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27-867: In 1879, the Telegraph Supply Company of Cleveland, Ohio, introduced the United States to large scale public arc lighting with a demonstration in Cleveland's Monumental Square (now called Public Square ). In 1880, the Telegraph Supply Company reorganized as the Brush Electric Company . Before the end of 1881, Brush arc light systems were lighting the streets of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Montreal, Buffalo, and San Francisco. Over 6,000 lights were sold in 1881 with 1,200 lights sold to England and other foreign countries. Brush Electric installed about eighty percent of

54-579: A business partnership with Cleveland businessman Willis U. Masters (son of Irvine U. Masters, owner of a prominent Cleveland shipbuilding firm) to produce identical carbons, which they marketed as "Boulton Carbons". This new company, which he called the Boulton Carbon Company, became a successful supplier of carbons. The company organized and began doing business in 1881 and formally incorporated in October 1883. The original factory works of

81-626: A controlling interest in the Boulton Carbon Company. Lawrence reorganized it as the National Carbon Company , serving as its president until his death in 1900. Under the leadership of Lawrence, National went from a successful local carbon company to the dominant carbon company in the United States. National Carbon was one of the founding members of the Union Carbide & Carbon Company in 1917. After being bought out by Washington Lawrence in 1886, W. H. Boulton went on to form

108-893: A new carbon company, which he again called the Boulton Carbon Company (later known as the Boulton-Standard Carbon Company). Following the Carbon Bust in 1887, he was able to form an independent carbon syndicate called the Standard Carbon Company, which was headquartered in Cleveland. The syndicate was formed from the Boulton-Standard Carbon Company, the Cleveland Carbon Company, and the Crystal Carbon Company. In 1888, Boulton

135-624: A redesign of the square. In October 2011, Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson proposed his plan to redevelop the square, which included closing Superior Avenue and Ontario Street to create a large green space in the center. On October 23, 2014, the Cleveland Landmarks Commission approved a plan which closed Ontario Street but kept Superior Avenue open to bus traffic, and kept the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument prominent. The project began construction on March 9, 2015, and

162-480: A statue to reformist mayor Tom L. Johnson . The southern half is mostly a paved plaza area with a cafe and water feature adjacent to the 125-foot-tall (38 m) Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument and a statue of Moses Cleaveland. Public Square was part of the Connecticut Land Company 's original plan for the city, which were overseen by Moses Cleaveland in the 1790s. The square is signature of

189-543: Is no information available on W. H. Boulton after that date. Over the years, the company has had many names: the Boulton Carbon Company; the National Carbon Company ; National Carbon Division, Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation; National Carbon Company, a Division of the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation; Carbon Products Division of Union Carbide ; the UCAR Carbon Company; UCAR International; and

216-492: Is now known as GrafTech International Holdings. Notable offspring from the company include KEMET Laboratories (capacitor technologies), Cytec Industries ', Engineered Materials group (carbon fiber products), Energizer Holdings (batteries), Advanced Energy Technologies (graphite electronics thermal management, fire suppression, and fluid sealing products), and National Specialty Products (carbon and graphite specialty products). Public Square, Cleveland Public Square

243-467: Is the central plaza of Downtown Cleveland , Ohio . Based on an 18th-century New England model, it was part of the original 1796 town plat overseen by city founder General Moses Cleaveland of the Connecticut Land Company . The historical center of the city's downtown, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The 9.5-acre (3.8 ha) square is centered on

270-545: The 1980s. The factory was gutted and remodeled in 2003–2004 and is currently the home of the Asian Town Center, a mixed use shopping center. Although remodeled, much of the original building structure is still clearly visible. In 1885, the Boulton Carbon Company factory works were expanded to a larger facility on Willson Avenue (now East 55th Street near Euclid) between the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern and

297-676: The Ameritrust building across the square were scrapped. Other buildings that face the square include 55 Public Square (1958), 75 Public Square (1915), the Society for Savings Building (1890), Metzenbaum Courthouse (1910), the former May Company department store (1914), the Park Building (1903), and the Hotel Cleveland (1918). The demolished Cuyahoga Building (1893) and Williamson Building (1900) formerly stood on

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324-833: The Black Rock Carbon Company in Buffalo, New York. In 1891, Boulton entered another carbon related position as the superintendent of the Aluminum Carbon Company, with offices at Room 69 of the Coal and Iron Exchange in Buffalo, and a factory at Lancaster, New York. By 1894, he had formed the Boulton & Crown Carbon Company with a factory on 17th Street in North Tonawanda, New York. That factory closed, reportedly due to poor quality product, in

351-561: The Boulton Carbon Company began operations in 1881 and were located on Clifton Street (now East 39th Street) between Payne Avenue and Superior Avenue, at the Pennsylvania Rail Road tracks, in East Cleveland. By 1883, the factory had a capacity of ~250,000 carbons per month (about 10% of the capacity of Brush Electric). In 1938, the factory became the home of Kichler Lighting, until they moved to Independence, Ohio, in

378-461: The Nobel Prize for his work in physics disproving the "Ether Hypothesis" by conducting the famous Michelson-Morley Experiment, visited the Boulton factory twice in 1885 in conjunction with his research. In 1886, former Brush Electric Company Superintendent/General Manager Washington H. Lawrence led a group of investors (including Myron T. Herrick , James Parmelee and Webb Hayes ) in buying

405-632: The Pennsylvania Railroad Companies lines, from which they had connecting tracks. This location afforded the company greatly increased capacity along with favorable shipping facilities and options. By 1885, the Boulton Carbon was the second largest carbon company in the US, behind only Brush Electric. Boulton produced both plain and the copper-coated carbons. Case Western Reserve professor Albert Michelson, who later received

432-719: The former intersection of Superior Avenue and Ontario Street . Cleveland's four tallest buildings, Key Tower , Huntington , Sherwin Williams , and the Terminal Tower , face the square. Other landmarks adjacent to Public Square include the 1855 Old Stone Church and the former Higbee's department store made famous in the 1983 film A Christmas Story , which has been occupied by the Jack Cleveland Casino since 2012. Originally designed as four separate squares bisected by Superior Avenue and Ontario Street,

459-483: The layout for early New England towns, which Cleveland was modeled after. While it initially served as a common pasture for settlers' animals, less than a century later Public Square was the height of modernity, when in 1879 it became the first street in the world to be lit with electric street lights , arc lamps designed by Cleveland native Charles F. Brush . The square was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 18, 1975. A parking lot now faces

486-541: The nation's arc-lighting systems during the early 1880s. Arc lights need carbon electrodes called carbon points (or simply "carbons") to work. Each carbon would only last on the order of several hours, and then needed to be replaced. In 1881, the use of carbons had become so widespread, and the profits had become so large, that it enticed W. H. Boulton, the foreman of the Brush Electric Company's carbon department, to leave Brush Electric. Boulton then formed

513-441: The northern and southern ends. In total, ten U.S. and state routes meet at Public Square. It is the northern terminus of SR 3 , SR 8 , and SR 43 ; the western terminus of US 322 , US 422 , SR 14 , and SR 87 ; and the northeastern terminus of US 42 . US 6 passes through the square on Superior, and US 20 enters from the west on Superior and leaves via Euclid Avenue . US 21 also terminated at Public Square until that route

540-516: The northwest quadrant of the square. A 12-story building, which was built on the spot in 1913, was demolished in 1990 to make way for the new Ameritrust Center, an 1,197-foot (365 m) skyscraper designed by New York's Kohn Pedersen Fox . Before construction began, Ameritrust was acquired by Society Bank , which was also planning to construct and subsequently relocate to a new building on Public Square—Key Tower (formerly known as Society Center). Because Society did not need two skyscrapers, plans for

567-525: The original design. These barriers were removed on March 25, 2024. An episode of NBC's American Ninja Warrior was held in Public Square and aired in July 2017 A privately operated cafe, Rebol, located in the southwestern area of Public Square, opened in July 2016. Public Square is bounded by East Roadway and West Roadway at the western and eastern ends and by Rockwell Avenue and South Roadway at

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594-401: The police, Boulton had a note in his pocket that read: "I have swallowed 20 grains of morphine and have put myself to sleep with chloroform. If I ever wake up again, I will cut my throat with a razor that I have in my pocket, as I am determined to commit suicide. P.S. – If anyone finds me before I am dead, I hope that they will not bring me back to consciousness, as I don't want to live." There

621-629: The site of 200 Public Square. Public Square is often the site of political rallies and civic functions, including a free annual Independence Day concert by the Cleveland Orchestra . At the Balloonfest '86 , close to 1.5 million balloons rose up from Public Square, engulfing the Terminal Tower and setting a world record. In collaboration with landscape architect James Corner , the city in 2009 began to explore concepts for

648-584: The spring of 1896. For a brief time in 1896, Boulton went to work for the Prudential Life Insurance Company to make ends meet. In August 1896, his second eldest son, Frank, died of a sunstroke. Destitute and now despondent from the death of his son, Boulton attempted to commit suicide on September 9, 1896, with a combination of a morphine overdose and chloroform. The attempt happened in Prospect Park in Buffalo. When found by

675-523: The square was redeveloped in 2016 by the city into a more pedestrian-friendly environment by routing most traffic around the square. The section of Ontario Street through the square was removed, while the section of Superior Avenue was rebuilt to only allow buses with stops for multiple bus lines of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority . The northern half of the square is mostly green space and includes

702-576: Was fired by the company's board of directors at a lively board meeting. He then tried to form another Boulton Carbon Company (with a new factory located at Lake and Belden Streets in Cleveland), but was eventually stopped by a lawsuit brought by his fellow board members at Standard Carbon. Left destitute from his struggles with the Standard Carbon Co., Boulton left Cleveland and settled in Buffalo. By 1890, along with P. C. Hoddick, he started

729-737: Was officially opened on June 30, 2016. Public Square's development was showcased during the Cleveland Cavaliers championship parade as a welcome sight with much of the construction materials removed to display the renovation. At first, buses did not run along Superior Avenue as planned, but in order to avoid a $ 12 million repayment of grants to the Federal Transit Administration , the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority agreed to run buses along it by March 2017. The city installed jersey barriers along Superior Avenue due to fears of terrorism, contrary to

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