Cleveland History Blog: Historic Sidewalk Counts Downtown

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Historic Sidewalk Counts Downtown

In discussing the value of foot traffic (especially women) to ground floor retail outlets, County Auditor John A. Zangerle furnished some sample counts in his book Principles of Real Estate Appraising, in 1924. Along the south side of Public Square, for example, he reported these counts: 25659 (1916), 24402 (1917), 20552 (1918), 24263 (1919), 28026 (1921), 30077 (1922), which were apparently from studies performed by the Cleveland Association of Building Owners. It would be interesting to look up the full set of data, determine just what these numbers mean exactly, and find out how many years were surveyed.

In 1924, when he was writing, the Cleveland Union Terminal project hadn't begun to focus more traffic on this side of Public Square, so these numbers should have greatly increased in the 1930s and '40s, depending upon the effects of the Depression and WWII.

But what I'd really be curious to know is what the same tallies for today would look like.

Labels: Cleveland history, Clevend Ohio, John A. Zangerle, pedestrians, traffic counts

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News, commentary, information and musings on the history of greater Cleveland and the Western Reserve region of Northeastern Ohio, particularly its bridges, railroads, maps and historic landmarks and events. Using new web-based technologies, such as GIS, to improve libraries' ability to increase access to local history. More recently I'm adding information on the arts, particularly outdoor sculpture.