TWILIGHT TOWN (1988-2003)

Books

This book, from 1988 to 2023, is a mix of Twilight Town and Fall Town, that are the last two books in a trilogy about this city, which is purposely anonymous, representing the dozens of cities and towns of the Rust Belt. It’s also what a coffee table photography book edit might look like, instead of my archive in book form format. After all i shot this over lots of time. Check out the Introduction here.

 

VIEW the slideshow.

Ruby Teague's Home, East 65th Street
Ruby Teague's Home, East 65th Street
In the oldest sections of the city, out eighty blocks from the center, the streets and blocks were a mixture of homes and apartments in many different architectural styles and materials. The Green House was one of the last remaining homes on the block, between Central Avenue and Quincy Avenue, when i shot it in 1990. I shot every structure on the block over a period of 12 years, until there was little left.
The Henry Steinbrenner, Unloading Wheat at General Mills on the Cuyahoga River
The Henry Steinbrenner, Unloading Wheat at General Mills on the Cuyahoga River
The Ship's top speed was 11 knots, was built in 1916 and was used mostly for moving grain. When the shot was taken, in 1989,  it was the oldest operating or boat on the Great Lakes. It was one of three ships that still ran on coal. It was finally scrapped in 1995.

Henry, George's father built Lake freighters in Cleveland, then Lorain. His son sold the business in the 1970s, but still owned three ships under the Kinsman Line name. Kinsman was a neighborhood and home to many Jewish and Italians, getting their starts in town.
LTV Steel, C-5 Blast Furnace
LTV Steel, C-5 Blast Furnace
Today the  C-5 and C-6, behind it, are the last blast furnaces in Cleveland, and, are entirely operational.
Homes, East 33rd Street
Homes, East 33rd Street
his was a small Polish enclave that originated when the steel mills were located on the Lake. The larger neighborhood it was part of, was Croation, and two Croation sisters, it's said, originally lived in the two homes. A church, St. Josephat's, is still across the street, although it's become some sort of arts center.

Why a Polish enclave inside a Croation enclave? Early poles to this town, worked the steel mills, which were originally on the Lake around Eas 39th Street, later moving into the Flats district on a river, inland.