The story
Read it all →How Cleveland came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Cleveland.
Jessees Mill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Cleveland
Cleveland’s post office opened in 1890, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1918 on and the census since 1910.
1890first post office
0on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Cleveland began
When was Cleveland founded?
1890
The Cleveland post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 252 in 19102020 census: 136136 years
Founding year: the first Cleveland post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Cleveland’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Cleveland’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cleveland’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Cleveland, census by census
Peaked at 415 in 1960; 136 people lived here in 2020.
9 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cleveland’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Cleveland on the map, 1918 to 1978
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cleveland. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1918Carterton sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cleveland.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Cleveland in 1911
Passages that mention Cleveland, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of dentistry in Cleveland, Ohio1911 · page 77Read the page →
Read the text
S. B. Burnham's alma mater was Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., where he probably received an M. D., he practiced dentistry in Cleveland 1859, then went to Madison, Wis., and finally returned to Cleveland 1867, where he practiced until about 1880, when he retired. He was an invalid for the last f<\\ years of his life, but died suddenly in Chicago, May, 1905, aged about eighty-five, and the remains were buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Madison, Wis.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of dentistry in Cleveland, Ohio1911 · page 169Read the page →
Read the text
mittee National Dental Association, furnished supplies for the clinic for one year. The equipment was loaned by the different manufacturers, to the Oral Hygiene Committee National Dental Association, to be usi'd in Cleveland one year. The Dental Manufacturers' Club contributed $3, <»<»<) to carry on the work of oral hygiene, part of which was used in Cleveland. The State Dental Society was instrumental in securing part of the supplies. Members of the Cleveland Dental Society contributed to
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Cleveland, 1890 to 1960
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1890Post officeThe Cleveland post office opens
- 20th century
- 1918
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 415
By decade
Cleveland, decade by decade
2010
2005Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Cleveland
Nobody well known was born in Cleveland itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
O
Ollan CassellAmerican sprinter · b. 1936
Questions about Cleveland’s history
What year was Cleveland founded?
The Cleveland post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.