New York City's Shade Throw Shines a Light on Cleveland's H20 History

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It was the tweet that launched 4,100 replies and counting. We surmise on a late Friday afternoon heading into the Fourth of July weekend a young staffer was flipped the keys to the City of New York’s Twitter account and in a misguided attempt to throw literal shade at the City of Cleveland, they sparked a flurry of responses from proud Clevelanders and others.

It was a reminder of a similar faux pas when Cleveland twitter clapped back after TBS lobbed a shot at Cleveland in a promo for the upcoming 2016 ALCS series opener between Cleveland’s Baseball Team and the Toronto Blue Jays.

There are too many great replies to NYC’s tweet to mention. Huffpost provided a great summary. As usual, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District Twitter was on point. (Ohio Sewer District Takes NYC’s Random Twitter Hit On Cleveland, Craps All Over It). Here’s another one of our faves:

While the tweet was a jab at Cleveland (some surmise it was in reaction to JobsOhio’s “Ohio is for Leaders” campaign), it did provide us an opportunity to share a historical perspective that connects Cleveland and New York City history on the eve of tomorrow’s 196th anniversary (July 4, 1825) of Ohio governor Jeremiah Morrow & New York Governor Dewitt Clinton turning over the first shovels of dirt of what would become the Ohio & Erie Canal. When completed in 1835, the Ohio & Erie Canal connected Ohio to New York & New Orleans, placing Cleveland as the pivot point between the two coastal port cities (source).

That inland water route connecting New York City, Buffalo, Cleveland and New Orleans via the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, Erie Canal National Heritage Area, Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area, Ohio River and Mississippi River, transformed Ohio from a struggling frontier to one of the richest and 3rd most populous states in the nation & positioned New York City as a world port and America's financial capital (source).

Most importantly, the cost to ship goods from the East Coast to Ohio and vice versa plummeted from $125 dollars per ton of goods to $25 dollars per ton of goods (source).

National Park Service

By connecting Ohio to New York and New Orleans, the Ohio & Erie Canalway helped fuel westward expansion, a national market economy and a booming industrial market. The canal defined the settlement of numerous towns, villages, and cities and attracted many businesses because of the viable transportation route it offered (source).

That national transportation system played an important role in the country's economy as the United States was establishing itself as a new nation. The United States gained the ability to rely on its own resources rather than turning to colonial trade routes w/Europe (source). The modern-day Inland Marine Transportation System managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “is a critical component in this Nation’s ability to remain competitive in the global economy. IMTS reliability is the most important requirement that enables American business and industry to competitively participate in global trade” (source).

Map of the US (1796-1798)

ohio department of transportation ohio maritime strategy

ohio department of transportation ohio maritime strategy

Ohio’s Lake Erie Marine Transportation System is connected to the Atlantic Ocean to the east, via the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway (operated by Canadian and US Seaway corporations), and to Lake Superior to the west, via the locks at Sault St. Marie (Soo Locks) (operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers, or USACE). The north-south Ohio River System is part of the larger Mississippi River System. It links the state of Ohio to global markets through the Port of New Orleans (via the Mississippi River) and the Port of Mobile (via the Tennessee River and the Tenn-Tom Waterway) (source).

So tomorrow on July 4th, remember how that first shovelful of dirt, turned on July 4, 1825 at Licking Summit just south of Newark, OH, led to the rise of Cleveland and the United States west of the Cuyahoga River. On July 24, be part of our on-the-water celebration of Cleveland's connection to H2O history when hundreds of kayaks, paddleboards & canoes take part in the Blazing Paddles Paddlefest held at Cleveland Metroparks’ Merwin’s Wharf and Cleveland Rowing Foundation 2 days after the 225th anniversary of Moses Cleaveland landing at the confluence of the Cuyahoga River & Lake Erie! Talk about timing!

(Editors note after July 4) Now that we’ve had some time to percolate on NYC’s tone-deaf tweet, in the year of COVID conspiracies, we’ve come around to the thinking someone hired NYC social to push the gloomy tweet out, incensing civic-minded Clevelanders to clap back with a torrent of pro-Cleveland messages. Sound more possible than a big city punching down on the city that helped it rise to international fame and fortune, no?

The one-shot video below taken on the evening of July 4 is our 38-second reply to NYC’s gloomy tweet. When one can enjoy the sight of a heron flying into the distance, as a freighter backs down the Cuyahoga River (playing Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” no less), along a greenspace with the City of Cleveland’s skyline soaring in the distance, well, a picture is worth a thousand word reply, isn’t it?