Description: This photograph shows the C&B Steamers ship at the Steamship City dock on Lake Erie at the East 9th Street Pier. The brick building on the left has a sign which reads "Lunches[;] Soda[,] Grill[,] Candy[,] Cigars" and the C&B sign reads "C&B Steamers to Buffalo at 9 P.M.[,] C&B Line[,] Canada[,] Port Stanley[,] Friday[,] Sunday." The Cleveland & Buffalo Transit Co. (C&B), a popular steamship line and later a trucking firm, was established by Morris A. Bradley in 1885 and incorporated in 1892, with Bradley as president. Passenger and freight service was initiated between Cleveland and Buffalo, leaving Cleveland from the foot of St. Clair Ave, and in 1896, the "City of Buffalo" was added. The "City of Erie" replaced the "State of Ohio" in 1898, providing night service from Cleveland to Toledo. In 1914 Cedar Point and Put-in-Bay were added to the C&B route. As passenger service became increasingly popular, the luxurious "SEEANDBEE, " a costly sidewheel passenger steamer, began regular trips between Cleveland and Buffalo in 1913. At that time, the C&B and the Detroit & Cleveland (D&C) lines obtained a 50-year lease from Cleveland for property at the foot of 9th St. for $55, 000. There the two companies built the E. 9th St. Pier and a new lake terminal, dedicated in 1915; in exchange, the city built a bridge over the E. 9th St. railroad tracks, paved the E. 9th St. approach, and provided a street railway to the pier. The destruction of the steamship "City of Buffalo" by fire in 1938, along with the Depression and increasing competition from trucks and railroads, caused the bankruptcy and liquidation of Cleveland & Buffalo Transit Co. in 1939. Their E. 9th St. Pier was transferred to the Lederer Terminal Warehouse Co., and both the "Goodtime" and the "City of Erie" steamers were sold for salvage. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B12F02_019_001
Subjects: Lake Erie; Steamboats; Cargo Ships; Transportation--Ohio; Cleveland (Ohio)
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)