The Mount Pleasant neighborhood is bordered by the neighborhoods of Buckeye–Shaker and Buckeye–Woodhill to the north, Kinsman to the west, Union–Miles to the south, and Lee-Harvard and the suburb of Shaker Heights to the east.
Glendale Park (E. 149th Street) was established in 1950. The park features an in-ground swimming pool and also recently received a major capital investment to include a new playground, basketball court, and seating area. The City also recently put out a call for artists for a $20K+ public art project.
One of the new tree plantings at Glendale Park.
.jpg)
This church building is home to St. Peter's A.M.E. Zion Church (1401 Bartlett Ave) and was built in 1964. It replaced the congregation's earlier church building that stood on the same site but seated only 100 people. Members of this congregation (founded 1931) funded the new construction through a "Buy a Brick" program. Hubert Humphrey made a campaign stop here during his 1972 bid for president against Richard Nixon.
A sunflower grows on Bartlett Ave. According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, the Mount Pleasant neighborhood "remained largely rural until 1921, when Joseph Krizek and his partners bought 20 acres southwest of Kinsman, where they mapped out streets and planted 248 maple trees along Bartlett St." Unfortunately, few, if any, remain today. However, this area of the neighborhood became the secondary pocket of African American settlement in Mount Pleasant starting in the 1920s, along East 142nd, 143rd, and 144th Streets (off Bartlett).
Union Court (13511 Union Ave) is a 48-unit affordable housing apartment building developed in 2002 through a partnership with CHN Housing Partners and the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Agency. It was part of an effort to deconcentrate poverty at the old Carver Park public housing projects in the the Central neighborhood. Along with Union Court, CHN also developed 6 new townhomes and 42 single-family homes in Kinsman and a 52-unit mixed-income cluster of three historic apartment buildings in the Detroit Shoreway and Ohio City neighborhoods.
The Melzer Apartment building is located on the corner of E. 138th & Melzer Ave and was built in 1924. 
J. A. Komensky Hall was opened September 15th, 1915 and was named after Jan Amos Komensky (1592-1670), a noted Czech philosopher, writer, and pioneer of education. The Sokol Jan Amos Komensky, as it then then known, joined the national American Sokol Organization on May 22, 1920 and became Sokol Tyrs in 1926. It dedicated its new hall at East 131 Street & Melzer Avenue on April 27, 1927 (see two photos below). It's now home to the First Cleveland Mosque.
The Salaam Community Garden 131 (3608 E. 131st) was established in 2009 on a vacant lot where a police station once stood (here's a photo of the site from 1940). The hoop house in the background was added in 2013. It is a program site of First Cleveland Mosque across the street.
This apartment building on the corner of E. 133rd & Lampert Ave was built in 1930 and still appears to be in good shape.
Ghost sign on Union Ave. Tough to read but it appears to be an advertisement for Jas. Smetana's convenience store. According to Census records, there was a James Smetana who was born in Cleveland in 1899 and died in 1982. However, he had a father who was also named James and who was born in 1866 and died in 1945. The building was built in 1922 and the font looks to be of that time. So, it was likely the father's business as he would have been in his 50s and James Jr. would have been in his 20s.
George L. Forbes Fire Station #36 (3552 East 131st Street) was built in 2016. At the time, it was the first new fire station built in Cleveland in more than a decade and the first station to house both fire and EMS operations. It's named after the former longtime Council President.
And just a little further north at 3277 E. 147th Street was the home of Jim Brown and his young family during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Brown played for the Browns from 1957-1966 and then retired to pursue a movie career and political activism interests. Both Brown and Stokes were part of the Cleveland Summit, which was a response to Muhammad Ali's refusal to be drafted for the Vietnam War. Some consider it to be "one of the most important civil rights acts in sports history."
This is the headquarters of the Concerned Citizens Community Council (13611 Kinsman Road) which is the "de facto second, third and fourth responder serving the impoverished residents of the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood." Headquartered in a house rehabbed and gifted by the Cuyahoga County Land Bank (built in 1916), the organization provides a host of services such as computer/arts/cooking/sewing classes; clothing thrift shop; emergency food pantry (to include free meals for children); represents seniors in housing court; Saturday morning children's movies; free private showering facilities for vulnerable young women; back pack and school supplies for 200 students; holiday stockings and food baskets; community meeting space and; free community garden and greenhouse. Incredibly, the organization has no paid staff; volunteers are mostly retired seniors, and it survives on a shoestring budget entirely funded by individual donations and occasional small grants.
Two of the three greenhouses managed by the Concerned Citizens Community Council. This land was also donated by the Cuyahoga County Land Bank. The Jewish Carpenters Union Auditorium (later named Allied Industrial Workers Hall) sat on the land beginning in 1925. It was demolished in 2014.
The old Robert Fulton elementary school on E. 140th which opened in 1930 and operated until 2010 when it was closed due to school consolidation planning. It was put up for bid for development by the City in 2021 and was projected to be developed into a 96-unit multifamily affordable housing apartment building (info). However, there has been no visible sign of progress for several years which led to this News 19 investigation.
Alexander Hamilton Resource & Recreation Center (13200 Kinsman Road) was established in 1961 and features a weight room, meeting room and, most notably, an indoor pool. Behind the center was the stately former Alexander Hamilton Junior High School that closed in 2006 and, tragically, was demolished in the early 2010s. Here's a photo of what it looked like and here's a good Cleveland Magazine story about a Black student's coming of age story when attending the school in the 1960s.
I almost missed this tiny little 560 square foot house on E. 132 as it was set way back on the property line. Built in 1935. "Back-of-lot" homes were a common strategy of Southern and Eastern European immigrants as well as African Americans to maximize living space and productive use of lot space.
Spear Play Lot is located on the corner of E. 145th & Spear Ave. Spear gets its name from the original property owner who owned a number of plots in that area (A.C. Spear). Spear Ave is an east/west cut through street that didn't initially exist when the north/south streets were built; it was a series of City-owned parcels which were eventually converted into a street. The play lot above was a parcel that was preserved for recreational use.
Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Family Service Center at 13815 Kinsman Rd was developed by Mount Pleasant NOW, the neighborhood's former community development corporation (which recently combined with Union Miles). It houses Cuyahoga County Division Adult Protective Services and Seeds of Literacy, which helps over 1,000 adults per year with securing GEDs.
The Jos. K. Vanis building was built in 1920. There isn't much info online regarding who Vanis was other than he was an immigrant from then-Bohemia (now-Czechoslovakia) who was born in 1887, married twice, died in 1970 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery. However, his daughter, Blanche, went on to be an accomplished silversmith jewelry maker in Cleveland. As for the building itself, it was unclear what the original use was but in recent times, it was acquired by the former neighborhood development organization in 2007 and served as the Ward 3 council office for bit. It then transferred to the County Land Bank who sold it to a bible college (current use).
Mt. Pleasant BBQ is undoubtably the most iconic restaurant in not only Mt. Pleasant but, perhaps, the entire Southeast Side of the city. Founded in 1942 at E. 171st & Euclid by Virgil Whitmore Sr. (as Whitmore's Bar-B-Q), his popular restaurants expanded to several locations across the city. Virgil retired in 1970 and various family members would go on to start their own BBQ joints. That includes the store above which is owned and operated by Virgil's grandson, Larry Turner, and has been a staple on Kinsman Ave since 1977. Additional fun fact: It's local legend that Whitmore Bar-B-Q is also the birthplace of Cleveland's famous Polish Boy sandwich. While it's unlikely that Virgil Whitmore "invented" the sandwich, he definately popularized it in the '60s and '70s.
Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church (13009 Kinsman Road) has an interesting origin story. In 1941, Rev. D. C. Calvert desired to build a church on Kinsman Road. He noticed a "For Sale or Lease" sign on the old Arion Theater which had closed several years prior in 1939. He signed a 3-year lease and was unsuccessful in convincing his congregation to purchase the building as they wanted to build their own church (fun fact: the theater was later turned into a macaroni factory). He then rented two storefronts across the street, knocked out the partition wall and ran service there for three more years. However, most of the congregation left during this time and the rent got too high, so they left. Down but not out, the congregation moved to a double garage on E. 143rd & Bartlett. Incredibly, the congregation grew during this time and was able to raise enough money to purchase the lot where the church above stands. With only $1.98 in the church's bank, they were able to methodically build the new church, even holding service in the unfinished basement using tents and without sewage. The church was finally completed in 1955 and christened to a capacity crowd. Rev. Calvert continued to serve the church until his death in 1995 at age 97. It is believed he was the oldest pastoring minister in the state of Ohio.
The park gets its name from beloved former Cleveland Indians player of the same name who played from 1949-1954. In 1950, he hit a 477-foot home run which was considered the longest home run in the history of old Cleveland Municipal Stadium. After his time in Cleveland, he continued playing (and coaching) minor league baseball in Buffalo and Rochester, were he was a beloved figure and inducted to the former's sport Hall of Fame. He returned to Cleveland in 1969 and worked at TRW in Euclid. He was tragically killed during an armed robbery in 1979. I have no idea how or why the dress heels ended up here but I kept them in the shot as I thought it added a humorous touch.
The Fourth District is located at the west end of Luke Easter Park at Kinsman & E. 93rd Street. Originally located on E. 131st, this new headquarters building was built in 1973. More on the history of the district here.
Fire station No. 41 is located just north of Zelma Watson George Rec Center at 3090 E. 116th and was built in 1947. Here's a nice "day in the life" article by the Plain Dealer in 2008.
This is definately one of the top "if you know, you know" spots in Cleveland. The Schvitz (Yiddish for "sweat") is located at the dead end of Luke Ave of E. 116th. It began as a Russian-Turkish Bathhouse in 1927. It's one of the "big five" Schvitzs left in the country (New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Chicago are the others). Basically, it's a steam room/sauna with a bar and restaurant. Once you enter the windowless facility, you head upstairs to grab a locker and towel. Then you head to down the hall to "get some steam". There's different elevations to the bench seating. The higher up you go, the hotter it gets. Here, you can also get a service called a pletse which is basically a soapy scrubbing using an oak leaf or horsehair brush. After you're done being slowly cooked and scrubbed, you have an option to hit the shower or a 40 degree pool. After that, you head to the non-descript bar/restaurant area for some legendary steaks lathered in garlic and a drink. When done drinking and eating, you can relax in the lounge area on cots. That's the process and has been for nearly 100 years. For most of its existence, the club was male-only and membership-based. Today, there are co-ed and ladies nights. Here's a fantastic article of a neighborhood kid's first experience when invited by his father as a rite-of-passage of sorts.
This building at 11918 Kinsman Road was built in 1920 as the Waldorf Theater which operated until 1950. It's been a church since at least the 1970s. Here's a photo of the building when it was still a theater.
According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Boddie Recording Company (12202 Union Ave) was "Cleveland's first African-American owned and operated recording studio, serving a clientele ranging from gospel, soul, and rhythm & blues groups, to rock, bluegrass, and country musicians from as far away as Detroit and West Virginia." The company was founded by Thomas Boddie in his Glenville neighborhood home in the 1950s. It was born out of his passion for electronics; he built his own radios and speaker systems in junior high, went to tech school (the only black student in his class) and served in the Army Air Force during World War II. Boddie would recycle old recording equipment to make new his own. His first gig was a recording at Severance Hall. He soon purchased the home above and turned it into a vinyl pressing plant and (affordable) recording studio which attracted hundreds of musicians seeking to make demonstration records to send to labels like Motown. The volume of clients led to the studio being known as "Little Nashville" in music circles. The business evolved over the years and Boddie focused more on on-site recordings for music events, funerals, gospel shows and other special occasions. Boddie passed away in 2006 and the business closed shortly thereafter. Here's a great piece by Pitchfork which concludes: "Boddie is a footnote to Cleveland's musical history, more or less, but as the city's premier low-cost studio, he provided a huge service to the city's music scene for over 20 years."
E. 124th Street is dedicated in memory to Thomas & Louise Boddie, the hardworking dou behind the recording company.
This non-descript shopping plaza building was once the site of a City Ice & Fuel Company building. The company was originally incorporated as the Independent Ice Company. In January of 1909, it acquired the City Ice Delivery Company and assumed that name. In 1913, it then purchased the Interstate Ice Company of Sandusky and two years later, acquired the Colonial Ice Company. The City Ice & Fuel Company name was adopted in February of 1921 after acquiring several coal companies. After all of the acquisitions, the company sold coal and ice, distilled and carbonated waters (Distilla Water Company), and operated refrigerated storage houses throughout the Cleveland area. The owner of the company was Peter Diemer whose home is best known as the mansion attached to the Slovenian National Home on St. Clair Ave. More on that here.
Quote on the side of the building.
Samone's Kitchen (3507 E. 116th) is a woman-owned, fast-casual soul food spot about a block north of John Adams High School. The mural above was installed by owners Samone & LC Robinson in response to an unfortunate shooting outside the school in early 2023.
These trees on E. 116th & Benham Ave were planted by the Western Reserve Land Conservancy in Fall 2022 as part of their Ground Work program. I actually served as a Planting Leader for one of the teams.
The award for best neighborhood driveway (12505 Benham Ave)
Another one by Donald Black Jr. This one on Kinsman Ave and part of his 'Keep Your American Dream' portfolio.
The Center maintains this community garden on the corner of E. 112th & Kinsman.
Ahoy! It's the Shrimp Boat (12912 Kinsman Road)! From Google Reviews: "The countertop is a boat how cute. Great food. Chicken and fries fried hard with sauce 10/10. Fish polish boys. Footlong hot dogs with extra chili. Shrimp scampi. Fried shrimp. Just the greatest. I buy everything when I go just so I can taste it all. They have cakes and drinks available. Man love the sauce. Nice lady, nice man, great owner."
Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church (3232 E. 128th) was established in 1918. This current church building dates to 1953.
Mt. Olive Baptist Church (3290 E. 126th) was founded in 1907. The current church was built in 1935 and updated in 1945 and 1956.
Across the street from the former Lafayette site is another planting site by the Western Reserve Land Conservancy. I helped with this project several years ago as well.
Mount Pleasant was developed by subdividing orchards and farmland, beginning around the turn of the century and into the 1920s. This house at the corner of Abell & E. 130th was built in 1900 and is one of the oldest homes still standing. It was actually an iron clad home, one of only a handful built in city. Appears to still be in great shape, too.
This non-descript house at 14705 Milverton Ave actually has quite a large place in U.S. legal history. It is the house of Dollree Mapp, whose 1957 arrest in connection with a bombing incident led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling concerning unreasonable searches and seizures (Mapp v. Ohio, 1961). Interesting side fact: Where did the bombing occur? None other than the home of now-legendary boxing promoter Don King who was running an illegal gambling operation at the time and failed to pay off Cleveland crime boss Shondor Birns (read the interesting story here; and here's King's old house today).
Some rest and reflection in the rain after 3+ months, 14 runs and nearly 55 miles in Mt. Pleasant.
The neighborhood has been home to numerous ethnic groups, first Manx immigrants beginning in 1826, then Germans, Czechs, Russians, Jews, and Italians. Today, it is a predominantly African American neighborhood.
In fact, Mt. Pleasant counts blacks among its earliest citizens. According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, in 1893 a contractor who employed a large number of Black workers was unable to pay wages in cash, so he gave them title to lots in the section north of Kinsman Rd. between E. 126th and E. 130th Streets (a house still sanding from that era is featured in this post).
The title holders soon built homes there and by 1907 Mt. Pleasant had 100 Black families. Unheard in those parts of Cleveland at that time.
The neighborhood has been home to numerous notable Clevelander celebrities over the years such as Jim Brown, Don King and Mayor Carl Stokes and was also the temporary home to a then up-and-coming rap and pop mega star Machine Gun Kelly.
~ Shout out to Dr. Todd Michney for his meticulous historical research regarding the neighborhood! ~
Maps: Run 1, Run 2, Run 3, Run 4, Run 5, Run 6, Run 7, Run 8, Run 9, Run 10, Run 11, Run 12, Run 13, Run 14
Distance: 54.8 miles
Distance so far: 877.5 miles
 |
Striking mural at a convenience store on the corner of E. 144th & Bartlett. Completed by local artist Donald Black Jr. |
E. 154th Street still has its beautiful street pavers.
Located next to Glendale Park is Mount Pleasant Church of Christ which definately has one of the more unique church designs in Cleveland. According to historian Todd Michney (author of the fantastic book Surrogate Suburbs), the congregation formed in 1957 and the building was designed and built in 1963 by African American architect Arthur G. Saunders, a former Tuskegee airman. Saunders designed several other Cleveland black churches, the Hough branch of the Cleveland Public Library, and the first new home built by a Black family in Shaker Heights.
This little house on E. 151st punches above its weight when it comes to landscaping and decor on the street.
.jpg)
This street memorial is for Shaliyah Price who was killed in 2018 at the age of 21 by a driver who crashed a stolen vehicle into her vehicle going 90 miles per hour down a residential street. The crash caused a fire in which a 17-year-old (in the stolen vehicle) had to be rescued by the police from the flames (he ended up paralyzed from the impact). The 19-year old driver got 10 years in prison. Shaliyah would have been 27 years old this year.
Bartlett Convenient is actually a new store on the corner of E. 138th & Bartlett Ave. The storefront was vacant for at least 5 years previously. The building was built in 1926 and is a retrofitted duplex.
As mentioned above, this building at the corner of E. 131st & Melzer Ave was built in 1926 as the premier new social hall for the Czech community in Cleveland. It also shared space with the grand Mount Pleasant Theater (here is a photo of what it once looked like). Both closed in 1975 and the building became home to a chapter of the Boys & Girls Club. However, a few years ago, the club decided to move their services into neighborhood schools and donated the building to a former club member who planned to turn it into an "educational training school and for community projects in the Mount Pleasant area." However, as of this writing, there is over $18K due for back property tax, grass cutting, and unpaid sewer bills and the building does not appear to be in active use.
Random Cleveland fact: This vacated playground behind the building was actually funded by money generated from the broadcast of LeBron James's infamous "Decision" back in 2012 when it was still a Boys & Girls Club. James donated funds to both the Mt. Pleasant and Slavic Village branches for improvements.
Across the street from the playground is this crumbling structure which has also become an open dumping site in the neighborhood (especially the open, collapsing garage in the back). The building was once an A&P grocery store way back in the day. It experienced fire damage about five years ago. It's now covered in graffiti and still has missing windows. Unsurprisingly yet still incredibly, this building was purchased by an LLC from Cincinnati for $60K in 2021. They made no improvements, paid no property taxes, and have also been fined for not even cutting their grass. The County filed a tax foreclosure in March of this year. Another example of the speculative and predatory behavior that contributes to the blight of vulnerable neighborhoods like Mount Pleasant. Try getting away with this in Shaker Heights just a mile down the road.
Murtis Taylor Family Resource & Community Center (13422 Kinsman Road) is a charitable organization that provides behavioral health, addiction, youth, family, and senior services. It was formed in the 1950s by the Mount Pleasant Community Council which sought to fight delinquency, crime, and housing violations. It was also a beneficiary of Carl Stokes's Cleveland NOW initiative. Murtis Taylor was a social worker who oversaw recreational offerings beginning at Alexander Hamilton Junior High School in 1949.
The E. 131st commercial corridor was once considered one of the mightiest in Cleveland. However, today it's struggling. Its streetscape could benefit greatly from street greening and small business program assistance.
Another recent loss on E. 131st is the old Olchovy Hardware shop. The business was started during the Great Depression by Philip and Ahafia Olchovy. Ahafia encouraged her husband to open it partly because her dream was to own her own store but also so that her husband could find alternative work to that of being a general laborer. Philip died in 1952 and Ahafia ran the store herself and with family help until the 1980s. For a period, she juggled running the family business while also raising 5 children (and the family lived above the store). Ahafia - an immigrant of Ukraine at age 16 - was also a founding member of St. Mary's Byzantine Ukrainian Catholic Church. She passed away at the age of 100 in 1996. The shop remained open until just a few years ago and the building is still owned by the family but there's over $9,000 due in back property taxes. Not a good sign.
A mighty row of Cleveland Doubles on E. 146th Street. Most of these were built in the 1920s and still appear to be owner-occupied.
Maybe the best-looking Double in all of Mount Pleasant.
 |
| This uniquely-designed building at 14804 Kinsman Road is actually a church (and has been for at least nearly 25 years). From the looks of the building, it appears to have once served a utility or manufacturing purpose but I couldn't determine. |
The south intersections between E. 146th to E. 154th at Kinsman Road were intentionally designed to be wider when the streets were constructed over 100 years ago. Over time, they were filled in, in various ways. This one at E. 151st was filled in with a wide, landscaped tree lawn which is technically City property.
The Andrew J. Rickoff School (3500 E 147th St) was first opened in 1917 and rebuilt in 1964. In 2002 the building was demolished to make way for a new school building that was built in 2005. The school is named after the former 19th century school district superintendent who radically reformed the district during this 15 year tenure.
In front of the school and all along Kinsman Road are these decorative sidewalk pavers. The sidewalks were designed by Charles Edward Adams, a pioneering African-American landscape architect who lived in Mount Pleasant. It is an Afrocentric, mud cloth brickwork design that stands for “Brave Warrior Belts.” Adams believed that it would give the community inspiration in its quest for improvements and revitalization.
"A Pleasant Garden" is located behind the Andrew Rickoff school. It was started in 2016 through a partnership with Kulture Kids and a school teacher who uses the garden as an outdoor classroom. Students grow starter plants from seed inside the school.
These historic markers were installed throughout Mount Pleasant in 2015. They depict various themes - from notable residents to sports and parks history to even the origins of the neighborhood. Above is a double-sided marker located in front of Andrew J. Rickoff elementary school which talks about former mayor Carl Stokes and NFL Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, both of which lived on nearby E. 147th Street in the 1960s (see below).
This modest home at 3376 E. 147th was once the home of Carl Stokes in the mid-1960s during his initial run for mayor. The home was built in 1946 and is a common example of post-WWII housing on the southeast side of the City. Carl and his brother, Louis, grew up in Outhwaite Homes housing project in the Central neighborhood. So, living in a home like this in a neighborhood like Mt. Pleasant at that time would likely have been considered unimaginable.
Milverton Road - on the border of Shaker Heights - has a number of classic 1920s and '30s apartment buildings such as this one.
But nearby vacancy persists such as this building on E. 149th Street built in 1930. Hope remains as a new owner has taken out permits to restore the building and new windows have been installed. Let's hope they finish the job.
Rough night on E. 146th Street.
 |
| This barricade at the end of E. 153rd provides a distinct separation between Shaker Heights and Mount Pleasant. It was created during the development of Sutton Place, a late-1960s urban renewal project which created a new housing development that retained “the characteristics of a fine residential community” for potential middle- and upper-class homeowners. The project was an experiment in using aluminum for residential construction. Structural components, as well as windows and exterior siding, were forged with aluminum to create durable, energy efficient and weatherproof homes. There's also a walking park in the center of the development. Here's what they look like today. |
According to the Cleveland Public Library, the Mt. Pleasant Branch was housed in three previous locations before finding its home at 14000 Kinsman Road (above). Originally a bank, the current building was remodeled in 1937 for Cleveland Public Library. A one-story club room was added to the rear of the building in 1949. The branch was remodeled again in 1981.
Definition: "The rules of laws people of the streets follow. Rules of loyalty, trust and doing whatever necessary to survive." - Urban Dictionary
This church in the 15200 block of Kinsman Road began as St. Cecilia Parish. The congregation formed in 1915 and a white, wood-framed church was built on the site the next year by order of the Catholic Diocese. As more families moved to Mt. Pleasant, the congregation grew and a new church was needed. The church above was built in 1941 and served as a facilitator of racial bridge building as more African Americans began moving into the neighborhood in the following decades. The church almost closed in the 1980s but the congregation prevented that from happening. However, the Diocese decommissioned the church in 2010 as part of a downsizing plan, leaving 700 parishioners without a spiritual home. Today, the church is home to New Freedom Ministries.
This building on E. 152nd Street was once the parochial school for St. Cecilia. Since 1992, it's been home to New Life Community which empowers homeless and jobless families to transition to self-sufficient lives.
A native of Danville, Virginia, Dr. Larry D. Tatum was the former pastor at nearby New Sedaris Primitive Baptist Church which was formed in 1959. He retired in 2023. New Sedaris - located on Kinsman & E. 147th right next to this sign - was recently granted City Landmark status.
This vacant church building at 12808 Kinsman Road is one of the oldest in Mt. Pleasant, having been built in 1900. In 1979 it was purchased by John Malone, a former Cleveland police officer and founder of the Augustine Group Home Society, the first African American owned and operated group home in the City of Cleveland. The church served as the actual group home, serving 10 youth under the age of 18. John passed away in 2020 at the age of 96 but the church remains in his name. It's been vacant for nearly two decades and is falling into deeper and deeper disrepair on Kinsman Road.
This mural at 11601 Kinsman Road is dedicated to the memory of Jacqueline E. Gillon who was the co-founder of the Black Environmental Leaders in addition to being a member of East Cleveland City Council and a board member of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy. Gillon then spent 19 years with Greater Cleveland Neighborhood Centers Association and Neighborhood Leadership Institute, co-facilitating and mentoring 29 classes of Neighborhood Leadership Cleveland. The mural - dedicated in 2022 and painted by Antoine Washington - features the quote “Just remember that: first smile and the next hello” which is from one of Gillon’s poems.
Some Halloween fun on E. 114th
This is Audubon Middle School, located at 3055 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. It was built in 1922 and served the neighborhood until 2010 when it closed. It was designed by Walter McCornack and is listed as a Cleveland landmark. It 2021, the City and CMSD put out development proposals, which yielded a bid for 107 affordable apartments for seniors plus office and community spaces in the restored ballroom and library. Not sure what the current status is. However, here's a creepy video from an exploration of the vacant building several years ago. What do you think happened at the 11:54 mark?
According to Cleveland History: Luke Easter Park, at Kinsman Road and East 116th streets in southeast Cleveland, was formerly known as Woodland Hills Park. The park was acquired by the City of Cleveland in 1900 who also owned the the adjacent Kinsman Reservoir. The park originally featured winding roads, two creeks, and a few buildings, including a dance hall that burned down in the late 1910s. In 1918, part of the park was turned into an airport, which served as a "postage stamp" airport on an airmail route for about two years. During the late 1920s and 1930s, the park was turned into Cleveland's largest recreational center. The property declined over the following decades due to vandalism, neglect, and age although improvements to the pool were made in the 1960s and a skating rink was added in 1979. The park remains an important gathering spot for the African American community, include a major annual Labor Day parade and picnic which was begun by former Congressman Carl Stokes in 1971.
The Luke Easter Pool was originally the Woodland Hills Pool. The neighborhood was largely a Hungarian neighborhood but the Great Migration saw an influx of African Americans. In the summer of 1927, white swimmers attacked some African Americans attempting to use the pool. Racial tension continued throughout the 30s but calmed after WWII when the neighborhood became increasingly more integrated. The pool was historically considered a crown jewel in the City's parks department. Here's a photo of it in the 1930s.
 |
A sea of basketball courts at Luke Easter Park. |
The Zelma Watson-George Recreation Center was established in 1997. Named after former Broadway singer, United Nations goodwill ambassador, and Cleveland Job Corps director Zelma Watson-George, the center contains a roller skating rink, gym, basketball courts, track, computer lab and meeting rooms.
These row of new homes sit "within" Luke Easter Park on Reservoir Place Drive (where the old Kinsman Reservoir was once located). They were built in 2002 and their median values are, by far, the highest in all of the neighborhood if not most of the entire southeast side.
This church at 3471 E. 140th was built in 1925 by Congregation Ohel Jacob Anshe Sfar and was designed by local architect Meyer Altschild who was also involved in the construction of a number of other apartment buildings and residences in the area. The congregation was founded by Russian and Sephardic Jews in lower Woodland in 1915. The property was sold in 1957 and the synagogue moved to Shaker Heights and merged with several others. In recent years, the building became home to Consolation Baptist Church but it appears that that congregation is no longer active as the pastor listed on the sign above died in 2018.
This church at 11901 Union Ave was built in 1923 as the Nvai Zedek synagogue and was also designed by architect Meyer Altschuld. Coincidently, it was also sold in 1957 after merging with Tifereth Israel of Mt. Pleasant and then with Bnai Jacob to form the Warrensville Center Synagogue in 1959. The building included with a Mikvah (ritual bath) behind the "Bema" or "Altar". It's been home to Second Tabernacle Baptist Church for at least 50 years.
Some classic hot wheels on Union Ave.
This church at 12700 Union Ave was built in 1927 as the home of the then-East Side Christian Reformed Church whose roots date back to 1872. The congregation moved to Warrensville Heights at some point in the mid-20th century. It's now home to Union Ave C&MA Church.
Kyrie's Kafe (13905 Kinsman Ave) is a soul-food joint with some good Yelp reviews. A notable dining room feature is that each booth is equipped with a small flatscreen TV and there is a chess board area. The restaurant suffered a major disaster in April (a month after opening) when a car on Kinsman smashed into the front of the store. But they bounced back.
The Thea Bowman Center (11901 Oakfield Ave) began as a Hunger Center in 1966 under the auspices of Epiphany Catholic Church. The church closed in 2009, but center continues to meet pressing needs of Mt. Pleasant, offering GED and computer literacy classes, after-school and summer programs for youth, senior programs, a food pantry, and more. Thea Bowman was an African-American nun (considered for sainthood) who once said: "I think the difference between me and some people is that I'm content to do my little bit. Sometimes people think they have to do big things in order to make change. But if each one would light a candle we'd have a tremendous light."
This Masonic Temple at 14402 Kinsman Road is exclusively African American (known as Prince Hall chapters) that - combined with other chapters - dates back to 1855. And they are still very active. The building was once the temporary home of the neighborhood library branch in 1928.
 |
| Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church (3241 E. 130th) is an African American congregation that was established in 1929. This current church building was built in 1965. |
This overgrown wrought iron fence is all that remains of the LaFayette Elementary School which was built in 1919 and closed in the mid-1990s. It met the wrecking ball in the early 2010s after failed attempts at redevelopment. Here are some photos of what it looked like before it ended up in a local landfill.
Mt. Pleasant has historically struggled with significant issues related to poor housing conditions. This duplex on E. 125th is a dramatic example but fortunately there aren't many properties like this left in the neighborhood.
This vacant lot near the intersection of E. 119th & Union Ave was home to a duplex in which rap/pop megastar Machine Gun Kelly began his first recordings. You can watch him give a tour of the place at the 4:11 mark in his music video for 'Till I Die'.
Caught this guy taking a breather on a vacant lot in the E. 120s.
This church at 3471 E. 147th was a former branch of the Workmen's Circle (Arbeter Ring), a Jewish fraternal organization prominent in Cleveland by the 1930s. It operated from 1926-1960.
This building at 13700 Kinsman Road was built in 1898 (!) and was home to the neighborhood library branch in the 1930s. It's also another one of the rare iron clad buildings of the area.
Not sure if this is some type of street memorial but it definately caught my eye.
 |
| This house was built in 1953 by the black-owned construction company Lee Road Builders, a firm founded in April 1952 by nine neighbors in the Lee-Miles area. The company went on to successfully build approximately 80 homes for African American families, and changed its name to Southeast Builders, Inc. before it ran into financial trouble, ceasing operations in May 1955. |
This home at 3296 E. 137st was the home of Judge Perry B. Jackson, the first Black judge in Ohio. From 1923-27, Jackson edited the Cleveland Call. He was then elected to the Ohio general assembly in 1928, responsible for the state's adoption of voter registration forms. He served as a Judge starting in the early 1940s, retired from the bench in 1973 and is buried in Highland Park Cemetery.
