CLEVELAND — In today's Then and Now , Leon Bibb takes us to the heart of Cleveland — a place that has long been more than just an address on a map. Public Square has been called the city’s center, its stage for history, and, in many ways, its emotional heartbeat.

It all began in 1796, when Connecticut surveyor Moses Cleaveland arrived at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, where its winding path met the broad expanse of Lake Erie . In this forested land, he found a place to begin -- the foundation of what would become Cleveland.

“Eventually it became Public Square,” says Dr. John Grabowski , historian at Case Western Reserve University . He notes that the area was once home to Native American tribes before New England settlers migrated west and began building a

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