Cleveland is one of the largest cities in the US state of Ohio. It was founded in 1796, when surveyors from the Connecticut Land Company divided the state’s so-called Western Reserve into villages and a capital city. The leader of the surveyors was Moses Cleaveland, after whom Cleveland was named, and he designed the city plan based on New England traditions.

The city profited from its location on Lake Erie, and it boomed after the completion of the Erie and Ohio Canal in 1832. Later in the 1800s, there was great prosperity and growth in Cleveland as a logistics center between the American East Coast and the Midwest, where large quantities of iron, coal, and more were transported, and in 1870 John D. Rockefeller founded the company Standard Oil in the city.

Industrial production was growing like the population, and at the beginning of the 1900s Cleveland was the sixth largest city in the USA. In the 1920s, many skyscrapers were built, and this was repeated in the last half of the century, with the city’s characteristic skyline as a result. From the 1960s, Cleveland experienced an economic downturn because of not least the closure of many jobs in traditional industries. Since the 1980s, however, the city has developed again.

Today, Cleveland is a city with a important industrial history and many attractions. You can start a stroll in the city at Public Square, which is the center of the city’s downtown. The square was already the center of Moses Cleveland’s 1796 city plan, and today you can see everything from the Old Stone Church to some of Cleveland’s tallest modern skyscrapers around Public Square.

The neo-Romanesque Old Stone Church was opened in 1855, and at that time the church dominated the square. It no longer does, with Key Tower, 200 Public Square and Terminal Tower all towering around the Old Stone Church and Public Square. 200 Public Square is 201 meters tall and opened in 1985, while the 289-meter Key Tower was opened as Ohio’s tallest building in 1992. The 235-meter Terminal Tower is the most distinctive high-rise and was the tallest building in the United States outside New York from 1928 to 1964.

There is an observation deck in the Terminal Tower, and from here you have an unforgettable view of Cleveland and Lake Erie, which seems like an ocean just to the north of downtown. When you come down from the observation deck, you can take a closer look at the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, an 1894 memorial to the citizens of Cuyahoga County who participated in the American Civil War in the 1860s.

If you want to experience more of Cleveland’s big city atmosphere and at the same time look at architectural history, you should walk from Public Square along Euclid Avenue, which was known as Millionaires’ Row. Here you can see the Cleveland Arcade from the Victorian era in 1890, which was a luxurious covered shopping street. The Cleveland Trust Company Building from 1907 is another of the street’s buildings, and you can also see theatres such as the Connor Palace and Playhouse Square.

Cleveland also offers other art and culture, such as the Cleveland Orchestra, which is one of America’s finest orchestras. It plays in the 1931 Severance Hall, located in the University Circle neighborhood. In the same area is the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is a huge art museum with European masters, Chinese and Egyptian art, and much more. You can visit the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland as well, located in Farshid Moussavi’s modern museum building.

When you are in Cleveland, it is also worth taking a walk along the shores of Lake Erie, where the lake is like an open sea. Edgewater Park is a good place if you want to get away from downtown. From here you can enjoy the water from Edgewater Beach and walk some trails with a view of the downtown skyscrapers as a backdrop. You can also walk to the lakefront just north of downtown or walk along the Cuyahoga River to Wendy Park by the lake.