On Jan. 6, 1831, The Cleveland Advertiser changed the spelling of the village of just more than 1,000 on the shores of Lake Erie by dropping the first "a" on the paper's nameplate. Nobody knows precisely why, although historians speculate it was because the printer was short an "a" in his letter case for that particular edition or because the name simply fit on the nameplate better minus one letter. Cleaveland Township was named for U.S. Gen. Moses Cleaveland of the Connecticut Land Co., who surveyed a half-million acres he called New Connecticut on Lake Erie in 1796. The first permanent settler arrived the following year, and the town came to be called Cleaveland Township. The newspaper continued its new spelling, permanently changing the name of the village. Today, Cleveland is Ohio's second-largest city.

- Rebecca Billman

Ohio Moments will appear here daily during 2003. Have a suggestion? Contact Rebecca Billman at rbillman@enquirer.com or (513) 768-8361.