Cleveland Vintage Blog — History

In a recent conversation, I was asked exactly when Cleveland became known as “The City of Light” and I had to answer honestly that I had no idea. But since I’m rarely caught that off-guard on topics Cleveland-related, I set out to track down the answer. It led me to one Charles F. Brush, the inventor born in Ohio who brought us the arc light. If the name “Brush" and the word “arc” sound familiar, your instincts are correct. Brush High School, which serves the South Euclid-Lyndhurst School District, is indeed named after Brush. And their team nickname - the “Arcs” -...

Rocco Scotti was a beloved Cleveland baritone/tenor who sang the National Anthem more than anyone else - an estimated 10,000 times by the singer's own estimation. Scotti was the son of Italian immigrants and raised in Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood. The popular local talent passed away in 2015 at the age of 95, but was well-known for all the times he sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Cleveland Indians games, which dates back to his first time on Opening Day in 1952. Scotti even became good friends with Cleveland great Bob Feller over the years. One of his most famous renditions at Municipal...

Many of us longtime Clevelanders remember it like it was just this past Saturday afternoon. “Hello der” (dare) was how Marty Sullivan, aka “Superhost,” greeted his fans when coming on air or back from commercials during his successful run on local Cleveland television station WUAB. The show, in a variety of formats, enjoyed a nice long run of 20 years from 1969 to 1989. Sullivan performed a variety of jobs at the station prior to and during his run as Superhost. He was a floor director and an on- and off-air show host while also wearing a very baggy, cartoonish...

“Every nineteen minutes the place goes crazy” was the slogan for Northfield Park during its heyday of promoting night racing, date nights and, even for a time, a micro brewery. The motto remains, though it's hardly ever heard anymore, and something even more interesting about Northfield Park might just be its ties to one Alphonse Gabriel Capone of Chicago. The spot where Northfield Park stands today began as Sportsman Park in the early 1920s and was originally a greyhound racing track. Details about the financial woes the track experienced seem to be centered around the fact that greyhound race betting...

A little while back we wrote a post on all of Cleveland’s connections to the Titanic sinking, but we came across a little bit more about one Mary Davison Godwin from Bedford and we felt compelled to share. Mary Davison Godwin was born in England, but her family settled in Bedford, Ohio, where she met a Mister Thomas Henry (who went by Harry to most that knew him) Davison. In 1902, the couple married and stayed in the Bedford area to be near her family. However, work became difficult to find for Harry and the two headed off to England...