Portal:Cleveland, Ohio

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The city of Cleveland is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the U.S. state of Ohio. The municipality is located on the southern shore of Lake Erie, in the Western Reserve in northeastern Ohio on the Cuyahoga River, approximately 60 miles (100 km) west of the Pennsylvania border. It was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the river, and became a manufacturing center owing to its location at the head of numerous canals and railroad lines. After the decline of heavy manufacturing, Cleveland's businesses are now more often in the financial services, insurance, and healthcare sectors.

As of the 2000 Census, the city proper had a total population of 478,403, making it the 33rd largest city in the nation (recent estimates from the Census Bureau show it to currently be the 36th largest). It is the center of Greater Cleveland, the largest metropolitan area in Ohio, which spans several counties and is defined in several different ways by the United States Census Bureau. The Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor Metropolitan Statistical Area has 2,250,871 people and is the 23rd largest in the country. Cleveland is also part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area, which is the 14th largest in the country with a population of 2,945,831 according to the 2000 Census.

Residents of Cleveland are usually referred to as Clevelanders. Nicknames used for the city include The Forest City, Metropolis of the Western Reserve, The New American City, America's North Coast, The Heart of New Connecticut, and C-Town. Its nineteen sister cities include Volgograd, Russia; Bratislava, Slovakia; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Miskolc, Hungary; Bangalore, India; and Alexandria, Egypt.

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William R. Hopkins served as the first city manager of Cleveland from 1924 to 1929. By that time, Cleveland had seen several controversial political figures in office such as Frederick Kohler and Harry L. Davis. Voters decided to try to extricate municipal government from partisan politics by adopting the city manager plan. Hopkins was selected by local Republican boss Maurice Maschke, former postmaster William J. Murphy, and business manager of the news George Moran as the man who could hold the job as the city's manager. He was elected to the position by a coalition.

As city manager, Hopkins brought new development to Cleveland. He pushed for the development of parks, improved welfare institutions, wider boulevards, more playgrounds, air pollution control, and the construction of the Van Sweringen brothers' Terminal Tower. However, because the balance between city council and the city's central government was outweighed due to Hopkins' efficiency, council was always at war with the city manager, especially the newly-elected Peter Witt.

In 1925, he proposed a bold new initiative; the construction of a large airport located ten miles southwest of downtown. At the time, the idea seemed like a pipe dream with the introduction of the airplane being relatively new. However, it was built as Cleveland Municipal Airport and became the first municipally owned airport in the United States. In 1951, the name was changed to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in his honor.

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