Euclid Avenue: Cleveland's Millionaire's Row

Millionaire’s Row was the nickname given to Euclid Avenue during the Gilded Age of Cleveland which spanned the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. During this time, Cleveland was a rapidly developing city with growing industrial and economical centers. Euclid Avenue became the home of the wealthy entrepreneurs cashing in on the growing industrialization throughout the United States. For a time, the street was lined with opulent mansions and estates. The current landscape of Euclid Avenue is quite different now, and all but four of Millionaire’s Row’s original mansions have long since been torn down. However, Euclid Avenue it is still the center of Cleveland, Ohio, and now serves as a major area of entertainment, education, and history for the community.

Euclid Avenue is one of the major roads that runs through Cleveland, Ohio. It is part of U.S. Route 20 and 6 and runs from Public Square through East Cleveland, Euclid, Wickliffe, and Willoughby. Many Cleveland landmarks are also located along this road, including Playhouse Square, University Circle, the Cleveland Clinic, Severance Hall, Cleveland State University, Case Western Reserve University, and Malts Performing Arts Center.

Today, Euclid Avenue consists of a mix of businesses and housing within the city center. In the 1860s, it was still a part of the city center, but appeared quite different. During this time, the street and the city were less densely populated and was beginning to grow due to local industrial and business growth. In this era, Euclid Avenue earned the nickname Millionaire’s Row. The growth of the city attracted big investors including politicians and railroad, steel, iron, automobile, and business tycoons. These powerful and influential individuals built mansions and stately houses along Euclid Avenue, and the area became well known for being beautiful and picturesque.

Some made their homes on Euclid Avenue because it was considered an up-and-coming, desirable place to be. One of the most recognizable individuals to build a home on Cleveland’s Millionaire’s Row was John D. Rockefeller, businessman and founder of Standard Oil Company. Rockefeller bought his mansion in 1868. Jeptha Wade, founder of Western Union Telegraph, was responsible for the creation of Wade Park, a recreational area that also included the precursor to the current-day Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Wade Park still exists today and is now part of University Circle. Today, University Circle is home to the Cleveland Botanical Garden and the Cleveland Museum of Art among other recreational and educational institutions. 

The mansions of Millionaire’s Row were built in a variety of styles. Charles F. Schwinfurth was a prominent architect in Cleveland at the time, and he designed at least fifteen of the mansions, including that of iron magnate Samuel Mather. The building still stands today, along with other examples of Schwinfurth’s work such as the bridges at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at University Circle and Trinity Cathedral on Euclid Avenue. The Mather Mansion was built in 1910 and is said to have been one of the last great houses built on Millionaire’s Row.

In the 1890s, parts of Euclid Avenue began a rapid transition into a more densely populated downtown city. Department stores and other types of retail were being built, and by the 1920s the theaters that make up current-day Playhouse Square were built. At the same time as this rapid development, many of the Millionaire’s Row families shifted away from Euclid Avenue, moving to suburbs that are known today as Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights. By the 1930s, many of the Millionaire’s Row mansions were either torn down or converted into dorms or apartments. Around the same time, middle class African American Clevelanders began to move to and shop in the renovated Euclid Avenue area. They faced racial discrimination and exclusion in the form of groups like the Wade Park Committee that tried to bar nonwhite people from living in the neighborhood. Their protests were often violent and several African American owned homes were bombed.

In more recent years, Euclid Avenue and Cleveland in general have undergone some revitalization programs. Groups like Cleveland Tomorrow and the Greater Cleveland Roundtable were organizations founded with the purpose of putting money and resources into the community. Economic development, neighborhood development, housing, and public education are general points of focus for these groups. The Euclid Avenue Corridor Plan is a specific initiative aimed at revitalization along Euclid Avenue. Local stakeholders such as Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals contributed to specific projects such as improving public transit. Cleveland State University has invested in their own projects to develop their campus.

Only four of the original Millionaire’s Row houses remain today. They include the Mather Mansion created by Schwinfurth, The Drury, which was built around the same time as Mather Mansion, H.W. White Mansion, and the Stager Beckwith Mansion. Built in the 1860s, the Stager Beckwith Mansion was probably one of the earliest mansions built on Euclid Avenue. Today, the building has been repurposed in the Cleveland Children’s Museum.

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