The Van Sweringen brothers' tale is as rich as the fortune they would ultimately accumulate.
The two shy, reserved country boys born near Wooster, Ohio, arrived in Cleveland in 1890, where by decade's end they'd found employment with Bradley Fertilizer Company. Oris Paxton and Mantis James – "the Vans" as they came to be known – found their calling in real estate during a time when many of the country's industrial giants achieved previously unimaginable affluence mining the North Coast's vast natural resources, hungry labor force and strategic geography. By 1905, the brothers had purchased more than 1,300 acres on Cleveland's east side, the former site of a thriving Antebellum era community of North Union United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, also knows as Shakers, for $1 million. The development project created a pioneering "garden city," building around the existing topography to create Shaker Village, a city within a city. To further sales of private residences, the Vans needed a vehicle to carry the new community of suburbanites to the center of Downtown Cleveland, so plans were made for an electric rail that would become the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit – a nod to its 50-mph cruising speed.
By 1916, the Vans had purchased large tracts of commercially vital property along Kingsbury Run, in addition to a controlling interest in New York Central Railroad's "Nickel Plate" line. The latter became of particular interest, cultivating a fascination with railroads that would grow a confounding web of holding companies and assets that by 1929 had spawned a $3 billion rail empire, controlling nearly 30,000 miles of railroad. It was during this period that the brothers launched their most ambitious project: the Terminal Tower complex. [pictured (l-r): Mantis James Van Sweringen, Oris Paxton Van Sweringen / Cleveland State University Library]
One Tower to Rule Them All
With a vast rail system under their control, the Vans desired a centrally located station to help monitor their network of electric streetcars, rapid transit and other intercity lines, and steam trains. The initial proposal called for a passenger and freight terminal on Public Square, but the scope quickly ballooned into one of the city's greatest architectural marvels and a new symbol of the city. The Vans' formal plan for the Terminal Tower and Cleveland Union Terminal was announced in the early 1920s, and excavations were well underway by 1924, demolishing 1,000 existing buildings on the land and setting 250-foot-deep foundations. The 52-story Terminal Tower was finished in 1929, and was among the world's tallest buildings. Within five years, the first train had entered and exited the depot, and the maze of offices, adjoining Hotel Cleveland, post office and Higbee's department store had all opened. The Van Sweringens had offices on the 36th floor of the tower, where the 6,000-square-foot space shared many architectural similarities to the Tudor-inspired architecture of the Vans' Shaker development, with ornate woodwork, grand chandeliers, marble floors and stone fireplaces. "This was the era of the big industrialist, so the whole space originally only had four rooms," says Tower City archivist Drew Rolik. "Supposedly, the hardware was picked out by the Van Sweringens themselves, from the Gold Worthington hardware company." The entire space had suitably commanding views of the the North Coast, and the brothers worked there from 1928 to the early 1930s. [pictured: Terminal Tower circa 1927; photo by Robert E. Hawkins / Cleveland State University Library]
The Vans' 17-acre Terminal complex project had been entrusted to the Chicago-based architectural concern of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White – except one aspect left to the brothers' favorite firm. It was to be the ultimate executive suite, and it was largely realized, though few outside the Vans' closest associates ever saw – or even heard – of it.
