Joseph Artl served the citizens of Cuyahoga County for over four decades and was one of its most respected public officials. Elected to Cleveland City Council in 1932, he served as Democratic minority leader and briefly, in 1936, as Council President. He was appointed to the Cleveland Municipal Court in 1936, where he presided for a decade. In 1947 he was elected to the Common Pleas Court. Among his many adjudications was the 1949 order enjoining employees of the Cleveland Transit System to cease a work stoppage. In 1963, Artl was elected to the first of two terms on the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Eight District. Honored by his peers, he was named the county’s Outstanding Democrat by the 33rd Ward Democratic Club in 1961.