The Main Avenue Bridge construction was led by a dynamic new employee in the county engineer’s office named Albert Porter. Seven years after the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge opened, another high-level span crossed the Cuyahoga River, as part of the city’s new Shoreway. Overall, the city of Cleveland was booming, as well. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the Browns and Indians were the class of their respective leagues, playing in the newest stadium in pro sports. The league, the All-America Conference, lasted just four seasons, but the team - named for its head coach, Paul Brown - was able to make the jump to the NFL starting in 1950.) (By then, it was also home to a football team in a new league challenging the NFL. Starting in 1947, the Indians would make Cleveland Stadium their full-time home. Ultimately, the Indians divided their time between League Park and Municipal Stadium until Bill Veeck bought the team. Ironically, when Cleveland Stadium hosted the 1935 All-Star Game, it was the only major league game at the stadium that year. In the throes of the Depression, many thought it made more sense for them to play in the stadium they owned - League Park - than the one they had to lease, and they quickly returned to East 66 th and Lexington. Traffic remained mostly unchanged across the Detroit-Superior span, and the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge was referred to in print as a white elephant, as it was prone to bottlenecks - specifically on the West Side - until it was widened years later.Īnd Cleveland Stadium didn’t make fiscal sense for the Indians. Voters passed an $8 million bond issue in 1927 for bridge construction and a $2.5 million bond issue the following year for the stadium.īut the fact is neither was particularly well-received, at least initially. The ideas for a municipal stadium and the bridge date back decades before their actual construction. And starting this spring, the bridge and the baseball team will be inextricably linked, as the team for the first time since 1915 will take the field with a new name: the Cleveland Guardians. The fortunes of the bridge and the stadium - and its main occupants, the baseball team - have risen and fallen precipitously over the decades but followed similar arcs. The Guardians of Traffic would look down on the vehicles that crossed the bridge - another symbol, like the new stadium, of how far the city had come.īoth projects were funded by bond issues passed by residents. Among the flourishes were four pylons of Berea sandstone, with statues on each side, chiseled by Italian artisans who had made Cleveland their new home. The long-awaited span across the Cuyahoga River, linking downtown to Ohio City, was built to alleviate traffic on the other high-level bridge, linking Detroit and Superior avenues. 2, traffic barriers were moved aside, and motorcycle police officer John Frantz led traffic across the new Lorain-Carnegie Bridge. The Indians lost, but it looked like they’d found their new permanent home, which was larger and fancier than their home at East 66 th Street and Lexington Avenue.īy comparison, four months later, the other big project in Cleveland of that era opened with little fanfare. (The Indians held spring training in New Orleans, and Long held a ceremonial share of stock in the team.) The weather was perfect as Cleveland’s Mel Harder found himself on the short end of a pitchers’ duel with Lefty Grove. Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis spoke. And it was a tribute to Cleveland, which by 1930 had become an industrial powerhouse and the sixth largest city in America, its population over 900,000. Following the previous day’s loss at League Park, team and municipal officials sat at home plate and formally signed the lease for the Indians to begin play at the new municipally built lakefront stadium.Ĭleveland Municipal Stadium was a crowning achievement for Osborn Engineering, the Cleveland company that had risen to prominence building the new concrete-and-steel ballparks that had started to dot America’s big cities. It was the Cleveland Indians’ first game at their new home. Business Hall of Fame and Community Leader of the Year Awardsįrom the opening of League Park to the new name change, the pylons of Berea sandstone will forever be connected to the diamond.Īlthough it was the Indians’ 100 th game of the season, the festivities surrounding their game against the Philadelphia Athletics on July 31, 1932, were on par with any Opening Day ceremony.Īnd in a way, it was opening day.

Guardians of traffic bookends