Clevelanders can learn a bit more about the diverse groups, events, and projects that build the city we know today with Canalway's annual Cleveland History Days.

Kicking off tomorrow, Friday, June 23 and running through Sunday, July 2, nonprofit heritage organization Canalway has packed the next two weeks with More than 50 events, exhibits, lectures, and activities that bring a new perspective to Cleveland’s foundation and vibrant history.

“I'm excited about so many different programs— I'm excited at the breadth,” says Canalway executive director Mera Cardenas. “There are returning old favorites—such as several Take-A-Hike Tours, including the second year of the Ohio City tour [on Monday], as well as the brand-new Erie Street Cemetery tour [on Friday]. We have programs that deal with architecture, then we have programs that deal with our natural systems and the Cuyahoga River Rally.”

Also returning this year is architectural historian Tim Barrett. who will speak on St. Colman Catholic Church on Sunday, June 25.

Cleveland History Days kicks off on Friday at 10 a.m. at the Cleveland History Center, with Cuyahoga County executive Chris Ronayne and an overview of the events. The opening is followed by a luncheon and screening of the 47th Cleveland International Film Festival film “Olympic Oaks: Continuing Jess Owens’ Legacy.”

People of note

The Owens film is just one component on an emphasis on the major contributions Black Clevelanders made to the city history, says Tom Yablonsky, vice chair of the Canalway board of directors and senior advisor to the Downtown Cleveland Alliance.

Historic Hotels Tour“We have probably ten events that really highlight key figures in Cleveland history—especially [Carl and Louis Stokes], with their role in the Clean Water Act, and Garrett Morgan, who is one of the country's great inventors, and been one of our lead characters on our Take A Hike program,” says. “We don't give the sanitized version of that history. Garrett Morgan had to pretend he wasn't a black man to get his invention looked at. A lot of how Jesse Owens was treated was not that favorable, even though we remember…he was not totally accepted back into American culture when he came back to this side of the ocean [after the 1936 Berlin Olympics].”

Yablonsky cites an additional component in the Sidaway Bridge Tour on Saturday, June 24 and its role in the racial divide. The bridge was named a Cleveland Landmark in February

“This is an ongoing process, history is not static,” says Cardenas. “The stories we discover and the stories that we tell are constantly evolving. And Sidaway Bridge is a really great example of that.”

History Days will also emphasize the role of women and Native Americans in Cleveland’s history. Yablonsky cites women like Cleveland Orchestra founder Adele Prentice Hughes and Cleveland Public Library head librarian Linda Eastman, who helped create the third most important collection in the country after New York and the Library of Congress.

On Saturday, July 1, Mary Stockwell, Ohio native and author of “The Other Trail of Tears: The Removal of the Ohio Indians” will speak at the Cleveland Public Library Main Branch.

Also on Cleveland History Days opening weekend are the tours and discussion of the Veterans Memorial Bridge, and a Take A Hike Tour of Erie Street Cemetery—the burial ground of many Cleveland pioneers and early war veterans.

Bike TourBuilding a major city

Yablonsky stresses that Cleveland History Days is critical to understanding how our city was built, and the people who made it what it is today. Additionally, the city’s history illuminates why we should invest in Cleveland and why it should be a tourist destination.

“From the end of the Civil War to the Depression, we were the third largest metro, even bigger than Los Angeles,” he says. “That means the whole accumulation of wealth and culture that we still get to experience with things like Playhouse Square are just some of the nine magnificent historic districts [listed on the] National Register historic districts.”

Yablonsky says they will highlight The Mall—designed by architect Daniel Burnham as part of the Cleveland Group Plan of 1903—and Canalway’s effort to get it listed as a National Historic Landmark. “I'd like to get that renamed Daniel Burnham's Mall,” he says.

Recent efforts contribute to the successful growth of the city as well. On Wednesday, June 28, Yablonsky and  former Canalway executive director Tim Donovan will host a Coffee Talk at Metropolitan Coffee in Old Brooklyn, where they will share stories about the history of advocacy around on building the Towpath Trail, the Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area and the vision for Canal Basin Park.

Cleveland was one of the largest shipbuilding cities in the country at one time, and Cardenas says a program on the city’s shipbuilding history was so popular last year that Frank Picirrillo will speak to a sold-out audience on Monday aboard the historic William G. Mather Steamship. 

New programs

New programs this year include an open house at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s archives, an Art and Architecture Tour at East Mt. Zion Baptist Church, the debut of a new app and accompanying sold out Ohio Freedom Path Hike.

There will be several open houses including the Baseball Heritage Museum and the Historic B&O Roundhouse, both  on Saturday; Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s Canal Exploration Center on Sunday; and Crawford Aviation Museum, Dunham Tavern on Monday.

The full schedule of Cleveland History Days events can be found on the website. Many events require advanced registration or admission. Cleveland History Days runs from Friday, June 24 through Sunday, July 2.