History of the Cleveland Union Terminal

The history of the Cleveland Union Terminal is told in an article by Professor Walter Leedy from THE GAMUT (Vol. 8, Winter, 1983), a former journal of arts and ideas published by Cleveland State University.

thumbnail of GAMUT cover

Cleveland's Terminal Tower: The Van Sweringen's Afterthought

Picture of Louie Seltzer, in retirement, leaning up against a fence on his daughter's property
Photo by Bernie Noble

The Years Were Good
Louis B. Seltzer's chapter on the Van Sweringens

1864 union terminal

Other union terminals and passenger stations in Cleveland

History of the C.U.T. Collection

The Cleveland Union Terminal Collection was the wonderful gift of Mr. Gerald Adams (left), a life-long local railroad buff who acquired the material in the early 1970s and through the efforts of Dr. Walter Leedy (right), donated it to Cleveland State University years later.

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 and now Mr. Linsey has re-united the original archive. At our request, he has provided an autobiographical sketch.

Jerry Adams and Bob Linsey

Students of Cleveland history owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to both Mr. Adams and Mr. Linsey for these gifts.

And a THANK YOU to our funders!

Funding for the processing of the C.U.T. Collection was generously made available by the JOHN P. MURPHY FOUNDATION of Cleveland, Mr. Herbert E. Strawbridge, President. Mr. Murphy was chief legal counsel for the Van Sweringen brothers and C.E.O. of Higbee's Department Store in the C.U.T. complex. The initial grant in 1994 allowed us to process the hundreds of boxes of office records from the C.U.T. Company, while a follow-up grant provided protection and access to the hundreds of rolled drawings in the collection.

Funds from the Murphy Foundation and the Northern Ohio Camera Collectors Club (formerly the Photographic History Society of the Western Reserve), also funded a project to preserve fading images on some of the C.U.T. photographs. The N.O.C.C. money, for example, allowed us to print the 14 panorama negatives (each 3-4 ft. long) in the Linsey donation, a sample of which may be seen behind Messrs. Adams and Linsey, above.

HISTORIC LAND VALUES: The effects of the Cleveland Union Terminal project were architectural, social and, of course, economic. One indication of the effect it had upon real estate values on Public Square can be studied through the use of tax assessment atlases published by the local governmental taxing authorities. Here is a sample of how these atlases displayed the increased valuation of land around Public Square in 1910 and 1931, thanks in part to the CUT.

History of the Cleveland Union Terminal

History of the C.U.T. Collection

And a THANK YOU to our funders!

Other Relevant History Links