Tag: historical edgewater

Joseph M. Gasser: Immigrant, Patriot, and Florist

Joseph M. Gasser, was a resident of the Edgewater neighborhood from 1886 until his death in 1908. His honorable life of sacrifice, service, contribution, and industry, stands as stern rebuke to those small-minded fear-mongers amongst us who would build walls to shut out immigrants from foreign lands seeking refuge in the land of opportunity.

Joseph was born in 1843 in Switzerland, the son of Nicholas, a carpenter. His family immigrated to the United States in 1854. The family came to Cleveland where Joseph began to attend both the common schools and work in a pail factory in the flats at the age of twelve years old. Joseph continued working at the pail factory until the outbreak of the Civil War.

As soon as Joseph learned that the Southern rebels had fired on Fort Sumter, he enlisted for three months service as a private at the age of 19 in the Sprague Zouave Cadets, which was organized in Cleveland under the direction of Captain Charles A. DeVillers. The Sprague Zouave Cadets were subsequently mustered into the service of the United States as the Seventh Regiment of the Ohio Voluntary Infantry as Company B, retaining that letter during its service in the field. He reenlisted, June 19, 1861, for a period of three years. The Seventh Regiment was known as the Roosters.”

Mr. Gasser participated in the following Civil War battles: Battle of Kressler’s Cross Lanes (Cross Lanes, Virginia), August 26, 1861; First Battle of Kernstown (Winchester, Virginia), March 23, 1862, (in which Mr. Gasser was wounded severely in the left arm and side and was incapacitated for service until June 3, 1863); The Battle of Gettysburg (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania), July 1, 2, and 3, 1863; Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, November 24, 1863; Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, November 25, 1863; The Battle of Ringgold Gap (Ringgold, Georgia), November 27, 1863; Dalton, Georgia, May 8, 1864; Rocky Face Ridge, Georgia, May 1864; Resaca, Georgia, May 13 to 15, 1864, and Dallas, or New Hope Church, Georgia, May 26, 1864. Mr. Gasser was mustered out of service with an honorable discharge at the expiration of his enlistment on July 6, 1864.

The Seventh Regiment’s service was commemorated locally by the Seventh Regiment OVI Association with a monument erected at Woodland Cemetery (Woodland Avenue/East 71st Street). The monument was dedicated in 1872. The principal speakers at its dedication were General John W. Geary, the Governor of the State of Pennsylvania, General Erastus B. Tyler, and Major William McKinley, later Governor of Ohio and President of the United States. The monument cost $8,500 and consisted of Quincy granite for the base, a shaft of Peterhead red granite, and was topped with an eagle with outstretched wings of Peterhead gray granite.

The granite was quarried, polished, and engraved with a list of the Regiment’s battles in Scotland before being shipped to the United States. The lot on which it was erected was donated by the City of Cleveland.

Of course, the Ohio Generally Assembly also commemorated the service of the Seventh Regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg with the erection a marker, which is located near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in Adams County at the intersection of Slocum Avenue and Williams Avenue. It was dedicated on September 14, 1887, and marks the position held by the Regiment on July 2 and 3, 1863. If you have occasion to visit the Gettysburg Battlefield, you now know of its Edgewater connection.

When Mr. Gasser returned to civilian life after nearly four difficult years of service to his adopted country, he sought both employment and education. The available information indicates that he initially boarded with his father at 63 Orange Street and worked for the Weaver Brothers Wholesale Liquor House (87 & 89 Merwin), the grocery firm of Pope & Hains (163 Ontario Street), and subsequently for five years as a postal carrier. He also sought to further his education while working so paid for two years of education at the Humiston Institute. The Humiston Institute, also known as the Cleveland Institute, was a private coeducational school for secondary education founded in 1859 by Professor Ransom F. Humiston, a respected Cleveland educator, who offered a college preparatory curriculum to both students from out of state as well as from the Cleveland area. The Institute closed in 1868.

In 1867, the industrious Mr. Gasser found love and married Miss Katherine Fox, with whom he had a daughter, Josephine.

The Cleveland Directory Company’s 1872/73 Directory reflects that Mr. Gasser was still a letter carrier but now resided and operated a business out of his residence at 345 Pearl. The business was listed under various headings, including confectionary, cigars, fruit, and variety goods. The Cleveland Directory Company’s 1877/78 directory reflects that Mr. Gasser moved his residence and business to 347 Pearl, and only listed his business under the headings notions, stationary, and confectionery.

In the August 13, 1921, issue of The Florist Exchange (p. 347), a article recounting Cleveland’s floral history recorded that “on Saturdays, [Mr. Gasser] made up bouquets and boutonnieres of Roses from the garden of Mrs. Gasser’s mother. As a dancing school was located on the second floor [of his small store], Mrs. Gasser thought a few buttonhole bouquets would sell–from this very small beginning grew the large business of today. The first greenhouses were built in Rocky River in 1880. Then a range of glass was built on Lake Ave. in 1885. The store was continued on [Pearl] until 1883, when a store was opened on lower Euclid Ave. in connection with the Heyse & Weisgerber Co., who were leading caterers in those days. It was only a few years later before they felt able to use an entire store individually. They bought a lot and built on Euclid Ave., near Bond St. [East 4th], moving to their present location later. The business was incorporated in 1901. Meanwhile, new greenhouses were started in Rocky River hamlet on Wooster Road. Here the main crop of flowers was grown. Now the firm has 350,000 sq. ft. of glass, covering eight acres. They cut as many as 9,000 Roses, 10,000 Carnations, and 5,000 Lilies daily. In 1902, the Lake Ave. greenhouses were moved and rebuilt at Rockport place. The store is now on Euclid Ave., next to the Cleveland Trust Co.” Other sources record that the innovative Mr. Gasser was also the first florist in Cleveland to utilize delivery wagons for floral deliveries.

Mr. Gasser eventually established a separate wholesale business to supply other florists while also maintaining his retail floral shops. His success was great and his services were much in demand by the most discriminating clientele in Cleveland.

WOODCLIFF

The Cleveland Director Company’s 1886/87 Directory records that Mr. and Mrs. Gasser resided on Lake Avenue, making them amongst the earliest residents of the neighborhood. And, of course, we know from city maps, that his residence with the greenhouses was called Woodcliff.

Although we know that Senator Marcus A. Hanna hosted the “Wedding of the Century” in the Edgewater neighborhood in 1903, it is fair to say that Mr. Gasser hosted the first Grand Affair in the Edgewater Neighborhood. Specifically, in 1896, during the Centennial Celebrations for the City of Cleveland, the Society of American Florists held its twelfth annual convention in Cleveland during the month of August. The convention was quite a success, as recorded by The Official Report of the Centennial Celebration of the Founding of the City of Cleveland and the Settlement of the Western Reserve (1896), which stated:

“An excellent opportunity for the study of the beautiful was afforded to Centennial visitors by the grand Floral Exposition held during ” Floral Week,” in connection with the twelfth annual convention of the Society of American Florists. This exhibition was opened on Tuesday afternoon, August 18th, in the Central Armory. An extensive and varied botanical display was set forth in the main auditorium, plants and flowers having been brought from all parts of the country to compete for prizes. It was the largest exhibition ever given in Cleveland. The Armory was transformed into a conservatory in which floral beauties from the North, East, South and West vied with each other for honors. There were palms and ferns and mosses and shrubs in terraces and groups, lilies in cluster, roses, violets — flowers of every class and kind. The exhibition was divided into two departments, one being the main display under the auspices of the Cleveland Floral Society, and the other being a trade exhibit for which a large section of the hall was reserved. The convention headquarters were in Army and Navy Hall, in front of which was displayed the national flag of the society. The hall was elaborately decorated. Garlands of evergreen hung from the ceiling, banks of palms arose in the corners and windows, and the plat form was almost hidden in a profusion of plants and cut flowers.” [pp. 160-161]

Mr. and Mrs. Gasser did not hesitate to host their colleagues most graciously:

“Late in the afternoon of the first day the delegates, accompanied by their wives, set out for a trolley ride. There were five hundred in the party for which a specially chartered train of eight cars was provided. The cars were gorgeously decorated with flowers and were freely admired as they passed through the streets. The destination was Woodcliff, the home of Mr. J. M. Gasser, on Lake avenue, where the president’s reception was held. The guests, about five hundred in all, were cordially received by Mr. and Mrs. Gasser on their lawn — a floral park of great beauty — and the company was later photographed. Refreshments were served under a canopy on the lake front, and after this came dancing and other amusements. Fairy lamps and Japanese lanterns were hung over the grounds, making the effect after nightfall very pretty.” [p. 162]

Mr. Gasser was a member of the Republican party, the Knights of Pythias, the Clifton Club and the Chamber of Commerce. The Cleveland Blue Book 1907 indicates his daughter and her husband, James C. Pettee, lived with Mr. and Mrs. Gasser at Woodcliff.

Mr. Gasser died on March 12, 1908, in Flint, Michigan after several years of poor health. He was buried in Lake View Cemetery (Lot 11-30 BNE).

The Florist Exchange reported, in its March 28, 1908, (p 466), edition, the following, as a sad denouement to such an accomplished life:

An estate of $250,000 would be worth approximately $6,100,000 in 2017.

Mrs. Katherine F. Gasser died on September 20, 1921, and is buried beside him. His life exemplified one of service to his country as well as business acumen and success.

It cannot be controverted that, of all the men who lived in the Edgewater neighborhood during the Gilded Age, no other is more deserving of our respect and admiration than Mr. Joseph M Gasser. He volunteered for military service as a private to preserve the Union, fought in many major battles that we still remember by name today, and was severely wounded in service to his adopted country. He was industrious and innovative, building a business, not from inherited wealth, but from the fruit of his labor, a successful business that sustained his family while employing and sustaining others and their families. And there is no evidence in the record that he accomplished any of the foregoing while betraying any trust, exploiting any workman, or bankrupting any business.

L.C. Hanna: Professional Baseball Player, Industrial Magnate, and Gatling Gun Battery Captain

Leonard Colton Hanna was a summer resident of the Edgewater neighborhood from 1890 until shortly before he sold the property in 1911.

We mentioned him briefly in discussing his more famous brother, Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna, and Senator Hanna’s Glenmere estate, in several previously published Beacon articles. In this brief article, we will give L.C. Hanna and his estate, Urncliff, their due.

L.C. Hanna was born in New Lisbon, Ohio on November 30, 1850, the son of Dr. Leonard Hanna (1806-1862) and Samantha Maria (nee Converse) Hanna (1813-1897). His siblings included Helen G. Hubbell (1836-1891); Marcus A. Hanna (1837-1904); Howard M. Hanna (1840-1921); Salome M. Chapin (1844-1907); Seville S. Morse (1846-1927); and Lilian C. Baldwin (1852-1948). The family moved to Cleveland in 1851.

Once in Cleveland, L.C. Hanna attended the public schools. His family then sent him to Doctor Holbrook’s Military School, a military academy and boarding school for boys located in the town of Ossining, New York. He reportedly attended Doctor Holbrook’s Military School until June 1867.

When he returned to Cleveland, he was briefly associated with Hanna, Doherty & Company, a firm established by his brother, Marcus A. Hanna, for the purpose of refining petroleum. His brother Howard later purchased Marcus’ interest in the firm.

In 1869, L.C. Hanna became associated with Cleveland’s first professional baseball team, the Forest City Club, as its second baseman. The team included pros who were paid, such as Arthur Allison, outfielder and first baseman, Albert G. “Uncle Al” Pratt, pitcher, and James L. “Deacon” White, each of whom remained with the team until its demise in 1872, and amateurs such as L.C. Hanna, who remained “pure” and refused payment. On June 2, 1869, the Forest City Club played, and lost, 25-6, the first pro baseball game in Cleveland against the professional Cincinnati Red Stockings. The game was played in front of 2,000 spectators at Case Commons at Putnam Ave. (E. 38th St.) between Scovill Avenue and Central Avenue. On March 17, 1871, the Forest City Club became a charter member of the National Association of Professional Baseball Players.

By 1871, L.C. Hanna left behind his baseball career and sailed on the steamer Northern Light for one season. In January 1872, he left for St. Paul, Minnesota, where he resided until November 1874. In 1874 he returned to Cleveland to begin his lengthy career with the firm of M. A. Hanna & Company, which at the time was one of the largest and most important firms in the country handling coal, coke, iron ore and pig iron. M. A. Hanna survived into the modern era, merging in 2000 with The Geon Company, to become The PolyOne Corporation, a company whose 2016 revenues exceeded $3.3 billion dollars. L.C. Hanna was also affiliated with the Superior Savings & Trust Company, the Guardian Savings & Trust Company and the Union National Bank of Cleveland. His memberships included the Tavern Club, the Union Club, the Roadside Club, the Country Club of Cleveland, and the Chagrin Valley Hunt Club at Gates Mill, Ohio.

L.C. Hanna also “commanded” the Cleveland Gatling Gun Battery as “captain” from 1892-1893. This para-military organization was formed in June 1878 by reactionary Clevelanders concerned about “the maintenance of law and order” after the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, which was discussed in a Beacon article that sketched the life of Edgewater resident Daniel W. Caldwell, who was President of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company and who obtained the title “General” from the governor of Ohio during the “Great Railroad Strike.”

The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History states the following regarding the Cleveland Gatling Gun Battery:

“Using contributions, the committee purchased 2 Gatling guns and then issued a call for volunteers. At a meeting in the mayor’s office, the Cleveland Gatling Gun Battery was established with 25 charter members, including Major Wilbur F. Goodspeed, elected captain; 1st Sgt. Thomas Goodwillie; 2d Sgt. Leonard C. Hanna (captain, 1882-93); 3d Sgt. John R. Ranney; and Quartermaster J. Ford Evans. On 6 Mar. 1880 the Ohio legislature enacted a bill authorizing Cleveland citizens to establish a Gatling gun battery, placed it under control of the mayor in emergencies, and made it subject to the regulations governing Ohio National Guard units. The unit was incorporated on 17 May 1880. An armory was constructed at E. Prospect and Sibley (3433 Carnegie). In 1885 the battery had 2 guns, 80 sabers, and 1 revolver. It billed the city $242 for the services of its members on guard during the iron workers’ strike at Newburgh, 8-13 and 17-21 July 1885. The majority of the unit’s activities were social events; its annual target practice, for example, included dances and was held at such resorts as St. Clair Springs, MI, and Chautauqua Lake, NY.”

L.C. Hanna was married twice. He married his first wife, Fannie Wilson Mann (1852-1885) in Buffalo, New York. He married his second wife, Coralie Walker (1852-1936) on October 17, 1888, in Richmond, Kentucky.

He had three children: Jean Claire Hanna (1880-1930), Fanny Hanna Moore (1884-1980) and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. (1889-1957). He died on March 23, 1919, and is buried in Lake View Cemetery.

L.C. Hanna’s Edgewater estate was named Urncliff, Erncliff, or Erncliffe (depending on the written source) and was located on the northside of Lake Avenue at roughly West 104th Street. The home and barn located on the estate were designed by the famed architect Charles Frederick Schweinfurth. It is likely that L.C. Hanna commissioned Schweinfurth to build his summer residence and barn in the Edgewater neighborhood shortly after his brother Marcus did and that residence and barn were complete by 1890.

In The Life and Work of Charles Frederick Schweinfurth, Cleveland Architect, (1967), author R.A. Perry stated the following regarding the Urncliff residence of L.C. Hanna:

“The residence built for Captain Leonard C. Hanna was contemporary with “Glenmere.” The L.C. Hanna design was a simpler conception than the adjacent “Glenmere.” The carriage porch of the long, low design was a wider and simplified version of the one at “Glenmere.” The lake or north façade of the L.C. Hanna residence displayed a dramatic chimney-gable interpenetration on the northeast corner of the house. Pseudo-buttresses constructed of brick with limestone ashlar trim were located on the east side of a wide brick chimney which pierced a boldly projecting gabled area which cantilevered into space. The cantilevered effect and the piling up of buttresses which sloped offsets at the base of the chimney in the L.C. Hanna design represented the most striking of all Schweinfurth’s gabled interpenetrations and appears to have been an original feature of that design.”

The interior of the L.C. Hanna residence was also simpler than that of “Glenmere” as is revealed in a comparison of the reception halls in the two residences. The L.C. Hanna barn which faced the north façade closely related to the main dwelling in the exterior sheathing and in its bold geometric arrangements. Schweinfurth’s skillful massing of bold, unadorned projecting surfaces created a feeling of movement and an interesting play of light and shade in the low, sprawling design. The L.C. Hanna house and barn were a handsome compliment to each other, and the two houses were remarkable examples of Schweinfurth’s most original productions in the “Shingle Style.” [pp. 100-101]

We are fortunate that several striking pictures of the residence and barn survive to illustrate Schweinfurth’s mastery of the Shingle Style.

The Cleveland Blue Book 1891 indicates that Mr. and Mrs. L.C. Hanna considered “Erncliff” their summer residence, while their permanent residence was at 736 Prospect. The Cleveland Blue Book 1900 again indicated that “Erncliffe” was their summer residence while changing their permanent residence to 667 Euclid Avenue. In The Cleveland Blue Book 1904, Mr. and Mrs. L.C. Hanna only list 737 Euclid as their residence and no longer list Urncliff as a summer residence.

Sadly, like Senator Hanna’s Glenmere residence, the Urncliff residence was also demolished shortly after the turn of the 20th century.

Julius Feiss & Ednawood

Few physical remains of the Gilded Age mansions that once defined the Edgewater neighborhood remain. However, for the observant, there are remains to be seen and which, when researched, reveal a story. On the northern side of Lake Avenue, between West 104th and 110th Streets, may be found the remains of a stone entrance way standing silent sentinel to what was once known as Ednawood, the mansion and estate of Julius Feiss (1848-1931).

Feiss was a partner in The Joseph & Feiss Company, an organizing member of the Cleveland Parks Commission, and, at his death, president of the Cleveland Federation of Jewish Charities. Ednawood’s original address was 10520 Lake Avenue, and extended from Lake Avenue to the shores of Lake Erie. The address was later changed to 10530 Edgewater Drive.

Ednawood once was erroneously associated with the Underground Railroad because it had a tunnel connecting the basement of the home to the shores of Lake Erie. Mazie Adams, in an article entitled, “Lakewood in the Civil War: More Underground Railroad Tunnels in Lakewood?”explains the error thusly: “[S]ome of this confusion stems from the work of Wilbur Weibert, noted 1890s historian of the underground railroad in Ohio, [who] suggested that Lakewood was part of a route for the underground railroad. Unfortunately, it appears he based his theory partially on the existence of a tunnel emptying into Lake Erie just east of Lakewood.

Interestingly, this tunnel was also featured in a Plain Dealer article, dating to 1950 and focused on Dr. Siebert’s work on the underground railroad in Ohio. Included in the article was an image of a ‘slave-escape tunnel, somewhere in Cleveland…photo from Dr. Siebert’s collection, but the exact location is not known.’ Sharp-eyed readers quickly inundated the paper with calls and letters correctly identifying the tunnel as belonging to ‘Ednawood.’

As Ednawood was built in 1893, it and its tunnel obviously post-dated the Underground Railroad. Ms. Adams continues the article to note that one of Julius Feiss’ sons described the tunnel as “leading from a basement recreation room with a big fireplace and small rooms where bathers could change before and after swims in the lake. The tunnel is said to have cost about $11,000 when built.” She notes that the Plain Dealer reported that the tunnel, “attracted dozens of boys who swam or rowed along this section, for many have written or phoned about the fun they used to have around it. But they couldn’t get beyond the great iron entrance door in the cliff.”

We know that the home was built in 1893 because notice of its construction was published in The Inland Architect and News, Vol. XXI, No. 3, p. 42 (April 1893), which noted that that the architects Lehman and Schmitt were designing and constructing “a country residence for Julius Feiss on Lake Avenue; frame, 60 by 125 feet in size; cost $40,000; all modern improvements including steam heat and electricity. For same party a gardener’s cottage and stable, costing $5,500; both frame buildings, respectively 26 by 40 and 30 by 45 feet in size.”

The Cleveland Landmark Commission records the following information about Lehman and Schmitt in its architect database:

Lehman and Schmitt were in business from 1885 to 1935. Both Israel Lehman and Theodore Schmitt had worked in the office of George H. Smith. The firm did a substantial amount of work for local government. They designed the Cuyahoga County Courthouse, and courthouses in Lexington, Kentucky; Peru, Indiana; and Franklin and Towanda, Pennsylvania. They also designed the Central Police Station on Champlain Street; an 1894 addition to the second Cuyahoga County Courthouse; the Central Armory for the Ohio National Guard; the National Guard Armory in Geneva; the Erie County Children’s Home in Sandusky; and the Lorain County Children’s Home. The firm also designed several significant synagogues, including the Anshe Chesed Synagogue built in 1886 on Scovill Avenue, Temple Tifereth Israel at Central and East 55th Street, built in 1894, and the later Anshe Chesed Synagogue at 8302 Euclid Avenue, built in 1912. The name of Lehman and Schmitt was retained after Israel Lehman’s death in 1914. The firm’s offices moved to the Electric Building in 1914. Buildings designed by the firm after 1914 included the Cook (now the Prospect Park) Building, the Pierce Arrow Dealership, and the Bing Building. The early history of the firm shows that they designed numerous residences. Frederick Baird worked as a draftsman and designer with the firm for several years. See http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/landmark/arch/archDetail.php?afil=&archID=160&pageNum_rsArchitects=1&totalRows_rsArchitects=335&sk=fName&sd=ASC

U.S. Census records reveal that the massive house with its intriguing tunnel was home to Julius, his wife Carrie (nee Dryfoos), and their children Paul, Henry Otto, Richard, Jessy, George, and Edna, his niece Emma Seligmann, as well as three servants, Catherine Lazzro, Emma Boyer, and Johanna Miller, in 1900. It was apparently named after Julius’ daughter Edna, who was born in 1886.

Julius Feiss himself was born in Mussbach, Bavaria and emigrated to the United States in 1866. His story, like that of several other residents already profiled, is an immigrant’s rags to riches story. An October 1920 article in the American Magazine by Frank Copley relates Feiss’ Horatio Alger story:

When Julius Feiss came to this country as a boy, his assets were just about limited to his character, which included a full capacity for hard, grinding toil. If he had a decided bent for mechanics, this at the beginning was more of a liability than an asset. As Richard Feiss puts it, “Father began life starving to death as an inventor.” To save himself from literally starving, Julius Feiss went to work in the clothing shop of the firm that was destined to bear his name. This was in 1866. The twelve-hour day was then the standard, but Feiss, as the newest arrival, was required to devote practically the whole twenty four hours to the firm’s service. He had to clean up the shop after the regular day’s work, sleep there in a packing box among the rats, and be ready to open the door for the other employees at six-thirty in the morning. After four years, through sheer force of character, he rose to be a member of the firm. The business prospered.

A few words about “the business” are in order as the company had an impact and longevity that are worthy of especial appreciation. The Joseph & Feiss Company was founded in 1841 as the Koch, Kauffman & Loeb general store in Meadville, Pennsylvania. In 1845, proprietors Kaufman Koch and Samuel Loeb relocated to Cleveland where they opened a store at 82 Superior Street, specializing in tailored men’s clothing and piece goods to local tailors. The company changed hands as it grew larger: Koch & Levi in 1853, Koch, Levi & Mayer in 1855, Koch, Mayer & Goldsmith in 1867, Koch, Goldsmith & Company in 1871 and Goldsmith, Joseph, Feiss & Company in 1892. Moritz Joseph and Julius Feiss both joined the clothing company in the 1870s. When Jacob Goldsmith retired in 1907, the firm adopted the name The Joseph & Feiss Company.

In Jim Debelko’s article, “The Joseph and Feiss Company: A Pioneer in Progressive Capitalism,” we learn what an extraordinary company it was. He reports the following: “Prior to 1909, the company was a typical garment manufacturer of that era, paying its employees as little as possible and working them for as many hours as hard it reasonably could. But in that year, Richard Feiss became factory manager. While living in Boston from 1897-1904 and obtaining his undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University, Feiss had become a disciple of Frederick Taylor, the well-known industrial efficiency engineer of the late nineteenth century. When Feiss returned to Cleveland, he set out to manage the company’s work force in a manner that would maximize productivity but at the same time create a humane work environment that would keep workers healthy and happy.

Feiss, with the assistance of Progressive era reformer Mary Barnett Gilson whom Feiss made head of the company’s employment and services department, redesigned the chairs employees sat on and the tables they worked upon to reduce injury and fatigue; provided employees with well-lit and well-ventilated work areas; sponsored employee dances, picnics, choral societies, clubs, orchestras, and athletic programs; provided medical and counseling services; established employee savings programs; awarded promotions based on performance; and increased wages. In addition, in 1917, Feiss introduced the five-day work week for employees at the company’s plant, several years before Henry Ford, often cited as the first industrial employer in the United States to do so.

“Perhaps it was progressive policies like the above that kept Joseph & Feiss a non-union shop in the decades of the 1910s and 1920s–a time when garment manufacturers in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere were fast becoming union shops. It wasn’t until 1934, during the Great Depression and almost a decade after Richard Feiss was forced out of the company in 1925 by his father and older brother, that the American Clothing Workers of America, finally won the right to bargain for and represent the garment workers of Joseph & Feiss.

In 1989, Joseph & Feiss was acquired by Hugo Boss AG, a West German clothing firm, for $150 million and was made a division of its subsidiary, International Fashions Apparel Corporation. Men’s Warehouse acquired the Joseph & Feiss trademark in December 1996.

So, when you spy the remnants of Ednawood when you walk along Lake Avenue, you should reflect on its stories: the rags to riches story of an immigrant, the myth of an Underground Railroad station, the powerhouse clothing manufacturer that lasted nearly 150 years, and the progressive and scientific methods that manufacturer introduced to industry before they were commonplace.

Herman N. Matzen’s Edgewater Connection

One of the well-known gems of the neighborhood is the Richard Wagner statue located in Edgewater Park. It was commissioned in 1911 by the Goethe-Schiller Society, which selected the accomplished sculptor Herman N. Matzen to create the monument.

Mr. Matzen was born in Denmark on July 15, 1861. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin before permanently immigrating to the United States where, in 1884, he married Emma Hale.

In 1885, he began teaching design and sculpture at the Cleveland School of Art. After his wife Emma died, he married Blanche Dissette in 1908. He was a teacher at the Cleveland School of Art and head of the Department of Sculpture for decades, retiring in 1926. His students included such prominent figures as Max Kalish, Frank Wilcox, and Norman Bel Geddes. He died on April 22, 1938, and was buried in Lakeview Cemetery. The Edgewater community is fortunate to have one of his works in our midst.

Donald Rosenberg, writing for The Plain Dealer on August 19, 2012, in an article entitled, “Wagner statue in Edgewater Park Shows Cleveland’s devotion to titanic German composer,” described the statue as depicting the composer standing in long coat and beret, his left hand holding gloves and a document, which could be a score or one of his polemical writings.

In the article, Rosenberg shared that “[a]mong the prominent figures who have visited the statue is Siegfried Wagner, the composer’s son, who was in town with his wife, Winifred, in February 1924 to conduct a touring orchestra in a program titled ‘Music of Three Generations.’ Siegfried made the short pilgrimage to Edgewater Park, traipsing through snow to stand in front of his father’s monument and have his photo taken.”

Aside from the Wagner monument, some of the best known of Mr. Matzen’s works are the statue of Mayor Tom Johnson in Public Square (1916), the Thomas White memorial, the Moses and Pope Gregory IX statues on the exterior of the Cuyahoga County Courthouse, the Cain and Abel statues on the Painesville County Courthouse, and the Haserot memorial in Lake View Cemetery.

U.S. Senator M.A. Hanna: Part I

“Senator Hanna bought part of Twin Elms and made it famous. The McKinley election was planned in the famous summer house which finally fell over into the lake. Leonard C. Hanna built next door and we all became intimate friends.” – Jacob Bishop Perkins

In the late nineteenth century, Jacob Bishop Perkins (1854-1936) owned most of the land that is now the Edgewater Neighborhood and Edgewater Park. His holdings in Edgewater were known prosaically as Perkins’ Farm even though farming was never undertaken on the land. More poetically, his estate in Edgewater was known as Twin Elms. However, this article is not about Mr. Perkins or Twin Elms, rather, it is about the most famous resident of Edgewater, Marcus Alonzo Hanna, and his then equally famous estate, Glenmere.

Marcus Alonzo Hanna (1837-1904) was an extraordinary man who features prominently in Cleveland, Ohio, and American history. His careers were multiple, and his successes far outshone his failures. He was an industrialist, owner of the Westside Railway and its successors, publisher of the Cleveland Herald, Republican Party eminence, President William McKinley’s campaign manager, and twice elected U.S. Senator. He even, for a time, owned and operated the Euclid Avenue Opera House. His legacy was broad as he had a major role in the economic prosperity of Cleveland as a businessman, the election of President McKinley as a “political boss,” and the building of the Panama Canal as a senator.

Mr. Hanna was born on September 24, 1837, in Lisbon, Ohio. He moved to Cleveland in 1852, where he attended high school with John D. Rockefeller. On September 27, 1864, he married Charlotte Augusta Rhodes, in spite of the spirited disapproval of her father, prominent west side community leader, Democrat, and businessman Daniel Rhodes.

Originally, the couple resided with Mr. Rhodes in his Franklin Boulevard mansion, later moving to a small home on Prospect Street. After a series of unfortunate business setbacks left Mr. Hanna financially exhausted, he and his wife returned to Mr. Rhodes’ Franklin mansion and Mr. Hanna was brought into Mr. Rhodes’ business as a principal. Once Mr. Hanna became a principal in Mr. Rhodes’ company, he and the company prospered.

Jacob Bishop Perkins sold Mark and Charlotte Hanna a portion of Twin Elms on which they built a residence in 1889. They called their estate “Glenmere.” It is at Glenmere that they raised their daughter Ruth Hanna, who married Joseph Medill McCormick, owner of the Chicago Tribune and later a U.S. Senator. After Senator McCormick’s death, Ruth went on to marry U.S. Representative Albert Gallatin Sims. But Ruth Hanna, not one to merely be associated with politicians, was an able politician in her own right, having served as a U.S. Representative in Congress and being the first woman to be the nominee of the Republic Party for a U.S. Senate seat.

The Glenmere Estate

Charles Frederick Schweinfurth was the leading residential architect in Cleveland during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, responsible for more homes on Cleveland Millionaire Row on Euclid Avenue than any other architect. Naturally,

Mark Hanna engaged Mr. Schweinfurth to design and build Glenmere when he came to the Edgewater neighborhood at the invitation of Mr. Perkins.

In The Life and Works of Charles Frederick Schweinfurth – Cleveland Architect, R.A. Perry records the following about Glenmere:

“The most original “Shingle Style” residences of Schweinfurth’s early period were two summer homes designed for United States Senator Marcus A. Hanna and his brother Leonard. Both of the Hanna houses were completed in or around 1889 and were located … near the shores of Lake Erie. The Hanna designs reflected a horizontal emphasis which was new in Schweinfurth’s work, and both designs had two facades.”

“Glenmere,” the summer residence of Marcus A. Hanna, was probably the earlier of the two designs and was the more elaborate. On the south façade of “Glenmere” was a projecting carriage porch below an enlarged version of the “Shingle Style” Siamese gable, but decorated with contrasting stripes in imitation of English half-timber construction. The hexagonal cupola which had been used earlier on the Dellenbaugh and Nye designs also could be seen on the roof at “Glenmere.” At the south west end of the façade was a double tower motif which penetrated a boldly projecting gable in an unusually dramatic manner. It has not been possible to locate any prototypes for that feature which was apparently original.

The lake façade of “Glenmere” reflected a different character from the entrance façade. The main features of the lake or north façade were a wide porch supported on Tuscan columns, a second story loggia, and a number of gables, circular towers, and clustered chimneys which projected from the steep pitched roof.

“Glenmere” was the scene of many splendid parties and other social events in Cleveland, and its owner was an important figure in American history. The plan for “Glenmere” included a spacious entrance hall with a baluster screen pierced by an oval opening located in front of the staircase.

The dining room contained an elaborate mantel with a veined marble fireplace and the dining room included a classical-inspired mantle finished in white and gold which links Schweinfurth with the Colonial Revival style.

The interior decorations at “Glenmere” were the most elaborate since the Everett mansion of 1883. The Marcus Hanna residence was Schweinfurth’s largest “Shingle Style “design. The decidedly horizontal emphasis of the design and the use of decorative half-timber framing were the closest Schweinfurth ever came to the design of a Shavian manor house.

Sadly, Glenmere was demolished in the early 20th century. Fortunately, Glenmere was sufficiently famous that pictures of it appeared on contemporary postcards and it was featured in heavily photographed publications, including Inland Architect and News Record.

In the next article, we will talk about the campaign which won William McKinley the presidency of the United States, which was planned and largely executed at Glenmere, and Ruth Hanna’s “Wedding of the Century,” which was hosted at the Glenmere Estate and brought, among others, President Theodore Roosevelt to the Edgewater neighborhood on a sunny June day in 1903.