Stories by: Tom Matowitz
Recently retired after a 37-year career teaching public speaking, Tom Matowitz has had a lifelong interest in local and regional history. Working as a freelance author for the past 20 years he has written a number of books and articles about Cleveland’s past. He has a particular interest in the area’s rich architectural history.
Cleveland Masterworks: Gray's Armory, in the midst of downtown Cleveland, is a symbol of 127 years of military heritage and community service.
Cleveland Masterworks: The Lorain-Carnegie Bridge, today known as the Hope Memorial Bridge, boasts the iconic Guardians of Transportation that inspired the name of our newly-named baseball team.
Cleveland Masterworks: Riverside Cemetery, one of the city's first parklike garden cemeteries, and the first one on Cleveland's west side.
Cleveland Masterworks: As the 2021 MLB season draws to a close and the city transitions into the Cleveland Guardians, Tom Matowitz delves into the history of League Park and the Cleveland baseball teams—and football teams—that played in the early days.
The partnership between Charles Wallace Heard and Simeon Porter only lasted a decade in the mid-1800s, but together they built a legacy with Public Square's Old Stone Church, among other notable buildings in Northeast Ohio.
Cleveland Masterworks: With impeccable training, Charles Sumner Schneider made a name for himself in Northeast Ohio—designing homes for the wealthy, Shaker Heights schools and city hall, and—his crowning achievement—Stan Hywet Hall in Akron.
Cleveland Masterworks: Abram Garfield, son of President James A. Garfield, designed some of Cleveland's most desirable houses, many in Bratenahl, and later delved into government buildings and public housing projects.
Bill Barrow retired this summer as head of CSU's Special Collections. FreshWater contributors Angela Bair and Tom Matowitz reflect on Barrow's 20-year career collecting photos, artifacts, and other Cleveland historical items for the collection.
Cleveland Masterworks: The National Air Races from 1929 through 1949 preceded today's Cleveland National Air Show with equally impressive maneuvers and air races that drew 100,000 spectators a day.
Cleveland Masterworks: Carl Howell and James Thomas began building some of the most grand homes in Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights and worked for notable developers of the time like the Van Sweringen brothers and Barton Deming.
Cleveland Masterworks: Frank Seymour Barnum was known for designing fireproof buildings, but he also designed notable school, industrial, and residential structures throughout the city in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Cleveland Masterworks: The Steamship William G. Mather is an icon on Cleveland's shoreline—with a marvelous history on the Great Lakes from 1925 to 1980.
Cleveland Masterworks: John Eisenmann was a prolific architect, designing dozens of Cleveland buildings in the late 1800s. But perhaps what he is best known for is the Arcade on Euclid Avenue.
Zenas King first came to Cleveland to become a building contractor. He went on to construct three innovative bridges and create the country's largest manufacturer of highway bridges.
Cleveland Masterworks: The Chicago-based firm Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White designed three of Cleveland's most notable buildings.
Frank Cudell and John Richardson designed many Cleveland buildings and churches, including the reportedly-haunted Franklin Castle.
Cleveland Masterworks: Charles Platt was an accomplished artist before he launched into architecture to design some of Cleveland's historic buildings—which still stand today in Playhouse Square.
Cleveland Masterworks: Joseph Carabelli settled in Little Italy as a stone cutter and quickly built his reputation on works like the Wade Memorial Chapel in Lake View Cemetery.
Cleveland Masterworks: Excited newspaper reporters said the Superior Viaduct would last for 1,000 years when it was completed in 1878. But a major design flaw limited its life to only 40 years before the Detroit Superior bridge replaced it.
Masterworks: Israel Lehman and Theodore Schmitt made their mark on Cleveland with designs spanning two centuries.