The Cleveland Union Terminal Collection
Terminal Tower - from Public Square, 1927.
Higbees Building - north from Prospect Avenue, 1931.
Cuyahoga Viaduct Pier No. 17, 1926.
Rosenberg etching - Terminal from West Third Street Bridge, July 1929.
The Cleveland Union Terminal Collection is the archives of the company that built the Terminal Tower, the union passenger station, the complex of office buildings, post office, department store and the infrastructure of tracks, bridges, signals, electrical catenary structures and yard facility buildings necessary to switch passenger coaches over from steam to electric and bring them in to the downtown area. This was a massive urban redevelopment project that foreshadowed Rockefeller Center, in New York; gave Cleveland the second-tallest building outside of New York in 1930; and forever changed the face of Public Square and wide swaths of adjoining neighborhoods.
The physical collection is comprised of 900 linear feet of files: 500 archival drawings, early records, blueprints, bids, specifications and legal documents, as well as over 8,000 photographs dealing with all aspects of the conception and building of the Cleveland Union Terminal complex. The collection is located in Special Collections at the Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University. The Michael Schwartz Library has digitized more than 2/3 of the photos and share them via Cleveland Memory.
BROWSE ALL PHOTOS (over 5,000 images)
PHOTOS & MEDIA:
- Cleveland Union Terminal Construction Photographs, 1926-1929
- Cleveland Union Terminal Construction Film, 1928
- Cleveland Union Station - a souvenir dedication book, 1930
- Cleveland Union Terminal Etchings - by Louis Conrad Rosenberg
- Models of the Terminal Tower
- Cleveland & Youngstown Railroad Panoramas, Then and Now
Essential Reading from Cleveland Historical
- Terminal Tower: Cleveland's Signature Skyscraper by Katherine Gerchak & J. Mark Souther
- The Van Sweringen Brothers: Cleveland's Visionary Developers by Cleveland Historical
- Hotel Cleveland by Lisa Alleman & F.X. O'Grady
- The Van Sweringen Railroad Empire by Richard Raponi
Each of these engaging and meticulously researched articles explores facets of Cleveland History, supplementing their stories with newspaper clippings, maps, oral histories, photos from Cleveland Memory and elsewhere, and citations for related reading. This sampling of stories is drawn from diverse subjects including Architecture, Transportation, Entrepreneurs, and Urban Planning & Design, reflecting the impact the CUT has had on our city over the years.
Related Reading & Video from Cleveland Memory & Elsewhere:
- "Cleveland's Endearing Symbol: 52 Stories of the Terminal Tower"
by Bill Barrow & Donna Stewart.
A flipbook version of the print catalog of a 2018 exhibition at the Cleveland State University Art Galleries, curated by Bill Barrow and designed by Donna Stewart.
More about the exhibition - "Cleveland's Iconic Terminal Tower" (video) by Railroad Street
- "Cleveland's Terminal Tower: The Forest City Acquires a Metropolitan Image" 1997 article by Dr. Walter Leedy, originally published in Western Reserve Studies Symposium (from Digital Case)
- "Cleveland's Terminal Tower - The Van Sweringens' Afterthought"
Gamut article by Walter C. Leedy, Jr. (PDF) - Dirty Little Secrets: Foundations From the Past
A PBS video documenting research by a team local geologists, paleontologists and glaciologists on core samples taken from the CUT construction site and vicinity in the early 1920s. - The Ginney Block: Reminiscences of an Italian-American Dead-end Street Kid, by Edward A. D'Alessandro (e-book)
Edward D'Alessandro lived in "the Ginney Block," an Italian immigrant apartment building in Cleveland's Big Italy neighborhood, until 1928 when it was demolished to make way for the new Cleveland Union Terminal construction project. A charming and fascinating first-hand account of the impact the CUT project had on the citizens of the city. This self-described "dead-end street kid" eventually graduated Magna Cum Laude from John Carroll University and enjoyed a 40-year career at the Cleveland Public Library, retiring in 1970 as Director of the Library. - The Memories and the Dream - A video history of Cleveland Union Terminal and Tower City Center. First aired on PBS's WVIZ Cleveland June 26, 1990.
About the Donors
The Cleveland Union Terminal Collection was the gift of Mr. Gerald Adams, a life-long local railroad history enthusiast and collector who acquired the material in the early 1970s and through the efforts of Dr. Walter Leedy, donated it to Cleveland State University years later. Mr. Adams passed away in 2001, after several more substantial donations and many years of friendship.
In 1998, Mr. Robert Linsey very generously donated some 8,000 photographic images of the C.U.T. construction. The material had once been part of the C.U.T. archive before Mr. Adams purchased his portion.
These two gifts have reunited the major pieces of the historic Cleveland Union Terminal archives.
