Description: Caption reads: "Cuyahoga County Criminal Court Building, July 1936. Cleveland, Ohio." The Cuyahoga County Criminal Courts Building was located at 1560 East Twenty-First (21st) Street, next to the Cleveland Police Department. The steel and concrete building was designed by Warner and Mitchell in the Art Deco style. The 13-story cut-back tower has a sandstone façade, while the remainder of the building is surfaced with light-colored brick. The Art Deco style was carried throughout the building’s interior and some of the light fixtures are on display at the Western Reserve Historical Society. The tower appears four-sided from the exterior, but within becomes an octagon, with a 3-story rotunda topped with a remarkable octagonal light which could be raised and lowered. Completed in 1931, the building housed courtrooms, offices for county officials and a 350 person jail, which was considered one of the most modern jail in the United States when it was built. With the construction of the new Criminal Courts Building in 1977, the building fell into disrepair. Attempts to repurpose the building for other county and local functions eventually failed and the building was demolished (sometime between 2008 and 2010) and is now the site of a large parking lot. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F09_02_01
Subjects: Cleveland (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; County courts--Ohio; Art deco (Architecture--Ohio--Pictorial works.)--United States; Demolished buildings; Western Reserve Historical Society--Archives
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph from the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus is of 59-year-old Joseph Allen, also known as "Toledo Slim." His formal attire suggests that the photograph was taken during his trial or sentencing. Allen was the 299th individual to be executed via the electric chair in Ohio. The caption at the bottom reads: “No. 299 Joseph Allen Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Legally Electrocuted September 20, 1956, for the Murder of Berry Joiner & Willie Arnold” In 1885 the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio, became the location for all executions, which previously took place in the various county seats. In 1896 the Ohio General Assembly mandated that electrocution replace hanging as the form of capital punishment. The Ohio Penitentiary regularly offered tours as well as souvenir photographs and postcards of the building and prisoners on death row. A total of 315 prisoners, both men and women, were executed in the electric chair known as “Old Sparky” between 1897 and 1963. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL08351
Subjects: Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law; Capital punishment; Death row; Electrocution; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections; Ohio Penitentiary (Columbus, Ohio); Prisons--Ohio
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Toledo (Ohio); Lucas County (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Strikers at Fisher Body Division being tear-gassed by police in Cleveland, Ohio, Cuyahoga County, 1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00591
Subjects: Revolution, Reaction, and Reform; Ohio History--Military Ohio
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Police and Firemen using high-pressure water hose against Fisher Body Division strikers, Cleveland, Ohio, Cuyahoga County, 1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00592
Subjects: Revolution, Reaction, and Reform; Ohio History--Military Ohio
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Fisher Body Division striker seized by police, Cleveland, Ohio, Cuyahoga County, 1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00593
Subjects: Revolution, Reaction, and Reform; Ohio History--Military Ohio
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Fisher Body strikers attempting to block entrance of plant to scabs are confronted by mounted police, Cleveland, Ohio, Cuyahoga County, 1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00594
Subjects: Revolution, Reaction, and Reform; Ohio History--Military Ohio
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Taken in 1939, this photograph shows Fisher Body Division strikers picketing non-striking employee's home in Cleveland, Ohio, in Cuyahoga County. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00595
Subjects: Revolution, Reaction, and Reform; Strikes and lockouts; Employees; Ohio Economy--Economy--Labor
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Fisher Body Division strikers listening to speech by union official outside of plant, Cleveland, Ohio, Cuyahoga County, 1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00596
Subjects: Revolution, Reaction, and Reform; Ohio Economy--Economy--Labor
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption reads: "These photographs show a Cleveland Polish folk artist at work. Madame Piotrowska is putting the finishing touches on an accurate image of a Polish peasant girl. carved from wood. Madame Piotrowska's brothers were officers in the Polish arms; since the invasion; one is missing, the other in a concentration camp. She has sent many hand painted postcards to the incarcerated brother, hoping to cheer him. these cards are painted in Oil on paper-thin, card -size pieces of wood. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F05_001_001
Subjects: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio); Folk artists
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption reads: "These photographs show a Cleveland Polish folk artist at work. Madame Piotrowska is putting the finishing touches on an accurate image of a Polish girl. Madame Piotrowska's brothers were officers in the Polish army; since the invasion, one is missing and the other in a concentration camp. She has sent many hand painted postcards to the incarcerated brother, hoping to cheer him. These cards are painted in oil on paper-thin, card-size pieces of wood." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F05_003_001
Subjects: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio); Folk artists
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: The campus of Ursuline College in Cuyahoga County. Ursuline College was founded in 1871 as a Roman Catholic liberal arts college for women. It is in Pepper Pike, Ohio in Cuyahoga County. It is one of the oldest college for women in the United States. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07256
Subjects: Women--Education - Ohio; College campuses; Universities and colleges
Places: Pepper Pike (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of Harry C. Smith (1863-1941), a representative from Cuyahoga County, from his term in the 71st session of the Ohio House of Representatives, 1894-1895. He also served in the 72nd session (1896-1897) and 74th session (1900-1901) of the General Assembly. During his time in office, Smith lobbied the state government to do more to protect the civil rights of African Americans, including gaining passage of the Smith Act in the Ohio House of Representatives. The act was one of the strictest anti-lynching laws in the U.S. at the time. Smith was also a journalist and publisher, and was co-founder of the Cleveland Gazette. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03899
Subjects: Cuyahoga County (Ohio); African American Ohioans; Civil rights activists; Journalists; Ohio House of Representatives;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)