Feeding Cleveland

"Beet Lady", Rose Thomas, 1947.
Cleveland Public School students Marcella Rickets & Irvina Knight, July 1929.
Burton's Log Cabin Sugar Camp, 1931.
Patrons seated around a bar with a bottle of P.O.C. in the foreground, 1958 .
Youngsters enjoy lunch in the garden, 1948.
Small crowd enjoying ribs at West Side Market, 1980 .
Rose Thomas selling beetsCleveland Public School studentsMaple Sugar CabinMen drinking P.O.C.Youngsters enjoy lunch in gardenEnjoying ribs at the West Side Market

Featured in Feeding Cleveland

  • Cleveland Breweries Remembered - photos of the local brewing industry through the 19th & 20th centuries focusing on people, places & brands.
  • The Maple Sugar Industry in Northeast Ohio - photos of various aspects of maple sugar production from the 1920's to the 1970's concentrating on Burton, Chardon, and Geauga County.
  • Urban Agriculture - a joyous look at those who “toil in the soil” — from the relief workers during the Great Depression, citizens in their victory gardens during WWII and children in school-sponsored horticulture programs, to the modern-day enthusiasts and entrepreneurs in community and market gardens.

Feeding Cleveland is a portal to a dynamic set of digital collections that explore the vast local food history of the Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. As important as Cleveland's diverse ethnic heritage, its cultural footprint, or its industrial development, an understanding of this city is not complete until we take a look at how Clevelanders have brought food to their tables over the years.

Cleveland's local food history is laden with pleasant sensations: sweet smells emanating from the Log Cabin Sugar Camp in Burton; the welcome of a cool breeze while working in the school garden; the taste of a long, cold draft of a P.O.C.; the sights and sounds of the West Side Market, to name a few. These experiences are all imprinted in Cleveland's collective memory, and are revisited here in Feeding Cleveland. Dig in!

The Cleveland State University Library requests that all materials from Special Collections that are to be used in publication include a complete acknowledgment, including the name of the collection or photographer (if known). A minimum credit line should include either “The Cleveland Press Collection”, “Cleveland State University Library”, or “Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library”, as appropriate.