Editing Cleveland, Tennessee (section)

==History==

===Early history===
For thousands of years before European encounter, this area was occupied by succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples. Peoples of the [[South Appalachian Mississippian culture]], beginning about 900–1000 CE, established numerous villages along the river valleys and tributaries. In the more influential villages, they built a single, large earthen [[platform mound]], sometimes surmounted by a temple or elite residence, which was an expression of their religious and political system.

This area was later part of a large territory occupied by the [[Cherokee Nation]], an [[Iroquoian language|Iroquoian-speaking]] people believed to have migrated south from the [[Great Lakes]] area, where other Iroquoian tribes arose. Their public architecture was known as the [[townhouse]], a large structure designed for the community to gather together. In some cases, these were built on top of existing mounds; in others the townhouse would front on a broad plaza. Their territory encompassed areas of [[Western North Carolina]], western [[South Carolina]], southeastern Tennessee, northeastern [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], and northern [[Alabama]].{{sfn|Lillard|1980|p=5–6}}

The first Europeans to reach the area now occupied by Cleveland and Bradley County were most likely a 1540 expedition through the interior led by Spanish explorer [[Hernando de Soto]]. Based on their chronicles, they are believed to have camped along Candies Creek in the western part of present-day Cleveland on June 2, 1540.{{sfn|Lillard|1980|p=15–16}} They encountered some chiefdoms of the Mississippian culture in other areas of South and North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. Some writers have suggested that the de Soto expedition was preceded by a party of Welshmen, but there is no supporting evidence and historians consider this unlikely.{{sfn|Lillard|1980|p=15–16}}

During and after the [[American Revolutionary War]], more European Americans entered this area seeking land. They came into increasing conflict with the Cherokee, who occupied this territory. The Cherokee had tolerated traders but resisted settlers who tried to take over their territory and competed for resources.<ref name=goodspeed />

Because of being defeated in repeated attacks by Americans, in 1819 the Cherokee ceded the land directly north of present-day Bradley County (and north of the [[Hiwassee River]]) to the U.S. government in the Calhoun Treaty. In 1821 the Cherokee Agency—the official liaison between the U.S. government and the Cherokee Nation—was moved to the south bank of the [[Hiwassee River]] in present-day [[Charleston, Tennessee|Charleston]], a few miles north of what is now Cleveland.{{sfn|Lillard|1980|p=11}} The [[Indian agent]] was [[Return J. Meigs, Sr.|Colonel Return J. Meigs]].

By the 1830s, white settlers had begun to move rapidly into this area in anticipation of a forced relocation of the Cherokee and other Southeast tribes. Congress had passed the [[Indian Removal Act]] in 1830, under President [[Andrew Jackson]]'s direction.<ref name="goodspeed" /> In 1832, the Cherokee moved the seat of their government to the Red Clay Council Grounds in southern Bradley County. Some Cherokee had already moved to the West, where they were known as Old Settlers until reunification of the Nation. It operated there until the [[Cherokee removal]] in 1838, part of the larger forced migration of Cherokee to [[Indian Territory]] (present-day [[Oklahoma]]). This became known as the [[Trail of Tears]]. The former Cherokee seat is now preserved within [[Red Clay State Park]].

The removal was initiated by the [[Treaty of New Echota]] on December 29, 1835, although the majority of Cherokee leaders had not approved it. In the Spring of 1838, removal operations by the US military began. Headquarters for the removal were established at [[Fort Cass]] in Charleston. In preparation, thousands of Cherokees were rounded up and held in internment camps located between Cleveland and Charleston. Two of the largest were at [[Rattlesnake Springs]].{{sfn|Lillard|1980|p=12}} [[Blythe Ferry]], about {{convert|15|mi|km}} northwest of Cleveland in [[Meigs County, Tennessee|Meigs County]], was also an important site during the Cherokee removal.<ref name=goodspeed />

The legislative act on February 10, 1836, that created Bradley County, which was named for Colonel [[Edward Bradley (colonel)|Edward Bradley]] of [[Shelby County, Tennessee]], authorized the establishment of a county seat. It was to be named "Cleveland" after Colonel [[Benjamin Cleveland]], a commander at the [[Battle of Kings Mountain]] during the American Revolution.<ref name=goodspeed>"  [https://www.tngenweb.org/bradley/b_gdsp.htm ''Goodspeed's History of Bradley County, Tennessee''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511130936/https://www.tngenweb.org/bradley/b_gdsp.htm |date=May 11, 2021 }}, 1887. Transcribed for web content and maintained by TNGenWeb – Bradley County. Retrieved: December 30, 2007.</ref> The legislative body appointed to govern the county was required to meet in nearby [[Chatata]] Valley until a site was chosen for the county seat.{{sfn|Lillard|1976|pp=34–35}}

By a one-vote majority on May 2, 1836, the commissioners chose "Taylor's Place," the home of Andrew Taylor, as the county seat, due largely to the site's excellent water sources.{{sfn|Lillard|1976|pp=34-35}} Taylor, who had married a Cherokee woman and constructed a log cabin on the site next to a [[spring (hydrology)|spring]], had been given a [[land grant|reservation]] at the site.{{sfn|Snell|1986|p=4}} A permanent settlement had been established there in 1835, and became a favored stopping place for travelers.{{sfn|Bradley County Historical Society|1992|p=31}} The other proposed location for the city was a site a few miles to the east, owned by a wealthy Cherokee named Deer-In-The-Water.{{sfn|Snell|1986|p=4}}

Cleveland was formally established as the county seat by the state legislature on January 20, 1838.{{sfn|Snell|1986|p=5}} That year the city was reported to have a population of 400; it was home to two churches (one Presbyterian, the other Methodist), and a private school for boys, the Oak Grove Academy. The city was incorporated on February 4, 1842, and elections for mayor and aldermen were held shortly afterward on April 4 that year.<ref name=snell>William Snell, "Cleveland," ''An Encyclopedia of East Tennessee'' (Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, 1981), pp. 108–111.</ref>

While the overwhelming majority of early inhabitants of Cleveland earned their living in agriculture, by 1850 the city also had a sizeable number of skilled craftsmen and professional people.{{sfn|Bradley County Historical Society|1992|p=31}} On September 5, 1851, the railroad was completed through Cleveland.{{sfn|Bradley County Historical Society|1992|p=233}} After copper mining began in the [[Copper Basin (Tennessee)|Copper Basin]] in neighboring [[Polk County, Tennessee|Polk County]] in the 1840s, headquarters for mining operations were established in Cleveland by [[Julius Eckhardt Raht]], a German-born businessman and engineer.{{sfn|Bradley County Historical Society|1992|p=216}} Copper was delivered from the basin to Cleveland by wagon, where it was loaded onto trains.{{sfn|Bradley County Historical Society|1992|p=31}} The city's first bank, the Ocoee Bank, was established in 1854.{{sfn|Snell|1986|p=9}}

===Civil War===
While bitterly divided over the issue of [[secession]] on the eve of the Civil War, Cleveland, like Bradley County and most of East Tennessee, voted against Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession in June 1861.<ref>{{cite book|last=Temple|first=Oliver Perry|date=1899|title=East Tennessee and the Civil War|url=https://archive.org/details/easttennesseean00tempgoog|location=Cincinnati|publisher=[[Robert Clarke & Company]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/easttennesseean00tempgoog/page/n400 370]–406|isbn=1166069060|author-link=Oliver Perry Temple|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The results of the countywide vote were 1,382 to 507 in favor of remaining in the Union.<ref name=museumctr1/> Bradley County was represented by [[Richard M. Edwards]] and J.G. Brown at the 1861 [[East Tennessee Convention]] in [[Greeneville, Tennessee|Greeneville]], an unsuccessful attempt to allow East Tennessee to split from the state and remain part of the Union.<ref>{{harvp|Temple|1899|p=344}}</ref>

Cleveland and Bradley County were occupied by the Confederate Army from June 1861 until the fall of 1863.<ref>"[https://tnmap.tn.gov/civilwar/Civil%20War%20Trails%20Installation%20Sites%20with%20descriptions.pdf Tennessee Civil War Trails Program]," June 9, 2011, pp. 1-2. Accessed: March 12, 2015.</ref> Despite this occupation, locals remained loyal to the Union, and placed a Union flag in the courthouse square in April 1861, where it remained until June 1862, when it was removed by Confederate forces from Mississippi.<ref name="museumctr1">{{cite web|url=http://www.museumcenter.org/the-curious-curator/2019/5/9/the-civil-war-in-bradley-county|title=The Civil War in Bradley County|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=May 12, 2019|website=museumcenter.org|publisher=[[Museum Center at Five Points]]|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> Confederate forces also seized control of the copper mines in the Ducktown basin and the [[rolling mill]] in Cleveland owned by Raht.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barclay|first=R.E.|date=1946|title=Ducktown: Back in Raht's Time|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kk09uAAACAAJ|location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina|publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]]|pages=87–96|isbn=0807868493|via=Google Books}}</ref> Throughout the war both Union and Confederate troops would pass through Cleveland en route to other locations, which led to many brief skirmishes in the area.{{sfn|Lillard|1980|p=59}} The most deadly event in Bradley County during the Civil War was a train wreck near the Black Fox community, a few miles south of Cleveland, that killed 270 Confederate soldiers.{{sfn|Lillard|1980|p=60}}

Some significant Civil War locations in Bradley County include the [[Henegar House]] in Charleston, in which both Union and Confederate generals, including [[William Tecumseh Sherman]], used as brief headquarters; the [[Charleston Cumberland Presbyterian Church]], also in Charleston, which was used by Confederate forces as a hospital;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cchhistoricalsociety.org/sites.htm|title=Local Sites of Historical Interest|publisher=Charleston-Calhoun-Hiwassee Historical Society|access-date=October 26, 2019|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515134148/http://www.cchhistoricalsociety.org/sites.htm|archive-date=May 15, 2011}}</ref> and the [[Blue Springs Encampments and Fortifications]] in southern Bradley County, where Union troops under the command of General Sherman camped on numerous occasions between October 1863 and the end of the war.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ZNnaZDNOfkC&pg=PA189 |title=Assessing Site Significance: A Guide for Archaeologists and Historians |author=Donald L. Hardesty, Barbara J. Little |year=2009 |pages=47, 189|publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=9780759113282 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Troops under the command of Sherman also reportedly camped in 1863 near [[Tasso, Tennessee|Tasso]], a few miles northeast of Cleveland, on multiple occasions.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hardy|first=Lucina Welch|date=March 1962|title=An Album of Historical Memories: Chatata - Tasso, Bradley County, Tennessee, 1830 -1961|publisher=Hardy & Randolph|page=53}}</ref>

No large-scale battles took place in and around Cleveland, but the city was considered militarily important due to the railroads. On June 30, 1862, President [[Abraham Lincoln]] sent a telegram to General [[Henry W. Halleck]], which read, "To take and hold the railroad at or east of Cleveland, Tennessee, I think is as fully as important as the taking and holding of [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]."{{sfn|Lillard|1976|p=318}} The railroad bridge over the [[Hiwassee River]] to the north was among those destroyed by the [[East Tennessee bridge burnings|East Tennessee bridge-burning conspiracy]] in November 1861.<ref>{{cite news |last=Benton|first=Ben|date=November 18, 2013|title=Inside the Civil War bridge burners' mission: Guerrilla action was at Lincoln's request|url=https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2013/nov/18/inside-the-civil-war-bridge-burners/124403/|work=[[Chattanooga Times Free Press]]|location=Chattanooga, Tennessee|access-date=September 2, 2019}}</ref>

On November 25, 1863, during the [[Battle of Missionary Ridge]] in Chattanooga, a group of 1,500 Union cavalrymen led by Col. [[Eli Long]] arrived in Cleveland. Over the next two days they destroyed twelve miles of railroad in the area, burned the railroad bridge over the Hiwassee a second time, and destroyed the copper rolling mill, which Confederate forces had been using to manufacture artillery shells, percussion caps, and other weaponry.<ref>{{cite book|last=Belcher|first=Dennis W.|date=May 2, 2016|title=The Cavalry of the Army of the Cumberland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HQcXDAAAQBAJ|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|pages=179–180|isbn=978-0786494804|via=Google Books}}</ref> This would prove to be a major blow to the entire Confederate army, as approximately 90% of their copper came from the Ducktown mines.{{sfn|Lillard|1980|p=63}} The next day Long's troops were attacked by a group of about 500 Confederate cavalrymen led by Col. [[John H. Kelly]], and quickly retreated to Chattanooga.<ref>{{cite book|last=Powell|first=David|date=June 19, 2018|title=All Hell Can't Stop Them: The Battles for Chattanooga: Missionary Ridge and Ringgold, November 24-27, 1863|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l8-PDwAAQBAJ|location=El Dorado Hills, California|publisher=[[Savas Beatie]]|page=33|isbn=978-1611214130|via=Google Books}}</ref>

The defeat of Confederate forces in Chattanooga resulted in Union troops regaining control of Cleveland and Bradley County by January 1864, and they retained control for the remainder of the war. Within a few days of the Battle of Missionary Ridge and Long's raid, several Union units, including members of the [[9th Indiana Infantry Regiment]], arrived in Cleveland.<ref name=emerging>{{cite web|url=https://emergingcivilwar.com/2017/07/18/east-tennessee-and-confederate-copper/|title=East Tennessee and Confederate Copper
|last=Powell|first=Dave|date=July 18, 2017|website=emergingcivilwar.com|publisher=Emerging Civil War|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> Additional Union troops arrived in the area in the summer of 1864, and between May and October 1864 a Union artillery unit was stationed downtown, with headquarters established at the home of Julius Eckhardt Raht. During this time as many as 20,000 Union troops at a time camped in the fields surrounding the house in preparation for Sherman's [[Atlanta Campaign]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Shemo|first=Christina|date=October 14, 2005|title=Legends abound|work=Cleveland Daily Banner}}</ref> Union troops also established two forts, Fort McPherson and Fort Sedgewick, located at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens and Fort Hill Cemetery, respectively, on the highest points of the ridge south of downtown. They successfully repelled an attempted raid by Confederate Gen. [[Joseph Wheeler]] on August 17, 1864.<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gNMUAAAAYAAJ|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=[[United States Department of War]]|pages=743–746|date=1891|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Most of the Union troops stationed in Bradley County left in the summer of 1864 as part of the Atlanta campaign. From this point, Confederate sympathizers conducted guerrilla attacks against Unionist families in Cleveland and surrounding areas, continuing until after the war was over.{{sfn|Lillard|1980|p=63-64}} Members of the [[Army of Tennessee]] attempted to destroy a passing Union train near Tasso in the spring of 1864, which instead resulted in the destruction of a Confederate train.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jameson|first=W.C.|date=1997|title=Lost and Buried Treasures of the Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QSJ8uAEACAAJ|publisher=Lyons Press|page=78|isbn=1493040758|via=Google Books}}</ref> The Civil War resulted in much damage to Cleveland and Bradley County, and much of the area was left in ruins.{{sfn|Lillard|1980|p=65}}

===Reconstruction and industrial revolution===
[[File:These all work in Cleveland Hosiery Mills. The very youngest one (with curls) said, "I ravels and picks up." Small... - NARA - 523368.tif|thumb|Child workers from Cleveland's Hosiery Mills, 1910. Photo by [[Lewis Hine]].]]

Despite the devastation of the Civil War, Cleveland recovered quickly and much more rapidly than many cities in the South.<ref name="goodspeed"/> During the 1870s, Cleveland had a growth spurt, and became one of the first cities in Tennessee to begin to develop industry.<ref name="goodspeed"/> Raht, who had fled to [[Cincinnati|Cincinnati, Ohio]] during the Civil War, returned to Cleveland in 1866 and reopened the copper mines. By 1878 it produced a total of 24 million pounds of copper.<ref>{{cite book|last=Maysilles|first=Duncan|date=May 30, 2011|title=Ducktown Smoke: The Fight over One of the South's Greatest Environmental Disasters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bnXXES5-LRcC|location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina|publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]]|page=55|isbn= 978-0-8078-7793-7|via=Google Books}}</ref> Numerous factories were also established, including the Hardwick Stove Company in 1879, the [[Hardwick Clothes|Cleveland Woolen Mills]] in 1880, and the Cleveland Chair Company in 1884.

By 1890, this industrialization helped the city support nine physicians, twelve attorneys, eleven general stores, fourteen grocery stores, three drug stores, three hardware stores, six butcher shops, two hatmakers, two hotels, a shoe store, and seven saloons.<ref name="snell" />

Reflecting industrial prosperity, the city's iconic [[Craigmiles Hall]] was constructed in 1878 as an opera house and meeting hall.<ref>{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=80003781}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Craigmiles Hall |publisher=[[National Park Service]]|access-date=May 18, 2018}}</ref> It is regarded as the city's most famous landmark and is one of Tennessee's most photographed buildings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://clevelandtn.gov/213/History-of-Cleveland|title=History of Cleveland &#124; Cleveland, TN - Official Website|website=clevelandtn.gov}}</ref> Behind Craigmiles Hall is a reconstructed bandstand, first built in 1920. The reconstruction was built in 2005 by the Allan Jones Foundation, based on the 1920 blueprints.<ref>[https://visitclevelandtn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/walking-tour-brochure.pdf A Walking Tour Of Historic Downtown Cleveland Tennessee]</ref>

The city failed to renew its charter in 1879, with the result that it disincorporated on January 1, 1880.{{sfn|Snell|1986|pp=115-116}} Residents worked to reincorporate the city, and on March 15, 1882, they voted overwhelmingly in favor of recharter.{{sfn|Snell|1986|pp=115-116}} The first city elections under the new charter took place on May 20, 1882.{{sfn|Snell|1986|p=117}} Public amenities were developed in the late 19th century: A mule-drawn trolley system was founded in 1886, and the city received telephone service in 1888.{{sfn|Snell|1986|p=201-202}} In 1895 the city received electricity and public water.{{sfn|Snell|1986|p=179-182}}{{sfn|Snell|1986|p=193}} During this period, Cleveland's population more than doubled, from 1,812 in 1880 to 3,643 in 1900.<ref name=snell /> Many of the buildings in today's downtown area, now designated as the [[Cleveland Commercial Historic District]], as well as those in the nearby [[Ocoee Street Historic District|Ocoee Street]] and [[Centenary Avenue Historic District|Centenary Avenue]] historic districts, were constructed between 1880 and 1915.

===20th century===
In 1911 the local chapter of the [[United Daughters of the Confederacy]] erected [[United Daughters of the Confederacy Monument (Cleveland, Tennessee)|a monument]] at the intersection of Ocoee, Broad, and 8th streets. This monument was reportedly the first of its kind in East Tennessee.{{sfn|Snell|1986|pp=298-301}} In 1914, the [[Grand Army of the Republic]] placed a monument in honor of Union soldiers from Bradley County in Fort Hill Cemetery.{{sfn|Snell|1986|pp=301-303}}

In 1918, the [[Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)|Church of God]], a Christian denomination headquartered in Cleveland, established a Bible school that would develop as [[Lee University]]. Cleveland's Chamber of Commerce was established in 1925. On March 21, 1931, the city's form of government was changed from mayor-aldermen to [[city commission government|city commission]].{{sfn|Snell|1986|p=392}}

[[Bob Jones University|Bob Jones College]], a non-denominational Christian college, relocated to Cleveland in 1933 from [[Panama City, Florida]], where it remained until 1947, when it moved to [[Greenville, South Carolina]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bju.edu/about/history.php|title=History of BJU|author=<!--Not stated-->|website=bju.edu|publisher=Bob Jones University|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> The Reverend [[Billy Graham]] attended Bob Jones College in Cleveland for one year beginning in 1936.<ref>{{cite news|last=Graves|first=Brian|date=February 22, 2018|title=Remembering Billy Graham|url=http://clevelandbanner.com/stories/remembering-billy-graham,75024|work=Cleveland Daily Banner|location=Cleveland, Tennessee|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref>

Following World War II, several major industries located to the area, and the city entered a period of rapid industrial and economic growth as part of the [[Post–World War II economic expansion]].<ref name=snell /> Major factories constructed in the city during this time included American Uniform Company in 1949, [[Peerless Woolen Mills]] in 1955, Mallory Battery in 1961, [[Olin Corporation]] near Charleston in 1962, and [[Bendix Corporation]] in 1964, as well as a [[Bowater]] paper mill in nearby [[Calhoun, Tennessee|Calhoun]] in 1954.{{sfn|Lillard|1980|p=113-114}} Despite this massive growth in employment, many African American residents of Cleveland and Bradley County moved away as part of the [[Second Great Migration (African American)|Second Great Migration]], and the number of blacks in Cleveland actually declined between 1940 and 1970, while the city's overall population nearly doubled during this time.{{sfn|Snell|1986|p=422}} During this time and afterwards, Cleveland became one of the largest manufacturing hubs in the Southeastern United States, and this economic expansion continued into the 21st century, with additional major factories locating to the area in the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1966 the [[Church of God of Prophecy]], based in Cleveland, established Tomlinson College north of town, which remained in operation until 1992, when it closed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cogop.org/blog/cogop-update-tomlinson-college/|title=Update- Tomlinson College|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=January 17, 2017|website=cogop.org|publisher=Church of God of Prophecy|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> That same year [[Cleveland High School (Tennessee)|Cleveland High School]] was established and schools in Cleveland and Bradley County were [[School integration in the United States|integrated]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Bowers|first=Larry C.|date=December 16, 2016|title=College Hill in Spotlight|url=http://clevelandbanner.com/stories/collegehillinspotlight,49027|work=Cleveland Daily Banner|location=Cleveland, Tennessee|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> [[Cleveland State Community College]] was established in 1967.<ref>{{cite news|last=Armstrong|first=Christy|date=September 30, 2016|title=CSCC celebration includes tour of first college campus sites|url=http://clevelandbanner.com/stories/cscc-celebration-includes-tour-of-first-college-campus-sites,43574|work=Cleveland Daily Banner|location=Cleveland, Tennessee|access-date=April 4, 2019}}</ref>

In the 1970s and 1980s, the city gained a national reputation for the crime of [[odometer fraud]] after 40 people in Bradley County, including multiple owners of car dealerships, were sent to federal prison for the crime.<ref>{{cite news |last=Vartabedian |first=Ralph |date=February 16, 2000 |title=Odometer Fraud Is Alive and Well in Digital Age |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-feb-16-hw-64677-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=October 16, 2017 }}</ref> Cleveland was the subject of a November 1983 ''[[60 Minutes]]'' episode about this crime.<ref>{{cite news|date=December 3, 1983 |title=Tennessee Mayor Hits "60 Minutes"|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36219248/the-tennessean/|page=8-C|work=[[The Tennessean]]|location=Nashville, Tennessee|agency=United Press International|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The city came to be known as the "Odometer Rollback Capital of the World" to some.<ref>{{cite news |last=Greenfield |first=Steven |date=August 1, 2017|title=Investigative Reporting in Cleveland |url=http://www.chattanoogan.com/2017/8/1/352330/Investigative-Reporting-In-Cleveland.aspx |work=Chattanoogan |location=Chattanooga, TN |access-date=October 16, 2017}}</ref>

Beginning in the 1950s, the city began to gradually expand to the north as a result of most residential and industrial growth taking place there, but prior to 1987, the city limits of Cleveland did not extend west of [[Candies Creek Ridge]].

In 1988, the city began annexing large numbers of adjacent neighborhoods and industrial areas north, northeast, and northwest of the city.<ref>{{cite news|last=Barrett|first=Danny|date=November 30, 1989|title=Local population growth significant|work=Cleveland Daily Banner}}</ref> These major annexations continued until the late 1990s, and led to the city's land area increasing in size from approximately 18 square miles in 1989 to about 29.5 square miles in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clevelandtn.gov/DocumentCenter/View/200|title=Planning Area and Region|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=May 2011|website=clevelandtn.gov|publisher=Cleveland Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> As a result of this growth, the downtown business district is now geographically located in the southern part of the city.<ref name="citymap" />

===Recent history===
In 1993, Cleveland voters approved a referendum changing the city's form of government from a [[city commission government|city commission]] to a [[council-manager government]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clevelandtn.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1382|title=Charter of the City of Cleveland, Tennessee|author=<!--Not stated-->|website=clevelandtn.gov|publisher=[[Tennessee General Assembly]]|access-date=September 15, 2019}}</ref>

Cleveland officially adopted the nickname "The City with Spirit" in 2012.<ref>{{cite news|last=Higgins|first=Randall|date=February 28, 2012|title=Cleveland, Tenn., city slogan author collects $1,000 prize|url=https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/news/story/2012/feb/28/cleveland-tn-city-slogan-author-collects-prize/71735/|work=Chattanooga Times Free Press|location=Chattanooga, Tennessee|access-date=September 2, 2019}}</ref> In 2018 voters approved a referendum allowing for package liquor stores to be located within the city.<ref>{{cite news|last=Strayer|first=Kayla|date=November 6, 2018|title=Cleveland voters pass referendum to allow liquor stores in the city|url=https://newschannel9.com/news/local/cleveland-voters-pass-referendum-to-allow-liquor-stores-in-the-city|work=[[WTVC]]|location=Chattanooga, Tennessee|access-date=September 15, 2019}}</ref> In 2020, the city completed construction of a public park at the site of [[Taylor Spring Park|Taylor Spring]], where the first settlement that became Cleveland was founded.<ref>{{cite news|last=Siniard|first=Tim|date=November 20, 2020|title=Taylor Spring Park Opens|url=http://clevelandbanner.com/stories/taylor-spring-park-opens,117541|work=Cleveland Daily Banner|access-date=November 21, 2020}}</ref>