Cuyahoga River
| Cuyahoga River | |
|---|---|
The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland | |
Map of the Cuyahoga River drainage basin | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Ohio |
| Counties | Cuyahoga, Summit, Portage, Geauga[1] |
| Cities | Cleveland, Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, Kent[1] |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • coordinates | 41°26′26″N 81°09′07″W / 41.44056°N 81.15194°W[4] Confluence of East Branch Cuyahoga River[2] and West Branch Cuyahoga River[3] near Pond Road and Rapids Road, Burton, Geauga County, Ohio |
| • elevation | 1,093 feet (333.1 m)[2][3] |
| Mouth | |
• location | Lake Erie at Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio[4] |
• coordinates | 41°30′13″N 81°42′44″W / 41.50361°N 81.71222°W |
• elevation | 571 feet (174.0 m)[4] |
| Length | 84.9 miles (136.6 km)[5] |
| Basin size | 809 square miles (2,100 km2)[6] |
The Cuyahoga River[7] (see § Pronunciation) is a river located in Northeast Ohio that bisects the City of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie.
As Cleveland emerged as a major manufacturing center, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so much so that it caught fire at least 14 times. When it did so on June 22, 1969, news coverage of the event helped to spur the American environmental movement.[8][9] For many Americans, the Cuyahoga's burning helped connect urban decay with the environmental crisis at the time in many American cities.[10] Since then, the river has been extensively cleaned up through the efforts of Cleveland's city government and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA).[11] In 2019, the American Rivers conservation association named the Cuyahoga "River of the Year" in honor of "50 years of environmental resurgence".[12][13]
In 2025, the river between the Gorge Dam and the mouth was designated a National Water Trail, a type of National Recreation Trail.[14]
- ^ a b Glanville, Justin (January 22, 2015). "A River Runs Through It". Kent State University. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- ^ a b "East Branch Cuyahoga River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
- ^ a b "West Branch Cuyahoga River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
- ^ a b c "Cuyahoga River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
- ^ "Upper Cuyahoga River Watershed TMDLs Figure 2. Schematic Representation of the Upper Cuyahoga Watershed" (PDF). Ohio EPA. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 12, 2009.
- ^ "Map of Ohio watersheds". Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Archived from the original (GIF) on March 11, 2007.
- ^ United States Geological Survey Hydrological Unit Code: 04-11-00-02
- ^ "The Myth of the Cuyahoga River Fire, Podcast and transcript, Episode 241". Science History Institute. May 28, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
- ^ "51 Years Later, the Cuyahoga River Burns Again". Outside Magazine. August 28, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
- ^ Stradling, David; Stradling, Richard (2008). "Perceptions of the Burning River: Deindustrialization and Cleveland's Cuyahoga River". Environmental History. 13 (3): 520–521. doi:10.1093/envhis/13.3.515. ISSN 1084-5453. JSTOR 25473265.
- ^ Maag, Christopher (June 20, 2009). "From the Ashes of '69, Cleveland's Cuyahoga River Is Reborn". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
- ^ Johnston, Laura (April 16, 2019). "Cuyahoga named River of the Year". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
- ^ Piepenburg, Erik (June 7, 2019). "A Cleveland River Once Oozed and Burned. It's Now a Hot Spot". The New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
- ^ Krouse, Peter (June 12, 2025). "Stretch of Cuyahoga River given national trail designation". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved June 14, 2025.
