The Flats
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The Flats is a mixed-use industrial, entertainment, and increasingly residential area of Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The area was given its name due to its mostly flat appearance and is defined as being the lower lying areas that line the banks of the Cuyahoga River. The Flats have had significant historical influence on the city and greater region.
[edit] History
The banks of the Cuyahoga River were the landing spot of Moses Cleaveland and his survey party on their arrival from Connecticut in 1796. After completion of his task, Cleaveland went back to Connecticut, never to return. Early settlers included Lorenzo Carter, whose land holdings included much of what makes up today's East Bank entertainment district, including the area that is known as Whiskey Island (which was created when the mouth of the river was straightened by the Corps of Engineers). The log cabin located today on Merwin Road near Center Street on the East Bank is a recreation of his home, although much further downstream than where his was located.
Early residents found the Flats very inhospitable for living, especially in summer months when humidity and airborne illness were at their peaks, and in harsh winters with strong winds and snowfall generated by Lake Erie. Many of the early settlers took to higher ground in current day Downtown. These settlers often relied on local Native American residents who lived on the West Bank and were more adept at living in the area.
Cleveland's early development and population growth was slow until the arrival of the Ohio and Erie Canal, which brought a trade route from the Ohio River and other southern Ohio cities. It also brought a heavily Irish immigrant workforce to help construct the canal who took residence on the West Bank of the Flats and neighboring Ohio City. As Cleveland was developing, so too was Ohio City, whose prosperity was fueled by the West Side Market. Food taken from farms grown in Medina County via US 42 was being sold at the Market to residents of both Ohio City and Cleveland, and was quickly being seen as a threat to Cleveland's development.
To thwart this threat, Cleveland destroyed their half of a floating bridge at Main Street which was jointly owned by Cleveland and Ohio City and the only mode of traveling between the two cities. Cleveland then constructed a new bridge further downstream which connected then Cleveland Mayor John W. Willey and developer/friend Jas Clark's "Willeyville" and "Cleveland Centre" developments along the newly constructed Columbus Road. With the Main Street bridge unusable commercial produce traffic had no choice but to use the new Columbus Road to sell their produce at the new Central Market, bypassing the West Side Market altogether. Infuriated Ohio City residents using the rallying cry of "two bridges or none" marched on the new Columbus Road bridge with guns, axes, and other tools in an effort to destroy the bridge. They were met by a mob of Cleveland residents ready to fight and the ensuing "Bridge War" was put down by county sheriff's officers.
While the courts made Cleveland reconstruct their half of the Main Street Bridge, the damage had been done to Ohio City. It would soon be the first area to be annexed by Cleveland as its growth continued. A recession on the middle 1800s caused Willey and Clark's Cleveland Centre mixed commercial and residential plan to collapse, and the land was purchased by the growing industrial presence helped by the canal and the arrival of the locomotive. By this time the Flats had become known as an unsavory place. The cities' poor Irish lived along the West Bank in the "Irish Ghetto" near the intersection of Columbus, Carter, Franklin, and Riverbed Roads. Shipmen would find services at establishments like the "Flat Iron", the oldest Irish Bar in the Flats, which was originally a three story cafeteria and inn. Lumberyards lined the river with freshly cut wood waiting to be shipped. John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company, located on the East Bank, was putting Cleveland on the map as an industrial power, and would later put Cleveland on the map for being the pollution capital of the world. The company's oil often found its way into the river from oil refineries located further downstream.
The Flats' industrial legacy, however, would be defined by its steel mills. This would be the driving force in Cleveland's economy for producing jobs and city resources. Mills have been historically Cleveland's biggest buyer of water and electricity, two critical ingredients in the steel making process. The names have changed over the years, from Republic and J&L, to LTV to ISG to current day Mittal, but the location along the river south of the Tremont neighborhood and west of the Slavic Village neighborhood has remained the same. Post-war recessions and production being shifted from the states to competitors in China and Europe hit the Cleveland steel industry hard. Layoffs in the late 1970s forced many to find work elsewhere, or support from welfare programs. During this time Cleveland, along with other industrial cities in the region like Youngstown, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Gary, had unaffectionately become known as the Rust Belt. LTV's repeated bankruptcies finally led to the closing their plants in 2000 (including Cleveland's plant), until investors formed ISG and resumed operations, although they have been considerably scaled back.
Closer towards the river's mouth the story was much the same. Over the course of the second half of the 20th century, much of the industry and manufacturing located in the flats pulled out or closed shop all together, leaving its mark on the landscape with abandoned, decaying buildings and seemingly irreversible pollution. The Cuyahoga River actually caught fire multiple times due to the amount of chemicals in the water. However, its most recent fire in 1969 was its most famous. This fire brought unwanted national attention to the failures of Cleveland and brought much needed national attention to environmental issues leading to the formation of both the Ohio and U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies just one year later.
[edit] The Flats today
It wasn't until the middle 1980s that the Flats saw a resurgence as an entertainment destination. Attention was being given to Cleveland's decaying downtown and the Flats was a focal point. While underground music venues existed on the East Bank mainstream development first took place on the West Bank. "The Powerhouse", which was constructed to power the city's cable car system, was renovated to include multiple bars, restaurants, and an outdoor music venue used during the summer. Other old warehouses and buildings were also renovated into nightlife destinations. At its peak in the early 1990s, the Flats had the highest concentration of bars in the Midwest with both locally owned bars and national restaurant chains lining both sides of the river from the mouth down to the area known as the Oxbow bend. The Flats and Cleveland had soon become an entertainment mecca and destination for the region. The Flats Oxbow Association was formed to help aid the redevelopment of the flats, and housing development soon followed on both sides of the river, with new construction and warehouses being converted into condominiums and apartments.
The Flats' heyday as an entertainment destination was short lived. Three drowning deaths in a one month period in 2000, along with a city crackdown on fire and health code violations led to multiple bars being shut down, and patrons becoming scared off due to safety concerns led to a sharp decrease in business. While this was a boon for the redevelopment for the Warehouse District, the area just up the hill from the East Bank, it sent shock waves through the Flats' redevelopment from which it has never fully recovered. Most of the East Bank has gone "dark" due to the number of businesses that have closed. Plans unveiled in the summer of 2005 include leveling most of these buildings and creating a new "neighborhood" that includes mixed use live/work spaces, a movie theatre, shopping, a grocery store and riverwalk. The West Bank has fared better than the East since 2000. While not anywhere near its pre-2000 peaks, it still has many establishments open, and has been home to the majority of housing developments in the Flats. New upscale condominiums have been constructed along the old Irishtown Bend and at the remains of the Superior Viaduct, which was the first high rise bridge to span the river. New shopping destinations are also in development, like the Steelyard Commons, which is currently under construction on lands previously occupied by the steel mills. The canal's towpath trail, part of the Ohio & Erie Canal Corridor, is also being restored to provide jogging and bike trails for city residents and to preserve part of the Flats history. Whiskey Island has also been purchased by Cuyahoga County in hopes of making it more accessible to residents in the form of a lakefront park. The water quality of the river has also improved since 1970, with fish populations returning increasingly each year. This is largely due to the unintended importation of zebra mussels from Asia in the ballast of ships in the Port of Cleveland or some other port on Lake Erie.
