Cleveland, 1973: The River Everyone Remembers Burning, Photographed After the Law
The film of this episode premieres September 22, 2026 on YouTube. The documents, the transcript and the sources are below now.
Everyone remembers the Cuyahoga catching fire in 1969. Almost nobody knows there is no photograph of it — the famous picture the press ran was from an earlier fire, in 1952. What was photographed, in colour and at federal expense, is what the river looked like after it became the reason for a law.
Transcript
The color is the air
R001 SMOG MAKES DISTORTING LENS FOR THE RISING SUN AND OBSCURES THE CLEVELAND SKYLINE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7815). View the original.
That circle is the morning sun, over Cleveland, in the summer of nineteen seventy-three. The color is the air.
R002 THE SUN RISES OVER CLEVELAND'S SMOG-OBSCURED SKYLINE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7819). View the original.
A federal photographer made the picture — six months after Congress decided, over a presidential veto, that this city's river and air were the country's problem.
The crooked river
R003 HERE ON THE BANKS OF THE CUYAHOGA RIVER GENERAL CLEVELAND FOUNDED A CITY. NOW THE RIVER IS POLLUTED AND THE SURROUNDING DOWNTOWN AREA IS DETERIORATING
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7741). View the original.
The sign marks where Moses Cleaveland landed, seventeen ninety-six. The caption finishes the thought. Now the river is polluted, and the downtown is deteriorating.
R004 CUYAHOGA RIVER WATERFRONT
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7740). View the original.
The river is the Cuyahoga — crooked river, in the Indigenous name. In June of nineteen sixty-nine, an oil slick on it caught fire under a railroad trestle.
R005 SMOKE IS FROM FREIGHTER ON THE CUYAHOGA RIVER
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7704). View the original.
The fire was out in half an hour. By every account, no photograph of it exists — the famous picture came from a nineteen fifty-two fire. This smoke is only a freighter.
Over his veto
Three years later, Congress rewrote the water law from the ground up. The nineteen seventy-two amendments set a national goal: the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters — eliminated, by nineteen eighty-five.
President Nixon refused to sign it. I am compelled to withhold my approval, he wrote — from a bill whose laudable intent is outweighed by its unconscionable twenty-four billion dollar price tag.
The Senate voted that same night. Fifty-two to twelve. The bill is passed, said the chair — the objections of the President of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding.
The House voted the next afternoon, two hundred forty-seven to twenty-three. The Clean Water Act became law without the President's signature, on October eighteenth, nineteen seventy-two.
The young Environmental Protection Agency had a second project running. Photographers, sent out under written guidelines, to record what the country actually looked like before the cleanup. They called it Documerica.
Assignment eighty-five
Assignment eighty-five on the project's list: Cleveland, Ohio. Urban and suburban environment, industrial air and water pollution. The typewritten subjects run from Lake Erie beaches to rat infestation.
R006 TERMINAL TOWER, OVERLOOKING THE PUBLIC SQUARE, DOMINATES THE CLEVELAND SKYLINE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7713). View the original.
The name on the assignment is on every frame that follows. The pictures start downtown, under Terminal Tower — then go where the typed list pointed.
R007 CITY PUMP STATION (LOW BRICK BUILDING) DISCHARGES SEWAGE INTO THE CUYAHOGA RIVER TERMINAL TOWER IN BACKGROUND
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7719). View the original.
They pointed here first. The low brick building is the city's own pump station — discharging sewage, says the caption, into the Cuyahoga River. Terminal Tower in the background.
R008 CITY PUMP STATION DISCHARGES SEWAGE INTO THE CUYAHOGA RIVER
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7721). View the original.
The same outfall, up close. The new law gave cities years of deadlines before this had to stop. The pipe was not breaking the schedule. The pipe was why the schedule existed.
R009 DISCOLORED WATER IN FOREGROUND IS FROM SEWAGE DISCHARGED INTO THE CUYAHOGA RIVER BY THE CITY PUMP STATION
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7729). View the original.
The dark water in the foreground is the sewage. The caption says so, in the government's own file.
R010 HARSHAW CHEMICAL COMPANY DISCHARGES WASTE WATER INTO THE CUYAHOGA RIVER
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7708). View the original.
Industry had outfalls of its own. Harshaugh Chemical Company discharges waste water into the Cuyahoga River. That is the caption — not a commentary.
R011 GREENISH COLOR RESULTS FROM DISCHARGE BY DUPONT PLANT INTO THE POLLUTED CUYAHOGU RIVER
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7716). View the original.
Downstream of a DuPont plant, the water runs green. The greenish color, says the file, results from the discharge.
R012 REPUBLIC STEEL DISCHARGES WASTE WATER INTO THE CUYAHOGA RIVER
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7733). View the original.
Republic Steel discharges waste water into the Cuyahoga River. Same file. Same sentence shape. Third company.
R013 LANDFILL OPERATION ON WARNER ROAD, ALONGSIDE MILL CREEK WHICH FLOWS INTO THE CUYAHOGA RIVER
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7763). View the original.
On Warner Road, a landfill operation ran alongside Mill Creek.
R014 WARNER ROAD LANDFILL OPERATION ON MILL CREEK, WHICH FLOWS INTO THE CUYAHOGA RIVER
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7767). View the original.
The caption adds the geography that matters. Mill Creek flows into the Cuyahoga.
R015 BOOM CONTAINS OIL AND DEBRIS ON BIG CREEK
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7722). View the original.
On Big Creek, a floating boom holds the oil and debris away from the current.
R016 MARKING THE SITE ON THE CUYAHOGA RIVER WHERE EARLY SETTLER LORENZO CARTER BUILT HIS CABIN
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7745). View the original.
And on the bank where an early settler named Lorenzo Carter built his cabin, a boy leans on the marker and looks at the water.
The air
R017 SMOKE FROM REPUBLIC STEEL OBSCURES THE TERMINAL TOWER BUILDING
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7692). View the original.
What the river carried, the sky carried too. Smoke from Republic Steel obscures the Terminal Tower building.
R018 "STOP" MIGHT BE THE PLEA OF LESHER AVENUE RESIDENTS TO THE REPUBLIC STEEL CHIMNEY THAT BELCHES SMOKE OVER THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7711). View the original.
The caption writer allowed himself one line here. STOP, he wrote, might be the plea of Lesher Avenue residents, to the Republic Steel chimney that belches smoke over their neighborhood.
R019 SMOKE FROM REPUBLIC STEEL BLANKETS THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7702). View the original.
Smoke from Republic Steel blankets the neighborhood.
R020 SLAG FROM THE STEEL MILLS PUSHES UP AGAINST HOMES AND BUSINESSES ON INTERSTATE 77
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7664). View the original.
Slag from the steel mills pushes up against homes and businesses along Interstate seventy-seven.
R021 MRS. WALTON PAINTS HER HOUSE AND FENCE WHITE DESPITE THE SMOKE FROM NEIGHBORING REPUBLIC STEEL
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7681). View the original.
Mrs. Walton paints her house and fence white — despite, the caption notes, the smoke from neighboring Republic Steel.
R022 CLARK FIELD BASEBALL DIAMOND AND NEIGHBORING REPUBLIC STEEL MILL
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7685). View the original.
Clark Field. A city baseball diamond, and its neighbor.
R023 BASEBALL DIAMOND BARELY VISIBLE THROUGH SMOKE FROM REPUBLIC STEEL MILL
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7695). View the original.
Some afternoons, the diamond was barely visible from across the outfield.
R024 CLARK AVENUE BRIDGE IS RENDERED ALMOST INVISIBLE BY HEAVY INDUSTRIAL SMOKE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7688). View the original.
The Clark Avenue Bridge, rendered almost invisible by heavy industrial smoke. Those are headlights.
R025 FACTORY SMOKE BLANKETS CLARK AVENUE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7706). View the original.
Factory smoke blankets Clark Avenue.
July twentieth
R026 ON JULY 20, 1973--DAY OF A POLLUTION ALERT--CLEVELAND SKYLINE IS BARELY VISIBLE FROM WEST SHOREWAY
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7693). View the original.
July twentieth, nineteen seventy-three was the day of a pollution alert. From the West Shoreway, the skyline is barely there.
R027 HAZY CLEVELAND SKYLINE ON JULY 20, 1973--DAY OF A POLLUTION ALERT
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7701). View the original.
Same day, another angle. The caption needs eleven words. Hazy Cleveland skyline on July twentieth, nineteen seventy-three — day of a pollution alert.
R028 LAB TECHNICIAN WILLIAM NEAL, JR., CHECKS MONITOR INDEX, PLACED BY THE MOBILE AIR POLLUTION LABORATORY IN THE PARKING LOT OF ST VINCENT HOSPITAL. TERMINAL TOWER IN BACKGROUND
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7703). View the original.
The numbers were being kept. A lab technician named William Neal Junior checks a monitor index in the parking lot of St. Vincent Hospital.
R029 AIR MONITORING UNIT (LEFT) ON TOP OF FIREHOUSE #13 AT 4750 BROADWAY RECORDS EMISSIONS SUCH AS THOSE FROM REPUBLIC STEEL (RIGHT REAR)
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7792). View the original.
Another monitoring unit sat on the roof of Firehouse thirteen on Broadway — recording, says the caption, emissions such as those from Republic Steel. The plant is in the frame, right rear.
R030 CLEVELAND AT DAYBREAK
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7709). View the original.
And some mornings the same air made the city beautiful. Cleveland at daybreak.
The lake
R031 WHITE CITY BEACH ON LAKE ERIE. THE BEACH IS LITTERED. THE WATER IS POLLUTED
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7712). View the original.
White City Beach, on Lake Erie. The beach is littered. The water is polluted. Two sentences, straight from the caption.
R032 WHITE CITY BEACH SIGN WARNS AGAINST SWIMMING IN POLLUTED LAKE ERIE. TO REDUCE POLLUTION LIFEGUARDS POUR CHLORINE INTO THE WATER ONCE EVERY HOUR
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7791). View the original.
The sign warns against swimming. To reduce pollution, the caption explains, lifeguards pour chlorine into the water once every hour.
R033 IN AN ATTEMPT TO MAKE THE WATER USABLE FOR SWIMMING, CITY EMPLOYEES POUR CHLORINE INTO LAKE ERIE AT WHITE CITY BEACH
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7723). View the original.
Here is the pouring. That is chlorine going into the lake. The caption calls it an attempt to make the water usable for swimming.
R034 UNAUTHORIZED USE AS A DUMP HAS TURNED THIS LAKE ERIE LAGOON A DESIGNATED SANCTUARY SINCE 1964, INTO A BREEDING GROUND FOR RODENTS
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7727). View the original.
The lagoon next door had been a designated wildlife sanctuary since nineteen sixty-four. Unauthorized dumping turned it into a breeding ground for rodents.
R035 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SERVICES WORKER PUMPS DEADLY CYANIDE GAS INTO RAT HOLES ON LAKE ERIE LAGOON. UNAUTHORIZED DUMPING HAS TURNED THIS WILD LIFE SANCTUARY, WHITE CITY LAGOON, INTO A BREEDING GROUND FOR RODENTS
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7766). View the original.
So a worker from Environmental Health Services pumps cyanide gas into the rat holes. In the sanctuary.
R036 HUNTINGTON BEACH ON LAKE ERIE. HIGH WATERS AND UNCONTROLLED EROSION ARE INEXORABLY NARROWING THE BEACH
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7758). View the original.
West of town, at Huntington Beach, the problem was older than the law. High waters, and uncontrolled erosion, inexorably narrowing the beach.
R037 SERIOUS PLAY AT HUNTINGTON BEACH ON LAKE ERIE. AN ERODING BEACH DOES NOT WORRY THIS YOUNGSTER
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7759). View the original.
The government caption under this one reads: serious play. An eroding beach does not worry this youngster.
R038 HAZARDOUS WALK OFF HUNTINGTON BEACH ON LAKE ERIE THROUGH ALGAE AND UPROOTED TREES. HIGH WATER AND UNCONTROLLED EROSION ARE INEXORABLY NARROWING THE BEACH
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7757). View the original.
Getting off the beach meant what the file calls a hazardous walk — through algae and uprooted trees.
R039 SUNSET AT HUNTINGTON BEACH ON LAKE ERIE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7756). View the original.
People stayed anyway. Sunset at Huntington Beach.
No gas
R040 SIGN OF THE ENERGY CRISIS
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7603). View the original.
The same file holds this. A hand-lettered sign on a pump: no gas. It is May of nineteen seventy-three — five months before the Arab oil embargo.
R041 SIGN OF ENERGY CRISIS
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7607). View the original.
Until further notice. Maximum purchase, ten gallons.
R042 GAS STATION FOR LEASE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7620). View the original.
A gas station for lease on Brook Park Road, under a billboard for the city. A great place, it says, to be.
The city itself
R043 EXODUS FROM CLEVELAND TO THE SUBURBS
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7604). View the original.
The caption on this frame is six words. Exodus, from Cleveland, to the suburbs.
R044 JOBS DREW THESE CHILDREN'S PARENTS FROM WEST VIRGINIA TO AN APARTMENT IN THIS SUB-DIVIDED OLD HOUSE ON LITERARY AVENUE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7652). View the original.
On Literary Avenue, a subdivided old house. Jobs, says the caption, drew these children's parents here from West Virginia — the same road north that carried a generation out of the hills.
R045 THE WAY HOME FROM SCHOOL -- CRUMBLING SIDEWALKS AND PILED UP TRASH. 73RD STREET COURT IN INNER CITY
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7764). View the original.
The way home from school. Crumbling sidewalks and piled-up trash, on Seventy-third Street Court.
R046 VACANT AND ABANDONED HOMES IN INNER CITY INVITE ARSON VANDALISM AND DUMPING
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7772). View the original.
Vacant and abandoned homes, the file says plainly, invite arson. Vandalism. Dumping.
R047 BURNED OUT BUILDING AT 2520 DETROIT AVENUE. THIS WHOLE BLOCK IS UNDER CONSIDERATION AS A PUBLIC HOUSING SITE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7623). View the original.
A burned-out building on Detroit Avenue. The whole block was under consideration as a public housing site.
R048 VACANT BUILDING AT EAST 103RD STREET HAS BEEN VANDALIZED AND STRIPPED WHILE LITIGATION OVER URBAN RENEWAL OF THE SITE IS IN THE COURTS
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7655). View the original.
At East One Hundred Third Street, a vacant building stands vandalized and stripped — while litigation over urban renewal of the site, the caption notes, is in the courts.
R049 PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD PASSENGER STATION, BUILT IN 1902 UNUSED SINCE 1965, FINALLY COLLAPSED IN 1973 AS A FREIGHT TRAIN PASSED BY. LOCATED AT EAST 55TH STREET AND EUCLID AVENUE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7775). View the original.
The Pennsylvania Railroad passenger station. Built in nineteen oh two, unused since nineteen sixty-five. It finally collapsed in nineteen seventy-three, as a freight train passed by.
R050 1938 CAMPAIGN SIGN ON BUILDING AT 36TH STREET AND CEDAR AVENUE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7648). View the original.
On a wall at Thirty-sixth and Cedar, a campaign sign from nineteen thirty-eight was outlasting the neighborhood around it.
R051 "HOW GOOD IT IS" SLOGAN IN IRONIC CONJUNCTION WITH DECAYING INNER CITY BUILDINGS
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7656). View the original.
The caption writer saw this one clearly. How good it is — a slogan, he wrote, in ironic conjunction with decaying inner-city buildings.
R052 UNFINISHED INTERSTATE 90, LOOKING EAST FROM WEST 14TH STREET
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7782). View the original.
Interstate ninety sat unfinished, looking east from West Fourteenth.
R053 GRASS GROWS ON ABANDONED CITY ROAD, REPLACED BY FREEWAY ST. THEODOSIUS, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, IS IN BACKGROUND
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7790). View the original.
Where the freeway replaced a city road, grass grows through the pavement. St. Theodosius, the Russian Orthodox church, holds the background.
R054 VACANT LOT AND ABANDONED CAR EQUAL PLAY AREA AND PLAYTHINGS
Frank Aleksandrowicz · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7798). View the original.
And in the caption's arithmetic: vacant lot plus abandoned car equals play area, and playthings.
Twenty miles upstream
While the photographer worked, Congress acted on the same river a second time. December twenty-seventh, nineteen seventy-four. An act to provide for the establishment of the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area.
R055 CUYAHOGA RIVER WITH DIVERSION OF WATER TO THE OLD OHIO-ERIE CANAL AT THE LEFT. WEEKEND STEAM ENGINE POWERED TRAIN OUT OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, IS SEEN IN THE BACKGROUND AT THE RIGHT. THE TRAIN GIVES PASSENGERS A VIEW OF THE CUYAHOGA VALLEY AND PART OF THE 30,000 ACRE CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA BETWEEN CLEVELAND AND AKRON. THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN NEAR HIGHWAY 82 NEAR CLEVELAND. THE INDIANS NAMED THE RIVER CUYAHOGA, WHICH MEANS CROOKED
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Sept. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15508). View the original.
In September nineteen seventy-five, the project sent the same photographer back. Twenty miles upstream, the same crooked river ran through thirty thousand acres of woods and canal beds between Cleveland and Akron.
R056 GRACEFUL ARCHES OF THE OHIO HIGHWAY 82 BRIDGE SPAN THE CUYAHOGA RIVER AS SEEN FROM STATION ROAD NEAR CLEVELAND. A STEAM ENGINE POWERED WEEKEND EXCURSION TRAIN IS SEEN AT THE LEFT IN THE BACKGROUND AT A POINT CALLED PINERY NARROWS. IT GIVES PASSENGERS A VIEW OF THE CUYAHOGA VALLEY AND PART OF THE CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA WHICH COMPRISES 30,000 ACRES BETWEEN CLEVELAND AND AKRON. THE VALLEY IS THE LAST MAJOR UNDEVELOPED LAND REMAINING BETWEEN THE TWO METROPOLITAN AREAS
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Sept. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15509). View the original.
The arches of the Route eighty-two bridge. A steam excursion train is in the frame, at a point called Pinery Narrows.
R057 CUYAHOGA VALLEY LINE STEAM POWERED WEEKEND EXCURSION TRAIN MOVES ALONG THE CUYAHOGA RIVER BELOW RIVERVIEW ROAD NEAR AKRON, OHIO. CHICKEN WIRE ENCASES BRICKS ALONG THE TRAIN RIGHT-OF-WAY TO HALT LANDSLIDES ONTO THE TRACKS. THE TRAIN LEAVES THE CLEVELAND ZOO STATION AND HEADS SOUTH THROUGH PART OF THE 30,000 ACRE CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA TOWARDS AKRON. THE VALLEY CONTAINS THE LAST MAJOR UNDEVELOPED LAND REMAINING BETWEEN THE TWO METROPOLITAN AREAS
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Oct. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15517). View the original.
The Cuyahoga Valley Line ran on weekends, out of the Cleveland Zoo station, south along the river.
R058 CUYAHOGA VALLEY LINE STEAM POWERED WEEKEND EXCURSION TRAIN PASSENGERS AT THE IRA ROAD AND RIVERVIEW ROAD STOP
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Sept. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15511). View the original.
Passengers at the Ira Road stop. The captions run long now — a photographer explaining a park that did not quite exist yet.
R059 MEMBERS OF THE KEEL HAULERS CLUB KAYAK THROUGH WHITE WATER ON THE CUYAHOGA RIVER NORTH OF PENINSULA, OHIO, NEAR CLEVELAND. THE RIVER IS A FAVORITE FOR PADDLERS BECAUSE IT IS LARGELY UNSPOILED. IT STILL MEANDERS AND LIVES UP TO ITS INDIAN NAME WHICH MEANS "CROOKED". THE CUYAHOGA LIES WITHIN THE NEWLY CREATED CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, A 20-MILE STRETCH OF LAND LOCATED BETWEEN THE METROPOLITAN DISTRICTS OF CLEVELAND AND AKRON
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Sept. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15620). View the original.
Kayakers ran the white water north of Peninsula. The river here, says the caption, is a favorite because it is largely unspoiled.
R060 KEEL HAULERS CLUB MEMBERS ARE FRAMED FROM THE BRIDGE ACROSS IRA ROAD AS THEY PADDLE THE CUYAHOGA RIVER NORTH OF AKRON THE RIVER IS PART OF THE CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA BETWEEN CLEVELAND AND AKRON. ITS INDIAN NAME MEANS "CROOKED" BECAUSE THE VALLEY IS NARROW AND ITS SLOPES ARE UNSTABLE, THE AREA IS LARGELY UNDEVELOPED. THE RIVER STILL MEANDERS AS IT DID IN THE PAST WHEN IT WAS USED AS A WATER SOURCE FOR THE OHIO-ERIE CANAL
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Sept. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15618). View the original.
It still meanders, the file says, and lives up to its name. Crooked.
R061 FISHERMEN ALONG THE CUYAHOGA RIVER NEAR THE SPILLWAY UNDER THE OHIO HIGHWAY 82 BRIDGE NEAR CLEVELAND
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Sept. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15521). View the original.
Fishermen work the water below the spillway, under the Route eighty-two arches.
R062 JUNKED AUTOS LINE THE BANK OF THE CUYAHOGA RIVER SOUTH OF VAUGHN ROAD NEAR JAITE, OHIO, WHICH IS SOUTH OF CLEVELAND. THE RIVER AND CUYAHOGA VALLEY ARE PART OF THE 30,000 ACRE CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA BETWEEN AKRON AND CLEVELAND. IT IS THE LAST MAJOR UNDEVELOPED LAND REMAINING BETWEEN THE TWO CITIES. THE VALLEY IS HEAVILY WOODED AND STEEPLY SLOPED. THE AREA IS RICH IN INDIAN HISTORY AND WAS IMPORTANT IN COMMERCE ALONG THE OHIO-ERIE CANAL IN THE 19TH CENTURY
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Sept. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15522). View the original.
The valley was not pristine. Junked autos lined the bank of the same river.
R063 USED TIRES PLACED TO DEFLECT HIGH WATER FROM THE BANK OF THE CUYAHOGA RIVER WHICH PASSES CLOSE TO RIVERVIEW ROAD, SOUTH OF IRA ROAD NEAR AKRON, OHIO. THEY WERE PLACED THERE BY THE SUMMIT COUNTY ENGINEER'S OFFICE. THE RIVER AND VALLEY ARE PART OF THE 30,000 ACRE CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA WHICH CAME INTO BEING IN DECEMBER, 1975. THE AREA INCLUDES THE LAST MAJOR UNDEVELOPED LAND BETWEEN AKRON AND CLEVELAND. OFFICIALS ARE NOW WAITING FOR CONGRESS TO APPROPRIATE MONEY TO BUY LAND
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Sept. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15523). View the original.
And where the river crowded Riverview Road, the county engineer's office armored the bank with used tires.
The act authorized thirty-four and a half million dollars to buy the land. Authorized — not appropriated. The captions repeat it like a worry: Congress must appropriate the money. The master plan was due by June, nineteen seventy-six.
R064 AERIAL VIEW OF THE COLISEUM BUILT NEAR INTERSTATE 271 SOUTH OF CLEVELAND, OHIO. FARMS NEAR THE STRUCTURE EVENTUALLY WILL DISAPPEAR, ACCORDING TO CRITICS WHO WERE AGAINST CONSTRUCTION OF THE ARENA. THE PHOTO WAS TAKEN ON A SUNDAY WHEN NO EVENT WAS SCHEDULED. LAND FOR SALE SIGNS ARE EVIDENT IN THE AREA. THE COLISEUM IS LOCATED JUST WEST OF THE NEWLY CREATED CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA WHICH CONTAINS 30,000 ACRES OF LARGELY UNDEVELOPED LAND BETWEEN CLEVELAND AND AKRON
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Sept. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15604). View the original.
At the valley's edge, the new Coliseum. Farms near it, critics said, would eventually disappear. Land-for-sale signs, the caption notes, are evident.
R065 BOY SCOUTS HIKING THE CUYAHOGA TRAIL WHICH TAKES THEM ALONG THE EDGE OF BOLANZ AND AKRON-PENINSULA ROADS IN NORTHAMPTON AND BOSTON TOWNSHIPS NORTH OF AKRON, OHIO. CREATION OF THE CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA WAS MADE IN DECEMBER, 1974. IT ENCOMPASSES 30,000 ACRES OF LARGELY UNDEVELOPED LAND SITUATED IN A 20-MILE STRETCH BETWEEN THE METROPOLITAN DISTRICTS OF AKRON AND CLEVELAND. MONEY WAS AUTHORIZED BY LAW, BUT CONGRESS MUST APPROPRIATE IT
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Sept. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15640). View the original.
Boy Scouts, out on the Cuyahoga Trail, along the park's edge roads.
R066 A YOUNG WOMAN ENJOYS A MOMENT OF PEACE AND QUIET ON A SHELF OF SANDSTONE IN DEEP LOCK QUARRY, A PART OF THE AKRON, OHIO METROPOLITAN PARK SYSTEM. THE SANDSTONE IN THE QUARRY WAS USED IN THE 19TH CENTURY IN CANAL CONSTRUCTION AND OTHER AREA BUILDING PROJECTS. THE PARK IS WITHIN THE NEWLY CREATED CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA LOCATED IN THE 20-MILE STRETCH BETWEEN THE METROPOLITAN AREAS OF AKRON AND CLEVELAND. THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE IS WORKING ON A MASTER PLAN FOR THE AREA
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Sept. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15536). View the original.
In Deep Lock Quarry, where canal stone was cut a century before, the caption records a moment of peace and quiet.
R067 SPECTACULAR VIEWS OF SUNSETS ARE POSSIBLE AT TOP OF THE WORLD AT HAMPTON HILLS. THE SITE IS A PART OF THE AKRON METROPOLITAN PARK SYSTEM. THE CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA COMPRISING 30,000 ACRES IS LOCATED BETWEEN AKRON AND CLEVELAND INCLUDED IN THIS AREA BETWEEN THE TWO METROPOLITAN DISTRICTS ARE VARIOUS HISTORIC SITES, THE CUYAHOGA RIVER AND REMAINS OF THE OLD OHIO-ERIE CANAL. THE INDIANS NAMED THE RIVER CUYAHOGA, WHICH MEANS CROOKED
Frank Aleksandrowicz · Sept. 1975 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-15507). View the original.
From a lookout called Top of the World, the sun again. Two years and twenty miles from the first frame — and this time, the color is just the evening.
The same river
In October of two thousand, Congress went back to the valley one more time — one sentence, buried in an appropriations act. The recreation area is redesignated as Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Ohio still has exactly one.
R068 FISHING IN POLLUTED ROCKY RIVER. THE RIVER FLOWS INTO LAKE ERIE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7746). View the original.
The rest stayed in the file. Four hundred seventeen frames of one city, free at full resolution to anyone who wants to look. The caption on this one: fishing in polluted Rocky River.
D01 SMOG MAKES DISTORTING LENS FOR THE RISING SUN AND OBSCURES THE CLEVELAND SKYLINE
Frank Aleksandrowicz · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-7815). View the original.
Sources
- Photographs: Frank Aleksandrowicz for Project DOCUMERICA, U.S. National Archives, Record Group 412-DA (series NAID 542493, unrestricted): assignment 0085, Cleveland, April–July 1973, and the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area assignment, August–October 1975. Full-resolution originals free at https://catalog.archives.gov/search?q=Aleksandrowicz — every frame's National Archives identifier is on screen with the frame. Captions quoted are NARA's transcriptions of the photographer's caption cards, quoted as the agency's own words.
- Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (Clean Water Act), Public Law 92-500, 86 Stat. 816, October 18, 1972 — §101(a)(1), the 1985 elimination goal. Scan: https://archive.org/details/sim_united-states-united-states-statutes-at-large_1972_86 (leaf 857).
- Congressional Record, vol. 118 (Oct. 16–18, 1972 bound part, https://archive.org/details/sim_congressional-record-proceedings-and-debates_october-16-18-1972_118): p. 36859 — Nixon's veto message of S. 2770 ("compelled to withhold my approval… unconscionable $24 billion price tag"); p. 36879 — Senate override 52–12 (No. 571 Leg.); p. 37060 — House override 247–23 (Roll No. 459). All quotes read off the page images, not the OCR.
- Guidelines for Photographers, Project DOCUMERICA, U.S. EPA, 1972 — the project's charter. Recovered from the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20120602102916id_/http://ej.msu.edu/documerica/History/guidelines.pdf
- Project DOCUMERICA assignment list (EPA finding aid to NARA RG 412-DA), p. 11 — Fiche 127–131, Frank Aleksandrowicz, assignment 0085, Cleveland, Ohio, with the typed "Subjects include" list. https://web.archive.org/web/20120602151038id_/http://ej.msu.edu/documerica/History/assign.pdf (The 1975 Cuyahoga Valley assignment postdates this finding aid, which ends at fiche 250.)
- Public Law 93-555, 88 Stat. 1784, December 27, 1974 — "An Act To provide for the establishment of the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area"; §6(a) at 88 Stat. 1788 authorizes "not more than $34,500,000 for the acquisition of lands." Scan: https://archive.org/details/sim_united-states-united-states-statutes-at-large_1974_88_0 Two 1975 captions (NAIDs 557973, 558049) misdate the signing as "December, 1975"; the statute and the other captions say December 27, 1974.
- Public Law 106-291, October 11, 2000, §149 — "The Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area is redesignated as Cuyahoga Valley National Park": https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-106publ291/pdf/PLAW-106publ291.pdf. That it remains Ohio's only national park: National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/cuva/.
- The June 22, 1969 fire — out in under half an hour, no known photograph of it, the 1952 fire's photo run in its place: Cleveland Historical, https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/63 and Smithsonian Magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cuyahoga-river-caught-fire-least-dozen-times-no-one-cared-until-1969-180972444/ — stated in narration as "by every later account."
- The Arab oil embargo began October 1973 (U.S. State Department, Office of the Historian: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/oil-embargo) — the "NO GAS" and ten-gallon-limit photographs are dated May 1973 in the NARA records.
- This is period Kodachrome. Nothing in this episode is colorized and there is no AI imagery.