Book Chapter 5

MILLIONAIRE’S ROW ELP 10/14/1009



People have said that a city without it’s old buildings is like an old man without the memories of his past. And so it is with Cleveland. Many of the cities old architectural treasure have fallen to the wrecking ball in the name of industrialization or urban development. But still a few of these landmarks still exist. Such is the case of Millionaire’s Row.

Some know it as Euclid Avenue. Other know it as US Route 20. But in the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s it was known as “the Showplace of America”, designated as a must see for travelers’ from all over the world according to Baedeker’s Travel Guides. It was home to America’s rich and famous. Such a concentration of wealth was unequaled anywhere. In fact, the elm lined avenue had a valuation that far exceeded that of Fifth Avenue in New York at the turn of the century.

Families living along “Millionaires Row” represented the best and the brightest minds of Cleveland industry. They included the likes of John D. Rockefeller, Charles Brush and George Worthington. Others included John Hay, the personal secretary of Abraham Lincoln and then Secretary of State William McKinley, and Jeptha Wade, founder of Western Union Telegraph. One of Euclid Avenue’s most infamous resident was a con artist named Cassie Chadwick who claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of Andrew Carnegie.

The mansions of Euclid Ave. represented the booming Cleveland economy and its growth and prominence among industrialized cities. No less than fifteen of these monuments to the upper crust of Cleveland society were designed by prominent Cleveland architect, Charles Schweinfurth. Unfortunately, only a few of these magnificent house survive to the present day. Of the forty built, only eight remain standing. Most have fallen to neglect, disrepair and the urbanization of the area. Noted Cleveland industrialists, Charles F. Brush and John D. Rockefeller, ordered their houses to be razed after their deaths. It was report that that they preferred the destruction of their home to the deterioration they felt was inevitable. On the other hand, where many have fallen, a few have survived and can still be visited. Some are faithfully restored, some are barely visible behind added store fronts and other superfluous additions. Oh, and yes, some are reputed to be haunted.

One of these, and probably the most storied, is the Mather Mansion. Located at 2605 Euclid Avenue, the forty five room Tudor Gothic Revival mansion was the home of Samuel Mather.

Mather was one of the founding partners of Picklands, Mather & Company. The company became one of the four major iron ore producers in the United States He was know to be one of Cleveland richest citizens and a noted philanthropist.

At a cost of more than one million dollars, it was the most expensive house built in Cleveland at the time. And it was among the last to be built on “Millionaire’s Row”. It was completed in 1910. The Mather Mansion became the first to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is also listed as an Ohio Historical site and a Cleveland landmark . The mansion is currently owned by Cleveland State University who has played a large part in it’s restoration. It now serves as the home of the schools Division of University Placement.

Another survivor and one of the most visible, is the Stager-Beckwith Mansion that now serves as the Meyers University Club. The mansions architectural style is described as Italianate/Second French Empire, taking four years to build. It was the brainchild of Colonel Anson Stager who was the general superintendent of the Western Union Telegraphy Co. The original price to build it in 1862 was only $60,000. After the Civil War it was sold to dry goods merchant named T. Sterling Beckwith. Beckwith, in turn, sold the mansion to the University Club in 1913 to be used as a private club. A three story annex was added by the club that contained the ballroom on the first floor. Later a sports club was added on the west side of the building totally consuming the property, including the carriage house. Eventually the University Club was sold to Meyers University and restoration begun at a cost of $11 million.

Another survivor is the home of John Henry Devereaux. Deverauax served as vice president and president of several railroads including the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, the Lakeshore Railroad and the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad among others. The home he built is now occupied and has been faithfully restored by the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity at Cleveland State. However, this is no “Animal House”, the home’s elegance has been maintained. The mansion is located at 3226 Euclid Avenue. Since it’s construction in the 1880’s, the house has changed hands more than twenty times. It even has the aforementioned store front added to the main entrance, however, it still has all of the original wood work. The fraternity that restored the old home has deep roots as does the home. Delta Sigma Phi had its beginning in 1929 when Cleveland State was know as Fenn College.

By far, the most interesting surviving house is Drury Mansion. The mansion was the home of Francis Drury, a Cleveland industrialist the made his fortune in cast iron stoves. But after a series of misfortunes, the house was placed into the hands of the Ohio Adult Parole Authority to be used as a half way house. The Mansion was constructed in 1912 as a fifty-two room mansion. Its opulence was unrivaled at the time. But from the beginning the house was a strange and ominous place with a wide center staircase and twisting corridors that ended in strangely placed room. Elegantly carved woodwork was every where. It is also reputed to have a secret tunnel on the lower floor that at one time lead beneath Euclid Avenue to the Drury Theater, built across the street from the mansion in 1914. Eventually the mansion fell into disrepair and became a boarding house and then a home for unwed mothers. The parole board then took over in 1972. Since that time criminals and officials alike have been terrified by ghostly happenings within the walls of the strange old house.

Doors that won’t stay closed, groaning sounds and windows that open by themselves have been reported. Footsteps in empty halls have also been reported by officials and inmates alike. One night in 1972, two police officers were assigned to guard the mansion. No one is sure what frighten them but they spent that night, bolt upright, back to back, shotguns at the ready. Another time in 1978 one of the members of the staff came face to face with an apparition on the main staircase. She was wearing a long skirt and clothing of the style worn by women at the turn of the century. No one knows who she is for sure. Some have said she was a member of the Drury household. Others say she is a restless spirit of the years when the house was in decline. The Drury Mansion is still located at 8625 Euclid Avenue and is owned by the Cleveland Clinic.

As Cleveland’s industry and commercial interests began to push eastward along Euclid Avenue, the prominent families that create those interests moved eastward also, to University Circle. By the 1920’s “Millionaire’s Row”, the Showplace of America , was in decline. Some of the mansions were turned into boarding houses, hastening their deterioration. By 1960 the avenue that once rivaled any street in the world was a two mile slum of commercial buildings and low income housing .

Today, eight houses have survived the wrecking ball. Most recently to fall to its wrath was the Lyman Treadway Mansion which was part of the Cleveland Museum of Health from about 1930 until it’s demolition in 2002 to make room for the new Health Museum. A list of the surviving mansions, either intact or in part, can be found at the Ohio Traveler website.

Millionaire’s Row, once know as “the most beautiful street in America”, is but a memory of Cleveland glory days. Gone are the days when the names Rockefeller, Mather, Wade, and Gund made fortunes and headlines in this city. Their magnificent home have all but vanished behind the urban sprawl or swallowed by the industrial wasteland created by the very fortunes that made them possible. But the remaining few that do survive are a testament to what the city once was. You could take a down Euclid Avenue and see what is left but it is not recommended. After all, it isn’t exactly the neighborhood of Cleveland’s rich and famous anymore.
Drury Mansion (circa 1941)