Cleveland is home to one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks in the country. The original building opened in 1923 and has an incredible grand lobby. The ceiling of the Cleveland Federal Reserve has a dome surrounded with the names of the all the US cities that are home to a Federal Reserve Bank. It also contains a large map of the country that shows the territory that each bank covers. The Cleveland Federal Reserve covers all of Ohio, the western half of Pennsylvania, the eastern have of Kentucky and the pan handle of West Virginia.
Cleveland was chosen over Cincinnati and Pittsburgh which were competing for it. Both are locations of Federal Reserve branches today. Mayor Newton D. Baker told the Cleveland Plain Dealer on April 3, 1914, ” We did not ask for the location of a bank for any other reason than Cleveland’s fitness for it. The decision to place one of the reserve banks here calls deserved attention to Cleveland’s industrial and commercial prominence.”
The Cleveland Federal Reserve is also home to the Money Museum. The museum is free and geared more for kids but everyone can get a bag of shredded money at the end! It is open Monday – Thursday from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm (closed bank holidays). Be aware you do have to show ID and go through security to enter the building.
We do not enter the building on our walking tour but we do walk by it. To learn more about the Cleveland Federal Reserve visit https://www.clevelandfed.org/. To book a walking tour click here.
