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Chronological List of District Heating
Systems in the United States |
Several block heating plants were built in downtown Cleveland around the turn of the 20th Century to supply heat and power. Morris A. Bradley installed such a plant in the Vulcan Building on St. Clair that supplied fourteen of his own buildings and the Society for Savings. He petitioned the Cleveland Common Council for a heating franchise in 1905, but it was opposed by the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company.
The Cleveland Electric Railway Company sold steam to the nearby Cleveland Salt Company from 1900 to 1912. At the conclusion of the steam contract the Railway Company considered extending the steam contract or installing 4,000 kW low-pressure steam turbine to turn the exhaust steam into electricity. They decided to shut down their plant and buy power from the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company was it was less expensive.
The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company began supplying steam in 1906 after receiving street permits from the city. A larger franchise was awarded in 1913 and another in 1924, which led to construction of another heating plant on 20th street.
The City of Cleveland built a municipal heating plant at the old Fairmount pumping station that began service in 1912 and ceased operating in 1966.
The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company sold both plants and the steam operation to Youngstown's Catalyst Thermal in 1987 to operate as Cleveland Thermal Energy Corporation. The system was bought by Mid-America (a subsidiary of Indianapolis Power & Light (IPALCO)) in July 1991 and was then sold to the Canadian firm Corix in 2015. Corix moved to phase out the less efficient Canal Road plant in favor of the upgraded Hamilton Avenue plant with high-efficiency steam production using clean-burning natural gas.
The Medical Center Company was formed in 1932 as a not-for-profit corporation and supplies steam, chilled water, and electricity to its members in the University Circle area..
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| 1951 Map of the Cleveland Steam System | 2021 Map of the Cleveland Steam System |
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| 1921 Map of Municipal Heating System |
References
1896 Sanborn
Fire Insurance Map from Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio,
Volume 3 (1896)
Plate 306: Cleveland Electric Ry. Co. Power Station
1896-1910 Sanborn
Fire Insurance Maps of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume 1, 1896-1910
Plate 18: Vulcan Building heat and light plant
1901 The
Iron Age 67:45 (January 21, 1901)
The River Machine & Boiler Company are installing a large steam
conveying system in the plant of the Cleveland Electric Railway Company.
The exhaust steam is conveyed by 700 feet of 40 and 48-inch riveted steel
pipe to the adjoining plant of the Cleveland Salt Company.
1902 "The Evolution of Electric Railway Power Plant Apparatus, as Illustrated by the Cedar Avenue Station of the Cleveland Electric Railway Co.," by H.W. Woodward, The Engineer 39(7):193-198 (April 1, 1902).
1902 "New
Method Devised to get rid of smoke nuisance," The Cleveland
Leader, September 29, 1902, Page 10.
Business blocks to get light and heat from a central station. This
plan is already being used here to a small extent. M. A.Bradley supplies
fourteen of his own buildings and the Society for Savings' with
electricity. This station is in the Vulcan building, on St. Clair street.
1905 "Bradley
Says Cost Would Be Lower," Cleveland Press, November 9,
1905, Page 9.
Bradley has a plant in the Vulcan building, on St. Clair-st, where he has
put his scheme practice. He sells heat to other buildings in the immediate
neighborhood.
Officials of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. scoff at Bradley's
scheme. The steam will not carry they say: it will turn into water; even
live steam lacks the speed to carry the necessary distances to the scheme
possible and profitable, they declare. The Cleveland Electric Illuminating
Co. operates under a grant given the old Brush company Sept. 10, 1883.
1906 "Halts
Upheaval of Busy Street," The Plain Dealer, November 24,
1906, Page 3.
Presidentt Springborn of the board of public service yesterday noon
ordered the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. to discontinue opening E.
9th-st. for the purpose of putting in steam heating pipes. The company at
once appealed to Springborn to change his order and the matter will be
finally determined at a conference between Springborn, Supt. E. E. Noble
of the illuminating company and M. F. Bramley, paving contractor in E.
9th-st..this morning. Springborn on Oct. 21 granted the illuminating
company a permit to open the street for the putting in of steam pipes so
as to furnish steam businessmen in the vicinity of E. to 9th-st. and
Euclid-av.
The company agreed to have the work completed within two weeks. It was
Oct. 24 before the company began work and a month has elapsed, in which
time the company has only progressed half way. There has been much
complaint from E. 9th-st. merchants concerning the condition of the
street. Springborn personally investigated the conditions yesterday and at
noon ordered the company to discontinue tearing up the street. The
illuminating company put on an extra gang last night and worked
twenty-four hours, just to show how was rapidly they can work. If
the progress last night is sufficient to show promise of complying with
promises Springborn may change his order. He wants the street repaved
before Christmas..
1906 Salt
Deposits and the Salt Industry in Ohio, by John Adams
Bownocker
Pages 36-37: The Cleveland Salt Company. This company was organized
in 1897, and began making salt in 1900. The plant is located at the corner
of Second and Central avenues.
The brines in the pans and grainers are heated by exhaust steam obtained
from the Cleveland Electric Railway Company and from the company's own
boilers. It is claimed that this is much less expensive than using live
steam entirely.
1911 Electric
Traction Weekly 7(44):1885 (November 4, 1911)
Page 1885: The Cleveland Electric Railway Company has for many years
derived a good income from the sale of the exhaust steam from its main
power station for the production of salt. The power plant uses
city water exclusively and with an offer for the purchase of the steam it
was not economical to install a condensing system. For nearly a quarter of
a century the salt works has been pumping brine out of the ground
adjoining the power station and condensing it with the exhaust steam. This
mutually beneficial proposition is of course very unusual.
1911 "Baker Alone Now Can Hold us C.E.I. Steam Franchise," Cleveland Press, December 12, 1911, Page 6.
1912 Sanborn
Fire Insurance Maps of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume 1, 1912
Plate 10: Vulcan Building heat and light plant; the Cuyahoga County
Court House is also noted to have an outside steam supply, probably from
the Cleveland Electricity Illuminating Company.
1912 Plat
Book of the City of Cleveland, Volume 1 (1912)
Plate 10: Cleveland Electric Rwy. Co. Power Station
Plate 18: Cleveland Salt Company
Plate 34: Fairmount Pumping Station (site of Municipal Heating
Plant)
1912 Plat
Book of the City of Cleveland, Volume 2 (1912)
Plate 5: Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. Canal Road plant
1913 Annual
Report of the Cleveland Railway Company for 1912 (January 19,
1913)
Page 20: A contract with the Cleveland Salt Company, under which
exhaust steam is sold by us, will expire July 1st, and our electrical
engineer recommends that we utilize the steam in operating a 4,000-kw
steam turbine instead of selling it to the Salt Company. It is
estimated that the expenditure of $200,000 for this purpose would return
about 36 per cent on the investment--much in excess of the amount received
from the salt company.
1913 The
Heating and Ventilating Magazine 10(12):60 (December 1913)
Cleveland steam heating franchise approved
1913 "City
Will Save $6,000 by Heating Contract," The Cleveland Leader,
December 10, 1913, Page 16.
Three engineers, three firemen and an oiler employed in the city hall
boiler rooms will lose their positions January 1 when the city lets a
steam heating contract to the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company.
City officials estimate that this contract will save more than $6,000 a
year. The connection mains are now being laid in the downtown streets..
1915 Moody's
Manual of Railroads and Corporation, Volume II
Page 1088: Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. Company has two
generating plants with total capacity of 135,000 h.p.; the original plant
on Canal Road and a new plant located on the Lake Shore, at foot of East
70th St. The Canal Road plant has about 33,000 h.p. in generators, and in
addition to generating electricity supplies exhaust steam to a network of
steam heating mains located in the principal business district.
1921 "Municipal
Steam Heating System at Cleveland, Ohio," by H.W. Kaiser, Journal
of the American Water Works Association 8(6):559-570 (November 1921)
Page 560: Map of Municipal Heating System
1925 "Central Station Heating in Growing in Favor in Cleveland," Buildings and Building Management 25(22):58-60 (May 25, 1925)
1926 "Recent
Developments in District Heating in Detroit," Proceedings of the
National District Heating Association 17:138-146 (June 1926)
Pages 146-148: Recent Developments in Cleveland. Heating
buildings from a central heating plant has existed in Cleveland since
1906. At that time exhaust steam from the reciprocating engines at the
Canal Road Station was piped to a few of the larger buildings of the
downtown section. This steam was purely a by-product of electric
generation.
During the next ten years the system gradually expanded until in 1916 it
embraced roughly the central area shown on the attached map. During this
period the East Seventieth Street electric generating station was started
and the Canal Road Plant gradually changed to a heating plant with less
and less electric generation, the large reciprocating engines being
replaced with small back-pressure turbines. To-day this station is
considered as a heating plant, although a very small amount of electric
power is still made at this point.
Steam lines from this station were originally designed and installed for
low-pressure steam. This limits the pressure that can be supplied, and
until these lines are worn out or become obsolete, this situation will
remain unchanged.
On July 5, [1924] the date the new ordinance took effect, ground was
broken for the new East Twentieth Street Heating Plant, and on January 1,
1925, slightly less than six months later, the first boiler was put into
operation and steam turned into the lines. The accompanying photographs
show briefly the progress of the construction of this plant.
1951 District
Heating Handbook, Third Edition, National District Heating
Association
Page 16: The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company provides
steam-heating service for the entire downtown business district of
Cleveland. The area served is approximately one square mile.
The distribution system consists of an underground pipe network, fed from
two steam generating plants—the downtown Canal Road Plant and the East
20th Street Plant. The major portion consists of low-pressure heating
mains supplemented and fed by high-pressure mains. The former are designed
for steam pressure not to exceed 30 psi while the latter are designed for
steam pressure not to exceed 250 psi.
The low-pressure network is fed from opposite sides by high-pressure mains
which provides adequate pressure regulation throughout the steam heating
service area.
Buildings served include the principal office buildings, hotels,
department stores, other commercial buildings, public buildings, and
factory loft buildings. The Cleveland Union Terminal Company is the
largest customer. Steam is used primarily for space and water heating.
The original section of the Canal Road Plant was built in 1894 as an
electric generating station. In 1906 the first steam-heating line was run
from this plant to a neighboring warehouse. Over the intervening years,
the use of the Canal Road Plant for electric generation declined and the
use for steam-heating purposes increased. It is now used exclusively for
steam heating. This plant is being rebuilt and its 25 boilers are being
replaced by five large new boilers which will have a total net capacity of
approximately 675,000 lb of steam per hour.
The East 20th Street Plant, built especially to supply district steam, was
erected in 1924 and expanded in 1927 and 1929. It has six boilers with a
total net capacity of 790,000 lb of steam per hour.
The service in Cleveland has always been very popular and practically all
of the buildings within the steam-heating district are supplied.
Page 134: Map of the Cleveland Steam System
1955 A
report of Cleveland's public utilities for use and distribution in
1954-1955
Page 15: Steam as a by-product: grosses 303,100
1964 "City
will drop steam heat in Euclid-105 area," The Cleveland Press,
December 11, 1964, Page 44.
Cleveland's creaking steam heat system will be kept going this winter and
next winter, providing its 50-year-old pipes hold out.
But Utilities Director Vincent DeMelto said he• saw no hope he could
supply heat to his 80 remaining customers for a longer period of time. The
customers, all in the vicinity of E. 105th St. and Euclid Ave., include
hotels, stores and apartment buildings.
About 50 of the buildings eventually are to be razed for the University
Euclid urban renewal project.
DeMelto said the Water Department would. go out of the steam heat business
when demolition starts. The steam comes from boilers at Fairmount Pumping
Station.
The system had 130 customers and revenue of $325,000 two years ago. Fifty
of the customers have switched to other heating methods.
1969 "Steam Service in Downtown Cleveland," District Heating 54(3):13-14 (Winter 1969)
1987 "CEI sells its last steam-heating system," The Plain Dealer, November 20, 1986, Page 39.
1988 "Catalyst Purchases Cleveland District System," ASHRAE Journal 30(1):16 (January 1988)
1988 "County threatens to pull plug on CEI, steam firm," The Plain Dealer, August 2, 1988, Page 1 | Part 2 |
1990 Cleveland:
The Making of a City, by William Ganson Rose
Page 521: Near Willson and Cedar, the Cleveland Salt Company was
also extracting salt from the thick underground layer, with waste heat
from the power plant in the vicinity that operated streetcars. When
the railway company began to purchase power about 1910, these operations
were abandoned.
1991 "Mid-America
Starts a Winning Tradition," District Heating and Cooling
77(1):4-14 (Third Quarter 1991)
Page 14: Mid-America's Newest Acquisition: Cleveland Thermal
1999 Reddy's Legacy: A History of the Illuminating Company, by George H. Parrish
2001 "Cleveland may buy steam company," The Plain Dealer, February 2, 2001, Page 4.
2004 "Cleveland
Thermal put up for sale," The Plain Dealer, February 18,
2004, Page 24.
Dominion Resources Inc., of Richmond, Va., said it wants to sell Dominion
Cleveland Thermal, 1921. Hamilton Ave., which supplies heating and air
conditioning to more than 200 downtown Cleveland buildings with steam and
chilled water. Since buying the company for an undisclosed price in 2001,
Dominion said, it has expanded the distribution system and cooling
capacity while reducing energy losses and fuel costs. Cleveland Thermal
employs about 40. Dominion has not set a selling price and has hired
Concentric Energy Advisors Inc. of Marlborough, Mass., to handle bids. A
Dominion spokesman said the company decided to offer Cleveland Thermal for
sale after receiving an unsolicited offer.
2015 "Coal-fired
steam heating plant will close," The Plain Dealer, July 24,
2015, Page 10.
Cleveland Thermal's current owner is CT Acquisitions I, Inc. an Ohio
corporation form in June 2004 that purchased the company from
Virginia-based Dominion Energy in December of that year.
Canal Road plant to be closed by the end of January 2017.
2021 "Cleveland
Thermal Energy: District Heating in the City," Cleveland
Historical, by Jim Lanese
The District Energy System of the Medical Center Company
© 2026 Morris A. Pierce