We're Two!

Happy Birthday to Us!

Two years ago, Cleveland Area History got its start. Since then, stories from this site have received national media attention. We've achieved my primary goal - Clevelanders are talking about issues relating to history and historic preservation again.

A book, Hidden History of Cleveland has been published, collecting some of the best material published here - there's a release party scheduled for November 11. You can even buy Cleveland Area History stickers for your rusty old historic cars.

What's you favorite story from the past two years?

Hidden History of Cleveland

The Answer to All Your Holiday Gift Giving Problems



Wonder about the lack of posts from me here during the summer and early fall? My time was eaten up by the editing of Hidden History of Cleveland. My publisher, History Press, describes it thus:

Join local history preservationist Christopher Busta-Peck and unearth aspects of Cleveland’s past that dangle too near extinction from city memory. Too often, we think of history as something that happens elsewhere. But it’s not. Travel down East 100th Street to the home where Jesse Owens lived when he shocked the world at the 1936 Olympics. Ascend the stairs to Langston Hughes’s attic apartment on East 86th, where the influential writer lived alone during his formative sophomore and junior years of high school. From the massive Brown Hoist Building and the Hulett ore unloaders to some of the oldest surviving structures in Cleveland, Busta-Peck (the wildly popular Cleveland Area History blog) has Clevelanders talking about history again. Here’s why.

In short, it's a selection of the very best material from Cleveland Area History, with a third to half of the extra words cut out. It's scheduled for publication in early November - just in time for the holidays. Just think: you could give a copy to each and every one of the impossible-to-shop-for but nonetheless obligatory gift recipients on your list.

Preorder it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble [at a marginally significantly better price], or your favorite independent bookstore.

Details from the "My Cleveland" Profile

First, I wanted to thank everyone who voted for Cleveland Area History in Scene magazine's Best of Cleveland contest. Thanks to your support, Cleveland Area History was named Best Blog.

At the risk of sounding self-indulgent, I'll bring up the following item. On Sunday, I was profiled by Grant Segal for his series, My Cleveland, in the Plain Dealer. The following are links to the subjects that I've written about previously, in the approximate order that they were mentioned in the profile.



This picture is of the Jesse Owens House, at 2178 East 100th Street, where Owens lived at the peak of his career, from 1934-1936.

The Langston Hughes House, at 2266 East 86th Street, Cleveland, Ohio, is now a Cleveland Landmark.

The stone building at 16360 Euclid Avenue is known as the Luster Tannery.

I wrote a review on the book, The Day-Glo Brothers and also looked into the location of the house where they invented Day-Glo paints.

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Again, thank you for your support over the past year and a half.

The stories mentioned above are but a small sample of what has been covered here. If you're new here, be sure to browse some of the older entries.