| In 1870 Cleveland could boast of being the fifteenth largest city in the nation, with a population of 82,829. Its aggressiveness was exhibited that year when an attempt was made to lure the Ohio State Fair from Columbus. Those striving to build lives from immigrant hopes or make even more money from invested capital were not shy in seeking appropriate symbols of success for their community. The state fair got away, but in 1871 Clevelanders agreed to a Board of Park Commissioners. Bonds for $35,000 where issued in 1872, and the construction of Lake View Park started in 1874, followed by Franklin Circle Park and the refurbishing of Clinton Park. Many of those who enjoyed the parks worked in the railroads, commercial and industrial firms now so prominent in the city - particularly along the lakefront, in the Flats, and on Superior Hill. |
|
Euclid Avenue from Public Square showing St. Paul Episcopal Church and the newly finished Opera House  Euclid Avenue Photograph, 1875 Courtesy of Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection |
| The growth of Cleveland’s population also meant crime. In 1871 the Cleveland Workhouse and House of Correction was established on Woodlawn Avenue. A city with a complex economy and society needed lawyers, and in 1873 this growing profession formed the Cleveland Bar Association to help |
|
...the honor and dignity of the profession of the law, to cultivate social intercourse and acquaintance among members of the bar, to increase our usefulness in aiding the administration of justice, and in promoting legal and judicial reform. |
|||
|
Euclid Avenue northside east of Public Square showing crowds watching Knight Templars parade  Euclid Avenue Photograph, 1877 Courtesy of Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection |
|||
|
Physicians reorganized in 1873 when the Cleveland Academy of Medicine and the Pathological Society combined to form the Cuyahoga County Medical Society. Lawyers and doctors attended to the needs of Cleveland’s growing population, and those citizens who were immigrants quickly transplanted their cultures and customs to their new home. The nineteenth Saengerfest in 1874 allowed the German Community to demonstrate its musical and fund-raising capabilities as it worked to secure $60,000 in donations and build a large structure on Euclid Avenue in which to hear orchestral and vocal performances. A new Opera House in 1875 added another dimension to Cleveland’s cultural life, and a bridge erected in 1878 over the Cuyahoga River between Superior and Detroit Avenues provided another link between the east and west sides, making cultural and other events more accessible. Surviving Cleveland churches from the 1870s are: Franklin Circle Christian Church, St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church, St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church, Allen Chapel-Missionary Baptist Church, Jones Road Congregational Church, Miles Park Presbyterian Church, St. Paul Shrine (once an Episcopal church), and Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. |
 |
 |
 |
 |