Sometimes We Miss Things

The history of every great city is the story of the people who built it, and in some cases tore it down. Oris and Mantis Van Sweringen played a pivitol role in the Cleveland area's development at the turn of the last century. In 1905, exactly 100 years ago, these two men were busy developing Shaker Heights, which grew to become one of the most affluent suburbs across America for many years.

Here is a clip from a review of Herb Harwood's book, Invisible Giants: The Empires of Cleveland's Van Sweringen Brothers by Fred H. Smith, Department of Economics, Davidson College, which points up the need to think multi-dimensionally as we plan cities in the future:

"First, the book does an excellent job of laying out the facts of the Van Sweringen story, but it does not solve the fundamental Van Sweringen puzzle. Namely, how is it possible that these two men -- so forward thinking in the majority of their business dealings -- failed to understand how profoundly the automobile would change America? The Van Sweringens were pioneers of the leveraged buyout, they created Shaker Heights -- the nation's first planned community -- and yet they failed to grasp the impact that the automobile would have on urban spatial structure. So, as the automobile was becoming more and more popular with Clevelanders, the brothers were busy building the Terminal Tower complex to handle train and rapid transit passengers. It seems impossible that these intelligent, perceptive men would not have seen that passenger trains and public transportation were destined to diminish in importance."

The past is there for all of us to learn from. One hundred years later we can see what we could not (or were unwilling) to see then.