A Towering Legacy: Cleveland’s Beacon of Hope – The Cauldron

By: Allen Gill

Terminal Tower is a Cleveland landmark filled with a legacy of traditions for nearly 87 years.

This spectacle landmark building has served as a beacon of Cleveland excellence and as the transportation hub connecting Cleveland’s East and West side through it’s underground transit car network.

For the spring 2018 semester,  the Galleries at CSU have amassed many works to showcase the rich history of Terminal Tower. This building acts as a staple for Cleveland’s history binding many legacies and events to showcase all that Cleveland has to offer.

As Cleveland has faced many trials and adversities. Terminal Tower has long since been a beacon of hope, like through many causes of Civil Rights and daunting economic declines.

Terminal Tower was completed in 1930 and was the only competition outside of New York for height marvels of a man made structure; standing at 730 feet, this 52-story building features an observational deck with a bird’s-eye view of the city.

Featured in the gallery is “Buckeye The Falcon.” To truly appreciate him, you need only look up.

Artist Ed Fresco conceived an idea to indicate just how tall the tower was by comparing it to the lowest depth of Lake Erie, which at its shallowest depth is 210 feet.

Terminal Tower would still peak over the surface and rise above.

Brendan Whitt, a graduate student and staff of the gallery, said that “it was a challenging installment.”

The collection hosts a series of different styles that incorporates Cleveland’s diverse communities coming together as one whole body.

One of the things included in this collection are Lego reconstructions, that when not displayed in the gallery, can be found in the Special Collections of the Michael Schwartz Library.

When visiting the gallery, take a chance and look up where you will see a collection of balloons in visual tandem with the 1986 Balloonfest which broke the world record of 1.5 million balloons released at a single moment.

“For anyone with Cleveland pride this is a icon to the history of Cleveland,” Liz Sisley, a graduate student and staff of the gallery, said.

With Cleveland being the birthplace of Superman, it was without a doubt that our man of steel would feature Terminal Tower in a heroic stamp collection. In the collection, the tower aligned with him taking off from a phone booth.

Terminal Tower has been updated for numerous cosmetic changes and renovations. It has been through updates in it’s heating and cooling. It has existed through changes in office.

Through the rebuilding of the city, Terminal Tower has become a characteristic of Cleveland’s iconic skyline.