Van Sweringen Brothers
Oris Paxton Van Sweringen (24 April 1879–November 22, 1936) and Mantis James Van Sweringen (July 8, 1881–December 12, 1935) were brothers who became railroad barons in order to develop Shaker Heights, Ohio. They are better known as O.P. Van Sweringen and M.J. Van Sweringen, or by their collective nickname, the Vans. The brothers came from a farming area near Wooster, Ohio. Their father was for a time an engineer in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, fought in the Civil War and was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. The family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in about 1890.
Neither brother married; the two shared a common bedroom in their 54-room mansion, Roundwood Manor, on the grounds of their estate, Daisy Hill, in Hunting Valley, Ohio. During their lifetimes, they seldom gave interviews or made appearances in public; however, when they did, it was always together. An overview of their accomplishments cannot be done separately as the two were inseparable during their lives.
Read more about Van Sweringen Brothers: Real Estate and Shaker Heights, From Trolley To Rapid To Terminal Tower, The Terminal Tower, Brothers To The End
Famous quotes containing the words van and/or brothers:
“The first day that we landed upon that fatal shore
The planters they came round us full twenty score or more,
They rank’d us up like horses, and sold us out of hand
Then yok’d us unto ploughs, my boys, to plow Van
Dieman’s Land.”
—Unknown. Van Dieman’s Land (l. 9–12)
“Come, dear children, let us away;
Down and away below!
Now my brothers call from the bay,
Now the great winds shoreward blow,
Now the salt tides seaward flow;
Now the wild white horses play,
Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)