Union Miles: Part 2

 This was my second run of the Union Miles neighborhood.

Map: Run 1, Run 2, Run 3, Run 4

Distance This Section: 22.2 miles

Distance So Far: 787.1 miles

The Miles Park Historic District is centered on Miles Park Avenue between E. 91st and E. 93rd Streets. It was originally the public square of the village of Newburgh. The district includes Miles Park (the former Newburgh village square), the 1906 Miles Park Library, the 1872 Miles Park Methodist Church, and the 1870 Miles Park Presbyterian Church. The district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Miles Park (or the former Newburgh village square). When Newburgh was annexed to Cleveland in 1873, the site was renamed Miles Park in honor of Theodore Miles, who donated the land to the former village in 1850.

The Miles Park public library was built in 1906 at the former location of Newburgh village town hall. (Here's a photo of what that building used to look like). Library service ended in 1987 but the building remains home to a Head Start pre-school and other non-profits. In the 1990s, it was home to the Harriet Tubman Museum & Cultural Association, a history center featuring 8,000 items of historical significance to African Americans, including photographs, prints, letters, books, sheet music, and antique household items.

This is the former Miles Park Presbyterian Church, one of the oldest standing church structures in the entire city. The congregation formed in 1832 and records show this church was constructed between 1869-1872. While it's a designated city landmark, it's in poor condition and, if nothing is done, it will soon be lost to the scrap heap of history.

Speaking of loss, this grass lot - right across the street from the church above - was home to Miles Park United Methodist Church. The congregation was also founded in 1832 and the church building on this site was built between 1872-1883. The congregation disbanded in 1978 and was home to several others over the next few decades. In 2020, the roof of the building failed and, on March 28 of this year, it caught fire and was demolished. Here's a fantastic video (15 mins) of the history of the church plus images taken two weeks before the fire and coverage of the incident itself. Stay to the end to find out the tragic reason why the church closed a few years ago and was abandoned.

This former fire station (Engine House No. 11) on W. 91st near the Miles Park Historic District was built in 1890. The City gave it to a private party at no cost in 1995. It was headquarters to Paladin Professional Sound between 1997 and 2008 before they sold it to an LLC in 2021 for $190,000...who hasn't paid property taxes, stormwater or wastewater since they took possession. If this continues, the County land bank needs to foreclose on this property and attempt to gain local control/care before it becomes yet another historic building lost in Union Miles. Also worth noting that both the lost church above and this fire station are located along the proposed Morgana Run Trail Extension project currently in development. All the more reason to get local control of this property if private sector actors are going to allow it to sit idle.

And speaking of the Morgana Run trail, this is the vacated Booth Ave pedestrian tunnel which runs under Norfolk Southern rail lines. It will soon be part of Morgana Run and connect to Mill Creek Falls via the Miles Park Historic District. Remember this image because in a few short years, it will eventually be a gleaming new Cleveland Metroparks trail thanks to a $19.5M federal grant secured in July 2024, the largest in the history of the park system.

This home on Cannon Ave built in 1900 once was a humble home for early immigrants employed in the nearby steel mills. It was purchased by the current owner in 2001 and caught fire in July 2022, an incident which took the life of a 68-year old woman. Despite its dangerous and deplorable condition, it has yet to be fully secured and/or demolished by the owner. The owner also owns this house next door and this home on nearby E. 86th. Per the tax mailing address, here's his house in Independence. Pretty nice. Wonder if his neighbors would be okay with living next to his properties in Union Miles?

This cool brick home at 3999 E. 86th was built in 1900 and was once home to an Italian-American couple from West Virginia. The husband was a coal miner making at most $1 per day. The couple moved to Cleveland in 1944 where he found work as a local mason and retired in 1960 (the ornate brickwork around the home is no doubt evidence of his craft). The house remained in the family's possession all the way until 2015.

Some fun and unexpected decor at the entrance to a demolition contractor on the corner of Booth Ave & E. 86th.

Some additional unexpected finds on the other end of Booth Ave.

According to county records, this house at 9116 Cannon Ave was built in 1870! That would make it one of the oldest houses in all of Cleveland. And it appears to be in terrific shape. The current owner has lived there for the last 40 years. She's actually a Black female scientist (doctorate) who teaches biology at Davis Aerospace & Maritime High School downtown (and has been teaching since 1973). Her mother was a medical technologist and gave her her first microscope. Interestingly, the home was once owned by the Department of Veterans Affairs in the late 70s/early 80s, which might have contributed to its preservation.

Bob Deskins Park is located at E. 93rd & Harvard Ave and was constructed in 2018. It's named after a local, civic-minded demolition contractor who has assisted the neighborhood with blight removal over the years. There were several blighted properties on these parcels before the park was built. You can review the design plans here if interested.

Old ghost sign for The Rex Oil & Chemical Company on Loren Ave. Building was built in 1917. It's now home to a packaging company.

This recycling business off E. 91st was once home to acres of roaring steel mills (Cleveland Rolling Mill) dating all the way back to the 1850s when it was still part of Newburgh village. Thousands of immigrants flocked to the neighborhood to work in the mills. The area was so productive that it competed as the county seat with Cleveland. Cleveland eventually won and annexed this part of Newburgh, referring to it as the "iron ward". Here's a drawing of what the rolling mills looked like in 1885. Some of the homes above were likely occupied by individuals who worked in these mills.

Speaking of old homes, this one built in 1916 on Prince Ave really provides some pop amid its industrial surroundings. The couple that live here are both in their 90s.

Almost ran right past this building on Reno Ave. It was or still is affiliated with the Cleveland chapter of the Afro Dogs motorcycle club, which formed in 1974. The cool old school truck in the background caught my attention and then I noticed the mural.

The Garland Company (3800 E. 91st) is a commercial building business which was founded in 1895 right here in Cleveland. In 1917, they created the first U.S. patent for roofing compositions (ex. shingles). In 1930, they began selling domestic house paint throughout hardware store chains. In 1942 as part of the war effort, they created a recycling system for paint that could be used for tank camouflage. In the 50s, they began producing waterproofing products for greenhouses. In the 70s, they produce the first high-performance mortified bitumen (tar-like composite) for roofing in North America. Then in the 90s, they pulled a 180 degree turn and produced the first green roof system in North America. Over the next few decades, they would go on to rack up a number of award-winning products and recognitions in the industry. Despite all their success, they have remained in this same location on E. 91st Street since 1919.

In 2015, Garland bought this building next to their headquarters and turned it into an employee training complex, called The Soliday Center (named after one of their legendary employees). In the last century, the company has purchased a dozen adjacent properties in Cleveland totaling more than $10.3 million in investments.

This vacated bike rack is located at the site of what was once a company facility for the Cleveland Railway Company which held the city's public transit franchise from 1910-42. In recent years, this was a bus stop and the rack has been there since at least 2007; it is still in good condition and could be put to better use in another part of the neighborhood.

Master's Manufacturing (9200 Inman Ave) was founded in 1951 and is the industry leading supplier of replacement casters for 99% of the office chairs on the market today. The company is owned by Iris Rubenfield, a 'Crain's Cleveland 'Eight Over 80' award recipient. The company proudly boasts that it has a 98% minority employee rate (in a neighborhood that is 95% Black).

The ghost sign remains for the Commercial Forgings Company on Inman Ave (Est. 1919). Note the building engraving above the rolling door as well.

A door to nowhere today but once an entrance to the Allyne-Ryan Foundry which manufactured automobile cylinders and hard-to-cast items. Its co-founder was Edmund Allyne, a notable Cleveland industrialist who is buried in Lakeview Cemetary. Here's a vintage company paperweight from back in the day.

An idle rail car sits on the tracks near Aetna Road on the border of Slavic Village and Union Miles. This line was once part of the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad which - at its peak - ran 66 trains through the city per day. This particular line ran right through the American Steel & Wire/U.S. Steel plant.

The Earle B. Turner Recreation Center (11300 Miles Ave) is a former YMCA building which the City purchased in December 2004. It's named after Earle B. Turner, a retired Cleveland City Council member (elected in 1975 as the youngest council member in Cleveland history) and current Clerk of Cleveland municipal courts.

Inez Killingsworth was a former Union-Miles janitor-turned-community activist who was a force both locally and statewide, particularly on the housing front (see: ESOP). She was also the founder and longtime board president of the Union Miles Development Corporation. Actually, her accolades are too numerous to list here but you can read her obituary which is really impressive and inspiring. Killingsworth died in 2013 at the age of 75 and this mural near the intersection of E. 131st & Miles honors her legacy. Here's more about the dedication back in 2020.

Herb's Cain Tavern (13208 Cain Ave) has been a neighborhood watering hole since the 1980s. Despite its appearance, it was actually an active bar up until 2 years ago. Even Homes.com lists it as a neighborhood highlight: "Underneath a cracked sign, inside a two-story brick building with wooden boards over the windows, is Herb’s Caine Tavern, a no-frills local watering hole where the pours are heavy."

Just so everyone is clear.

This mural on the side of the Dollar General building at E. 131st & Miles Ave is titled "Fruits of our Labor" and was completed in 2011 by Cleveland artist Jerome White. It is dedicated to Lynn H. Chick, a major civic leader of the southeast side who passed away in 2010.

Life directives on E. 126th.

Discovered this fun one on the back of a vacant Dollar General on Miles Ave.

This set of homes on E. 124th were built in the 1910s. The house on the near right has been owned by the same person for at least the last 50 years. He is the retired head custodian from nearby Warrensville Heights City School District.

Old school stone street post at the corner of E. 124th & Miles Ave. Fun fact: E. 124th was originally named Maysday Ave (there's also a Maysday Ave in Parma). The next street over (E. 126th) was originally called Kennedy, perhaps named after a notable individual or family on the street during the 19th Century when the neighborhood was known as "Irishtown" due to heavy immigration for mill jobs noted above.

This structure was built in 1900 and was originally the home of Antonin Zverina, a local Czech-American grocer whose 1889 commercial building still stands in the heart of the Broadway Ave Historic District (photo). Zverina died in 1934 and is buried in Woodland Cemetery along with his wife Rose. The Zverina family have an endowment at Case Western Reserve University and have had a lecture series named after them since 1979. There's also a random 1980 book out there about the couple and their families (written by a family member). Their former home has been home to Greater Holy Ghost Missionary Baptist Church since the 1990s and had several different owners before that.

Located behind the house/church above is the Miles Garden Log Cabin & Herb Garden which was built in 1908 by Antonin Zverina as a playhouse for his five children. It soon became a place for family gatherings. In 1963, the Zverina family donated the Log Cabin and land to the Cleveland Board of Education. Herbert G. Meyer of the Horticulture Division of the school system designated it an herb garden. It has been designated as a Cleveland City Landmark but is in very rough shape.

A streetscape view from west side of the Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd (which features a long, green boulevard median dating back to when the street was originally laid out in the early 1900s). Interestingly, these homes were built between 1910-1920 while the ones across the street were built decades later after World War II.

Holy Trinity Family Center on Miles Ave was built in 1915 and was originally home to Shaffer Memorial M.E., a prominent African-American church throughout the country. Captain Charles Shaffer was a Civil War officer who created Baptist churches for African-Americans starting in the post-Civil War reconstruction period.

Miles School (11918 Miles Ave) is a PreK-8 elementary school serving 250+ students. A school has stood at this location since at least the late 1800s.

Miles Pointe Apartments (11806 Miles Ave) is a 3-story, 43-unit, CMHA-owned senior apartment complex built in 2013 and has a number of online positive reviews for quality.

Camelot Hall (11417 Miles Ave) is an event center operated by the Mystic Knights motorcycle club which has owned the joint since 1976. Still active.

"Lone Live Cooch"

Oleatha Wilson Park (between E. 108th & E. 110th) was created by Oleatha Wilson who served as block club founder and precinct leader in Union Miles for more than 40 years. She created the park more than 4 decades ago after a child was killed in a hit-and-run accident. The tragedy prompted Wilson to create a safe place for the neighborhood’s children. In recent years, the park received a $1.2 million upgrade. You can learn more about that project here.

One of the more interesting homes I noticed in the E. 110s between Harvard and Miles Aves.

This church is on the corner of Harvard Ave & E. 114th St. and was built in 1910 (remolded in 1985). However, the woods behind it (and the rest of the block) was once a major flower shop/greenhouse called "Kunze's Flowers". Interesting location as major rail lines carrying all sorts of industrial materials in and out of Cleveland were located just across the street. Union Miles was a boomin' mixed use neighborhood back in the day.

A few pieces of the orginal curbs remain on tiny Charlotte Rd.

Miles Ave has some really nice looking, historic homes including this one in the 10400 block which was built in 1915. Incredibly, it sold for only $4,700 to the current owner in 2007.

Here's another right across the street which was built in 1900 and has had only two owners for at least the last 50 years (the current one has lived there for the past 24).

Second United Presbyterian Church (10917 Miles Avenue) was designed by local architect Earl John Andrews in 1911. Andrews was a Quaker who studied at Ohio State and apprenticed as a carpenter in the summers. He worked for an architectural firm in New York City before starting his own business in Cleveland in 1905. He went on to build over 100 high quality homes and apartments in the Wade Park area near University Circle. The church is now the home of Benevolent Love Ministries which is building a significant addition to the west of the original structure.

Per the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: Historic Calvary Cemetery - which straddles the Cleveland-Garfield Heights border - was established in the 1890s due to the growing need for a new and extensive burial ground for Catholics in the Cleveland area. For many years it was the largest Catholic cemetery in Ohio. The largest number of interments occurred in Nov. 1918, during a flu epidemic. In that month there were 985 burials, with a peak of 81 in one day. Even up until the 1990s, they were packing them in with 1,300 per year (5 per day). The cemetery is now over 300 acres in size and holds approximately 300,000 burials. Prominent Clevelanders buried in the cemetery include politician Frank Lausche, legendary athlete Stella Walsh and TV host Gene Carroll.

This gravestone stood out visually so I took a photo to research it. It's of William J. Gleason who was born in Ireland in 1846 and died in Cleveland in 1905. During his life, he served in the Civil War then went on to work in the printing and insurance fields; served on the boards of Elections and Cleveland Public Library; as Cleveland controller and; wrote and published the book, History of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (1894), to document the planning, construction, and dedication of the Monument which was opened July 4, 1894 in Public Square.

This massive building near the entrance to Calvary Cemetery was once a car barn for the Cleveland Railroad Company, the city's public transit organization from 1910-1942 (mentioned in a post above). This is where they literally stored street cars from all over Cleveland. It later became a container-making warehouse, then something else...then was abandoned. It's now in the possession of the State. Here's a video of the current condition.

Dead end on E. 94th Street.

Some yard flare on secluded E. 96th Street south of Gorman Ave.

This apartment building on the corner of E. 96th & Miles Ave is called Skeel Terrace, named after local architect Albert Skeel who built the building in 1908. Skeel was born in Bristol, England and immigrated to the United States in 1883.

This vacant lot on Harvard Ave between E. 93rd and E. 102nd will soon break ground on 11 single family homes for struggling veterans. Rid-All Green Partnership, an urban agricultural organization, will engage the veterans through programming onsite, teaching best practices for successful urban gardens, as well as promoting healthy living and resources for stability. You can read more about the project in this story by The Land.

This building on E. 100th was built in 1880. Believe it or not, it was not a church but rather a single family home. Across the street was the old Milo Theater which was built in 1915 and closed in the 1950s. The building was destroyed by a fire in 2007. Here's a photo of what the theater once looked like.

Miles Park School (4090 E. 93rd Street) is a PreK-8th serving over 380 students. Located in the Miles Park Historic District, a school has stood at this site since the late 1800s.

Grace Protestant Episcopal Church (E. 91st & Harvard Ave) was built in 1891 and moved from a location in downtown Cleveland at that time. It has served a few different congregations over the years but it's unclear if it's currently active.

The cornerstone of the church, circa 1891.

This Newburgh Station post office (8745 Broadway Ave) was built in 1935. It was designed by Julius Boenisch who also built the post office on Pearl Road in Old Brooklyn as well as one in Hamtramck (Detroit).

This building at 8755 Broadway Ave (next to the post office) was built in 1900 and for most of its life was an auto dealership site. But look the ornate detail around the windows. Really cool.

This striking monolithic vacant structure at 8910 Miles Park Ave was once the Newburgh Masonic Temple. Located in the Miles Park Historic District, it was built in 1916 and was designed by architect William J. Carter, a descendent of Cleveland's first official resident, Lorenzo Carter. The hall served the club for 50 years and was sold in 1969. It's been vacant since 1984 and currently in possession of the State. Here's some photos of the interior. What a shame if we lose this one.

We save a fun one for last. This house at the corner of E. 91st & Miles Park Ave was a childhood home of legendary Grammy award-winning artist Tracy Chapman. Chapman's mother - who was a talented athlete, artist and journalist in her own right - raised her as a single mother and bought this house at about the time Tracy was heading off to an exclusive preparatory school in Connecticut after winning a scholarship at age 16 (her mother lived there nearly another 20 years). Tracy attributes the inspiration for a lot of her early music to her time growing up in the neighborhood in the 70s. During that decade, schools were being integrated and Tracy suffered significant bullying and racial intimidation. She harnessed and transformed that negative experience into music that would provide inspiration to millions across the world.