Cleveland & Bradley
County History
Page 2
At the opening of the
land office on the first Monday in November 1838, Cleveland was a small lively
village. The principal business houses consisted of four or five stores, several
groceries or doggeries, and two blacksmith shops. Col. R. M. Edwards described
the Cleveland of 1838 as follows: “The courtyard was full of large oak and
hickory trees, and all east of that was a swampy glade, full of pine and
sweet—gum trees and bushes. Lea Street (now Broad Street) was the main “big
road”, as then called from the Agency at Charleston to Ross’s Landing (now
Chattanooga).”
In 1837 the Methodist
and Presbyterians organized congregations in Cleveland, and during the same year
the Oak Grove Academy was granted a charter, the first bank established in
Cleveland was the Ocoee Bank, chartered about 1855, and in 1866 the Cleveland
National was established. The first newspaper of much importance was the
Banner, a Democratic paper established in 1854 by Robert McNelley. The East
Tennessee and Georgia Railroad reached Cleveland in 1851.. and by 1871 Cleveland
boasted of two railroads. The railroad was responsible for Cleveland’s first
major industrial venture——a rolling mill used to process copper from nearby Polk
County. In 1855 a stock company built, a steam flouring mill.
Miss Rosine
Parmentier of New York City visited Cleveland in 1852 and described the city as
follows. “This village is well laid out; the streets are wide and straight, many
of them planted with trees. The courthouse is a square brick building with a
sort of steeple. The most polite Negro whom I have seen during my travels
certainly is “Ned”, a servant belonging to Mrs. Inman, the lady who keeps the
hotel. He was always hat in hand, bowing and smiling, ever ready to oblige.”
During the War
Between the States, President Abraham Lincoln expressed the opinion that,
“Cleveland, or the railroad near Cleveland5 was as important as
Richmond.” Cleveland was occupied much of the time during the War Between the
States and the people of the area suffered severely. Nearby Polk Co3lnty
supplied 90% of the Copper for the Confederacy for a period of time.
