A history of Cleveland,
since 1869
Postcards, papers and photographs of Cleveland from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Named after President Grover Cleveland, the town began formation in 1869 as people moved inland from the Mississippi River. The Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railroad ran through the town and a portion of the railroad remains there today. Early records show the community was called Fontaine in 1884 and at some point Coleman's Station. Moses W. Coleman built the first home on the bayou in the area. In 1885, it was officially named Sims after Rueben T. Sims, who owned part of the land on which the town stood. The village of Cleveland was chartered on March 25, 1886, and the United States Post Office recognized the town as such on August 5, 1887. It was Sims's son, B.C. Sims, who was responsible for the name change to Cleveland.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Cleveland’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewRed Cross beneficiaries near Clev…, 1930: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Cleveland
See all 22 →
Cleveland, decade by decade
LOCRed Cross beneficiaries near Cleveland, Mississippi1930
LOCRed Cross beneficiaries near Cleveland, Mississippi1930
LOCStudy of a Red Cross beneficiary in the Cleveland, Mississi…1930
LOCAwaiting Red Cross garden seed1930
LOCRed Cross food orders and free seed for quarter acre garden…1930
LOCBoy Scouts and their scoutmaster were valuable workers for …1930
LOCUnloading a carload of oranges and grapefruit, donated to t…1930
LOCBoy Scouts of Cleveland, Mississippi, greatly aided the Red…1930
LOCVery needy beneficiaries of the Red Cross drought funds on …1930
LOCUncle gets some citrus fruit to pep up his appetite1930
LOCSome colored beneficiaries of the Red Cross drought relief …1930
LOCUnloading a carload of oranges and grapefruit, donated to t…1930
CommonsGrandmother, mother, and new born baby of a sharecropper fa…1937
CommonsGrandmother, mother, and new born baby of a sharecropper fa…1937
CommonsTwelve year-old son of a cotton sharecropper near Cleveland…1937
CommonsTwelve year-old son of a cotton sharecropper near Cleveland…1937
LOCCotton sharecropper family near Cleveland, Mississippi19371990s
5 historic places in Cleveland
Cleveland has 5 listings on the National Register, and they protect 276 historic buildings, because Cleveland Founders Historic District alone counts 216.
Where they are
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Unloading a carload of oranges and grapefruit, donated to the Red Cross at Lake Wales, Florida, and unloaded for the dr… (1930) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (13) and the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.