Photographs
26 Covering Cleveland – 1946 to 2013
-
- There have been many memorable photographs taken in Cleveland, but this one by Plain Dealer photographer Christine “Chris” Stephens captures the city’s beauty, daring, and optimism as it entered the 1990s. For journalists, the image brings mixed emotions. It shows an iron worker atop the 20-story North Point Office Tower at E. 9th Street and Lakeside Avenue, the former site of the Cleveland Press. The Press building was demolished after the newspaper closed in 1982, and it was replaced with an office building and tower. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- Happy Clevelanders crowd the lobby of the Cleveland Press on Feb. 6, 1946, to buy copies of the first edition printed since a pressmen’s strike began Jan. 7. It was the first of four newspaper strikes in Cleveland, and it stopped publication of Cleveland’s three daily newspapers. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- The Plain Dealer offices on Superior Avenue and E. 6th Street. This picture was taken on Feb. 6, 1946, the day a 32-day strike by the pressmen ended. “Presses Roll And City Lives Again,” the Plain Dealer declared. “Coffee Was Flat Without Morning Paper.” Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- The Plain Dealer city room in 1947. The PD’s daily circulation stood at 220,618 two years earlier, ranking it the second highest among Cleveland’s three daily newspapers. The Cleveland Press led in daily readers, and the News ranked third.* Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- George E. Condon in 1949. He worked at The Plain Dealer for 42 years, beginning in 1943. He was a reporter, the newspaper’s first radio and television critic, and a columnist. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- Plain Dealer Sports Editor Gordon “Cobby” Cobbledick in 1954 at a Golden Gloves boxing tournament. He wrote a column called “Plain Dealing,” and his writing style was just that – short and to the point. Special Collections, Cleveland State
-
- Regis McAuley was sports writer and sports editor at the Cleveland News. Later he was baseball writer and executive sports editor at The Press. Courtesy of Robert McAuley.
-
- A pressman for the Cleveland Press changes a printing plate in 1953. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- A Plain Dealer pressman checks the flow of ink in this undated picture. The photo caption reads: “The papers are streaming out of the presses while the news is still red hot.” Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- The Cleveland Press city room on Sept. 18, 1953. The Press was leading in the circulation war, and would grow to 314,247 daily readers within two years.* Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- The Plain Dealer city room in 1954. The newspaper’s daily circulation by 1955 was 299,297 – 14,950 below the Press’. * Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- Journalists prepare for a day in the 1954 Sam Sheppard trial. Sheppard was on trial for killing his wife, Marilyn. Photograph by William Ashbolt. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library.
-
- The staff at The Press gathers in the newsroom to hear the jury’s verdict in the 1954 Sam Sheppard murder case. Sheppard was found guilty and later sentenced to life in prison, which was overturned on appeal. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library.
-
- The Plain Dealer presses in the 1950s were nearly a city block long. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- The Plain Dealer presses in 1954. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- The Plain Dealer plating press in 1961. Plain Dealer photograph by William “Bill” Nehez. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- The Plain Dealer presses seemed to roll non-stop in 1954. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- The Plain Dealer is assembled and ready for distribution in 1956. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- The Plain Dealer is loaded on trucks for delivery. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- The Plain Dealer’s legendary rock ‘n’ roll critic Jane Scott, right, began her career as assistant society reporter. Scott is pictured here in 1956 with her boss, Louise Davis. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
*
-
- Editor Louis B. Seltzer stands in front of the Cleveland Press building located at E. 9th Street and Lakeside Ave. in 1960. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library.
-
- Seltzer reads an issue of The Press in 1960 with his feet propped on one of the desks in the city room. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library.
-
- Plain Dealer copy editor Robert Manry entering the harbor in Falmouth England, Aug. 17, 1965. Manry was completing a 78-day trip across the Atlantic in Tinkerbelle. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library.
-
- Robert Manry and his wife, Virginia, are piped ashore as they arrive at Fesitval Hall in England in August 1965 for a luncheon in their honor. Photograph by William Ashbolt. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library.
-
- Robert McGruder, pictured in 1966, The Plain Dealer’s first black reporter. McGruder rose to become The PD’s managing editor before leaving for the Detroit Free Press, where he became executive editor. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- Reporter Donald Barlett in 1969. Barlett left the PD and eventually landed at The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he won two Pulitzer Prizes with his partner, James Steele. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- Plain Dealer reporters Joe Eszterhas, left, and William F. Miller in 1968. Eszterhas went on to Rolling Stone and Hollywood, where he wrote scripts for several blockbuster movies. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- Plain Dealer editorial cartoonist Ray Osrin in 1967. He held the position until his retirement in 1993. Photograph by William “Bill” Wynne. Special Collections, Cleveland State University.
-
- Joe Eszterhas, left, in November 1969 interviews former Army combat photographer Ronald Haeberle, whose pictures of the My Lai massacre shocked the nation and helped change the direction of the Vietnam War. Photograph by Richard T. Conway. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- Posing with broken arms (really) in 1971 are Plain Dealer staffers George E. Condon, left, and Peter Bellamy. Bellamy, longtime drama critic, was the son of legendary Editor Paul Bellamy. Courtesy of Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- The Plain Dealer team that exposed horrifying abuses at the Lima State Hospital included, from left, Ned Whelan, Richard Widman and Bill Wynne. This picture was taken May 31, 1972, when the team received the Heywood Broun Award. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library.
-
- Dennis Kucinich stopped by The Plain Dealer on Nov. 8, 1977, the evening he was elected Cleveland mayor. The newspaper had endorsed him. The photo caption read: “Mayor-elect Dennis J. Kucinich, once a copy aide at The Plain Dealer, returned to the city room last night to send the story of his election up the pneumatic tube to the composing room. With him are his wife, Sandra; Plain Dealer publisher and editor, Thomas Vail, and copy aide Ron Patterson, whose job Kucinich temporarily usurped.” Plain Dealer photograph by William “Bill” Wynne. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library.
-
- Cleveland Press columnist and television personality Dick Feagler with singer Eric Carmen in 1981. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.
-
- Cleveland City Council President George Forbes tosses Roldo Bartimole out of special council meeting on Sohio project in March 1981. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library.
-
- A picket line outside The Press on E. 9th Street and Lakeside Avenue on June 15, 1982, the day it stopped publishing. The newspaper had been overtaken by the Plain Dealer in the circulation war. Photograph by William “Bill” Wynne. Special Collections, Cleveland State University.
-
- Plain Dealer journalists, from left, Jack Hagan, Don Bean, and Robert McAuley. Courtesy of Robert McAuley.
-
- Journalist Terence Sheridan at the Sarajevo airport in 1993. Photograph by Elizabeth Sullivan.
-
- Harlan Spector with deskmate John Petkovic in The Plain Dealer newsroom in the 1990s. Courtesy of Harlan Spector.
-
- A “Save the PD” rally in 2013 in front of the PD offices at E. 18th Street and Superior Avenue. A group of Newspaper Guild members organized the campaign to try to preserve jobs and what they saw as the the quality of journalism in Cleveland. Despite their efforts, the newspaper’s owner laid off one-third of the editorial staff, about 50 people, on July 31, 2013, the same day they ended 7-day home delivery in favor of a “digital first” strategy. Photograph courtesy of Harlan Spector.
