beaux-Arts skyscraper. The two newer skyscrapers on Public Square, Key Tower (currently the tallest building in Ohio) and the 200 Public Square, combine elements of Art Deco architecture with postmodern designs. Another of Cleveland's architectural treasures is The Arcade (sometimes called the Old Arcade), a five-story arcade built in 1890 and renovated in 2001 as a Hyatt Regency Hotel. Cleveland's landmark ecclesiastical architecture includes the historic Old Stone Church in downtown Cleveland and the onion domed St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Tremont, along with myriad ethnically inspired Roman Catholic churches. Running east from Public Square through University Circle is Euclid Avenue, which was known for its prestige and elegance. In the late 1880s, writer Bayard Taylor described it as "the most beautiful street in the world". Known as "Millionaire's Row", Euclid Avenue was world-renowned as the home of such internationally known names as Rockefeller, Hanna, and Hay.

Neighborhoods

Downtown Cleveland is centered on Public Square and includes a wide range of diversified districts. Downtown Cleveland is home to the traditional Financial District and Civic Center, as well as the distinct Cleveland Theater District, which is home to Playhouse Square Center. Mixed-use neighborhoods such as the Flats and the Warehouse District are occupied by industrial and office buildings as well as restaurants and bars. The number of downtown housing units in the form of condominiums, lofts, and apartments has been on the increase since 2000. Recent developments include the revival of the Flats, the Euclid Corridor Project, and the developments along East 4th Street. Cleveland residents geographically define themselves in terms of whether they live on the east or west side of the Cuyahoga River. The east side includes the neighborhoods of Buckeye-Shaker, Central, Collinwood, Corlett, Euclid-Green, Fairfax, Forest Hills, Glenville, Payne/Goodrich-Kirtland Park, Hough, Kinsman, Lee Harvard/Seville-Miles, Mount Pleasant, Nottingham, St. Clair-Superior, Union-Miles Park, University Circle, Little Italy, and Woodland Hills. The west side includes the neighborhoods of Brooklyn Centre, Clark-Fulton, Detroit-Shoreway, Cudell, Edgewater, Ohio City, Tremont, Old Brooklyn, Stockyards, West Boulevard, and the four neighborhoods colloquially known as West Park: Kamm's Corners, Jefferson, Puritas-Longmead, and Riverside. Three neighborhoods in the Cuyahoga Valley are sometimes referred to as the south side: Industrial Valley/Duck Island, Slavic Village (North and South Broadway), and Tremont.

Several inner-city neighborhoods have begun to gentrify in recent years. Areas on both the west side (Ohio City, Tremont, Detroit-Shoreway, and Edgewater) and the east side (Collinwood, Hough, Fairfax, and Little Italy) have been successful in attracting increasing numbers of creative class members, which in turn is spurring new residential development. Furthermore, a live-work zoning overlay for the city's near east side has facilitated the transformation of old industrial buildings into loft spaces for artists.

Suburbs

Cleveland's older, inner-ring suburbs include Bedford, Bedford Heights, Brook Park, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga Heights, East Cleveland, Euclid, Fairview Park, Garfield Heights, Lakewood, Linndale, Maple Heights, Newburgh Heights, Parma, Parma Heights, Shaker Heights, Solon, South Euclid, University Heights, and Warrensville Heights. Many of the suburbs are members of the Northeast Ohio First Suburbs Consortium.

Climate

Typical of the Great Lakes region, Cleveland exhibits a continental climate with four distinct seasons, which lies in the humid continental (Köppen Dfa) zone. Summers are warm to hot and humid while winters are cold and snowy. The Lake Erie shoreline is very close to due east–west from the mouth of the Cuyahoga west to Sandusky, but at the mouth of the Cuyahoga it turns sharply northeast. This feature is the principal contributor to the lake effect snow that is typical in Cleveland (especially on the city's East Side) from mid-November until the surface of Lake Erie freezes, usually in late January or early February. The lake effect also causes a relative differential in geographical snowfall totals across the city: while Hopkins Airport, on the city's far West Side, has only reached 100 inches (254 cm) of snowfall in a season three times since record-keeping for snow began in 1893, seasonal totals approaching or exceeding 100 inches (254 cm) are not uncommon as the city ascends into the Heights on the east, where the region known as the 'Snow Belt' begins. Extending from the city's East Side and its suburbs, the Snow Belt reaches up the Lake Erie shore as far as Buffalo.

The all-time record high in Cleveland of 104 °F (40 °C) was established on June 25, 1988, and the all-time record low of −20 °F (−29 °C) was set on January 19, 1994. On average, July is the warmest month with a mean temperature of 73.5 °F (23.1 °C), and January, with a mean temperature of 28.1 °F (−2.2 °C), is the coldest. Normal yearly precipitation based on the 30-year average from 1981 to 2010 is 39.1 inches (990 mm). The least precipitation occurs on the western side and directly along the lake, and the most occurs in the eastern suburbs. Parts of Geauga County to the east receive over 44 inches (1,100 mm) of liquid precipitation annually. Frequent thunderstorms are also common in Cleveland especially during spring and early summer.

Demographics

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1820	606	—
1830	1,075	+77.4%
1840	6,071	+464.7%
1850	17,034	+180.6%
1860	43,417	+154.9%
1870	92,829	+113.8%
1880	160,146	+72.5%
1890	261,353	+63.2%
1900	381,768	+46.1%
1910	560,663	+46.9%
1920	796,841	+42.1%
1930	900,429	+13.0%
1940	878,336	−2.5%
1950	914,808	+4.2%
1960	876,050	−4.2%
1970	750,903	−14.3%
1980	573,822	−23.6%
1990	505,616	−11.9%
2000	478,403	−5.4%
2010	396,815	−17.1%
2020	372,624	−6.1%
2023 est.	362,656	−2.7%
Source: United States Census records and Population Estimates Program data.

Historical racial/ethnic composition

Race/ethnicity	2020	2010	1990	1970	1940
White (non-Hispanic)	32.1%	33.4%	47.8%	59.4%	90.2%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	47.5%	52.4%	46.6%	38.3%	9.6%
Hispanic or Latino	13.1%	10.0%	4.6%	1.9%	0.1%
Asian (non-Hispanic)	2.8%	1.8%	1.0%	0.6%	-
Native American (non-Hispanic)	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%	–
Two or more races (non-Hispanic)	3.8%	1.8%	–	–	–

At the 2020 census, there were 372,624 people and 170,549 households in Cleveland. The population density was 4,901.51 inhabitants per square mile (1,892.5/km²). The median household income was $30,907 and the per capita income was $21,223. 32.7% of the population was living below the poverty line. Of the city's population over the age of 25, 17.5% held a bachelor's degree or higher, and 80.8% had a high school diploma or equivalent. The median age was 36.6 years.

As of 2020^[update], the racial and ethnic composition of the city was 47.5% African American, 32.1% non-Hispanic white, 13.1% Hispanic or Latino, 2.8% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander, 0.2% Native American, and 3.8% from two or more races. 85.3% of Clevelanders age five and older spoke only English at home, while 14.7% spoke a language other than English, including Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Hungarian, Albanian, and various Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Serbian, Croatian, and Slovene). The city's spoken accent is an advanced form of Inland Northern American English, similar to other Great Lakes cities, but distinctive from the rest of Ohio.

Ethnicity

According to the 2020 census, the racial composition of the city was 40.0% white, 48.8% African American, 0.5% Native American, 2.6% Asian, and 4.4% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 11.9% of the population.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Cleveland saw a massive influx of immigrants from Ireland, Italy, and the Austro-Hungarian, German, Russian, and Ottoman empires, most of whom were attracted by manufacturing jobs. As a result, Cleveland and Cuyahoga County today have substantial communities of Irish (especially in Kamm's Corners and other areas of West Park), Italians (especially in Little Italy and around Mayfield Road), Germans, and several Central-Eastern European ethnicities, including Czechs, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Poles, Romanians, Russians, Rusyns, Slovaks, Ukrainians, and ex-Yugoslav groups, such as Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The presence of Hungarians within Cleveland proper was, at one time, so great that the city boasted the highest concentration of Hungarians in the world outside of Budapest. Cleveland has a long-established Jewish community, historically centered on the East Side neighborhoods of Glenville and Kinsman, but now mostly concentrated in East Side suburbs such as Cleveland Heights and Beachwood, home to the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage.

The availability of jobs also attracted African Americans from the South. Between 1920 and 1970, the black population of Cleveland, largely concentrated on the city's East Side, increased significantly as a result of the First and Second Great Migrations. Cleveland's Latino community consists primarily of Puerto Ricans, who make up over 80% of the city's Hispanic/Latino population, as well as smaller numbers of immigrants from Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, South and Central America, and Spain. The city's Asian community, centered on historical Asiatown, consists of Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, and other groups. Additionally, the city and the county have significant communities of Albanians, Arabs (especially Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians), Armenians, French, Greeks, Iranians, Scots, Turks, and West Indians. A 2020 analysis found Cleveland to be the most ethnically and racially diverse city in Ohio.

Many ethnic festivals are held in Cleveland throughout the year, such as the annual Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy, Russian Maslenitsa in Rockefeller Park, the Cleveland Puerto Rican Parade and Festival in Clark–Fulton, the Cleveland Asian Festival in Asiatown, the Greek Festival in Tremont, and the Romanian Festival in West Park. Vendors at the West Side Market in Ohio City offer many ethnic foods for sale. Cleveland also hosts annual Polish Dyngus Day and Slovene Kurentovanje celebrations. The city's annual Saint Patrick's Day parade brings hundreds of thousands to the streets of Downtown. The Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival held annually each spring at Cleveland State University is the largest Indian classical music and dance festival in the world outside of India. Since 1946, the city has annually marked One World Day in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens in Rockefeller Park, celebrating all of its ethnic communities.

Religion

The influx of immigrants in the 19th and early 20th centuries drastically transformed Cleveland's religious landscape. From a homogeneous settlement of New England Protestants, it evolved into a city with a diverse religious composition. The predominant faith among Clevelanders today is Christianity (Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern and Oriental Orthodox), with Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist minorities.

Immigration

Within Cleveland, the neighborhoods with the highest foreign-born populations are Asiatown/Goodrich–Kirtland Park (32.7%), Clark–Fulton (26.7%), West Boulevard (18.5%), Brooklyn Centre (17.3%), Downtown (17.2%), University Circle (15.9%, with 20% in Little Italy), and Jefferson (14.3%). Recent waves of immigration have brought new groups to Cleveland, including Ethiopians and South Asians, as well as immigrants from Russia and the former USSR, Southeast Europe (especially Albania), the Middle East, East Asia, and Latin America. In the 2010s, the immigrant population of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County began to see significant growth, becoming a major center for immigration in the Great Lakes region. A 2019 study found Cleveland to be the city with the shortest average processing time in the nation for immigrants to become U.S. citizens. The city's annual One World Day in Rockefeller Park includes a naturalization ceremony of new immigrants.

Economy

Cleveland's location on the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie has been key to its growth as a major commercial center. Steel and many other manufactured goods emerged as leading industries. The city has since diversified its economy in addition to its manufacturing sector.

Established in 1914, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is one of 12 U.S. Federal Reserve Banks. Its downtown building, located on East 6th Street and Superior Avenue, was completed in 1923 by the Cleveland architectural firm Walker and Weeks. The headquarters of the Federal Reserve System's Fourth District, the bank employs 1,000 people and maintains branch offices in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are home to Fortune 500 companies Cleveland-Cliffs, Progressive, Sherwin-Williams, Parker-Hannifin, KeyCorp, and Travel Centers of America. Other large companies based in the city and the county include Aleris, American Greetings, Applied Industrial Technologies, Eaton, Forest City Realty Trust, Heinen's Fine Foods, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Lincoln Electric, Medical Mutual of Ohio, Moen Incorporated, NACCO Industries, Nordson Corporation, OM Group, Swagelok, Kirby Company, Things Remembered, Third Federal S&L, TransDigm Group, and Vitamix. NASA maintains the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Jones Day, one of the largest law firms in the U.S., was founded in Cleveland in 1893.

Healthcare

Healthcare plays a major role in Cleveland's economy. The city's "Big Three" hospital systems are the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and MetroHealth. The Cleveland Clinic is the largest private employer in the state of Ohio, with a workforce of over 55,000 as of 2022^[update]. It carries the distinction of being one of the best hospital systems in the world. The clinic is led by Croatian-born president and CEO Tomislav Mihaljevic and it is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

University Hospitals includes the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and its Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital. Cliff Megerian serves as that system's CEO. MetroHealth on the city's west side is led by president and CEO Christine Alexander-Rager. Formerly known as City Hospital, it operates one of two Level I trauma centers in the city, and has various locations throughout Greater Cleveland.

In 2013, Cleveland's Global Center for Health Innovation opened with 235,000 square feet (21,800 m²) of display space for healthcare companies across the world. To take advantage of the proximity of universities and other medical centers in Cleveland, the Veterans Administration moved the region's VA hospital from suburban Brecksville to a new facility in University Circle.

Arts and culture

Theater and performing arts

Cleveland's Playhouse Square is the second largest performing arts center in the U.S. behind New York City's Lincoln Center. It includes the State, Palace, Allen, Hanna, and Ohio theaters. The theaters host Broadway musicals, special concerts, speaking engagements, and other events throughout the year. Playhouse Square's resident performing arts companies include Cleveland Ballet, the Cleveland International Film Festival, the Cleveland Play House, Cleveland State University Department of Theatre and Dance, DANCECleveland, the Great Lakes Theater Festival, and the Tri-C Jazz Fest. A city with strong traditions in theater and vaudeville, Cleveland has produced many renowned performers, most prominently comedian Bob Hope.

Outside Playhouse Square is Karamu House, the oldest African American theater in the nation, established in 1915. On the West Side, the Gordon Square Arts District in the Detroit–Shoreway neighborhood is the location of the Capitol Theatre, the Near West Theatre, and an Off-Off-Broadway playhouse, the Cleveland Public Theatre. The Dobama Theatre and the Beck Center for the Arts are based in Cleveland's streetcar suburbs of Cleveland Heights and Lakewood respectively.

Music

The Cleveland Orchestra is widely considered one of the world's finest orchestras, and often referred to as the finest in the nation. It is one of the "Big Five" major orchestras in the U.S. The orchestra plays at Severance Hall in University Circle during the winter and at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls during the summer. The city is also home to the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra, the Cleveland Youth Orchestra, the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony, and the biennial Cleveland International Piano Competition which has, in the past, often featured the Cleveland Orchestra.

One Playhouse Square, now the headquarters for Cleveland's public broadcasters, was initially used as the broadcast studios of WJW (AM), where disc jockey Alan Freed first popularized the term "rock and roll". Beginning in the 1950s, Cleveland gained a strong reputation as a key breakout market for rock music. Its popularity in the city was so great that Billy Bass, the program director at the WMMS radio station, referred to Cleveland as "The Rock and Roll Capital of the World". The Cleveland Agora Theatre and Ballroom has served as a major venue for rock concerts in the city since the 1960s. From 1974 through 1980, the city hosted the World Series of Rock at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

Jazz and R&B have a long history in Cleveland. Many major figures in jazz performed in the city, including Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, and Billie Holiday. Legendary pianist Art Tatum regularly played in Cleveland clubs in the 1930s, and gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt gave his U.S. debut performance in Cleveland in 1946. Prominent jazz artist Noble Sissle was a graduate of Cleveland Central High School, and Artie Shaw worked and performed in Cleveland early in his career. The Tri-C Jazz Fest has been held annually in Cleveland at Playhouse Square since 1980, and the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra was established in 1984.

The city has a history of polka music being popular both past and present and is the location of the Polka Hall of Fame. There is even a subgenre called Cleveland-style polka, named after the city. The music's popularity is due in part to the success of Frankie Yankovic, a Cleveland native who was considered "America's Polka King".

There is a significant hip hop music scene in Cleveland. In 1997, the Cleveland hip hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony won a Grammy for their song "Tha Crossroads".

Film and television

The first film shot in Cleveland was in 1897 by the company of Ohioan Thomas Edison. Before Hollywood became the center for American cinema, filmmaker Samuel Brodsky and playwright Robert McLaughlin operated a film studio at the Andrews mansion on Euclid Avenue (now the WEWS-TV studio). There they produced major silent-era features, such as Dangerous Toys (1921), which are now considered lost. Brodsky also directed the weekly Plain Dealer Screen Magazine that ran in theaters in Cleveland and Ohio from 1917 to 1924. In addition, Cleveland hosted over a dozen sponsored film studios, including Cinécraft Productions, which still operates in Ohio City.

In the "talkie" era, Cleveland featured in several major studio films, such as Michael Curtiz's pre-Code classic Goodbye Again (1933) with Warren William and Joan Blondell. Players from the 1948 Cleveland Indians appeared in The Kid from Cleveland (1949). Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie (1966) was set and filmed in the city and marked the first onscreen pairing of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. Labor struggles in Cleveland were depicted in Native Land (1942), narrated by Paul Robeson, and in Norman Jewison's F.I.S.T. (1978) with Sylvester Stallone. Clevelander Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise (1984) – a deadpan comedy about two New Yorkers who travel to Florida by way of Cleveland – was a favorite of the Cannes Film Festival. Major League (1989) reflected the perennial struggles of the Cleveland Indians, while American Splendor (2003) reflected the life of Cleveland graphic novelist Harvey Pekar. Kill the Irishman (2011) depicted the 1970s turf war between Danny Greene and the Cleveland crime family.

Cleveland has doubled for other locations in films. The wedding and reception scenes in The Deer Hunter (1978), while set in suburban Pittsburgh, were shot in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood. A Christmas Story (1983) was set in Indiana, but drew many external shots from Cleveland. The opening shots of Air Force One (1997) were filmed in and above Severance Hall, and Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) was filmed in Cleveland, although set in Chicago. Downtown Cleveland doubled for Manhattan in Spider-Man 3 (2007), The Avengers (2012), and The Fate of the Furious (2017), and for Metropolis in James Gunn's Superman (2025). Future productions are handled by the Greater Cleveland Film Commission at the Leader Building on Superior Avenue.

In television, the city is the setting for the popular network sitcom The Drew Carey Show, starring Cleveland native Drew Carey. Hot in Cleveland, a comedy that aired on TV Land, premiered on June 16, 2010, and ran for six seasons until its finale on June 3, 2015. Cleveland Hustles, the CNBC reality show co-created by LeBron James, was filmed in the city.

Literature

Cleveland has a thriving literary and poetry community, with regular poetry readings at bookstores, coffee shops, and various other venues. In 1925, Russian Futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky came to Cleveland and gave a poetry recitation to the city's ethnic working class, as part of his trip to America. The Cleveland State University Poetry Center serves as an academic center for poetry in the city.

Langston Hughes, preeminent poet of the Harlem Renaissance and child of an itinerant couple, lived in Cleveland as a teenager and attended Central High School in Cleveland in the 1910s. At Central High, the young writer was taught by Helen Maria Chesnutt, daughter of Cleveland-born African American novelist Charles W. Chesnutt. Hughes authored some of his earliest poems, plays, and short stories in Cleveland and contributed to the school newspaper. The African American avant-garde poet Russell Atkins lived in the city as well.

The American modernist poet Hart Crane was born in nearby Garrettsville, Ohio in 1899. His adolescence was divided between Cleveland and Akron before he moved to New York City in 1916. Aside from factory work during World War I, he served as a reporter to The Plain Dealer for a short period, before achieving recognition in the Modernist literary scene. On the Case Western Reserve University campus, a statue of Crane, designed by sculptor William McVey, stands behind the Kelvin Smith Library.

Cleveland was the home of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, who created the comic book character Superman in 1932. Both attended Glenville High School, and their early collaborations resulted in the creation of "The Man of Steel". Harlan Ellison, noted author of speculative fiction, was born in Cleveland in 1934; his family subsequently moved to nearby Painesville, though Ellison moved back to Cleveland in 1949. As a young man, he published a series of short stories appearing in the Cleveland News, and performed in a number of productions for the Cleveland Play House.

Cleveland is the site of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, established by poet and philanthropist Edith Anisfield Wolf in 1935, which recognizes books that have made important contributions to the understanding of racism and human diversity. Presented by the Cleveland Foundation, it remains the only American book prize focusing on works that address racism and diversity.

Museums and galleries

Cleveland has two main art museums. The Cleveland Museum of Art is a major American art museum, with a collection that includes more than 60,000 works of art ranging from ancient masterpieces to contemporary pieces. The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland showcases established and emerging artists, particularly from the Cleveland area, through hosting and producing temporary exhibitions. Both museums offer free admission to visitors, with the Cleveland Museum of Art declaring their museum free and open "for the benefit of all the people forever."

The two museums are part of Cleveland's University Circle, a 550-acre (2.2 km²) concentration of cultural, educational, and medical institutions located 5 miles (8.0 km) east of downtown. In addition to the art museums, the neighborhood includes the Cleveland Botanical Garden, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals, Severance Hall, the Maltz Performing Arts Center, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Western Reserve Historical Society. Also located at University Circle is the Cleveland Cinematheque at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

The I. M. Pei-designed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located on Cleveland's Lake Erie waterfront at North Coast Harbor downtown. Neighboring attractions include Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Great Lakes Science Center, the Steamship Mather Museum, the International Women's Air & Space Museum, and the USS Cod, a World War II submarine. Designed by architect Levi T. Scofield, the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument at Public Square is Cleveland's major Civil War memorial and a major attraction in the city. Other city attractions include Grays Armory, the Cleveland Masonic Temple, and the Children's Museum of Cleveland. A Cleveland holiday attraction, especially for fans of Jean Shepherd's A Christmas Story, is the Christmas Story House and Museum in Tremont.

Annual events

Cleveland hosts the WinterLand holiday display lighting festival annually at Public Square, and the Cleveland International Film Festival has been held in the city since 1977. The Cleveland National Air Show, an indirect successor to the National Air Races, has been held at the city's Burke Lakefront Airport since 1964. The Great Lakes Burning River Fest, a two-night music and beer festival at Whiskey Island, has been sponsored by the Great Lakes Brewing Company since 2001.

Many ethnic festivals are held in Cleveland throughout the year. These include the annual Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy, Russian Maslenitsa in Rockefeller Park, the Puerto Rican Parade and Cultural Festival in Clark–Fulton, the Cleveland Asian Festival in Asiatown, the Tremont Greek Fest, and the St. Mary Romanian Festival in West Park. Cleveland also hosts annual Polish Dyngus Day and Slovene Kurentovanje celebrations. The city's annual Saint Patrick's Day parade brings hundreds of thousands to the streets of Downtown. The Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival held each spring at Cleveland State University is the largest Indian classical music and dance festival in the world outside of India. Since 1946, the city has annually marked One World Day in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens in Rockefeller Park, celebrating all of its ethnic communities.

Cuisine

Cleveland's mosaic of ethnic communities and their various culinary traditions have long played an important role in defining the city's cuisine. Local mainstays include an abundance of Slavic, Hungarian, and Central-Eastern European contributions, such as kielbasa, stuffed cabbage, pierogies, goulash, and chicken paprikash. German, Irish, Jewish, and Italian American cuisines are also prominent in Cleveland, as are Lebanese, Greek, Chinese, Puerto Rican, Mexican, and numerous other ethnic cuisines. Vendors at the West Side Market in Ohio City offer many ethnic foods for sale. In addition, the city boasts a vibrant barbecue and soul food scene.

Cleveland has plenty of corned beef, with nationally renowned Slyman's Deli, on the near East Side, a perennial winner of various accolades for its celebrated sandwich. Another famed sandwich, the Polish Boy, is a popular street food and Cleveland original frequently sold at downtown hot dog carts and stadium concession stands. With its blue-collar roots well intact, and plenty of Lake Erie perch available, the tradition of Friday night fish fries remains alive and thriving in Cleveland, particularly in ethnic parish-based settings, especially during the season of Lent. For dessert, the Cleveland Cassata Cake is a unique treat invented in the local Italian community and served in Italian establishments throughout the city. Another popular dessert, the locally crafted Russian Tea Biscuit, is common in many Jewish bakeries in Cleveland.

Cleveland is noted in the world of celebrity food culture. Famous local figures include chef Michael Symon and food writer Michael Ruhlman, both of whom achieved local and national attention for their contributions to the culinary world. In 2007, Symon helped gain the spotlight when he was named "The Next Iron Chef" on the Food Network. That same year, Ruhlman collaborated with Anthony Bourdain, to do an episode of his Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations focusing on Cleveland's restaurant scene.

Breweries

Ohio produces the fifth most beer in the U.S., with its largest brewery being Cleveland's Great Lakes Brewing Company. Cleveland has had a long history of brewing, tied to many of its ethnic immigrants, and has reemerged as a regional leader in production. Dozens of breweries exist in the city limits, including large producers such as Market Garden Brewery and Platform Beer Company.

Breweries can be found throughout the city, but the highest concentration is in the Ohio City neighborhood. Cleveland hosts expansions from other countries as well, including the Scottish BrewDog and German Hofbrauhaus.

Sports

Cleveland's major professional sports teams are the Cleveland Guardians (Major League Baseball), the Cleveland Browns (National Football League), and the Cleveland Cavaliers (National Basketball Association). Other professional teams include the Cleveland Monsters (American Hockey League), the Cleveland Charge (NBA G League), the Cleveland Crunch (Major League Indoor Soccer), Cleveland SC (National Premier Soccer League), and the Cleveland Fusion (Women's Football Alliance). Local sporting venues include Progressive Field, Huntington Bank Field, Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the Wolstein Center, and the Public Auditorium.

Professional

Major League

Club	Sport	League	Venue	Est. in CLE	Championships (in Cleveland)
Cleveland Browns	Football	National Football League	Huntington Bank Field	1946	8 (4 AAFC, 4 NFL)
Cleveland Cavaliers	Basketball	National Basketball Association	Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse	1970	1
Cleveland Guardians	Baseball	Major League Baseball	Progressive Field	1901	2

Minor League

Club	Sport	League	Venue	Est. in CLE	Championships (in Cleveland)
Cleveland Charge	Basketball	NBA G League	Public Auditorium	2021	0
Cleveland Monsters	Ice hockey	American Hockey League	Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse	2007	1
Cleveland Crunch	Indoor Soccer	Major League Indoor Soccer	Soccer Sportsplex (North Olmsted, Ohio)	1989	5 (3 NPSL, 1 M2, 1 MLIS)
Cleveland Pro Soccer	Soccer	MLS Next Pro	TBA	2022	0

The Cleveland Guardians – known as the Indians from 1915 to 2021 – won the World Series in 1920 and 1948. They also won the American League pennant, making the World Series in the 1954, 1995, 1997, and 2016 seasons. Between 1995 and 2001, Jacobs Field (now known as Progressive Field) sold out 455 consecutive games, a Major League Baseball record until it was broken in 2008.

Historically, the Browns have been among the most successful franchises in American football history, winning eight titles during a short period of time – 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1954, 1955, and 1964. The Browns have never played in a Super Bowl, getting close five times by making it to the NFL/AFC Championship Game in 1968, 1969, 1986, 1987, and 1989. Former owner Art Modell's relocation of the Browns after the 1995 season (to Baltimore creating the Ravens), caused tremendous heartbreak and resentment among local fans. Cleveland mayor, Michael R. White, worked with the NFL and Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to bring back the Browns beginning in the 1999 season, retaining all team history. In Cleveland's earlier football history, the Cleveland Bulldogs won the NFL Championship in 1924, and the Cleveland Rams won the NFL Championship in 1945 before relocating to Los Angeles.

The Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference in 2007, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 but were defeated in the NBA Finals by the San Antonio Spurs and then by the Golden State Warriors, respectively. The Cavs won the Conference again in 2016 and won their first NBA Championship coming back from a 3–1 deficit, finally defeating the Golden State Warriors. Afterwards, over 1.3 million people attended a parade held in the Cavs' honor on June 22, 2016, in downtown Cleveland. Previously, the Cleveland Rosenblums dominated the original American Basketball League, and the Cleveland Pipers, owned by George Steinbrenner, won the American Basketball League championship in 1962.

The Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League won the 2016 Calder Cup. They were the first Cleveland AHL team to do so since the 1964 Barons.

College

Club	Sport	League	Venue
Cleveland State Vikings	19 Varsity (8 men's, 10 women's, 1 co-ed)	NCAA Division I (Horizon League)	various – including: Krenzler Field (soccer) Wolstein Center (men's and women's basketball) Woodling Gym (wrestling and volleyball)
Case Western Reserve Spartans	17 Varsity (9 men's, 8 women's)	NCAA Division III (University Athletic Association)	various – including: DiSanto Field (football, soccer) Veale Athletic Center (men's and women's basketball)

Collegiately, NCAA Division I Cleveland State Vikings have 19 varsity sports, nationally known for their Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball team. NCAA Division III Case Western Reserve Spartans have 17 varsity sports, most known for their Case Western Reserve Spartans football team. The headquarters of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) are in Cleveland. The conference stages both its men's and women's basketball tournaments at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Annual and special events

The Cleveland Marathon has been hosted annually since 1978, and a monument commemorating one of Cleveland's most prominent track and field athletes, Jesse Owens, stands at the city's Fort Huntington Park. The second American Chess Congress, a predecessor to the U.S. Championship, was held in Cleveland in 1871, and won by George Henry Mackenzie. The 1921 and 1957 U.S. Open Chess Championships took place in the city, and were won by Edward Lasker and Bobby Fischer, respectively. The Cleveland Open is held annually. In 2014, Cleveland hosted the ninth official Gay Games ceremony. In July 2024, the city hosted the Pan American Masters Games.

Parks and recreation

Known locally as the "Emerald Necklace", the Olmsted-inspired Cleveland Metroparks encircle Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. The city proper encompasses the Metroparks' Brookside and Lakefront Reservations, as well as significant parts of the Rocky River, Washington, and Euclid Creek Reservations. The Lakefront Reservation, which provides public access to Lake Erie, consists of four parks: Edgewater Park, Whiskey Island–Wendy Park, East 55th Street Marina, and Gordon Park.

Three more parks fall under the jurisdiction of the Euclid Creek Reservation: Euclid Beach, Villa Angela, and Wildwood Marina. Further south, bike and hiking trails in the Brecksville and Bedford Reservations, along with Garfield Park, provide access to trails in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Also included in the Metroparks system is the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, established in 1882. Located in Big Creek Valley, the zoo has one of the largest collections of primates in North America.

In addition to the Metroparks, the Cleveland Public Parks District oversees the city's neighborhood parks, the largest of which is the historic Rockefeller Park. The latter is notable for its late 19th century landmark bridges, the Rockefeller Park Greenhouse, and the Cleveland Cultural Gardens, which celebrate the city's ethnic diversity. Just outside of Rockefeller Park, the Cleveland Botanical Garden in University Circle, established in 1930, is the oldest civic garden center in the nation. In addition, the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, located in the historic FirstEnergy Powerhouse in the Flats, is the only independent, free-standing aquarium in the state of Ohio.

Education

Primary and secondary

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District is the second-largest K–12 district in the state of Ohio. It is the only district in Ohio under the direct control of the mayor, who appoints a school board. Approximately 1 square mile (2.6 km²) of Cleveland's Buckeye–Shaker neighborhood is part of the Shaker Heights City School District. The area, which has been a part of the Shaker school district since the 1920s, permits these Cleveland residents to pay the same school taxes as the Shaker residents, as well as vote in the Shaker school board elections.

There are several private and parochial schools in Cleveland. These include Benedictine High School, Cleveland Central Catholic High School, Eleanor Gerson School, St. Ignatius High School, St. Joseph Academy, Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School, and St. Martin de Porres.

Colleges and universities

Cleveland is home to a number of colleges and universities. Most prominent among them is Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), a widely recognized research and teaching institution based in University Circle with several major graduate programs.

University Circle also contains the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Downtown Cleveland is home to Cleveland State University, a public research university with eight constituent colleges, and the metropolitan campus of Cuyahoga Community College. Ohio Technical College is also based in Cleveland. Cleveland's suburban universities and colleges include Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, John Carroll University in University Heights, and Ursuline College in Pepper Pike.

Public library system

Established in 1869, the Cleveland Public Library is one of the largest public libraries in the nation with a collection of over 10 million materials in 2021. Its John G. White Special Collection includes the largest chess library in the world, as well as a significant collection of folklore and rare books on the Middle East and Eurasia. The library's main building was designed by Walker and Weeks and dedicated in 1925, under head librarian Linda Eastman, the first woman to lead a major library system in the U.S. Between 1904 and 1920, 15 libraries built with funds from Andrew Carnegie were opened in the city. Known as the "People's University", the library presently maintains 27 branches. It serves as the headquarters for the CLEVNET library consortium, which includes 47 public library systems in Northeast Ohio.

Media

Print

Cleveland's primary daily newspaper is The Plain Dealer and its associated online publication, Cleveland.com. Defunct major newspapers include the Cleveland Press and the Cleveland News. Additional publications include Cleveland Magazine, a regional culture magazine published monthly; Crain's Cleveland Business, a weekly business newspaper; and Cleveland Scene, a free alternative weekly paper which absorbed its competitor, the Cleveland Free Times, in 2008. The digital Belt Magazine was founded in Cleveland in 2013. Time magazine was published in Cleveland from 1925 to 1927.

Several ethnic publications are based in Cleveland. These include the Call and Post, a weekly newspaper that primarily serves the city's African American community; the Cleveland Jewish News, a weekly Jewish newspaper; the bi-weekly Russian-language Cleveland Russian Magazine; the Mandarin Erie Chinese Journal; La Gazzetta Italiana in English and Italian; the Ohio Irish American News; and the Spanish language Vocero Latino News.

TV

The Cleveland-area television market is served by 11 full power stations, including WKYC (NBC), WEWS-TV (ABC), WJW (Fox), WDLI-TV (Bounce), WOIO (CBS), WVPX-TV (Ion), WVIZ (PBS), WUAB (CW/RESN), WRLM (TCT), WBNX-TV (independent), and WQHS-DT (Univision). As of 2021^[update] the market, which includes the Akron and Canton areas, was the 19th-largest in the country, as measured by Nielsen Media Research.

The Mike Douglas Show, a nationally syndicated daytime talk show, began in Cleveland in 1961 on KYW-TV (now WKYC), while The Morning Exchange on WEWS-TV served as the model for Good Morning America. Tim Conway and Ernie Anderson first established themselves in Cleveland while working together at KYW-TV and later WJW-TV (now WJW). Anderson both created and performed as the immensely popular Cleveland horror host Ghoulardi on WJW-TV's Shock Theater, and was later succeeded by the long-running late night duo Big Chuck and Lil' John. Another Anderson protégé – Ron Sweed – would become a popular Cleveland late night movie host in his own right as "The Ghoul".

Radio

Cleveland is directly served by 29 full power AM and FM radio stations, 21 of which are licensed to the city. Music stations – which are frequently the highest-rated in the market – include WQAL (hot adult contemporary), WDOK (adult contemporary), WFHM (Christian contemporary), WAKS (contemporary hits), WHLK (adult hits), WMJI (classic hits), WMMS (active rock/hot talk), WNCX (classic rock), WNWV (alternative rock), WGAR-FM (country), WZAK (urban adult contemporary), WENZ (mainstream urban), and WCLV (classical). WMMS also serves as the FM flagship for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Cleveland Guardians, while WNCX is an FM flagship for the Cleveland Browns.

News/talk stations include WHK, WTAM, and WERE. During the Golden Age of Radio, WHK was the first radio station to broadcast in Ohio, and one of the first in the country. WTAM is the AM flagship for both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Cleveland Guardians. Sports stations include WKNR (ESPN), WARF (Fox) and WKRK-FM (Infinity), with WKNR and WKRK-FM serving as co-flagship stations for the Cleveland Browns, and WARF airing the Cleveland Monsters and – though primarily an English language station – Spanish broadcasts of Cleveland Guardians home games. Religious stations include WCCD, WHKW, WCCR, and WCRF.

As the regional NPR affiliate, WKSU serves all of Northeast Ohio (including both the Cleveland and Akron markets). College stations include WBWC (Baldwin Wallace), WCSB (Cleveland State), WJCU (John Carroll), and WRUW-FM (Case Western Reserve).

WJMO serves as the only full power, full time Spanish language station in the city. It features a Spanish variety format, mixing talk shows and music programs.

Transportation

Transit

Cleveland has a bus and rail mass transit system operated by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA). The rail portion is officially called the RTA Rapid Transit, but local residents refer to it as The Rapid. It consists of three light rail lines, known as the Blue, Green, and Waterfront Lines, and a heavy rail line, the Red Line. In 2008, RTA completed the HealthLine, a bus rapid transit line, for which naming rights were purchased by the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals. It runs along Euclid Avenue from downtown through University Circle, ending at the Louis Stokes Station at Windermere in East Cleveland. In 1968, Cleveland became the first city in the nation to have a direct rail transit connection linking the city's downtown to its major airport.

Walkability

In 2021, Walk Score ranked Cleveland the 17th most walkable of the 50 largest cities in the U.S., with a Walk Score of 57, a Transit Score of 45, and a Bike Score of 55 (out of a maximum of 100). Cleveland's most walkable areas can be found in the Downtown, Ohio City, Detroit–Shoreway, University Circle, and Buckeye–Shaker neighborhoods. Like other major cities, the urban density of Cleveland reduces the need for private vehicle ownership. In 2016, 23.7% of Cleveland households lacked a car, while the national average was 8.7%. Cleveland averaged 1.19 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.

Roads

Cleveland's road system consists of numbered streets running roughly north–south, and named avenues, which run roughly east–west. The numbered streets are designated "east" or "west", depending on where they lie in relation to Ontario Street, which bisects Public Square. The two downtown avenues which span the Cuyahoga change names on the west side of the river. Superior Avenue becomes Detroit Avenue on the West Side, and Carnegie Avenue becomes Lorain Avenue. The bridges that make these connections are the Hope Memorial (Lorain–Carnegie) Bridge and the Veterans Memorial (Detroit–Superior) Bridge.

Freeways

Cleveland is served by three two-digit interstate highways – Interstate 71, Interstate 77, and Interstate 90 – and by two three-digit interstates – Interstate 480 and Interstate 490. Running due east–west through the West Side suburbs, I-90 turns northeast at the junction with I-490, and is known as the Cleveland Inner Belt. The Cleveland Memorial Shoreway carries Ohio State Route 2 along its length, and at varying points carries US 6, US 20 and I-90. At the junction with the Shoreway, I-90 makes a 90-degree turn in the area known as Dead Man's Curve, then continues northeast. The Jennings Freeway (State Route 176) connects I-71 just south of I-90 to I-480. A third highway, the Berea Freeway (State Route 237 in part), connects I-71 to the airport and forms part of the boundary between Brook Park and Cleveland's Hopkins neighborhood.

Airports

Cleveland is a major North American air market, serving 4.93 million people. Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is the city's primary major airport and an international airport that serves the broader region. Originally known as Cleveland Municipal Airport, it was the first municipally owned airport in the country. Cleveland Hopkins is a significant regional air freight hub hosting FedEx Express, UPS Airlines, U.S. Postal Service, and major commercial freight carriers. In addition to Hopkins, Cleveland is served by Burke Lakefront Airport, on the north shore of downtown between Lake Erie and the Shoreway. Burke is primarily a commuter and business airport.

Seaport

The Port of Cleveland, at the Cuyahoga River's mouth, is a major bulk freight and container terminal on Lake Erie, receiving much of the raw materials used by the region's manufacturing industries. The Port of Cleveland is the only container port on the Great Lakes with bi-weekly container service between Cleveland and the Port of Antwerp in Belgium on a Dutch service called the Cleveland-Europe Express. In addition to freight, the Port of Cleveland welcomes regional and international tourists who pass through the city on Great Lakes cruises.

Intercity rail and bus

Cleveland has a long history as a major railroad hub in North America. Today, Amtrak provides service to Cleveland, via the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited routes, which stop at Cleveland Lakefront Station. Additionally, Cleveland hosts several inter-modal freight railroad terminals, for Norfolk Southern, CSX and several smaller companies.

National intercity bus service is provided by Greyhound at the station located behind Playhouse Square. Akron Metro, Brunswick Transit Alternative, Laketran, Lorain County Transit, and Medina County Transit provide connecting bus service to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. Geauga County Transit and Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority (PARTA) also offer connecting bus service in their neighboring areas.

International relations

Cleveland maintains cultural, economic, and educational ties with 28 sister cities around the world. It concluded its first sister city partnership with Lima, Peru, in 1964. In addition, Cleveland hosts the Consulate General of the Republic of Slovenia, which, until Slovene independence in 1991, served as an official consulate for Tito's Yugoslavia. The Cleveland Clinic operates the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi hospital, two outpatient clinics in Toronto, and a hospital campus in London. The Cleveland Council on World Affairs was established in 1923.

Historically, Cleveland industrialist Cyrus S. Eaton, an apprentice of John D. Rockefeller, played a significant role in promoting dialogue between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In October 1915 at Cleveland's Bohemian National Hall, Czech American and Slovak American representatives signed the Cleveland Agreement, calling for the formation of a joint Czech and Slovak state.

Sister cities of Cleveland

Alexandria (Egypt) 1977 Bahir Dar (Ethiopia) 2004 Bangalore (India) 1975 Beit She'an (Israel) 2019 Brașov (Romania) 1973 Bratislava (Slovakia) 1990 Bursa (Turkey) 2023 Cape Town (South Africa) 2023 Cleveland (United Kingdom) 1977 Conakry (Guinea) 1991 Fier (Albania) 2006 Gdańsk (Poland) 1990 Heidenheim an der Brenz (Germany) 1977 Holon (Israel) 1977 Ibadan (Nigeria) 1974 Kigali (Rwanda) 2023 Klaipėda (Lithuania) 1992 Lima (Peru) 1964 Ljubljana (Slovenia) 1975 Mayo (Ireland) 2003 Miskolc (Hungary) 1995 Novi Sad (Serbia) 2023 Rouen (France) 2008 Segundo Montes (El Salvador) 1991 Taipei (Taiwan) 1975 Tema (Ghana) 2023 Vicenza (Italy) 2009 Volgograd (Russia) 1990

See also

In Spanish: Cleveland para niños