Rise and Fall of Cleveland’s Van Sweringen Brothers

Storyteller: Lauren Pacini

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Doors open at 5:00pm, with the storytelling beginning promptly at 7:00pm

• Weekly series combining great food with great stories about Cleveland’s past
• FREE ADMISSION – NO COVER CHARGE
• In addition to our regular menu, a Prix Fixe 3-course dinner special is available for just $25
• Check back for tonight’s special
  

Story topic this week…

Rise and Fall of Cleveland’s Van Sweringen Brothers
Oris P. and Mantis J. Van Sweringen, two brothers born near Wooster, Ohio, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries amassed a vast fortune in real estate and railroad developments. Their breakthrough came with establishing Shaker Heights, an affluent garden suburb, soon to be connected by a brand-new interurban railroad to the booming midwestern metropolis of Cleveland. The Van Sweringens’ ascension after Shaker Heights was meteoric, and it culminated with the construction of the 52-story Terminal Tower in downtown Cleveland, while simultaneously building the third-largest railroad network in the country. However, in 1929, the nation’s economy came crashing down after the stock market collapse, and with it, their empire crumbled but did not die.

Lauren Pacini Bio

Lauren Pacini is a nearly lifelong Clevelander, having grown up in Cleveland Heights, raising his family, and living in Shaker Heights. As a child, he explored the Shaker Lakes and Doan Brook, including the ruins of Shaker mills and the remains of the quarry – where the Van Sweringen brothers had explored little more than a half-century earlier – marveling at the remarkable mansions, including the one built by those same brothers.

Pacini’s projects have included the documentation of the transformation of Cleveland’s Saint Luke’s Hospital – for which his photography was honored with the 2012 National Trust for Historic Preservation/Housing and Urban Development Secretary’s Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation, and published The Ever-Whirling Winds of Change: The Story of Saint Luke’s Hospital, 1894 – 2014 – and the creation of Honoring Their Memories: Levi T. Scofield, Monumental Architect and Sculptor, telling the story of Cuyahoga County’s Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument – for which he was honored with the Ohio Local History Alliance’s History Outreach Award.

Major photography projects include the repurposing of the historic Cleveland Trust complex and the Cleveland Board of Education Administration Building; the restoration of the Wayne County Courthouse in Wooster, Ohio; the transformation of Cleveland’s Public Square; and the deconstruction and demolition of the former Emmanuel Episcopal Church on the Cleveland Clinic Campus. Current projects include the pending transformation of the historic Warner & Swasey building.
 

The goal of the Cleveland Stories Dinner Party is to bring to life some of the fun, interesting stories about Cleveland’s past – from sports, to rock ‘n roll, to Millionaire’s Row, — the series will focus on tidbits from Cleveland’s past that will really thrill the audience. The Music Box is presenting this series in partnership with the Western Reserve Historical Society’s new Cleveland History Center. We think the Cleveland History Center is one of the most important museums in Cleveland. An unknown gem that Clevelanders should know more about, and support. It is the only museum in Cleveland dedicated to preserving and documenting the history of Cleveland. The Cleveland History Center includes two mansions, the Crawford Auto Aviation Museum, Chisholm Halle Costume Wing, Research Library, Kidzibits Hands-On Gallery, rotating exhibitions, and the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel.

See all Cleveland Stories dates here.