Transparency of photograph of painting. This is the earliest surviving oil painting of Public Square. The Cleveland Grays were organized in 1837 as an independent volunteer militia company to bolster the local constabulary and to protect the city in case of invasion from Canada. Here they parade on Public Square on the occasion of their second anniversary. They wear new gray uniforms, from which they took their name, and display a new banner, presented to them by Charles Giddings who also commissioned this painting. The buildings around the square are a mix of residential, commercial, and religious with the Presbyterian Old Stone dominating the center. The Square’s quadrants have painted board fencing, to protect newly planted saplings. Groupings of citizens, possibly the town’s entire population, watch the parade. The view is from an upper story of the Cleveland House Hotel on Superior west of the Square.