Cleveland began in 1796 when surveyor Moses Cleaveland picked his townsite on Lake Erie. Only three of his malaria-ridden group agreed to remain. The town grew slowly until the late 1820s, when New York finished its Erie Canal and Ohio decided to build a canal of its own.

By 1832 the Ohio and Erie Canal was completed, and Cleveland, the northern terminus, had already doubled its population. Over the next 10 years the town grew by almost 500 percent. The city also acquired a trimmer name for its bright new future. Because the editor of a newspaper called The Cleveland Gazette and Commercial Register had to drop a letter from his masthead for it to fit across the page, he chose the first “a” in Cleaveland to be expendable.

During the 1800s, Cleveland was an important stop on the Underground Railroad. The city's port provided a route to freedom across the Canadian border for slaves fleeing the South.

With the canal came Cleveland's first wave of immigrants, the backbone of its labor force. The city grew quickly from a bustling port to a shipping and industrial giant. The Civil War briefly halted the city's progress, but the subsequent demand for iron spurred new growth. Fortunes were made in shipping coal, limestone and iron ore, in manufacturing steel and iron, and in communications, railroads and oil. Between 1910-20 Cleveland was the country's second largest center for automobile production and also ranked close to New York as one of the country's leading centers for ready-to-wear clothing production.

Behind this growth were the great industrialists: Jephtha Wade I, whose telegraph company evolved into the Western Union system; Charles Brush, who invented the carbon arc lamp that lighted the city's streets; Sam Mather, a steel and shipping magnate; Mark Hanna, a steel and shipping baron and political boss; and John D. Rockefeller, the world's first billionaire, who made his fortune in the Standard Oil Co.

By the late 19th century Cleveland had matured. Public transportation was made cheap and easy, and projects were initiated to build the Cleveland Union Terminal, a 52-story skyscraper that contained the Union Railroad Station. Now a three-level mall called The Avenue fills the former railroad station concourse beneath what has become known as the Terminal Tower. The Society Center on Cleveland's Public Square, opened in 1992, stands at 948 feet, making this 56-story structure the tallest in Cleveland and among the 25 tallest buildings in the world.

Since 1950, the population of Cleveland proper has declined by nearly one third as increasing numbers of residents have moved to the suburbs. In recent years, however, Cleveland has attracted new enterprises and created new jobs. As one of the nation's largest consumer markets, Cleveland is headquarters for more than 20 major industrial corporations and many smaller companies.

Despite its industrial bent, Cleveland has not overlooked the finer things in life. More than 21,000 acres of the metropolitan parks districts—and the surrounding rivers, streams and lakes, including Lake Erie and the Cleveland lakefront—offer ample opportunities for recreation. Professional theater is showcased at the Cleveland Play House, founded in 1915, it is one of the nation's longest-running resident theater companies. A second longtime venue for professional theater is the restored Playhouse Square, a five-theater complex on Euclid Avenue.

The city also is home of the Cleveland Orchestra; several art, science and health museums, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Great Lakes Science Center, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the Western Reserve Historical Society; the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospital, which administers some of the world's most advanced medical treatments; and Case Western Reserve and Cleveland State universities.

Entertainment alternatives are numerous and continue to expand. The Flats, a riverfront area once known for its heavy industry, now features entertainment, retail stores, and marinas along both banks of the Cuyahoga River. Converted warehouses line the docks with restaurants and nightclubs. The Historic Warehouse District, just east of The Flats, provides a backdrop of 19th-century architecture and traditions for shopping, dining and entertainment. Progressive Field (formerly Jacobs Field) and Quicken Loans Arena, the all-purpose sports and entertainment complex, as well as a state-of-the-art stadium for the resurrected Cleveland Browns have energized Cleveland's sports fans.

All these facets combine to make Cleveland a livable place with much to offer and much to be proud of.