Lost Cleveland is an engrossing excursion into the city's rarefied architectural air during its heyday as the sixth-largest city in the country. Author Michael DeAloia recounts the histories of seven culturally significant and iconic architectural gems that defined Cleveland's position of wealth and importance during the industrial age. Inspired by noble visions of Cleveland's most elite residents, these structures reflect the vigor and imagination that suffused city leaders. From Severance Hall, still home to the Cleveland Orchestra and the only structure in this collection that remains standing, to "Andrew's Folly," the grandest house built on legendary Millionaire's Row, Lost Cleveland provides a revealing historical retrospective on the growth, development and ultimate decline of the North Coast's greatest city.

At its height, Cleveland was a center of industry. Nearly 1 million people called the city home, and all of them needed various assortments of goods, wares and sundries. To serve their desires, fabulous stores once graced the city. The names alone--Higbee's, Halle's, May Company, Taylor Son & Company, Sterling Linder and Bailey's--conjure a comforting memory of sophisticated style and lost glamour. At the heart of this consumer paradise stood Euclid Avenue, Cleveland's golden façade. With its dynamic retail stores, homes to countless millionaires and elevated air, it was one of a trio of famous American retail promenades alongside New York's Fifth Avenue and State Street in Chicago. Local historian Michael DeAloia's illuminating chronicle evokes the golden age of Cleveland's prestige and elegance.

Relates the stories of seven notable architectural achievements from throughout the history of Cleveland, Ohio, including the Elysium, the Andrew Mansion, the Hippodrome Theater, Severance Hall, the Superior Viaduct, Luna Park amusement park, and the Great Lakes Exposition, each with photographs.

"From humble and hungry beginnings, the city of Cleveland grew over centuries until it boasted a dizzying array of gustatory choices. City dwellers and travelers alike flocked to the eateries at Public Square and Terminal Tower, including the Fred Harvey restaurants with their famous Harvey Girls. A single block-long street, Short Vincent featured the Theatrical Grille, the longest-running jazz joint in the area. The walls of Otto Moser's were a veritable Hollywood roll call, and the New York Spaghetti House offered a complete dining and aesthetic experience. Fill your cup with the libation of your choice, grab a snack and join author Bette Lou Higgins on a historical tour of the restaurants that kept Clevelanders fed."--Publisher's description.

Cleveland and the surrounding area was home to one of the earliest and most active baseball scenes outside of the eastern seaboard. This extraordinarily detailed history combines author commentary with first-hand accounts to document baseball's rapid development and popularization in the region during the decades following the Civil War. Ordered chronologically and then geographically by town, chapters follow the game's rise from the earliest reports on ball in 1841, to the era of loosely organized, town-to-town rivalries and semipro clubs, and finally through the early era of the professional, and eventually major league, sport.

Detractors have called it "The Mistake on the Lake." It was once America’s "Comeback City." According to author J. Mark Souther, Cleveland has long sought to defeat its perceived civic malaise. Believing in Cleveland chronicles how city leaders used imagery and rhetoric to combat and, at times, accommodate urban and economic decline. Souther explores Cleveland's downtown revitalization efforts, its neighborhood renewal and restoration projects, and its fight against deindustrialization. He shows how the city reshaped its image when it was bolstered by sports team victories. But Cleveland was not always on the upswing. Souther places the city's history in the postwar context when the city and metropolitan area were divided by uneven growth. In the 1970s, the city-suburb division was wider than ever. Believing in Cleveland recounts the long, difficult history of a city that entered the postwar period as America's sixth largest, then lost ground during a period of robust national growth. But rather than tell a tale of decline, Souther provides a fascinating story of resilience for what some folks called "The Best Location in the Nation."