The Birth of Downtown Cleveland: A Vision Interrupted

The 1903 Group Plan for Cleveland’s downtown laid out a vision of Neoclassical splendor, an open civic area filled with grand fountains, graceful sculptures and formal gardens. Like most projects of its kind, it was supposed to take only one generation to complete. But the path to prosperity and beauty did not run smoothly. The plan suffered delays and setbacks from all sides, thanks to two world wars, the Great Depression, human folly and politics. Today, the Group Plan Commission continues to develop the focal point of the original 1903 project, and as people move back into downtown, the city is poised to finally bring this vision to fruition. Presenting previously unpublished historic photographs, authors Brad Schwartz and Dave Ford detail a story more than a century in the making.