Vinyl Record Press

Compact Discs have put a huge dent in the vinyl record industry, but vinyl records are still being made. Gotta Groove Records, located in Tyler Village, in Cleveland, produces high quality vinyl records on this press, originally built in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

Vinyl Record Press - Front View
Vinyl Record Press – Front View
Vinyl Record Press - Side View
Vinyl Record Press – Side View
Vinyl Record Press - Rear View
Vinyl Record Press – Rear View

Raw vinyl is extruded, bringing its temperature to approximately 300 degrees, and formed into a hockey puck-like biscuit of hot vinyl. Labels are applied to either side of the biscuit, which is pressed between two plates, or “pressers.” The pressed record is then cooled, and trimmed. In seconds raw vinyl is transformed to a high quality record.

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Cleveland Railway Co. Car 1218

The Cleveland Railway Co. was Cleveland’s privately owned public transit franchisee from 1910 to 1942. The City of Cleveland awarded franchises to private companies to operate horse-drawn car, and later, electric streetcar lines. The increased cost of electric streetcar lines caused consolidation of the industry in the late 1880s. In 1903, the two remaining companies merged to form the Cleveland Electric Railway Co.

Mayor Tom L. Johnson, who had been involved in the electric railway business before moving to Cleveland in 1883, was an advocate of municipal ownership of public transit. The Municipal Traction Co. was incorporated in 1906, and in 1908, the company leased the operations of the Cleveland Electric Railway Co. In 1910, the Municipal Traction Co. and Cleveland Electric Railway Co. filed for bankruptcy protection, and a new franchise agreement was created between the city and the former Cleveland Electric Railway Co., renamed Cleveland Railway Co.

Many of the cars owned and operated by the Cleveland Railway Co., including Car 1218 were manufactured by the G.C. Kuhlman Car Co. of Cleveland. Car 1218 was built in 1914, and improved in 1920 and leased to the Cleveland Interurban Railroad, owned by the Van Sweringen  brothers, to provide transportation between Shaker Heights and Terminal Tower. The brothers purchased the Cleveland Railway Co. in 1930. Car 1218 was retired in 1960.

1218 was a center-entry car, meaning that there was only one door, located in the middle of the car. Once the passenger entered the car, and placed his or her fare into the collection box, there were two more steps up to the seat level. Many of the fare boxes were manufactured by the Johnson Fare Box Company, founded by Tom L. Johnson.

Cash Box and Conductor's Seat in Center of Car 1218
Cash Box and Conductor’s Seat in Center of Car 1218
Front View of Car 1218 in RTA's Brookpark Shop
Front View of Car 1218 in RTA’s Brookpark Shop
Interior View of Car 1218
Interior View of Car 1218
Route Sign Above Car Door
Route Sign Above Car Door
Rear View of Car 1218
Rear View of Car 1218
Underside View
Underside View
Trolley View
Trolley View
Trolley View
Trolley View

The Cleveland Transit System (CTS) was established after the City of Cleveland purchased the Cleveland Railway Company, in April, 1942. By 1954 the conversion to rubber tires vehicles was completed, and rail transit was limited to the Windermere line, which was extended to the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in 1958. In 1974, CTS was reorganized as the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) which absorbed the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit the following year.

An agreement was reached between RTA and University Circle Incorporated, by which Car 1218, having been retired to Trolleyville in 1966, was to be restored and placed on display in the vicinity of the Children’s Museum in University Circle (so named because it was once the circle where street cars turned around to return to downtown Cleveland). Lacking funding, the project was never completed, and Car 1218 has been sold.

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Winton Motor Carriage Company

Scottish immigrant, Alexander Winton, came to Cleveland in 1884. In 1891, he established the Winton Bicycle Co., and in 1896, after two years of experimentation in the basement of his home, developed his own hydrocarbon engine, and completed his first motor carriage. Two years later, in space rented in the Brush Arc Lamp factory, Alexander Winton sold America’s first production automobile. Prior to that time, manufacturers of horseless carriages built automobiles to meet the specifications of the customer. Winton’s first production run consisted of twenty-two automobiles.

Brush Arc Lamp Factory at  Belden and Mason streets (East 40th and Commerce Streets
Brush Arc Lamp Factory at Belden and Mason streets (East 45th and Commerce Streets
1899 Winton Phaeton - Property of the Western Reserve Historical Society Crawford Auto Collection
1899 Winton Phaeton – Property of the Western Reserve Historical Society Crawford Auto Collection

The first automobile of the original production run was purchased for $1,000 by Robert Allison, a mining engineer from Port Carbon, Pennsylvania. Today, that historic automobile is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The twelfth car in that 1898 production run was purchased by James W. Packard of Warren, Ohio

100 cars were built in 1899, and sold for $2,000 each. The Pheaton (above), in the collection of the Frederick C. Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum of the Western Reserve Historical Society is one of them.

Winton Motor Carriage Company Factory at Berea Road & Madison Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio
Winton Motor Carriage Company Factory at Berea Road & Madison Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio

The company soon out-grew its rented space, and built a factory at Berea Road and Madison Avenue. The factory was surrounded by a test track. History was made in 1903 when Dr. H. Nelson Jackson and his chauffeur, Sewell K. Crocker  completed the first transcontinental crossing, from San Francisco to New York, with a stop at the Cleveland factory along the Way. That historic 1903 Winton is also in the collection of the Smithsonian.

Beneath Peeling Paint is the Names of  Workers at the Winton Factory
Beneath Peeling Paint are the Names of Workers at the Winton Factory
Original Elevator Inside the Winton Factory
Original Elevator Inside the Winton Factory
The Motor that Still Drives the Elevator More than 100 Years Later
The Motor that Still Drives the Elevator More than 100 Years Later
An Original Door Separating Sections of the Winton Factory
An Original Door Separating Sections of the Winton Factory
Foremen's Office Above the Factory Floor
Foremen’s Office Above the Factory Floor

It is ironic that the Winton Motor Car Co. (so named after the company was reorganized in 1915), having pioneered the production manufacture of automobiles in the United States, found itself unable to compete with the mass-production of Henry Ford, and the company closed in 1924. By that time, Alexander Winton had become involved new directions. In 1912, Winton formed the Winton Gas Engine & Mfg. Co., to produce marine engines, and the following year, produced America’s first diesel engine. Alexander Winton sold the engine business to General Motors in 1930, and it was renamed the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division of General Motors Corp. in 1938.

The Agora

The Agora, at 5000 Euclid Avenue since 1986, consists of an 1800 seat theater and a ballroom with a capacity of 500. The entrance to the theater is seen on the right, at the far end of the bar, opposite the entrance to the Ballroom. Built as the Metropolitan Theater, an opera house, in 1913, and used as a vaudeville and burlesque theater beginning in 1932, the complex housed radio stations WHK and WMMS from 1951 until 1978. Several other entertainment venues were housed in the complex until Hank LoConti  purchased the property to house the Agora Ballroom that had been destroyed by fire two years earlier. The Agora originally opened in Little Italy, early in 1966, and relocated to East 24th Street, to be near Cleveland State University, the following year, where it remained until the fire in 1984.

Inner Lobby at The Agora, 5000 Euclid Avenue
Inner Lobby at The Agora, 5000 Euclid Avenue
Entrance to the Agora Theater from the Inner Lobby
Entrance to the Agora Theater from the Inner Lobby
Inside the Agora Theater as seen from the balcony
Inside the Agora Theater as seen from the balcony
Inside the Agora Ballroom
Inside the Agora Ballroom
The Outer Lobby, looking toward the Inner Lobby from just inside the Euclid Avenue doors.
The Outer Lobby, looking toward the Inner Lobby from just inside the Euclid Avenue doors.
The Outer Lobby as seen from inside the Inner Lobby
The Outer Lobby as seen from inside the Inner Lobby
The complex also is home to the Backstage Cafe
The complex also is home to the Backstage Cafe
The Agora, 5000 Euclid Avenue
The Agora, 5000 Euclid Avenue
Detailed View of the Agora
Detailed View of the Agora

The building at 5000 Euclid Avenue housed not only the Agora Theater and Ballroom, but the offices of the LoConti entertainment business, and rooms for visiting entertainers. Rental office space was also available. A Cleveland Trust branch occupied the west end of first floor.

Former Cleveland Trust (AmeriTrust) Bank
Former Cleveland Trust (AmeriTrust) Bank
The Bank's Vault
The Bank’s Vault

In December, 2011, the LoConti family donated the Agora to MidTown Cleveland, a non-profit community development organization. The space formerly occupied by the bank was renovated by the Geis Companies for MidTown Cleveland’s offices. Geis renovated the rest of the building, with the exception of the theater and ballroom.

The Offices of MidTown Cleveland
The Offices of MidTown Cleveland
The Lobby, MidTown Cleveland
MidTown Cleveland’s Lobby
MidTown Cleveland's Conference Room
MidTown Cleveland’s Conference Room

Additional space throughout the building has been renovated to meet the needs of tenants.

Tenant Space, The Agora
Tenant Space, The Agora
Tenant Space, The Agora
Tenant Space, The Agora
Tenant Space, The Agora
Tenant Space, The Agora
Tenant Space, The Agora
Tenant Space, The Agora

 

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Rotunda Vault

The main entrance to the vaults beneath the banking floor of the former Cleveland Trust Rotunda, located at East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue. Construction was completed in 1908. Ahead is one of four vaults on this level. The carpeting was removed from the  vault area, revealing once-beautiful marble floors. Likewise, the main vault was found to have marble walls on the sides and rear, as you will see when you scroll down through the photographs.

Entrance to the Vaults Beneath the Rotunda
Entrance to the Vaults Beneath the Rotunda
Entrance to the Main Vault
Entrance to the Main Vault
Safety Deposit Boxes in the Main Vault
Safety Deposit Boxes in the Main Vault
Doors in the Rear of the Vault
Doors in the Rear of the Vault
Original Marble Revealed after Outer Wall was Demolished
Original Marble Revealed after Outer Wall was Demolished
Another View of the Original Marble Wall
Another View of the Original Marble Wall
Detailed View of Closing Mechanism
Detailed View of Closing Mechanism
Detailed view of the Main Vault Door
Detailed view of the Main Vault Door
Detailed View of the Vault Door
Detailed View of the Vault Door

Detailed  View of the Locking Mechanism

Detailed View of Timing Mechanism
Detailed View of Timing Mechanism
Vault after Removal of the Safety Deposit Boxes
Vault after Removal of the Safety Deposit Boxes

This is one post in a series entitled Renaissance on East 9th Street, documenting the renovation, restoration and transformation of the historic Cleveland Trust complex. If you have not already done so, please take a moment to enter your email address in the space provided in the upper right corner of this page, to receive notification of future Blog posts.