1797
Lorenzo Carter, Cleveland’s first permanent settler, builds and operates a tavern and inn on the East Bank of the Cuyahoga River and operates a ferry boat to the West Bank.
1800
David and Gilman Bryant operate a secondhand distillery with goods brought from Virginia on the banks of the Cuyahoga River at the foot of Superior Avenue.
1827
Completion of the Ohio Canal brings an influx of businesses to Cleveland, including hotels. The Weddell House at West Sixth Street and Superior Avenue was the best known. President-elect Abraham Lincoln made an appearance at the Weddell House on Feb. 15, 1861, during his inaugural trip to Washington, D.C.
1834
The Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Co., incorporated by Josiah Barber, Richard Lord and others, was among the earliest manufacturers of iron products.
1852
William A. Otis and John N. Ford establish the Lake Erie Iron Works in Ohio City.
1870
John D. Rockefeller and associates — Henry M. Flagler, Samuel Andrews, Stephen V. Harkness, Oliver Burr Jennings and William Rockefeller — found the Standard Oil Co.
1875
Sherwin-Williams Co., founded in 1866 by Henry Sherwin and Edward Williams, introduces ready-mixed paint, revolutionizing the industry.
1876
Herman Black’s H. Black Co. introduces standard sizes for clothing, setting a new standard in the clothing industry.
1878
The Cleveland Worsted Mill Co., which originally grew out of the family-owned Turner Worsted Mill, is founded by Joseph Turner.
1879
Charles Brush demonstrates the first street lights with an installation of 12 arc lights at Public Square.
1881
The Warner & Swasey Co., founded by New England machinists Worcester P. Warner and Ambrose Swasey, moves to Cleveland with a machine tool shop on Carnegie Avenue near East 55th Street.
1890
Edwin Beeman introduces Beeman’s Pepsin Gum. He discovered that pepsin, an extract from hogs’ stomachs, provided relief from indigestion and added it to chewing gum.
1890
John M. Eisenmann and George H. Smith design the Cleveland Arcade, modeling it after the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, Italy. It cost $875,000 to build, and was financed by John D. Rockefeller, Steven V. Harkness, Louis Severance, Charles Brush and Marcus Hanna. It was the first indoor shopping center in America.
1897
Alexander Winton incorporates the Winton Motor Car Co. and completes an automobile with a 2-cyl., 2-hp engine. Winton sold the first of his automobiles on March 24, 1898.
1903
Alwin and Theodore Ernst open an accounting office in downtown Cleveland — the predecessor to Ernst and Young LLP.
1904
Cleveland Screw Co., a forerunner of TRW Inc., produces a new type of automobile valve that greatly enhances the durability of engines.
1906
Jacob Sapirstein founds American Greetings Corp.
1915
The Eaton Corp., founded in 1911 as the Torbensen Gear & Axle Co. by Viggo Torbensen, Joseph Oriel Eaton and Henning O. Taube, moves to Cleveland.
1918
Aviation designer Glenn Martin, whose name lives on in Lockheed Martin, produces Cleveland’s first airplane, the MB-2 bomber.
1921
George Crile and three other doctors establish the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
1929
Cyrus Eaton consolidates his steel holdings into Republic Steel Corp., the country’s third largest steel company.
1930
The 52-story Terminal Tower is dedicated. The building was conceived by O.P. and M.J. Van Sweringen as a terminal for all the railroads that came into Cleveland. The structure cost $179 million to build.
1936
A sit-down strike at a General Motors Fisher Body Plant on Coit Road serves as a catalyst for the mass unionization of autoworkers nationwide.
1947
A forerunner of NASA establishes the Lewis Research Center. It would later be named the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field.
1949
Cleveland drafts a comprehensive general plan (replacing the elegant Group Plan of 1903), to guide downtown development.
1952
The most damaging of more than a dozen fires on the Cuyahoga River since 1868 burns for three days and causes $1.5 million in damage.
1964
Erieview Tower is the first building erected as part of the Erieview urban renewal project initiated during the administration of Mayor Anthony J. Celebrezze.
1979
Cleveland’s business and civic leaders begin revitalizing the downtown area, hoping to reverse the decades-long population flight.
1985
Standard Oil of Ohio builds a new corporate headquarters on Public Square.
1990
Forest City Enterprises spends $400 million transforming Terminal Tower into a 360,000-square-foot retail center — known today as Tower City Center.
1994
Jacobs Field and Gund Arena open as the home of the Cleveland Indians and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
1995
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum opens, designed by noted architect I.M. Pei.
2003
LeBron James starts his multiple-year stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers following the NBA draft. His success on the court helps bring about an economic boon to the region.
2004
Mittal Steel USA acquires the International Steel Group’s Cleveland works, formerly part of LTV Corp., a major national manufacturing company headquartered in Cleveland from 1993 to 2002.
2005
Plans are announced for the Flats East Bank redevelopment, a partnership between The Wolstein Group and Fairmount Properties driving $750 million in waterfront redevelop
ment with an 18-story office tower, hotel, fitness club and a range of restaurants.
2015
Construction begins on a transformation of Cleveland’s Public Square, honoring the historical vision of the Group Plan of 1903.
2015
Heinen’s opens a downtown grocery story in the 1908 Cleveland Trust Co. building at East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue.
