The Forest City

[1][2] The inspiration for the name is a reference to Cleveland, describing a highly sophisticated society amid a heavily forested environment in Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, which contains the Frenchman's observations of the United States in the 1830s.

Some say that Timothy Smead, editor of the short-lived Ohio City Argus first put the name to use.

Case was well known for encouraging the planting of fruit trees, and thus the name stuck.

[6] Compared to other cities in the region, Cleveland has a relatively low percentage of its landscape protected by an urban tree canopy at only 19%.

[6] According to a 2020 analysis by the Cleveland Tree Coalition, “areas with lower income and/or higher proportions of Black residents and residents of color have generally had lower tree canopy cover due to disinvestment.

"The Forest City" is Cleveland's oldest nickname, as used here for the Forest City Bank Building in the Ohio City neighborhood.