Photo Credit: InterContinentalCleveland.com
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What is the most searched attraction about Cleveland?
My curiosity got the better of me, so I reached out to the Press Office of Google; and to my surprise, they (Google Trends) worked their magic and ranked the top 10 attractions searched about Cleveland, Ohio on a Google search engine.
The results did shock me. I was surprised the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame, the downtown Casino, Progressive Field or First Energy Stadium didn’t crack the top 10.
What follows, then, are the top 10 Google searches about Cleveland within the last six months.
1. The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo was the most googled attraction about Cleveland within the last six months. It’s located near Brookside Park on the southwest side of Cleveland, occupying 165 acres. The zoo is home to 3,300 animals of over 500 different species.
The Zoo specializes in animal care, education and research and is certified by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Since 1995, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has contributed more than $8 million to wildlife conservation efforts around the world in partnership with the Cleveland Zoological Society.
The zoo began as Wade Park in 1882, near Wade Oval in Cleveland’s University Circle after Jeptha H. Wade donated 73-acres of land and 14 American deer to the City of Cleveland. With the city’s plans to build the Cleveland Museum of Art in University Circle, the zoo was relocated.
In 1957, the Cleveland Zoological Society assumed control of the Zoo. In 1968, the City of Cleveland transferred ownership of the Zoo to the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District, and the Cleveland Zoological Society transferred management of the Zoo to the Cleveland Metroparks in 1975. By 1995, attendance at the zoo had leaped to 1.2 million.
Today, the Zoo is one of Cleveland's most visited year-round attractions.
2.) The 63rd annual Cleveland Boat Show or Progressive Cleveland Boat Show & Fishing Expo which was held January 16th through January 20th at the I-X Center, Cleveland’s convention and exhibition hall, was the second most searched Cleveland attraction within the last six months.
Having weathered the Great Recession of 2008 and beyond, this year’s boat show was bigger than ever, which took up a good part of the convention center. The show displayed more than 450 boats, including kayaks, stand-up paddleboards and jet skis.
Other items included: A Fishing Expo with Fisherman Central, with vendors selling tackle, rods, reels, lures and a spectacular array of equipment and outer wear. Expert fisherman brought in fisherman with expertise; over 25 fishing professionals. They taught customers, among other techniques, about the strategy of fishing, and demonstrating how to lure a fish. There was also trout pond for trying your own hand at fishing.
Children, undoubtedly came away happy with a kid zone for face painters; a scavenger hunt and Peter Pan and Pirates.
Boat enthusiasts with deep pockets, weren’t disappointed.
Prices ranged upward to one million for fully equipped yachts; a 41-foot Back Cove Yacht was listed at just under $770,000
The first Cleveland Boat show was launched in 1957, promoted as the Mid-America Show. It was originally an eight-day event and held at the downtown Cleveland Convention Center.
3.) Great Lakes Science Center is the third most searched attraction in Cleveland. Located at 601 Erieside Avenue in the North coast Harbor District of Cleveland’s lakefront, the science center opened in 1996
In its first two years of operation the center drew over one million visitors.
In 2005, the STEAMSHIP WILLIAM G. MATHER MUSEUM, a retired Great Lakes bulk freighter was relocated to a neighboring spot at Dock 32 from its former docking place at the East 9th Street Pier.
At its core, the center's exhibits support STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) with exhibits, (including the BioMedTech Gallery) advanced energy, science phenomena and space. The Science Center is additionally home to the NASA Glenn Visitor Center which makes science come alive for more than 300,000 visitors a year through hundreds of hands-on exhibits, temporary exhibitions, and the Cleveland Clinic DOME Theater.
The Glenn Visitors Center includes exhibits and artifacts from Ohio astronaut John Glenn's 1962 Project Mercury flight and the Apollo Command Module flown on the Skylab 3 mission in 1973.
New and creative exhibits are regularly unveiled at the science center. Over the Valentine’s Day week, for example, topics included wind and water, DNA and genetics, and robots on Mars.
The Science Center, a 501(c)(3) non-profit institution, is funded in part by the citizens of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.
4.) Catholic Diocese of Cleveland was the fourth most googled attraction.
The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland was created on April 23, 1847 for 10,000 Catholics. The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist was constructed from 1848 until 1852 at the corner of Superior Avenue and Erie Street (now East 9th Street). It was dedicated on November 7, 1852.
In 1912, the first Catholic Charities office was opened at East 9th and Prospect.
During its latest Census, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland has 677,219 Catholics or 24 percent of total eight-county population, which includes 185 parishes, one pastoral center, and one mission. It’s ranked as the 23rd largest diocese in the United States.
Among its 185 parishes, it deploys 258 active diocesan priests. In addition to its parishes, the Catholic Diocese operates the largest school system in the state of Ohio with 94 elementary schools, 20 secondary, and 60 preschools.
A shortage of priests in the United States continues to imperil the Catholic Church’s ministry. Over the past half century, in fact, the number of priests across the U.S. has dropped by about 38 percent — from nearly 60,000 diocesan and religious order priests in 1970 to 37,192 in 2016, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland operates 17 elementary schools in the City of Cleveland with approximately 4300 students enrolled.
Catholic Charities manages more than 150 services at 60 locations to over 400,000 individuals each year – providing help and creating hope for people of every race and religion throughout the eight counties in the Diocese of Cleveland (Ashland, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Summit and Wayne). Annually, the Diocese serves 3.2 million meals and provides 61,082 nights of shelter.
5.) Cleveland Botanical Garden is the fifth most searched attraction about Cleveland.
The story of the Botanical Garden stretches back to 1912, that’s when Eleanor Squire donated her collection of 250 horticultural books to the Garden Club of Greater Cleveland, which housed the books at the Museum of Art.
Fourteen years later, January 24, 1930, six members of the Garden Club transformed an empty, brick boathouse along Wade Lagoon into a garden center that would house the collection of horticultural books and serve as a place for people to learn about plants and gardening. The Botanical Garden officially swung open its doors on December 4, 1930 whose purpose would be to “promote such knowledge and love of gardening as will result in a more beautiful community.”
The Cleveland Garden Center was reorganized as The Garden Center of Greater Cleveland in 1933, offering individual memberships and affiliations with other local garden clubs. In 1937, The Garden Center of Greater Cleveland was incorporated as a non-profit organization.
A renovation in 1939 tripled the building’s size. A year later, the West Side Branch of The Garden Center opened in the old Cudell House at 10013 Detroit Ave. in Cleveland.
Not shy about answering their call to duty during World War II, the Garden Center provided funds for mobile canteens and the British War Relief, maintained Victory Gardens and delivered flowers to veterans at local hospitals and infirmaries.
In 1959, a crippling flash flood along East Boulevard forced leaders of The Garden Center to look for a new home. The Garden Center of Greater Cleveland, thanks to a $1.8 million fundraising effort, opened at its new location at 11030 East Boulevard on January 12, 1966.
In 1994, The Garden Center of Greater Cleveland changed its name to Cleveland Botanical Garden.
Well into the 21st century, Cleveland Botanical Garden is an ever-changing urban escape where you find enrichment and inspiration through fabulous gardens, an exotic Glasshouse and enriching events. The Garden makes its community greener and healthier by growing young lives and restoring land throughout the city.
Most importantly, hundreds of teens and children alike have learned essential life skills, business lessons and the essentials of urban-farming and gardening.
6.) Lake Erie (241 miles long) is the sixth most search attraction in Cleveland.
The first European to record Lake Erie was the French trader and explorer Louis Jolliet in 1669.
Lake Erie is one of the Great Lakes and currently serves as part of Ohio's northern boundary. On September 10, 1813, at the Battle of Lake Erie, an American fleet under the command of Oliver Hazard Perry defeated a British fleet, securing control of the lake for the United States.
The lake was named by the Erie people a Native American people who lived along its southern shore. The tribal name "erie" is a shortened form of the Iroquoian word erielhonan, meaning "long tail".
During the Prohibition era, Lake Erie had a rather bloody history when alcohol was frequently transported across Lake Erie. According to author Margaret Atwood in TheStar, a Toronto publication “mobster corpses were frequently dumped into the Detroit River, to wash up on the beaches of Pelee Island, where a special ice house was built to accommodate them.”
Lake Erie has a surface area of 9940 square miles (the average depth is 62 feet); the maximum width of the lake is 57 miles. There are 24 Lake Erie Islands.
Sportfishing is a popular pastime along Lake Erie, particularly in the springtime with walleye, yellow perch, and white bass the most popular catches.
Despite its history of pollution during the 1960s, measures were taken to clean up the waterways. In 1972, for example, Congress passed the Clean Water Act, a measure that tightened regulations on industrial dumping. That same year, the United States and Canada signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in an attempt to lower the amount of pollutants entering the Great Lakes.
According to the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC), Lake Erie is the source of drinking water for 12 million people, and it provides 1/3 of the tourism and travel revenue for the state of Ohio.
In February 2019, ELPC filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration EPA, challenging its approval of an Ohio EPA decision in June 2018 to make western Lake Erie a low priority for action under the Clean Water Act. The Ohio EPA has admitted it lacks an effective alternative plan for reducing phosphorus pollution into western Lake Erie. As a remedy, ELPC and its co-plaintiff asked the court to oversee a meaningful compliance plan that includes progress reports and a timeline for phosphorus pollution reductions.
7.) The Children's Museum of Cleveland is the seventh most searched attraction in Cleveland.
The Children’s Museum of Cleveland (CMC) is a non-profit organization that was first established in 1981 by a group of parents, educators, and civic leaders who wanted to respond to the need for educational programming for early learners in Northeast Ohio.
The museum itself first opened in 1986 in the University Circle area with exhibits which nurtured and promoted the learning and development of young children.
In 2014, the Children’s Museum opened a new chapter in its history, when it purchased the historic Stager Beckwith mansion located in MidTown in December of 2014. It then launched a $10.7 million-dollar capital campaign to transform the space into their new home.
The new facility opened its doors on November 7, 2017 with a mission statement which states that that “young children learn best through hands-on, open-ended play.” CMC prides itself in being the only museum in the region dedicated exclusively to early childhood development.
CMC has a steady flow of visitors, 200,000 annually – doubling that of their prior facility, with a network of over 6,000 members. In the fall of 2018, CMC finished its capital campaign, opening 40,000 sq. feet of exhibit space.
Nationally, according to a 2013 Washington Post article, more than 31 million children and families visit children’s museums — about 400 in the United States, based on statistics from the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM).
The Children’s Museum of Cleveland is also keeping up-to-date with new educational tools for children and their disabilities with a Sensory Friendly Room for children who have a low tolerance for loud noise and large crowds. They also have a system in place in which children with special needs can visit the museum before opening its doors to the general public.
Other attractions at CMC include: a theater for children to perform their favorite fairytale stories; a collection of dollhouses, a Wonder Lab for exploring scientific and engineering concepts; and a variety of tools for arts and crafts.
The Children's Museum of Cleveland is fully ADA accessible.
8.) Edgewater Park is the eighth most searched attraction in Cleveland.
The 147-acre Edgewater Park is the westernmost park in Cleveland Metroparks Lakefront Reservation, featuring 9,000 feet of shoreline, dog and swim beaches, boat ramps, fishing pier, picnic areas and grills and a rentable pavilion.
Summertime popular amenities include the Beach House with beachside fare and seasonal outdoor bar as well as the Edgewater Nature Shop that rents lounge chairs, stand up paddleboards and more.
Each summer thousands of music fans attend the free Edgewater LIVE concert series on Edgewater Beach. Edgewater LIVE is held Thursday evenings from June to early August. The concerts average more than 10,000 visitors per night.
The grounds for Edgewater Park were purchased by the City of Cleveland in 1894 and have provided popular recreational spaces for Cleveland residents since its opening the following year.
In 1902, a bathhouse was installed followed by a large pavilion.
In 1978 Edgewater Park became part of the Cleveland Lakefront State Park and since that time many of the park's recreational facilities have been restored, including offshore fishing platforms, a 900' bathing beach (one of the largest in Cleveland), a renovated pavilion, picnic areas, a boat-launching ramp, the Edgewater Yacht Club, and the Edgewater Marina.
In 2013, the year the state handed Cleveland Metroparks control of the city's lakefront parks, 702, 000 people reportedly visited Edgewater Park.
9.) Downtown Cleveland was the ninth most searched attraction in Cleveland,
As has been widely reported over the last two decades or so, Cleveland, Ohio, once the butt of late-night television hosts jokes, has made a roaring comeback.
During the MLB All-Star Game in July, many of the players from other cities noticed how Cleveland was a terrific city, smashing their previously held stereotypes about the “Mistake on the Lake.”
According to the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, there has been over $8 billion in downtown business development. There are now 17,500 residents in downtown Cleveland, the largest downtown in Ohio.
Downtown Cleveland is home to over 105,000 jobs, the largest job hub in Ohio, and continues to grow, adding an estimated 750 new jobs in 2018. According to the Federal Bureau of Economics, Cleveland’s economy is growing faster than any other big city in Ohio.
As testament to its attraction, Cleveland receives more than a million visitors annually, while generating $199 million in annual economic impact for the region.
Overall, Downtown Cleveland has benefited from $1.4 billion in historic tax credits that has catalyzed the development of 31 projects and added 4,000 housing units. Today, over 40 percent of Downtown Cleveland residents live in historic tax credit financed buildings.
Cleveland was the first settlement founded in the Connecticut Western Reserve by the Connecticut Land Company. It was named after General Moses Cleaveland, an investor in the company who led the survey of its land within the Western Reserve. On January 6, 1831, the Cleveland Advertiser dropped the "a" from Cleveland, probably to save space on the newspaper's masthead, thus the spelling we use today.
During the late nineteenth century, Cleveland became an important industrial city; John D. Rockefeller and his partners began the Standard Oil Company in Cleveland during the 1860s.
After the city’s population peaked in 1950 at one million residents; it then witnessed a spiraling loss of population. In 2000, approximately 500,000 people resided in the city. The most recent census figures shows there are approximately 385,525 living in Cleveland.
The Cuyahoga River, once a stigma that hung over the city due to the fire in 1969, has rebounded and emerged as an important economic and cultural center in the Midwest.
10.) Cleveland’s Historic League Park was the 10th most searched attraction in Cleveland, the home to the Cleveland Indians from 1901 through 1946. It was at League Park where Cleveland won their last World Series on their own soil. In 1948, the Indians secured their championship in Boston.
It was at League Park where Babe Ruth, the “Sultan of Swat” belted his 500th career home run in 1929, a ball that easily cleared the 290 foot right-field fence, landing on Lexington Avenue where there was a mad scramble for the ball. It was at League Park where Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio (on July 16, 1941) extended his 56-game hitting streak. The next night, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, the Indians brought DiMaggio’s historic streak to an end.
League Park is also where the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro Leagues played. The Buckeyes won the 1945 World Series, defeating the Homestead Grays. The NFL’s Cleveland Rams played at League Park until 1945 , the same year they won a championship against the Washington Redskins. The championship game, however, was held at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
For years after the Indians left League Park permanently, the facility and the Hough neighborhood fell into disrepair. The Hough Riots in the blazing summer of 1966 saw the neighborhood engulfed with firebombing and senseless cases of arson.
Thanks to an indomitable City of Cleveland Councilwoman, Fannie Lewis, League Park was revitalized and reopened in 2014.
Though much of the park was torn down years ago, they were able to save a couple of important relics: the ticket house built in 1909 and part of the E. 66th Street grandstand wall.
It’s inside the old ticket house where the Baseball Heritage Museum set up shop and showcases items from the Indians and Buckeyes stories past.
The renovated League Park came about after the city of Cleveland financed the $6.3 million project primarily through park bond funds. It has also received a $150,000 cultural preservation grant from the state and $75,000 from the Department of Transportation.
The positioning of League Park is exactly the same as when the Indians played there, including the 290-foot right-field wall which Babe Ruth loved so much. So, anyone making the trip down to League Park, can stand in the same place where Tris Speaker, Ted Williams, and the Indians second sacker, Ray Chapman, once stood.
Bonus
11. The 11th most searched is the Christmas Story House and Museum in Tremont, in dedication to the motion picture, a Christmas Story, which has become a cult favorite.
"A Christmas Story’’ opened November 18, 1983, drawing $7,291,703 in its first 10 days at 938 theaters in the United States and Canada; and after it closed five weeks later in most theaters, its final receipts totaled a disappointing $19 million. Studio execs considered it a flop. It was out of most theaters before Christmas.
In December 2012, ``A Christmas Story’’ was one of 25 films selected to be included into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, for its enduring importance to American culture and as a reflection of who ``we are as a people and a nation," according to Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Congress established the National Film Registry in 1989 to highlight the need for preserving U.S. film heritage.
The exterior of the house depicted in ``A Christmas Story’’ was a 19th-century Victorian home built in 1895, located at 3159 W 11th Street in Cleveland, Ohio, in the Tremont neighborhood. The house was scooped up by San Diego entrepreneur Brian Jones at an Ebay auction in 2004 for $150,000. He plunked down another $250,000 to spruce it up and opened it as a tourist attraction in 2006. Jones later bought two additional houses across the street, one that became a museum, and another, a gift shop. Items inside the gift shop, include: Red Ryder guns, ornaments from the movie, a Pink Nightmare Bunny Suit, and, of course, a 50" Deluxe Full Size Leg Lamp from A Christmas Story,
According to Brian Jones, owner of the Christmas Story House and Museum, to many people’s surprise we are also busy in summer. "We have had several celebrity visitors including most of the original cast and the Kardashian’s among others.”
“We get people from all over the world," Jones said. “ Name a country we have had a visitor from there. We have a run the first Saturday in December from Higbee’s to the House that raises money to restore the neighborhood surrounding the house. “
--Bill Lucey
February 17, 2020
