History
In the late 1800s, Cleveland's Central Market area - where Quicken Loans Arena stands today - was the center of the city, a residential neighborhood and busy bazaar just a few blocks from the growing commercial district of Public Square. A gathering spot rich with history, it was a place your great-great grandparents might have gone to roam the market and talk about the day's events. Sadly, the life of the Central Market was cut short in the 1940s when it was destroyed by fire. Little was done to renovate the area in the years that followed. By 1990, all that remained in what was once a hub of activity was a long line of primarily empty commercial buildings and mostly underutilized surface parking lots. It seemed as if the excitement of the Central Market area could never be restored.
For more than a decade there had been talk of a downtown stadium project. In 1984, for example, there was even a county ballot issue campaign to construct a 72,000-seat retractable domed stadium for baseball and football. Voters weren't ready, and they turned it down. That could have been the end of it forever. Many believed that would be the case.
To others, however, a lost ballot issue was not a lost cause. They believed in the Gateway concept long before the name Gateway ever surfaced. Principal among these people of civic vision in the late 1980s were former Ohio Governor Richard Celeste, then Mayor and now Senator George Voinovich, former Cleveland City Council President George Forbes and Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan. They kept the dream alive. They knew Gateway would be an essential building block for the economy of all of Northeast Ohio.
Today, at the corner of Huron and Ontario roads, in the heart of downtown Cleveland, is "Gateway," a 28-acre sports and entertainment complex made up of Quicken Loans Arena, its next-door neighbor Jacobs Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, and Gateway Plaza.
