Sixty Good Years and One Damn Beautiful Mural
Okay Cleveland, check this photo out.
Is this not the most spectacular sports mural you have ever seen? This was a Kenneth Bates mural created specifically for the lobby of the new Campus Sweater Company building at 3955 Euclid Avenue. Campus Sweater Company was launched in 1922 by entreprenuers Samuel Kaufmann and Loren Weber originally in the Warehouse District. The Company specialized in casual clothes, sportswear and sweaters. At one time it was the largest manufacturer of men’s clothing in the U.S. (Wasn’t everything in Cleveland once the “largest in the U.S.?) The Company was eventually acquired by Interco in 1968 and enjoyed good fortune in Cleveland until 1982 wehn the plant was closed ending any presence of Campus Sweater in Cleveland. The building became an office for the county. I cannot tell what happened to this mural.
What I find fascinating about the mural (outside of its gorgeous look) was that it was placed in front of a large “picture window” on Euclid Avenue so that everyone walking along the street could see this magnificant piece of art. Kenneth Bates, too, was a world renown artist who was based out of the Cleveland Institute of Art. The building this piece was a part of, I believe, is now gone - but I would love to know what happened to this great piece of art. Does anyone have any ideas? Please, please, please let me know.
