Rockefeller's Best Legacy
by Mary Mihaly



Every city has its tourist attraction du jour and its hidden gems. University Circle, home to the world's largest cultural and educational community, is Cleveland's secret emerald.

We have John D. Rockefeller to thank for most of this lush city parkland - more than 450 acres, alive with art and ideas - that once was his backyard. Here the oil tycoon perfected his golf swing, learned to grow roses and became the richest man in the world. Then, just before we ran him out of town, he gave his sumptuous domain to the city.

We've used his gift well, along with adjoining acreage from Jeptha Wade, founder of Western Union. Here you will find the renowned Cleveland Museum of Art, forever committed to access as well as excellence - thus, one of the few remaining world-class art museums with no admission charge. Across the road is Severance Hall, home to The Cleveland Orchestra, dubbed by Time magazine "the best band in the land." The Museum of Natural History's dinosaurs are too real; the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum displays hundreds of vintage cars and planes; and the Cultural Gardens - dozens of separate gardens, each representing a different ethnic group - invite us to reflect on our heritage. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Play House (America's oldest repertory theater) and Cleveland Institutes of Art and Music are all neighbors here.

Rockefeller, whose greenhouse you can visit, sneaked back into Cleveland in 1915 to bury his wife, Laura, in Lake View Cemetery. He joined her in 1937.