Six

CIVIC

This picture is from January 1926, a few months after Fairview Village Fire Department opened. There were not a lot of emergencies at the time, but Prohibition gave them something to enforce and made for a lot of seized liquor, and this is where it was stored. Reportedly, because of this history, a liquor bottle was placed inside the cornerstone of the new fire department in the mid-1960s. (Cleveland Press Archives, Cleveland State University.)

A simple administrative center like this was quite sufficient for the Fairview Village of the mid-1920s. But by the mid-1960s, the population grew considerably, and after more than 10 years as a city, a larger, more modern facility was long overdue. (Cleveland Press Archives, Cleveland State University.)

Needing more room for a bigger building to replace the old town hall required the demolition of two houses to the east. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

In January 1966, the 53-year-old city hall was torn down. The modern building that replaced it cost $810,000. The old village fire department behind it stayed in place for another year until its replacement could be built. This signaled that the city had come of age, shedding the last of its connections to the little old village government. Still some critics at the time complained the new building was an opulent Taj Mahal. (Cleveland Press Archives, Cleveland State University.)

Before the dignitaries gather for the official city hall groundbreaking photograph on June 26, 1966, random spectators make up this unofficial shot. Appropriately enough, across the street and along the left side of this photograph is the familiar corner of Garnett School, the backdrop of many group pictures in the early 20th century. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

Here is a typical groundbreaking photograph. Mayor James A. Dunson is in the center, holding the shovel with councilman Marvin Schatz (right). The proud architects, Peter and Mark Steigerwald, stand fourth and fifth from the left, respectively. On the far right stands councilman Joseph M. Gaul, who later served as mayor. Next to him is councilman William Kunkle, who was married to Georgia Kunkle, a very well respected fourth-grade teacher at Gilles-Sweet School. (Cleveland Press Archives, Cleveland State University.)

Cleveland mayor Carl Stokes (center) headed west in 1967 to help Fairview Park open its beautiful new, expanded city hall. To the right of Stokes are his wife, Shirley, Laurie Mooney, and new Fairview Park mayor Charles Mooney. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

Standing in front of the old fire station in 1951 from left to right are the safety trio of police chief Edward Elliott, safety director James Russell, and fire chief J. Orrie Baumgardner. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

In 1962, police officer Ronald Kuty does some predigital typing as Lt. J. F. Jayson uses a microphone. Apparently these were new police quarters at the time, although an entirely new facility was to come a few years later. (Cleveland Press Archives, Cleveland State University.)

The 1966 city council is sworn in. From left to right are president Ernest O’Connor (seated), Marvin Schatz, Eugene Neff, Edmund Driscoll, Thomas Wendling, William Hamilton, Joseph M. Gaul, William Kunkle, and Ohio Supreme Court judge J. J. P. Corrigan. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

On January 12, 2008, one of the elements of the Gemini Project, a state-of-the-art recreation center called Gemini Center, was opened. The center also provides modern rooms for city meetings and special events. The Gemini Project was a massive urban renewal project just barely passed by the voters. It ambitiously aimed to not only build a recreation center but to also rebuild or renovate the existing school buildings. (Photograph by David Barnett.)

So that is what some of those closed boxcars are carrying. Fire Chief J. Orrie Baumgardner and councilman Arthur Reitz went to a rail yard to see their new $28,000 fire truck. It supposedly received 14 coats of paint, meant to last 25 years. It was ordered in July but did not arrive until a winter day near zero degrees in January 1955. (Cleveland Press Archives, Cleveland State University.)

Warren Christopher, superintendent of the Fairview Park Post Office, addresses the crowd at the dedication of the new building on November 1, 1960. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

Flanked by Fairview Park’s finest in 1949, the nonuniformed are, from left to right, Mayor Karl A. Bohlken, councilman L. Owens, and council president Taylor von Allen. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)