Cleveland Past and Present | Page 5

Soon after Alonzo Carter purchased on that side of the river and kept tavern in the "Red House," opposite Superior street. In 1831, the Buffalo Company purchased the Carter farm which covered the low land towards the mouth of the river, and the overlooking bluffs. They covered the low ground with warehouses, and the bluffs with stores and residences. Hotels were erected and preparations made for the building up of a city that should far eclipse the older settlement on the east side of the river. The company excavated a short ship canal from the Cuyahoga to the old river bed, at the east end, and the waters being high, a steamboat passed into the lake, through a natural channel at the west end.
When it was proposed to get a city charter for Cleveland, negotiations were entered into between the leading men on both sides of the river with the purpose of either consolidating the two villages into one city, or at least acting in harmony. The parties could agree neither on terms of consolidation nor on boundaries. The negotiations were broken off, and each side started its deputation to Columbus to procure a city charter, with the result we have already noticed.
Ohio City was ambitions to have a harbor of its own, entirely independent of Cleveland and to the advantages of which that city could lay no claim. The old river bed was to be deepened and the channel to the lake at the west end re-opened. As a preliminary to this ignoring of the Cleveland harbor entrance of the Cuyahoga, a canal was cut through the marsh, from opposite the entrance to the Ohio canal to the old river bed, which was thus to be made the terminus of the Ohio canal.
In 1837, city rivalry ran so high that it resulted in the "battle of the bridge." Both sides claimed jurisdiction over the Columbus street bridge built by Mr. Clark and donated for public use. Armed men turned out on either side to take possession of the disputed structure. A field piece was posted on the low ground on the Cleveland side, to rake the bridge. Guns, pistols, crowbars, clubs and stones were freely used on both sides. Men were wounded of both parties, three of them seriously. The draw was cut away, the middle pier and the western abutment partially blown down, and the field piece spiked by the west siders. But the sheriff and the city marshal of Cleveland appeared on the scene, gained possession of the dilapidated bridge, which had been given to the city of Cleveland, and lodged some of the rioters in thee county jail. This removed the bridge question from the camp and battle-field to the more peaceful locality of the courts.
In 1840, the population had increased to 6071, so that, notwithstanding that the city had been suffering from depression, there was an influx of a thousand persons in the last five years.
In 1841, the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal was completed, Connecting the Ohio Canal at Akron with the Ohio river at Beaver, Pennsylvania, and thus forming a water communication with Pittsburgh.
The United States Marine Hospital, pleasantly situated on the banks of the lake, was commenced in 1844 and not completed until 1852. It is surrounded by eight acres of ground, and is designed to accommodate one hundred and forty patients.
In 1845, the city voted to loan its credit for $200,000 towards the construction of a railroad from Cleveland to Columbus and Cincinnati, and subsequently the credit of the city was pledged for the loan of $100,000 towards the completion of the Cleveland and Erie or Lake Shore line.
In 1851, the 23d of February, the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad was opened for travel; and on the same day forty miles of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad was likewise completed. These circumstances produced great rejoicings, for during the period of their construction the city had been almost daily adding to the number of its inhabitants, so that it had nearly doubled in the last six years, its population being now 21,140, and in the following year (1852) it added eighty-seven persons per week to its numbers, being then 25,670.
In 1858, the new court house was built and the old court house on the Public Square was taken down.
We have thus glanced at a few of the leading incidents in the history of the city. A more full and exact account will be found in the historical sketches prefacing each department in the body of the work, and still further details will be found in the biographical sketches. There only remains to be added here a few data in regard to the population, government, and officials of the city.
The population of Cleveland commenced in 1796, with four persons. Next year the number increased