Cleveland Past and Present | Page 4

was incorporated by the Legislature with a village charter and Alfred Kelley was the first President.
In 1816, the first bank was established in the city, under the title of the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, of which Leonard Case took the management. In that year the number of vessels enrolled as hailing from the port of Cleveland, was but seven, and their aggregate burthen 430 tons.
In 1817, the first church was organized, which was the Episcopal church of Trinity; but it was not until 1828 that the edifice was erected on the corner of St. Clair and Seneca streets.
On the 31st of July, 1818, the first newspaper was printed in this city, "The Cleveland Gazette and Commercial Register." On the 1st of September in the same year, the first steam vessel entered the harbor, the "Walk-in-the-Water," commanded by Captain Fish, from Buffalo, putting in on its way to Detroit. It was 300 tons burthen, had accommodations for one hundred cabin and a greater number of steerage passengers, and was propelled at eight or ten miles an hour. Its arrival and departure were greeted with several rounds of artillery, and many persons accompanied her to Detroit.
In 1819, Mr. Barber built a log hut on the west side of the harbor, and may be considered the first permanent settler in Ohio City.
In 1830, was established a stage conveyance to Columbus, and in the autumn a second proceeded to Norwalk. In 1821, these efforts were followed by others, and two additional wagons were started, one for Pittsburgh and another for Buffalo.
In 1825, an appropriation was made by Government for the improvement of the harbor, being the first Government aid received for that purpose. The water in the river was frequently so shallow that it was customary for vessels to lie off in the lake and transfer passengers and freight by boats. On the 4th of July in that year ground was broken at Licking Summit for the Ohio canal, to connect the waters of Lake Erie at Cleveland with those of the Ohio river at Portsmouth.
In 1827, Mr. Walworth, the harbor-master and Government agent, proceeded to Washington, and after the most strenuous exertions, succeeded in obtaining a further grant of $10,000 for the improvement of the harbor. In the same year the Ohio canal was opened to Akron, and the first importation of coal to Cleveland made.
In 1828, a new court-house was erected on the Public Square.
The light-house, on the bluff at the end of Water street, was built in 1830, the lantern being one hundred and thirty-five feet above water level.
In 1832, the Ohio canal was finished and communication between the lake and the Ohio river opened. In the same year a new jail was built on Champlain street.
In 1834, some of the streets were graded, and the village assumed such importance that application for a city charter began to be talked of.
The population of the city had grown in 1835 to 5,080, having more than doubled in two years. There was at this time an immense rush of people to the West. Steamers ran from Buffalo to Detroit crowded with passengers at a fare of eight dollars, the number on board what would now be called small boats, sometimes reaching from five hundred to six hundred persons. The line hired steamers and fined them a hundred dollars if the round trip was not made in eight days. The slower boats, not being able to make that time with any certainty, frequently stopped at Cleveland, discharged their passengers, and put back to Buffalo. It sometimes chanced that the shore accommodations were insufficient for the great crowd of emigrants stopping over at this port, and the steamers were hired to lie off the port all night, that the passengers might have sleeping accommodations. In that year fire destroyed a large part of the business portion of Cleveland. At the same period James S. Clark built, at his own expense, the old Columbus street bridge, connecting Cleveland with Brooklyn township, and donated it to the city. Two years later this bridge was the occasion and scene of the famous "battle of the bridge," to be noticed in its proper place.
In 1836, Cleveland was granted a charter as a city. Greatly to the mortification of many of the citizens, the people across the river had received their charter for the organization of Ohio City before that for the city of Cleveland came to hand, and Ohio City, therefore, took precedence on point of age. This tended to embitter the jealous rivalry between the two cities, and it was only after long years that this feeling between the dwellers on the two sides of the river died out.
The settlement on the west side of the river had been made originally by Josiah Barber and Richard Lord.