g="EN-US">In commemoration of the centennial of
Cleveland's incorporation as a city, the Great Lakes Exposition debuted in June
1936 along the Lake Erie shore north of downtown. Conceived as a way to
energize a city after the Great Depression, it drew four million visitors in
its first season, and seven million by the end of its second and final season
in September 1937. The exposition was housed on grounds that are now used by
the Great Lakes Science Center, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Burke
Lakefront Airport, among others. Following World War II, the city experienced a
prosperous economy. In sports, the Indians won the 1948 World Series and the
Browns dominated professional football in the 1950s. Businesses proclaimed that
Cleveland was the "best location in the nation". In 1940,
non-Hispanic whites represented 90.2% of Cleveland's population. The city's
population reached its peak of 914,808, and in 1949 Cleveland was named an
All-America City for the first time. By the 1960s, the economy slowed, and
residents sought new housing in the suburbs, reflecting the national trends of
urban flight and suburban growth.
During the African-American Civil Rights
Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, social unrest occurred in Cleveland, resulting
in the Hough Riots from July 18, 1966 – July 23, 1966 and the Glenville Shootout
from July 23, 1968 – July 25, 1968. In December 1978, Cleveland became the
first major American city to enter into a financial default on federal loans
since the Great Depression. Suburbanization changed the city in the late 1960s
and 1970s, when financial difficulties and a notorious 1969 fire on the
Cuyahoga River challenged the city. This, along with the city's struggling
professional sports teams, drew negative national press. As a result, Cleveland
was often derided as "The Mistake on the Lake".
By the beginning
