“Along the river of men…”

“River of Men” – Tom Waits (1998)

(18 Photographs)

During the Industrial Revolution of the mid and late 1800’s, up and down Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, heavy industry flourished and was responsible for the growth of the city– from a small village to a major metropolis, by the end of the 19th century.

John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company was chief among the Cleveland based companies that utilized the river as a transportation solution, distributing across the nation, product from its Cleveland oil refineries. Resulting from the new technologies derived by the Standard Oil Company, chemical companies began populating the area in abundance.

In 1871, three enterprising men of the time– Henry A. Sherwin, Alanson T. Osborn, and Edward P. Williams formed a partnership and created Sherwin, Williams, & Company, a paint manufacturing and retail company, headquartered in a long-since-demolished building on Cleveland’s Superior Street, in an area today known as Public Square. Taking advantage of the rich, local chemical availability, the firm became one of the first in the country to concentrate on producing ready-mixed paint and lacquers for retail consumption.

In 1874, the group purchased from J. D. Rockefeller, the Standard Oil cooperage building, which produced the wooden barrels that the company used at the time to transport Standard Oil’s refined oil products that were “barreling” out of Cleveland to a nation thirsty with consumption.

Once the transaction was complete, and the necessary equipment and materials were moved in, the building (pictured above), along the Cuyahoga River, at 601 Canal Street, became the manufacturing home of the Sherwin-Williams Company, producing paste paints, oil colors, and putty.

The company greatly flourished over the years, opening plants all across the nation. Today, a national brand, with headquarters still in Cleveland, and thousands of retail stores nationwide– the old “cooperage building”– The original Sherwin-Williams paint factory, remained opened and in production until 1982.

Photos taken July 29, 2015