The Cool History of Cleveland

Driving east on I-90 out of downtown always offers a spectacular view of Lake Erie on the northern perspective. More often than not as I take the turn near the E. 72nd/Gordon Park exit I tend to notice a lone brick building sitting on the south hill that looks, well, looks abandoned and vacant. But the building always held my imagination of what it could be and it turns out that the lone building sitting on that lonely hill is the old Cleveland Aquarium. I found a postcard of the Aquarium when it was still operating.

The Cleveland Aquarium was opened by the City of Cleveland in 1954 but operated by the Cleveland Musuem of Natural History. The original building with 8,000 gallons of aquatic joy is the building in the middle of the picture with a pitched roof. The octagonal wing to the left was built in 1967 with the support of a $300,000 grant and increased tank capacity to 82,000 gallons. Various aquatic displays included sharks, swordfish, sawfish, octopus, alligators and various other species of fish.

It was often said that the Aquarium drew more crowds than it could handle. Unfortunately, as it was run by the City of Cleveland it was seen by many to be a costly extravagance. And in 1985 with the facility in need of significant repairs it was decided to close the Aquarium.

There are a few extraordinary websites out there working to educate and raise money for a new Cleveland Aquarium - and for Cleveland not to have one is folly. Here is the Cleveland Aquarium, Inc. website - www.clevelandaquarium.org/.

It was at this website, I found a great document with additional photos that will just blow your mind - http://www.clevelandaquarium.org/downloads/AquariumHistory_10-2006.pdf.

There is also the Cleveland Aquarium Society which can be connected at here - www.clevelandaquariumsociety.org.

This really was a gem of a building and if a new one were to be built the obvious area would be near the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame and the Great Lakes Science Center, but I would suggest building it where it belongs on the hill near Gordon Park with a stunning view of Lake Erie.