Cleveland鈥檚 industrial leaders left behind a double legacy: They stamped their names a century ago on museums, parks, concert halls and other institutions to perpetuate their largesse and build a stronger city.
They also left behind ruined factories, polluted wastelands and broken neighborhoods that ravaged the city by draining its tax base and population, spurring regional sprawl.
On Tuesday, the Cleveland Foundation announced that the family of the early 20th-century steel magnate鈥疭amuel T. Wellman has donated $10 million to a new permanent fund devoted to repurposing damaged properties and uplifting communities scarred by the dark side of the industrial revolution.
Cuyahoga County residents Bob Wellman and his wife, Mary Lou, made the gift to the Cleveland Foundation to boost the permanent fund, which will be called the Samuel T. Wellman Site Readiness Fund in honor of Bob鈥檚 great grandfather.
The Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund was inaugurated by Cleveland City Council in 2023 with $50 million in federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA.
In 2024, Council entrusted the fund's assets to the Cleveland Foundation for long term management. The fund, now named for Wellman, totals roughly $83 million, according to Lillian Kuri, the foundation鈥檚 CEO and president. The goal is to reach $100 million.
Every year, a percentage of the Wellman fund can be withdrawn to pay for operations of the Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund, which is charged with carrying out the goals of what is now called the Wellman fund. The intention is to preserve the capital over the long haul while ensuring the site readiness project can continue for decades, Kuri said.
The mission of the intertwined entities is to assemble, clean and repurpose roughly 4,000 acres of disused industrial properties across the city, and to rejuvenate surrounding neighborhoods.
By recycling the industrial sites and making them market-ready, the project aims to bring thousands of new, family-supporting jobs back to communities that need them.
鈥淚t's extraordinary, it's remarkable,鈥欌�� Kuri said of the Wellman gift. She called it 鈥渁 full circle moment鈥欌�� that 鈥渇eels like it was meant to be.鈥欌��
Big Bets for America
The foundation announced the Wellman donation Tuesday at an all-day conference at the Hotel Cleveland, organized by the New York-based Rockefeller Foundation.
Titled 鈥淏ig Bets for America: Cleveland,鈥欌�� the event is part of a Rockefeller Foundation initiative to encourage innovative efforts designed to tackle seemingly intractable, large-scale issues facing American communities. Those issues include decades of deindustrialization, tax base decline and population shrinkage that have afflicted Cleveland and other heartland cities.
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine were among the speakers invited to address hundreds of local and national invitees.
The conference aims to acquaint a national audience with the nascent industrial rejuvenation project in Cleveland, which combines government, philanthropic and corporate support, Kuri said.
鈥淭his is something that every American city that struggles from the same exact legacy can look to as a model,鈥欌�� she said.
Money raised so far
The Wellman fund now includes the original $50 million in federal ARPA money received in 2023, plus another $10 million allocated in 2024 by the Cleveland Foundation.
On top of the original $60 million, the foundation has earned nearly $10 million in market appreciation over the past two years, Kuri said.
On Tuesday, the foundation announced additional gifts of $2 million from KeyBank Foundation and another $1 million from the Rockefeller Foundation.
The Wellman fund also includes more than $250,000 in small gifts made by individuals in Cleveland, ranging from $10 to $100,000, Kuri said. The foundation welcomes such small gifts as a way for Clevelanders at all levels of financial capacity to participate in the revitalization of industry.
鈥淚'm really excited that we've created a way for everyday Clevelanders and donors and residents to contribute to the growth of this fund,鈥欌�� Kuri said.
Support from the Rockefeller Foundation, KeyBank and the Wellman family 鈥渋s a powerful signal to other philanthropic and business players who care about these issues in Cleveland and across the United States,鈥欌�� said Brad Whitehead, the inaugural managing director of the Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund.
鈥淲hile this is an important issue for Cleveland, this is an American opportunity and an American issue,鈥� he said.
Boosting the Midline
The Wellman gift comes at a time when the Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund has identified the renovation and adaptive reuse of a factory once co-led by Samuel T. Wellman as one of its earliest big projects.
The massive and long-disused Wellman-Seaver-Morgan factory, located at 7000 Central Ave. on Cleveland鈥檚 East Side, is where the historic Hulett ore unloaders were once made.
The factory is a behemoth with a central bay as long as the central nave of St. Peter鈥檚 Basilica in Rome, albeit with a leaky roof and broken skylights that need fixing.
The Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund is awaiting word by June 30 from the State of Ohio on a request for $2.5 million in historic preservation tax credits, which could help trigger a $25 million renovation of the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Building, Whitehead said.
The factory is part of the Midline, the first major focus area for the site readiness project.
The Midline constitutes roughly 350 acres of current and former industrial properties along 1.5 miles of the Norfolk-Southern rail corridor that cuts diagonally across Cleveland鈥檚 East Side from East 55th Street at Euclid Avenue to Opportunity Corridor.
The Midline vision calls for creating at least 1.5 million square feet of industrial and commercial space that would generate roughly 2,500 direct jobs within easy reach of transit and ultimately contribute $100 million in tax revenue for the city annually.
Jobs in the district would focus on clean industries including food-related businesses, biomedical products and advanced manufacturing, Whitehead said. The Midline also calls for creation of greenway trails connecting the area to the Cleveland lakefront and other assets.
Linking generations
The $10 million Wellman family gift establishes an inter-generational connection between the activities of Samuel T. Wellman and the city鈥檚 present needs and ambitions, Kuri said.
It also resonates with century-old connections between Cleveland attorney Fred Goff, the founder of the Cleveland Foundation, and John D. Rockefeller, a client of his, who founded Standard Oil in Cleveland in 1870.
Goff helped establish the Cleveland Foundation in 1914, described on the organization鈥檚 website as 鈥渢he world鈥檚 first community foundation.鈥欌�� Rockefeller set up the Rockefeller Foundation a year earlier.
鈥淲e were there not only the birthplace of industry, we were [also] the birthplace of modern U.S. philanthropy at that same moment,鈥欌�� Kuri said.
