Charles Augustus Otis, Sr. (January 30, 1827 – June 28, 1905) was a businessman and the mayor of Cleveland from 1873 until 1874.
21-403: The Cleveland Athletic Club (CAC) was a historic organization founded in 1908. Founding members included Mayor Charles A. Otis , Walter Baker, and Elbert Baker; banker William Parmalee Murray was its first president. In 1911 the organization commissioned a 15-story social club building at 1118 Euclid Avenue , a structure with facilities for its boxing tournaments, office space, a 12-room hotel,
42-451: A sheriff's sale , with announced plans for its conversion into a residential or mixed-use property. As of early 2020 the building had been extensively renovated into a luxury apartment building called "The Athlon". Another, earlier Cleveland Athletic Club was established in 1890, with early baseball executive Frank Robison as its president. Despite an impressive new headquarters in the former Dodge mansion at 500 Euclid Avenue, and despite
63-547: A corporal with the 1st New Hampshire Heavy Artillery Regiment during the Civil War . Shortly after the war, Wellman married Julia A. Ballard, with whom he had five children. Wellman began his career working at the Nashua Iron Company. He was encouraged by his father to build a regenerative gas furnace for the company. Wellman did this, impressing Carl Wilhelm Siemens , who immediately hired him to establish
84-482: A dining room, an eight-lane bowling alley, a basketball court, and many other amenities. Olympic and Hollywood swimmer Johnny Weissmueller broke the record for the 15-yard backstroke in the club's penthouse pool in 1922. The architect was J. Milton Dyer , who also designed the Cleveland City Hall . Murals in the club were among the first commissions of American muralist William P. Welsh . The building
105-706: A large membership, it appears to have faded after 1895. This article about a building or structure in Ohio is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a property in Cuyahoga County, Ohio on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Charles A. Otis Otis was born in Bloomfield Township, Ohio , to William Augustus Otis and Eliza Proctor. Otis
126-588: A pioneer in the creative industrial enterprises which made the possibility of modern Cleveland. He was described as "one of the most active forces in the growth of Cleveland." Otis is buried in Lake View Cemetery . Samuel T. Wellman Samuel Thomas Wellman , (February 5, 1847 – July 11, 1919) was an American steel industry pioneer, industrialist, and prolific inventor . Charles M. Schwab of Bethlehem Steel described Samuel T. Wellman as "the man who did more than any other living person in
147-575: Is a contributing property to the city's Euclid Avenue Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places , and a part of the Nine-Twelve District as designated by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. The club was in financial difficulty in 2007. It closed its doors permanently on December 31, 2007, because of "sagging membership and financial problems". In 2015, the building was sold for $ 3.3 million in
168-664: The Erie Canal . He manufactured high-quality flour and potash thirty-five miles to Ashtabula River , where it was loaded on a schooner and shipped to Buffalo and New York City . Otis established the Lake Erie Iron Company in 1852. He sold the business in 1866 when he decided to study ironworks in Prussia . The Otis Iron and Steel Company was established upon Otis' return in Industrial Valley . It
189-638: The House of Correction Board in 1882 until 1884. He established Cleveland's first Board of Fire Commissioners and Board of Police Commissioners . Otis married Mary Shepard in 1853. The couple had two daughters, Anna and Nelly. Mary died in 1860. Otis married Mary's sister, Anna Elizabeth Shepard in 1863. They had 3 sons, Charles A. (a financier who owned the Cleveland News and other Cleveland newspapers), Jr., Harrison G., and William A. He moved to New York in 1890, where he stayed until his death. Otis
210-565: The New Commercial National Bank in 1904. Commercial Bank merged with the Mercantile National Bank, forming the present National Commercial Bank. His retirement left him unnoticed by the public in the 20th-Century. Otis spent his last years as an avid tourist of Europe . Otis died at his son's house in 1905, in which his obituary stated that Cleveland lost one of the builders. Otis was described as
231-622: The President at Kennard House. In February, 1874, Otis visited Indianapolis , Indiana . Much like Cleveland, Indianapolis saw its growth in the last decades of the nineteenth-century. Otis toured the city for less than a month to see much of the early growth. Charles' brother, William H. Otis, was a prominent resident of Indianapolis. On March 19, 1874, forty members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WTC) marched on Ontario Street , Public Square , and YMCA . Assaults were made against
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#1732776543832252-592: The development of steel". Wellman was a close friend of electrical pioneer George Westinghouse , and he was also president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers from 1901 to 1902. Born in Wareham, Massachusetts in 1847, Wellman was the son of a Nashua Iron Company superintendent. Wellman received his formal engineering training from Norwich University in Norwich, Vermont , and served as
273-643: The first crucible-steel furnace in America. Wellman went on to improve upon the open-hearth process of steel rail production, which in turn had improved upon the Bessemer process . In 1869, Wellman built the first commercially successful open-hearth furnace in America at the Bay State Iron Works in South Boston . Furnaces were not Wellman's only contribution to the steel industry. He
294-457: The following year due to business reasons. His political career was described as very successful. His party gave him the nomination, but found that his business was too successful. The work took much of his attention, so he declined to seek reelection. Otis had a strong wish to serve the people. Otis became a member of the Board of Imprisonments in 1878. He served for one year. Otis became a member of
315-436: The nomination allowed him to show respectable individuality in his political career. On October 17, 1873, Ulysses S. Grant passed through the city. Gossip and a telegram reached Otis, who hitched a car on an engine; a reception committee, including the mayor, drove to Elyria within thirty-eight minutes. Grant's presidential train arrived to a city decorated with American flags . The group drove down Euclid Avenue to meet
336-414: The old East Cleveland line. It was said that Otis took a personal interest in his employees. Otis was both a prominent industrial developer and municipal leader of Cleveland. The Democrats nominated him in his absence and without his knowledge, as their candidate for mayor by 1872. He defeated Standard Oil founder and Republican candidate , John Huntington. It was said that Otis' lack of consent for
357-665: The women in the eleventh ward on Lorain Avenue. The WTC returned to their protest on Garden Street on the following day. Mayor Otis ordered a sidewalk ordinance. Mayor Otis argued that the few who could afford to use the Cleveland Water Works "should aid in extending" the service to the rest of the city. Written on page xxi of the City Documents of 1874, Otis advocated a 33.3% increase in the cost of public waterworks , to fund construction. Otis left as mayor in
378-510: Was a direct descendant of James Otis Jr. William was a Massachusetts -born manufacturer who worked in Pittsburgh before traveled to Bloomfield, Trumbull County, Ohio , to start a primitive mercantile business and a tavern. In 1836, William moved to Cleveland to return to ironworks. Charles would follow his father in this line of work. William became a steamboat purser in 1848. Otis shipped wheat from Ohio to Buffalo, New York en route
399-813: Was a member of the Ohio Society of New York . In 1894, he became president of New Commercial National Bank. He retired from Otis Iron and Steel Company in 1899. By 1901, the Otis Iron and Steel Company merged with the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company into US Steel . The Jones and Laughlin Steel Company bought the former Otis Steel company along the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was purchased in 1942. Otis retired from
420-573: Was also instrumental in the development of the Hulett unloader , which allowed the unloading of taconite from the iron ore boats of the Great Lakes , particularly on Lake Erie . In addition to improvements on the Hulett unloader, other important inventions include an open hearth charging machine and a hydraulic crane . Following an unsuccessful venture with his half-brother, Wellman later founded
441-786: Was the first American company to solely manufacture acid open-hearth steel. Otis later founded American Wire Company, which became the American Steel and Wire Company, and was connected with the Standard Sewing Machine Company. He also founded the American Steel Screw Company, the Cleveland Electric Railway Company, and the Society for Savings . Otis worked with Dr. Everett and Samuel T. Wellman in
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