National Register reference number.79001810- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1903 to 1994
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
91 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
19031994
The ground it stands on
23,212 words
The chapter on Cleveland City in History of Cuyahoga County Ohio, published 1870 names Cleveland. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
At the Erie Conference M. EK. Church, in the fall of 1838, resolutions were passed dis approving any expression by the churches on the question of American slavery. This action was received with disfavor by a portion of the members of the church in Cleveland. On September 1, 1839, an organization was effected, consisting of about sixty members, who withdrew from the First Methodist Episcopal Church for that purpose. This new church stood alone until May, 1843. when it sent delegates to a convention held at Utica, New York, and there went into the organization which has ever since been known as the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America.
John W. Allen was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1802. He resided in Chenango county, New York, from 1820 to 1825, when he removed to Cleveland, where he has ever since lived. He was admitted to the bar the next year, and for several succeeding years was engaged in the active practice of his profession.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 2,869 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Woodland Avenue and West Side Railroad Powerhouse between 1849 and 1975: 2,454 Animalia, 216 Fungi, 120 Plantae, 73 Protozoa, 5 Unrecorded, 1 Chromista.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A. D. Huryn, A. D. Selby, A. G. Newhall and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
20 workings within 5 miles of Woodland Avenue and West Side Railroad Powerhouse: 10 unknowns, 6 producers, 3 past producers, 1 plant.
7 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Zirconium, Silica, Halite. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Cleveland, the town this property stands in, in 95 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 51 thunderstorm wind, 26 hail, 11 flash flood, 3 lightning.
The reports record 3 deaths and 6 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
During a sailboat race on Lake Erie, two people who were not wearing life preservers, were swept overboard by high waves and drowned. A total of four boats capsized and twelve people were swept overboard.
Thunderstorm wind gusts of 35 to 40 mph blew down two large tents on the west side of Cleveland. Three people inside were injured when the tents collapsed. One person was hospitalized. A peak wind gust of 36 mph was measured at nearby Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
During the afternoon hours of the 2nd, a severe thunderstorms moved over downtown Cleveland. This thunderstorm remained nearly stationary over the downtown area for around an hour, and dropped as much as four and a half inches of rain. Several rainfall reports of 3.0 to 4.5 inches were received from downtown Cleveland. This rain fell in less than 90 minutes. Local streets and highways throughout the downtown area quickly filled with water. Many roads, including Interstate 90 were impassable by flood waters as much as four feet deep. Many vehicles became stranded in the flood waters. Once the rain ended, the high water receded quickly. This was a very local event in Cuyahoga County as the southern part of the county remained mainly dry. In fact, Cleveland Hopkins Airport did not receive any rainfall from this thunderstorm.
Heavy thunderstorm rain caused widespread flooding of roads and low lying areas in Cleveland and surrounding suburbs. In Newburgh Heights, Interstate 77 was flooded with three to four feet of water and an elderly couple had to be rescued from their floating car. Over five inches of rain was measured in some southern and eastern sections as storms repeatedly crossed the area for several hours.
Thunderstorms dumped up to three inches of rain on downtown Cleveland during the late afternoon hours. A television station located just east of downtown recorded 2.75 inches of rain in only 48 minutes. Major street flooding occurred and dozens of cars became stuck in water up to four feet deep. Several motorists had to be rescued from their vehicles.
Broadcast media posted a photo on social media of a large tree that fell on a house on the west side of Cleveland. The time was radar estimated. The media also reported 25,000 residents within the metropolitan Cleveland area lost power. One Giant Eagle grocery store had to throw out all of their refrigerated items after losing power. Tree limbs were also reported down on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Rainfall amounts of 2 to 3.5 inches fell over Cleveland during a span of 60-90 minutes. Citywide flooding resulted as storm water systems were overwhelmed. Many roads including I 480 were flooded and closed for a brief period.
The Big Creek in Cuyahoga County (drainage basin 35.3 square miles) cuts through parts of Brooklyn and Cleveland before draining into the Cuyahoga River. On the morning of the 7th radar estimated rainfall amounts between 1.5 and 1.75 inches over the Big Creek basin. Some roads adjacent to the creek were closed. Most notably, the Cleveland Metropark Zoo was closed as water flooded their parking lots and threatened the veterinary clinic and other buildings.
16 papers published in this town,
digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be
looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
separating the upper semi-circular windows from the mullioned windows below. The in the architecture of Cleveland's "Flats." CONDITION MOVED UNEXPOSED EXCELLENT UNALTERED XFAIR stone inscriptions bearing the building's name and date of erection on the used as a commercial shopping and entertainment center complete with restaurants addition has a ell-plan with a monitor roof.Both sections have tall brick smoke- south block and quadripartite windows on the north block.Below these gables lie CHECK ONE courtyard elevation, each bay has a round-arched opening with a brick archivolt have brick mullions and stone sills. house.The absence of glass in the windows and skylights makes the powerhouse the powerhouse and a rail line runs along the building's southern face.
It stands in the shadow of the former Superior Viaduct and the Detroit-Superior The roof of the 1892 wing is constructed of metal trusses which originally carried section consists of two rectangular blocks with parallel gable roofs.The l901 When Mr.Vitt assumed ownership of the structure in 1975 he intended it to be stack stands against the new wing in the courtyard formed by the u'-plan. The powerhouse is au"-shaped brick building built in two phases.The 1892 ZDETERIORATED The Powerhouse lies in the heavy industry area) ona The 190l addition has a solid brick parapet and a corble table.Except for the _RUINS - GOOD bend in the Cuyahoga River across from the warehouse district of downtown Cleveland. a brick belt course and round-arched reveals.
The reveals have brick spandrels southeast gable deviates from this pattern with its twe-story rectangular opening. tinous stone sill. The courtyard elevation has segmentally arched openings. virtually a shell. That part of the powerhouse which remains has great architectural merit.
In 1893 the Woodland Avenue and West Side Railway merged with Cleveland City Cable anticipation of the further growth of the street railway system in Cleveland, a his duties as a United States Senator, until 1903, when the Cleveland City Railway and the Cleveland Electric Railway, a rival company, merged. By 1910 there were four powerhouses supplying power to the various railway lines and West Side Powerhouse was forced to close down.
1700-1799 1600-1699 LAW SCIENCE ECONOMICS EDUCATION PERIOD SIGNIFICANCE COMMUNICATIONS PHILOSOPHY THEATER MILITARY LITERATURE XTRANSPORTATION _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT architectural integrity despite its changes.It also merits attention for its MUSIC XINDUSTRY switchboard was also a novel construction.Among the engineering devices tried SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN Cleveland Railway Company.A contract was signed with the Cleveland Illuminating role in Cleveland's transportation history.
for the first time in street railway history was the direct connection of a triple Railway Journal proclaimed its various features to be of more than usual interest made after two years of careful investigation into the benefits of an overhead The powerhouse was designed by J.N.Richardson and built in 1892.Engines a barrel reconditioning plant and still later by the Cleveland Metal Products new engine house and two-hundred and forty foot smokestack were added to the Railway to become the Cleveland City Railway with Hanna acting as president.In rail line which would be serviced by a powerhouse that was both modern and efficient.
_1400-1499 originally designed for marine service were built for the street railway line.The _ENGINEERING The powerhouse was purchased later by the Globe Street Barrel Company for use as _1500-1599 -CONSERVATION the decline of the street railway industry so that by 1925 the Woodland Avenue -RELIGION powerhouse in 1901. _ART ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC _COMMUNITY PLANNING BUILDER/ARCHITECT J. N.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 79001810, 19 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
Block
