Frontiersman. The founder of Cleveland, Ohio, he was a Continental Army soldier, Yale scholar, lawyer and a surveyor. In 1796, the Northwest Territory in which Cleveland is located was purchased at five cents an acre by the Connecticut Land Company. Moses Cleaveland was selected as agent to survey the land and lay out a city with small lots to entice Easterners to buy and move to the new promise land. He left Connecticut with an entourage of fifty men. The party included civil engineers, an astronomer, a mathematician, a commissary and helpers which laid out a town plan with a central square from which the streets extended out into the region. He put his official signature on the completed map and the town was called Cleaveland. Years later, a news writer left out the "a" and the revised spelling was accepted. No other city in America exists today as laid out by its founder. He returned to Connecticut, worked as a lawyer for the rest of his life but never re-visited the city of his founding. However, he expounded a prediction that Cleveland would someday be home to fifteen thousand people because of its ideal location.
Frontiersman. The founder of Cleveland, Ohio, he was a Continental Army soldier, Yale scholar, lawyer and a surveyor. In 1796, the Northwest Territory in which Cleveland is located was purchased at five cents an acre by the Connecticut Land Company. Moses Cleaveland was selected as agent to survey the land and lay out a city with small lots to entice Easterners to buy and move to the new promise land. He left Connecticut with an entourage of fifty men. The party included civil engineers, an astronomer, a mathematician, a commissary and helpers which laid out a town plan with a central square from which the streets extended out into the region. He put his official signature on the completed map and the town was called Cleaveland. Years later, a news writer left out the "a" and the revised spelling was accepted. No other city in America exists today as laid out by its founder. He returned to Connecticut, worked as a lawyer for the rest of his life but never re-visited the city of his founding. However, he expounded a prediction that Cleveland would someday be home to fifteen thousand people because of its ideal location.
Bio by: Donald Greyfield
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