Feel the humid summers and harsh winters that once made these low Cuyahoga River banks inhospitable to early settlers. In 1796 Moses Cleaveland and his survey party landed here, the very moment this riverfront began its long story. Early settlers such as Lorenzo Carter amassed land that now includes much of today’s East Bank entertainment district, and even Whiskey Island — created when the mouth of the river was straightened by the Corps of Engineers.
Early residents found the Flats inhospitable: humid summers that brought airborne illness, and harsh winters with the strong winds and snowfall off Lake Erie. Many took refuge on higher ground in what is now Downtown. Cleveland grew slowly until the Ohio and Erie Canal arrived, bringing a trade route from the Ohio River and other southern Ohio cities.
The heavily Irish immigrant workforce that built the canal made its home on the West Bank of the Flats and in neighboring Ohio City. Today the Flats is a mixed-use industrial, recreational, entertainment, and residential area on these same low banks. Irish canal workers once settled the West Bank here, and today mixed-use development fills these same low banks for you.