Historical Collections of Ohio
And Then They Went West
Series of Articles;
Tid Bits of S.L. Kelly 
by Darlene E. Kelley.

LEONARD CASE, SR.

The lack of a central bank made it difficult to finance the War
of 1812 and the end of the conflict found the country flooded with
unsound currency and its financial system in chaos. Despite arguements
of unconstitutionality, enough support was secured to charter a
new institution for twenty years, and the Second National Bank was
established. Cleveland was to have a branch in the new Commercial Bank
of Lake Erie.

Leonard Case "wrote a good hand and was a good accountant," and Judge
James Kingsbury recommended that he be brought to Cleveland from Warren,
Ohio, to be cashier of the new bank. Case came in June of 1816, as
the first bank of the village was being organized. His salary was $800
annually.

Case was born July 29, 1786 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, the son
of Meshach Case and Magdalene (Eckstein) Case, a poor frontier farmer. His
parents brought their large family to Warren Township in 1800. In 1801,
Leonard suffered from extreme outdoor exposure leading to an illness
that left him a cripple and pain in his lifetime. This was, however, no
handicap to his ambition. He served as confidential clerk to General Simon
Perkins, land agent for the Connecticut Land Company in 1807, and studied
law in his spare time.  During the War of 1812, he collected delinquent
taxes. When Case came to Cleveland, he brought a valuable knowledge of
the Western Reserve gained in the Warren tax office; and besides serving
as cashier of the bank, he practiced law and dealt in real estate. After
the bank failed, Case stayed in Cleveland practicing law. From 1821-25,
as President of the Cleveland village council, he was responsible for
planting shade trees, earning Cleveland the nickname " Forest City." From
1824-27, he served in the Ohio legislature, drafting laws taxing land
according to their value rather than size. He advocated railroads and
canals. He was also an investor in the Cleveland-Columbus-Railroad.

He married Elizabeth Gaylord in Stow, Portage County, in 1817, and
in the late 1840's turned his affairs over to his sons William and
Leonard, Jr. Case gave to many great chartiable organizations, including
Cleveland's first school for the poor, the Cayahoga County Historical
Society, the Cleveland Medical College, and the city's first lyceum for
the arts. Case died in Cleveland and was buried in Lake View Cemetery.