The next time you have a car full of guests, be sure to regale them with these tantalizing “dad facts” (pointless, but somewhat cool tidbits) about Cleveland. You can thank us later.
The next time you have a car full of guests, be sure to regale them with these tantalizing “dad facts” (pointless, but somewhat cool tidbits) about Cleveland. You can thank us later.
Chef Boyardee Was Created Here
Chef Boyardee started here. Before Beefaroni went global, Italian chef Hector Boiardi moved to Cleveland and in 1924, opened a restaurant here called Giardino d’Italia at the corner of East Ninth Street and Woodland. People began asking for the recipe and that led to the brand becoming one of the most recognized in the world.
Photo via Mike Mozart/FlickrCleveland Was Home To The First Indoor Shopping Mall In North America
The Arcade, which opened in 1890, is believed to be the first indoor shopping mall in North America. Modeled after the Galleria Vitorrio Emanuelle in Milan, Italy, the Arcade was financed by some of the richest men in Cleveland at the time like Louis Severance, John D. Rockefeller, Charles Brush and Marcus Hanna.
Photo via MK Feeney/FlickrEddie Vedder, John Cusack and Bill Murray Once Walked Into A Downtown Bar After A World Series Game and Sang Karaoke
When the Indians battled the Chicago Cubs in the 2016 World Series, they attracted celebrity fans like Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder and actors Bill Murray and John Cusack. If you happened to go to Victory Alley, a bar/restaurant right outside the gates of Progressive Field one night, you’d have seen all three celebrities enter the bar. Murray was spotted singing karaoke. For the record, the bar doesn’t even have a karaoke machine.
Photo via WikipediaCleveland Was The First City Lit With Electricity
Let there be light! Cleveland was the first city to be lit electrically. In 1879, inventor Charles Brush lit up Public Square. It’s also the first to use an electric traffic signal, installed on Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street.
Photo via Erik Drost/FlickrThe Modern Golf Ball Was Invented in Northeast Ohio
In 1899, Coburn Haskell, an avid golfer and employee and close friend of the presitigous Hanna family, reinvented the golf ball. Prior to 1899, the golf ball was something called the gutta-percha, which consisted of hardened juice from trees located in South America and the Pacific Islands. Haskell and Bertram G. Work of Akron and employee of BF Goodrich decided to patent a new ball, which consisted of rubber thread wrapped around a solid rubber core, which made the ball much easier to hit far distances and greatly helped the sport rise in popularity.
Photo via WikimediaOhio is One of Two States With an Official Rock Song
Being the state that invented the term Rock ‘n’ Roll means that we get to be one of the only states with an official State Rock Song. “Hang On Sloopy,” by The McCoys, originally from Dayton, is not only the song sung by Buckeye fans across the country, it also became the only official rock song. Oklahoma is the only other state with an official rock song.
Record Cover ArtLake Erie Is The Most Biologically Productive Of The Great Lakes
Lake Erie is the most biologically productive of the Great Lakes and considered one of the best hotspots to reel in a walleye. So that’s why the Cleveland streets smell like a fish sometimes. It’s also the warmest and most shallow.
Photo via WikimediaMace Spray Is Headquartered Here
Located on Carnegie, Mace Security International is the worldwide manufacturer of Mace Spray, the original brand of personal defense spray. The spray was created in 1970.
Photo via wikimediaThe Semi-Truck Was Invented Here
Alexander Winton and his brother started the Winton Bicycle Company in 1891. The bicycle company gave way to a automobile company called the Winton Motor Carriage Company of Cleveland. Winton needed a way to deliver his automobiles, so he attached a cart to the back of the car and the rest is history.
Photo via Detroit Metro TimesLifesavers Were Invented In Cleveland
In 1912, Clarence Crane, a local Cleveland candy maker invented the Life Saver. Crane is the father of poet Hart Crane. He didn’t have the space to manufacture the candy so he partnered with a pill company to manufacture the sweet.
Photo ProvidedYou Need A Hunting License To Kill A Mouse
Every place has their fair share of dumb laws. In Cleveland, you can’t kill a mouse without a hunting license … not that the law is enforced.
Photo via WikimediaThe First Rock Concert Was Held in Cleveland
We all know that disc jockey Alan Freed coined the term Rock ‘n’ Roll in Cleveland. But did you know that the first rock concert also took place in Cleveland? The Moondog Coronation Ball was put on by Freed in 1952 at the Cleveland Arena and featured Paul Williams and The Hucklebuckers and Tiny Grimes and the Rockin’ Highlanders.
Photo via WikipediaThe Full Body Scan Was Invented In Cleveland
Dayton C. Miller, a physicist at Case Western University, invented the first full-body scanning machine in 1896. The technology Miller invented was then used for modern technology like MRIs and CT scans.
Photo via WikimediaPlayhouse Square is the Second Largest Performing Arts Center in the Country
Lincoln Center in New York City is the only performing arts center in the United States larger than Cleveland’s Playhouse Square. The non-profit center, which was originally constructed in 1920, hosts over 1,000 events a year and receives more than 1 million visitors.
Photo via Scene ArchivesPotato Chips Were First Mass Produced Here
Potato chips were around well before 1895 but before that, they were exclusively served at restaurants. That is, until Clevelander William Tappenden decided to bring them to the masses. Tappenden began my making chips at his home stove and then delivered them to local grocers on his horse-drawn wagon. He then converted the barn behind his home on East 79th Street in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland into a potato chip factory.
Photo via WikimediaJohn D. Rockefeller Made His Fortune Here
For some reason, industrialist John D. Rockefeller is associated with the city of New York. But the billionaire went to high school here, started Standard Oil here and is buried in Lake View Cemetery. Rockefeller, still considered the richest man of all time when adjusted for inflation, lived on Euclid’s Millionaires’ Row.
Photo via WikimediaThe Automobile Was Really Invented Here
While the city of Detroit is widely known as the birthplace of the invention of the automobile, the first gas-powered car was invented in Cleveland. John Lambert of Ohio City came up with the invention in 1891, over a decade before the Model-T was produced.
Photo via WikipediaWe’re Named Cleveland Basically Because Of Newspaper Formatting
The city was originally given the name Cleaveland after Moses Cleaveland came to the city in 1796. In 1830, local newspaper The Cleaveland Leader realized that the extra ‘a’ didn’t fit on its cover and changed Cleaveland into Cleveland.
Photo via WikipediaFirst Free Home Mail Delivery Was In Cleveland
Joseph William Briggs, a Cleveland, Ohio, postal clerk, often is credited with conceiving the idea of free city delivery. In 1862, the lines at the post office were long while people awaited news of loved ones fighting in the Civil War. Briggs then came up with the idea of delivering mail to people’s homes.
Photo via Wikipedia
