An Ohio Historical Marker recognizes the history of University Circle. The marker stands near Wade Oval, across the street from both the Cleveland Museum of Art and Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
University Circle gets its name from a streetcar turnaround.
Originally settled by Nathanial Doan and named Doan’s Corners, the neighborhood started to take shape when Western Reserve University moved to the area from Hudson in 1882 and the Case School of Applied Science relocated from downtown 1885.
The Western Reserve School of Design for Women, which would later become the Cleveland Institute of Art, soon joined them.
Jeptha Wade, founder of Western Union, contributed to the development by donating land that would be used for a park and as the site for the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Today, Case Western Reserve University shares the neighborhood with such institutions as the art museum, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, University Hospitals of Cleveland, the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Cleveland Orchestra, among many other institutions.