The Flats were initially established as a residential area for a heavily Irish population in the mid 1800s. Many of the workers that built the Ohio and Erie Canal, which jumpstarted the development of Cleveland, lived in the West Bank of the Flats but eventually left for downtown because of tough living conditions. In the mid-19th century, the Flats became an industrial center of Cleveland. John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil played a big part in that when the company built a headquarters on the East Bank. Steel Mills then became the defining industry of the area, starting all the way back in the late 1800s until many closed in the 1970s. Then, the Flats became a popular late night and entertainment district in the 1980s and 90s before dying down in the late 90s. The area was pretty quiet despite a few remaining bars and restaurants and factories until the revival of the East Bank in 2013.
All photos via the Cleveland Memory Project .
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Bridge, 1800s Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Iron Ore Equipment, 1870 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Irishtown Bend, 1870 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Merwin Street, 1878 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Superior Viaduct, 1878 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Seneca Street Bridge, 1880 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Lumber Yard Section, 1890 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Central Viaduct, 1890 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Spring Flood Cleanup, 1893 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Sidewheel Steamer Boat, 1895 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Central Viaduct, 1895 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Columbus Street Bridge, 1897 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Northeast Along the Detroit-Superior Viaduct, 1900 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Looking west from Broadway and Dille Avenue, 1900 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Erie Freight Yards, 1901 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Cuyahoga Valley from Jennings Avenue, 1901 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Lumber Yard, 1909 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Unloading Lumber from a Freight Boat, 1909 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Nickel Plate Railroad Bridge, 1910 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Center Street Swing Bridge, 1913 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Central Viaduct, 1914 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Detroit-Superior Bridge, 1915 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Lumber Pile with May Company in Background, 1916 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Nickel Plate railroad Passenger Station, 1916 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Newburgh Rolling Mills, 1918 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project West 3rd Street and south of Canal Road, 1924 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Looking East, Showing Cleveland Union Terminal Viaduct, Cleveland Waste Paper Company and More, 1926 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Looking west from the roof of the Ohio Bell Telephone Company Building, showing Collision Bend and Roof of old Market-House, 1927 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Iron Ore Furnace, 1928 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Looking west from the roof of the Ohio Bell Telephone Company Building, showing Smoke Stacks and Factories, 1929 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Aerial view of Flats, from Terminal Tower, 1929 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project View from Broadway, 1930 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Terminal Tower from Flats, 1930 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Industrial Landscape, 1930 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Industrial Landscape, 1930 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Industrial Landscape, 1931 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Lorain-Carnegie Bridge, 1931 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Eagle Street Lift Bridge, 1931 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Lorain-Carnegie Bridge, 1931 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Detroit-Superior Bridge, 1933 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project View From Flats of Newman House Wrecking Company, Terminal Tower and Rockefeller Building Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Industrial Section of Flats, 1934 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Great Lakes Towing Company Dry Docks, 1935 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Winter in the Flats, 1935 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project American Shipbuilding Company Yards, 1935 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Looking South, 1936 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Taken From Terminal Tower, 1937 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Corrigan-McKinney Steel Co. Workers, 1937 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Detroit-Superior Bridge, 1937 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project View of Flats, 1938 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Main Avenue Bridge With Terminal Tower in Background, 1939 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
A view from the Main Avenue Bridge, Cleveland Window Glass and Door Company in Center, 1939 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Main Avenue Bridge, 1939 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Main Avenue Bridge, 1939 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Main Avenue Bridge, 1939 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Blast Furnace, 1941 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Winslow Avenue, 1947 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
Looking East Towards West Ninth, 1950 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Under Detroit-Superior Bridge, 1951 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project Southwest from Merwin Avenue, 1951 Credit: Cleveland Memory Project
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