Two hundred summers ago, the Cleaveland with an "a" popped ashore at what is now Cleveland without the "a."

Moses Cleaveland thought it was a pretty neat place: ideal, he said, as a capital for the Connecticut Western Reserve.

Nonetheless, Cleaveland with an "a" and his Connecticut Land Company surveyors didn't stick around long.

Cleveland without an "a" stuck around...stuck around for 200 years now, even though, at one time or another, some people raised questions about whether the city would make it, and if it did, how much of a city it would be.

So, in this summer that is just beginning, and 200 summers after the arrival of Moses, the city is about to have it's big birthday bash: a lot bigger blow-out than huffing and puffing at 200 candles on a cake! Later this month, a three-day "Happy Birthday" party gets underway along the river that brought Moses here in the first place, and everyone is invited.

It begins July 19, with a noontime ribbon-cutting at the new Great Lakes Science Center on North Coast Harbor. Opening ceremonies continue that evening at Settlers Landing in the Flats. The riverfront part of the festival ends at midnight, July 21, after fireworks and a performance by the Cleveland Orchestra.

Cleveland's actual birthday is July 22, and after an ecumenical service at Old Stone Church that Monday morning, there will be an official marking of the anniversary with the re-dedication of Public Square.

Between noon Friday, July 19, and noon Monday, July 22, all sorts of things are happening. More on those events in this space in the days to come.

Of course, a lot already has happened in this Cleveland anniversary year: the Bicentennial kick-off last New Year's Eve...a series of "Caravan" events to highlight Cleveland's neighborhoods...many arts, educational, historical, neighborhood and sports programs.

Another part of the Bicentennial Year is the establishment of what are called, "Legacy Projects." The Science Center, right next door to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, is one of them (it opens to the public July 20, the day after its official dedication). Others include the lighting of the Flats bridges, the rehabilitation and building of housing, the planting of 10,000 trees, new public parks: one on the lakefront at the end of East 9th Street, another at Settlers Landing and the Star Plaza in the theater district and RTA's Waterfront Line.

The Waterfront Line opens to the public July 10. It's a 2.2-mile run with four stops after leaving Terminal Tower: Settlers Landing, the Flats East Bank, North Coast Harbor and the South Marginal Road municipal parking lot.

Each of those stops is an experience: perhaps not stretching too much to call that experience, the history and future of Cleveland in art. Different art forms are incorporated into each of the four stations where the refurbished, electrically-powered trains pause. The train cars, themselves, are artworks of a sort: the pictures of noted Clevelanders on the outside of the cars, and brief biographies of the people inside the cars.

This is not all flashy stuff...not with a cost of somewhere between $55-million and $69-million! Cleveland is two centuries old; this is the first extension of an RTA rail line in a quarter-century. And the Transit Authority expects annual ridership on the Waterfront Line to begin at 600,000 and grow to 1,500,000.

Statistics may be impressive, but they also can be dull.

The 10-minute ride on the Waterfront Line should be anything but dull.

The rider will see Cleveland scenes never before available.

And there is that 645-foot section that RTA calls "a segmental bridge." It is a tight curve of a bridge from 24 feet up coming down to ground level.

Okay, so it isn't the newest roller coaster at your favorite amusement park! But, at 15 miles an hour descending on a curve....hey, that's the stuff of thrills for some.

And for the thrill of Birthday 200, that's pretty good stuff.

RETURN TO Cleveland, The New American City

CLEVELAND BICENTENNIAL home page

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