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Cuyahoga River Bridge War Divided Cleveland And Ohio City In 1800s

By Dennis Knowles

Published November 20, 2020 at 8:00 PM EST

Thomas Whepley, Columbus Street Bridge, 1836, [Courtesy of Judy MacKeigan] — Thomas Whepley, Columbus Street Bridge, 1836,

If you've lived in Cleveland for a while, then you're probably aware that the East and West sides of town are often at odds with one another. History tells us that this love-hate relationship dates back almost two centuries, when Moses Cleaveland and his Connecticut Land Company arrived in Northeast Ohio.

This history is familiar to Judith A. MacKeigan, a Cleveland Metroparks historian who has written about and given talks on the region’s past. In the video above, she revisits the 1800s, when Ohio City and Cleveland were at odds over the bridges over the Cuyahoga River.

[Columbus Road Bridge over the Cuyahoga River circa 1836: The Cleveland History Center]