Located prominently on downtown Cleveland’s Public Mall A, the Fountain of Eternal Life, also known as the War Memorial Fountain, stands to honor the bravery and sacrifice of Americans lost in armed conflicts from the Spanish-American War to the present day. Envisioned as a memorial to Clevelanders lost during the Second World War and Korean War at the time of its initial dedication in 1964, the fountain has served as a site of reflection of Clevelanders' attitudes towards armed conflict as well as a subject of debate on historic preservation over the decades of its existence.
The Fountain of Eternal Life’s sculptor, Marshall Fredericks, was a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art and had served in the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Air Force during the Second World War. As the conflict came to an end in 1945, several organizations and media outlets in Cleveland began formulating a plan to develop a memorial to honor local residents who were lost. By the end of 1945, the Cleveland Press had raised $104,000 through a public subscription drive, enough for the initial planning and sourcing of materials for a monument to take place and for Fredericks to be officially selected as the designer and sculptor of the memorial. By 1946, it was decided that the memorial, dubbed the War Memorial Fountain in the media, would be built on Cleveland’s Mall.
March 25, 1955, marked the official groundbreaking ceremony for the memorial. The event was highlighted by the first turning of dirt being performed by Cleveland’s then-mayor Anthony J. Celebrezze alongside the president of the Cuyahoga County Gold Star Mothers, Stella Stark. As the monument was initially planned ten years earlier as a memorial to Clevelanders lost during the Second World War, organizers already had to contend with the fact that another conflict, the Korean War, would have to be addressed upon the memorial’s completion. This restructuring of exactly which conflicts are being represented by the monument would be a constant throughout the memorial’s life.
As the monument’s development and construction continued beyond the initial groundbreaking, it would not be without some adversity. In 1959, the City of Cleveland held public hearings on a proposal to lease Mall A to build a skyscraping Hilton hotel. If approved, the memorial would have been forced to relocate, potentially undercutting its significance by not allowing for a prominent location to be held. Although some on Cleveland’s City Council highlighted financial upsides to the hotel’s existence on the Mall, voters ultimately rejected the plan in a special referendum, permitting development of the monument to continue.
After 19 years of preparations and construction, the memorial was ready to be officially dedicated. On May 30, 1964, thousands of residents and spectators descended on Cleveland’s downtown Mall for Memorial Day celebrations and the dedication of the “Press War Memorial Fountain,” which featured the Fountain of Eternal Life sculpture. The sculpture itself featured four large granite slabs and a towering bronze figure arising upwards out of flames and a sphere meant to represent the universe. In all, the monument towered 46 feet above the ground. Marshall Fredericks described his work on the sculpture, stating, “This figure expresses the main theme of the Memorial Fountain, namely, the spirit of mankind rising out of the encircling flames of war, pestilence, and the destructive elements of life, reaching and ascending to a new understanding of life. Man rising above death, reaching upward to his God and toward peace.” Placed around the monument and inlaid upon the granite labs would be inscribed bronze tablets containing the names of local residents who perished during the Second World War and the Korean War.
In the years following the fountain’s dedication, the site was consistently utilized as a location for parades and speeches in celebration of patriotic holidays and days of remembrance. However, coinciding with this continued use of the Fountain of Eternal Life as a place of honor was the entrenchment of the United States in another major armed conflict: The Vietnam War. By 1971, the fountain had transitioned from a location seen as primarily honoring Cleveland’s perished soldiers to one that often hosted rallies and protests against all war. News publications of the time often highlighted the symbolism of holding such antiwar gatherings around a sculpture that depicts a figure striving upwards for peace, as Marshall Fredricks had originally intended.
Moving into the 1980s, the Fountain of Eternal Life experienced yet another major evolution in its perception and meaning. On May 30, 1983, the 19th anniversary of the monument’s dedication, Plain Dealer columnist William F. Miller ran a story with the very provocative title “Memorial fountain in sad shape.” In this piece, Miller detailed the current condition of broken concrete, failed water pipes, and cracked granite across the basin of the fountain. Miller went even further in describing the cracked sidewalks and rusted-over trash cans in the immediate vicinity of the fountain, further detracting from any aesthetic quality or any attempt to convey the memorial’s meaning. By 1987, discussion amongst media publications and within City Council meetings regarding the possible removal of the Fountain of Eternal Life had sparked Marshall Fredericks himself to comment on the matter. Fredericks depressingly stated to a reporter shortly before the fountain's 23rd anniversary, “I spent my whole life… doing sculpture. But what’s the point of it all when the most important one I did in my life is about to be torn down.” Ultimately, plans to preserve the Fountain of Eternal Life moved forward, and by November 1989 the monument was being hoisted from its place in Mall A and taken to a local restoration center. The occasion, which occurred on November 6, 1989, was marked by a small performance from a United States Marine color guard, in which the soldiers saluted the monument as it was taken away.
The Fountain of Eternal Life was returned to its place atop the now-named Memorial Plaza in 1991. With this, the sculpture itself was rededicated and became the centerpiece of what would now be named the “Peace Memorial Fountain.” Moving forward to the end of the 20th century and into the 21st, the fountain continued to serve as a site for both military memorialization and occasionally for antiwar and peace rallies. In 2004, the monument was once again rededicated, with this occasion officially marking the site’s commemoration of Clevelanders lost in all conflicts from 1899 to the present day.
]]>The Vietnamese Cultural Garden in Cleveland features a 12-foot-tall marble statue of a woman standing atop a square pedestal. The statue wears traditional Vietnamese garments, including the nón dang conical hat and the áo dài dress, which hold significant historical and cultural meaning and are still worn in the community today. The statue of the woman remains composed despite the weather or season, with her hair and dress gently swaying as if moved by the wind.
The Garden, located at the northern end of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Rockefeller Park, was sponsored by the Friendship Foundation and dedicated in 2020. The Garden was designed by Char Crowley, who also participated in the renovation of the Irish Cultural Garden in 2009. The most direct footpath to the Vietnamese Cultural Garden's entrance is along the Harrison Dillard Bikeway.
As the Vietnam War came to a close, many refugees sought new homes abroad. By November 1975, over 500 refugees had made their way to the Greater Cleveland area in search of freedom. The Vietnamese Cultural Garden stands as a testament to their bravery and the vibrant culture they brought with them. After the fall of Saigon, various religious and social groups formed to prepare aid and shelter for the newcomers seeking sanctuary.
A formal group was established in December 1975 to assist refugee community organization. Until 1995, the primary organization in the area was the Cong-Dong Viet-Nam Tai Vietnamese Community in Greater Cleveland. Since then, additional organizations have emerged to sponsor friends and families seeking opportunities away from Vietnam. Through local and international programs, these organizations help those adjust by encouraging socio-economic independence, providing housing opportunities, and promoting autonomy within the community.
American veterans were among those interested in volunteering or creating affiliated organizations. After serving with the Special Forces during the Vietnam War, U.S. Army Captain, historian, and attorney Joseph Meissner dedicated his time to the resettlement effort in Cleveland. Along with his many lifetime accomplishments and endeavors, Meissner helped establish the Friendship Foundation, serving as its vice president.
The Friendship Foundation is an American-Vietnamese non-profit organization founded in 1993 by Vietnamese-American immigrant Luong Thi Gia Hoa Ryan. Discouraged by the inability to visit home to her native country due to the aftermath of the war, Ryan and other community members joined efforts to establish the Foundation, fostering peace, respect, and harmony. The Foundation's website offers a descriptive history of the project and how the history of the Vietnam War influenced the culture of the community they aim to serve and other humanitarian activities they continue to sponsor.
After multiple delays, the Vietnamese Cultural Garden finally installed the 12-foot-tall marble statue on November 15, 2023, three years after the Garden's dedication. The sculpture has repeatedly been recognized as the Vietnamese Mother, exhibiting features in line with the Foundation's objectives. The Cleveland Vietnamese Cultural Garden serves as a symbol of courage and resilience for all community members, whether they are veterans, immigrants, or just passing by.
]]>Wounded but forever pensive, The Thinker graces the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original main entrance. In 2017 he quietly celebrated the 110th anniversary of his casting and the 100th anniversary of his installation in Cleveland. In 2020 he’ll stoically acknowledge 50 years since the assault that ripped him from his base and shredded his legs below the calf. Ironically, that March 1970 bombing might have increased The Thinker’s metaphoric permanence: Lacking ambulation, University Circle’s marquis gatekeeper, philosopher and historical symbol is more intransient than ever.
The Thinker is one of 25 identical twins: 900-pound bronze casts based on a 27-inch-high clay and plaster model created by Auguste Rodin in 1880. Rodin supervised roughly ten of these castings, including Cleveland’s, but he died shortly before installation occurred in 1917. The Thinker model was part of a commission for the proposed Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. The museum was never built but a number of Rodin masterworks emerged, including The Gates of Hell, The Kiss and The Thinker, all inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy. The bronze Gates of Hell (20 feet high, 13 feet wide and weighing eight tons) was slated to be the Museum’s front door. A small cast of The Kiss can be seen in the lower right section of the door. The Thinker (Le Pensure), originally entitled The Poet (Le Poète), resides atop the door panels. Some believe he is Dante observing his characters in The Inferno. Others postulate that The Thinker is Adam, musing about the destruction his sin brought upon mankind.
The Gates of Hell and bronze casts of The Thinker and The Kiss now reside at the Musée Rodin in Paris. Another of The Thinker’s identical siblings stands atop the graves of Rodin and his wife Rose, and a third guards the entrance to the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia. Other US cities in which he resides include Baltimore (2), Denver, Detroit, Louisville, New York (2), Pasadena, San Francisco and Kansas City. Thinkers can also be found in Argentina, Germany, Denmark, Japan, Belgium, Russia and Sweden. Cleveland’s Thinker is one of last casts that Rodin supervised personally.
At about 1:00 AM on March 24, 1970, a bomb equivalent to three sticks of dynamite exploded beneath The Thinker, knocking him from (and destroying) his pedestal and turning his lower legs to shrapnel. He landed face down, perhaps using the occasion to contemplate Hell more directly. The Cleveland Art Museum opted not to replace the statue and reinstalled it without repairing the damage. The decision’s prime motive was a desire to preserve and honor Rodin's original work which, in turn, might memorialize the turmoil of the Vietnam War years. It’s generally agreed that the attack was undertaken by a Cleveland faction of the Weathermen (aka., the Weather Underground) an ultra-radical political group that voiced its opposition to the Vietnam War (and US imperialism in general) by bombing government buildings, banks and other targets. A spray-painted message at the base of the toppled statue read “Off the ruling class.” No one admitted to, or was ever charged, for the crime.
Thus The Thinker goes on doing what he does best. Stabilized with Incralac (a copper and copper-alloy coating) and washed and waxed twice annually, he endures miserable winters and occasional scorching summers without complaint. If statues could only talk.
]]>Tucked away in a Cleveland Heights neighborhood is a whimsical trove of 1930s federal art. Thousands of students and hundreds of teachers who walked daily through the halls and library of Oxford Elementary School have passed by these beautiful pieces of art.
During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt developed a variety of programs to provide work relief for millions of needy Americans. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project (FAP) put local artists to work creating murals, sculpture and ceramics using the "American Scene" for inspiration.
Under the direction of the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Public Library, the Cleveland FAP employed needy artists adorning schools and public buildings throughout Greater Cleveland. The Cleveland Heights school district requested works pertaining to children's themes and the American Scene during the late 1930s and 1940s. Oxford Elementary received funding for two murals, two hydrocals, and thirty-five ceramics (though only some of the ceramics were completed).
In 1941, artists LeRoy Flint and Henry Olmer, inspired by the history of Cleveland, created a pair of relief panels for Oxford depicting "Agriculture" and "Industry." They were sculpted in clay, but cast in hydrocal, a type of extra-hard plaster. Cleveland Heights artist Edris Eckhardt guided the work of the Sculpture and Ceramics Division of Cleveland FAP.
In 1972 the school board approved a $19.5 million bond issue, which included the renovation of Oxford, thereby threatening its large Cinderella and Pied Piper of Hamlin murals. In the 1970s, the beauty and artistic value of Federal Art were just beginning to be recognized and scholars were searching for surviving pieces. Public pressure led to a reconsideration by the coordinating architects for the remodeling program. Oxford PTA president Donalene Poduska, with the help of principal James Evans and experts in American art, worked tirelessly to save the neglected Cinderella mural. At a time when only a fraction of the nation's federal art remains intact, a major project in 2000 restored and stabilized both of the Oxford murals.
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]]>PEACE Park carries on a piece of the tradition of the closed Coventry School next door. The park originated when neighborhood residents became concerned that the school's playground had seen better days. In 1991, the Coventry PTA formed a committee that got elementary school students to submit drawings of their "dream" playground.
The visioning group in the PTA incorporated as Coventry People Enhancing A Child's Environment, or Coventry PEACE, an acronym that evoked the school's peace theme. Through a series of T-shirt, candy, lemonade, and bake sales, and benefit performances and dinners, the non-profit organization raised the nearly $300,000 needed to create Coventry PEACE Park. The park's construction in October 1993 was in the "New England barnraising" style and proceeded despite torrential downpours.
In 2001, the newly formed nonprofit organization Heights Arts sponsored its first public art project in the park: Coventry Arch. Designed by Barry Gunderson, an art professor at Kenyon College, the 180-degree span of aluminum pipes includes four whimsical, abstract figures (two on each side) reaching across the path to form an arch-like entry to the park. Gunderson's creation, according to his original proposal, is "a symbol of greeting, accommodation, and celebration of differences."
After nearly thirty years, PEACE Park’s well-loved facilities were showing their age. In 2018, Heights Libraries purchased the six-acre PEACE campus. Collaborating with the Fund for the Future of Heights Libraries, it began collecting community input with the goal of renovating PEACE Park as an inclusive, accessible, and environmentally sustainable public space — one that might truly embody Gunderson's arch's symbolism. The project resulted in a completely transformed park that reopened in 2025 with amenities such as a red Cardinal climbing structure, rope swing, large slide, zipline, bandstand, storybook loop trail, educational signage, native plantings, an urban mini-forest, new seating, and brighter lighting.
Home to summer movie nights, winter sledding, after-school playing, and the occasional peace demonstration, PEACE Park remains a beloved green space and a symbol of the neighborhood that outlived the school from which it was born.
]]>Located along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and opposite the Greek Garden, the Ukrainian Garden was inaugurated in 1940. The garden is composed of a series of brick and stone courts connected by paved walks. The South Court of this formal place is accessed by a stone and iron gateway with two bronze plaques and portrait reliefs sculpted by Frank L. Jirouch. The portraits represent Bohdan Khmelnytsky, leader of a revolt against the Poles in 1614 (1593-1657), and Mykhailo Serhiyovych Hrushevsky, an historian, teacher and author (1866-1934). There is also a statue of poet Larysa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka (Lesya Ukrainka) in the garden, as well as three bronze busts that celebrate significant nationalist leaders in Ukraine history: poet and writer Ivan Franko (1856-1916); Grand Prince of Kyiv Volodymyr the Great (c. 956-1015); and Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko, a poet, teacher and artist (1814-1861).
The three major busts were the work of Kyiv-born Alexander Archipenko who immigrated to the United States in the 1920s. Archipenko was a part of the cubist movement. His work departed from classical sculptural design, using negative space in creative ways. The busts disappeared from the garden In the 1970s, making many believe that they had been destroyed or stolen. It wasn't until the 1990s that the missing busts were found in a Cleveland municipal garage where they had been placed for safekeeping. Since then, fiberglass copies of the busts have been made for the Garden whereas the originals have found a new home in the Ukrainian Museum & Archives in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood.
The first Ukrainians arrived in the Cleveland area in the mid-1880s and settled in the Tremont area. Early numbers are difficult to determine because they were counted as being part of the ethnic groups that at one time or another occupied what is now Ukraine. A hundred years later, in 1986, the Ukrainian community of Greater Cleveland was centered in Parma and numbered over 35,000. A strong Ukrainian presence remains in the Parma area in 2012. Cultural education is still a focal point of community life with 'Saturday Schools' (Ridna Shkola) teaching language, history, geography and culture. This schooling is accredited by the Parma Board of Education.
Large Ukrainian collections exist in the local and university libraries through the contributions of Ukrainian professors. The Ukrainian Museum & Archive, Inc., located on Kenilworth Avenue in Tremont, was organized in 1952. It has attracted scholars from all over the world. Other organizations have been dedicated to preserving Ukrainian culture through summer camps, dance ensembles, choirs, percussion bands, mandolin ensembles, private orchestras, soccer teams, and skiing clubs.
]]>Originally named the Yugoslav Cultural Garden, the Slovenian Garden is located near the intersection of St. Clair Avenue and East Boulevard, adjacent to the Polish Garden.
Over 100,000 people paraded in support of the Yugoslav Garden's dedication on a rainy morning in May 1938. Dignitaries included Mayor Harold Burton, Governor Martin Davey, Senator Robert Bulkley, Judge Frank J. Lausche (later a United States Senator), United States Representatives Martin L. Sweeney, Robert Crosser and Anthony Fleger, Chief Ohio Supreme Court Justice Carl V. Weygandt, WPA Director Colonel Joseph H. Alexander, and Dr. Konstantin Fotic, the Yugoslavian Envoy in Washington. The garden reflected the culture of Cleveland's Croatians, Serbians, and Slovenians and their sometimes conflicted past. As Yugoslavia dissolved in the 1980s and 1990s, so too did the ideal of a unified Yugoslavian Cultural Garden. In 1991, the garden was rechristened the Slovenian Cultural Garden, and separate Serbian and Croatian Garden Delegations emerged.
In "The Paths Are Peace", Clare Lederer describes the Yugoslav Cultural Garden's design: "A circular fountain and pool are the central features of a paved court. Two stately linden trees, the typical Slovenian "lipa", whose sweet-scented, delicate blossoms are used in the brewing of a delightful tea, tower at either side of the garden entrance. The Jugoslav Garden slopes in three levels between the upper and lower boulevards. To the left of the entrance is a reposeful, formal, sunken garden to the right, a semi-circular section. A semi-circular stairway leads to the halfway lower level, and a wide stairway from the mid-level to the lower level, where there extends a spacious, stage-like paved court. Encircling this setting is a beautiful, natural amphitheatre formed of massive shade trees and the cooling stream of Doan Brook."
Over the years, statuary in the Garden has included Bishop Frederick Barago, a missionary to the Ottawa and Ojibway Native American tribes (1797-1868); Ivan Cankar, a poet and political activist (1876-1918); Simon Gregorcic, a priest and poet (1844-1906); General Rudolph Maister, a poet and political activist (1874-1934); Prince-Bishop Petar II Petrovic-Njegos, poet and ruler of Montenegro (1813-1851); and Ivan Zorman, a poet and composer (1885-1957).
Slovenians began settling in Cleveland in the 1880s. The first to arrive settled in the Newburgh area. By the late 1880s and early 1890s a much larger community began to form along St. Clair Avenue. At its peak in the 1920s and 30s, the community ran from E. 30th to E. 79th Streets between the lake and Superior Avenue. The Slovenians kept moving east until the 1980s, eventually establishing a sizable presence in Lake County. Few Slovenians settled on the west side of Cleveland. The two small communities that developed in the West Park and Denison neighborhoods later moved to Maple Heights and Garfield Heights.
U.S. Census data for 1910 lists 14,332 Slovenians already living in Cleveland. By 1970, the number had risen to include 46,000 foreign-born or mixed-parentage Slovenians living in Greater Cleveland area. In the 1990s, the community in the Cleveland area numbered well over 50,000.
After the establishment of an independent Slovenia in 1991, its government opened an Honorary Consulate and appointed a local Slovenian, Dr. Karl B. Bonutti, honorary consul. While the use of the Slovenian language has all but disappeared in large parts of the community, many Slovenians still support organizations and attend performances that reflect their ethnic heritage and traditions.
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]]>Dedicated on October 5, 2008, the Serbian Cultural Garden features a central plaza with a marble cube and circular concrete seating. The plaza also contatins the garden's message: "Only Unity Saves The Serbs." A pebble mosaic surrounds the cube. It is a reproduction of mosaics found at the Hilandar Monastery (Greece) and at the Patriarchate of Pec and Zica Monasteries (Serbia). A trail meanders southwards from the plaza. After a pleasant stroll parallel to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the path ends at another plaza. This part of the garden is dedicated to inventor, engineer and genius Nikola Tesla (1856-1943).
The garden also holds a number of busts featuring other famous people. One of them is King Peter I, founding father of Yugoslavia (1844-1921). Another is poet Petar II Petrovic-Njegos, an Orthodox Prince-Bishop and ruler of Montenegro (1813-1851).
Originally, the republics of Serbia and Croatia were joined with Slovenia in the 1932 Yugoslav Garden. After the 1991 breakup of Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav Garden was re-dedicated to Slovenia. The bust of Njegos, which had been in the original garden, was consequently moved to the newly dedicated Serbian Garden.
Cleveland's first Serb is considered to be Lazar Krivokapic from Montenegro who settled here in 1893. Most Serbs did not immigrate to Cleveland until after the turn of the century though. The ones who came were part of the enormous migration from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The largest group of Serbs came from Lika (a mountainous region in what is now Croatia), while others came from Banija (currently Banovina in central Croatia), Kordun (north of Lika in what is now central Croatia), Backa (currently divided between Serbia and Hungary) and Banat (whose area currently lies in western Romania, northeastern Serbia and southeastern Hungary). There were also a significant number of Serbs from Dalmatia (a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea which today lies mostly in Croatia but has smaller areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro) and Montenegro (before it became part of Yugoslavia).
Most Serbian immigrants to Cleveland lived in an area from East 20th Street to the E. 40s north of Superior Avenue. Hamilton and St. Clair Avenues were particularly dense Serbian neighborhoods. At the time of World War I it is estimated that 1,000 Serbs lived in Cleveland. Another 700 Serbs came to Cleveland between 1949 and 1952, with many settling in the East 55th–Broadway area. Today, a reduced settlement remains in that area. Most Serbs, however, have long since moved to the southwestern suburbs of Cleveland. Between the 1960s and the mid-1980s, a large number of Serbs emigrated from the former Yugoslavia. Although the Serbs make up a fairly small part of the area's population, the Serbian language is still widely spoken, and cultural organizations and lodges remain active.
]]>The plot of land that makes up the Rusin Cultural Garden is located along East Boulevard. It was dedicated in June, 1939.
Most Rusyns (also commonly spelled Rusins) immigrated to Cleveland in the period from 1880 to World War I. The Rusyns are an Eastern Slavic ethnic group who speak a dialect known as Rusyn or Lemko. Rusyns descend from Ruthenians but, unlike some of the groups related to them, did not adopt the term Ukrainian in the early twentieth century to describe their ethnicity. Cleveland's Rusyns trace their heritage to the Carpathian Mountains, which is the second longest (932 mi) mountain range in Europe. This chain of mountains stretches in an arc from the Czech Republic (3%) in the northwest across Slovakia (17%), through Hungary (4%) and Poland (10%) to the Ukraine (11%). It then runs south to Romania (53%) before arcing back east to the Iron Gates (gorge) on the Danube River between Romania and Serbia (2%).
One of the earliest (1890) Rusyn settlements in Cleveland was located within a Hungarian community along Orange and Woodland Avenues. As these groups grew they both moved eastward along the Union and Buckeye Avenues. A second Rusyn settlement also developed in Tremont and by 1906 Rusyns were settling as far west as Lakewood. By the 1930s, more than 30,000 Rusyns lived in the city. After World War II, however, Rusyns, like many others, moved to the suburbs in large numbers. In 1983, approximately 25,000 Rusyns still lived in the Greater Cleveland area, but most of the original Rusyn neighborhoods had long been abandoned. In 2009, the Carpatho-Rusyn Heritage Museum opened at the St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Parma to educate the public about the history and culture of Rusyns.
Pastor of Holy Ghost Greek Catholic Church, Reverent Jseph Hanulya, was also the head of the Rusin Cultural Garden Association. In May, 1952, Hanulya unveiled a bust of Alexander Duchnovich. A Greek Catholic priest, Alexander Duchnovich (1803-1865) wrote prose and poetry in the Rusyn language, and also wrote the Rusyn National Anthem. The bust has since been stolen and no longer stands in the garden.
The Cultural Gardens have often incorporated symbolism or design elements that subverted the message of unity and reflected ethnic tensions in Europe and Cleveland. Clever choices of sculptures and honorees by ethnic communities also brought the conflicts so evident in Europe and its history to the chain of gardens. An example of this sort of conflict can be found in the Rusin Garden's choice to honor Alexander Duchnovich; a champion of Rusyn language and identity who defended the Rusyn language from Hungarian rule in the nineteenth century. Both the Slovak and Czech gardens celebrated similar themes. It was no mistake that the Czech, Slovak, and Rusin gardens arrayed themselves across a boundary street from the contiguous German and Hungarian gardens. Location can sometimes suggest just how powerfully old cultural conflicts were felt.
]]>Not in the original chain of gardens, the Romanian Cultural Garden was inaugurated in 1967. This wide expanse of green space, surrounded by evergreens and maples, is home to a life-size bronze statue of twentieth century musician and composer George Enescu.
Romanians coming to Cleveland in the late 1800s and before World War I were from the Austro-Hungarian provinces of Transylvania and Bucovina. By the beginning of World War I there were about 12,000 ethnic Romanians living in Cleveland. The largest settlements were on the west side between W. 45th and W. 65th Streets immediately north and south of Detroit Avenue (where they gradually replaced the Irish and German settlements), and in the eastern part of Lakewood. A sizable group also settled in the E. 65th St. and St. Clair Avenue area and in the Buckeye Rd. section of Collinwood.
After World War I, when Transylvania and Bucovina became part of Romania, nearly half of the immigrant population returned to their native land. The distinct Romanian neighborhoods vanished along with them, except for the one on the west side which managed to maintain an ethnic and cultural Romanian character. The emigration back to Romania meant that by the 1920s, only about 6,000 Romanians remained in Cleveland. In 1940, this number had dropped to around 4,000. Beginning c. 1948, however, Romanian emigration was again replaced by immigration as about 2,000 Romanians arrived in Cleveland. Around this time, the compact west side community started to break up and move farther west to the suburbs. Only a few old-time Romanians remained in the original neighborhood in the 1980s.
Although the Greater Cleveland Romanian community has lost its physical cohesiveness, the influx of post-WWII immigrants and the strong position of the Orthodox church has helped maintain a variety of traditional programs. It has also helped build a Transylvanian-style church with a museum, library and other facilities.
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]]>Located near the southwest corner of St. Clair and East Boulevard, the Polish Cultural Garden was dedicated in 1934 with the planting of an elm tree from Poland. Originally designed as a sunken, hexagonal court, the Polish Garden was designed with organic material from Poland.
Poles were one of Cleveland's largest nationality groups in the 20th century. Some arrived even earlier. In 1870, the first notable U.S. Census counted 77 Poles living in the city. The earliest Polish immigrants settled within the Czech community around Croton Street. Eventually, however, the Poles created their own settlement adjacent to Tod (E.65th) St. and what became Fleet Avenue. The area soon became known as Warszawa, after the capital city of Poland. Today, the area is known simply as Slavic Village today. Immigrants continued to move to Cleveland in the 1880s, increasing the Polish population considerably. Two more settlements grew up in the late 1880s and 1890s. The Poznan neighborhood was established around E. 79th St. and Superior Ave. and Kantowo arose in the Tremont area.
Cleveland's Polish community continued to grow with the city's need for workers. The largest influx occurred between 1900-14. The U.S. Census for 1920 records 35,024 Poles with several smaller neighborhoods having been settled by WWI: Josephatowo near E. 33rd St. and St. Clair Ave., Barbarowo at Denison Avenue, and along Madison Ave with other groups including Slovaks. All immigration after WWI was inconsequential and the Cleveland Polish community peaked in 1930 with a population of 36,668 foreign-born Poles.
The movement to the suburbs began as early as 1910. By 1970, only 6,234 Poles still resided within the city limits. The U.S. Census for 1990 estimated that only 1,635 Poles remained in the city, with Slavic Village being the community's main center.
At the center of the Polish Cultural Garden stands an octagonal fountain decorated with allegorical figures that represent music, literature, science and astronomy. It has an ornamental border of jumping fish and small carved turtles along its base. The fountain was dedicated to the daughter of 16th century poet Jan Kochanowski. The little girl's death at 2 ½ years of age prompted Kochanowski to write a series of 19 elegies. Fittingly, the fountain was built largely by the help of small donations from schoolchildren. It was dedicated in 1953.
Surrounding the central fountain are seven busts showing Polish notables. All the busts were dedicated between 1947 and 1966. Among the notables are 19th century composer and pianist Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), 16th century astronomer Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543), and 20th century physicist and chemist Maria Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934).
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]]>Dedicated in October 1936, the Lithuanian Cultural Garden extends from East Boulevard down three levels to Martin Luther King Boulevard. Designed by Professor Dubinecras in Lithuania, the garden was adjusted by the City Plan Commission of Cleveland to fit the local topography. The Lithuanian Cultural Garden's choice of sculptures reflects the importance of national identity in the construction of many of the cultural gardens. Designed in the shape of a lyre, the Lithuanian delegations explicitly organized the landscape into three levels, to represent three moments in Lithuanian history and its struggle for national identity.
The central feature of the garden's upper level is the Fountain of Biruta. Biruta was a priestess in the Temple of Perkunas, the God of Thunder and/or Oak. Two nooks frame the upper-level's fountain and terrace, each nook possessing a bust of a figure that is closely associated with Lithuanian national identity. On one side of the garden is a bronze bust of Vincas Kudirka, a poet, physician and composer of the Lithuanian National Anthem (1858-1899). This bust was dedicated in 1938. On the opposite side of the garden stands a bust of Maciulis Maironis, a priest whose poetry advanced the cause of Lithuanian independence (1862-1932). This bust was dedicated in 1961.
The middle level of the garden is a terrace defined by a three pillared sculptured wall that towers above the garden's lower level. The wall was modeled after the three pillars of Gediminas, which is a commemorative memorial in Vilnius symbolizing the unification of Lithuania.
The lowest level runs along MLK Boulevard. It tells the story of Lithuania's rebirth after World War I through the dominating bust of Dr. Jonas Basanavicius (1851-1927), a scholar, historian, and first president of the Lithuanian Republic in 1918. Dedicated in 1936, the bust was a gift of the Lithuanian government. According to Clara Lederer, both the Basanavicius and Kudirka busts were copies of originals created by prominent Lithuanian sculptor Jonas Zikaras, whose work championed Lithuanian national identity.
The first Lithuanians were recorded in Cleveland in 1871. They formed settlements around St. Clair and Oregon Ave (now Rockwell), ranging east to about E. 71st St. between Oregon and Cedar Avenues. By 1930 approximately 10-12,000 Lithuanians lived in Cleveland. The growing community continued to expand east to the Collinwood area. Around 4,000 Lithuanian refugees immigrated to Cleveland after World War II. By 1973, a new community center called Lithuanian Village was built and dedicated along E. 185th Street. Community activity quickly shifted to that area.
The Lithuanian community presently numbers about 16,000. The re-establishment of Lithuanian Independence in the early 1990s had a monumental impact on the community. There has been a modest level of new immigration since then, and some members of the Cleveland community have established business ties with the Republic of Lithuania.
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]]>The Latvian Cultural Garden was dedicated on October 8, 2006. The garden was designed by landscape architect Albert Park and assisted by local architect Kalvis Kampe. An unusually colored flagstone walk leads visitors past a number of sculpturs. The garden's focal point, however, is Maras Akmens. A granite sculpture designed by Latvian artists Girts and Gaits Burvis, the Maras Akmens is shaped as an open silhouette that depicts a symbol of Latvian folk art and represents the strength and spirit of the Latvian culture. The garden also has three other beautifully crafted sculptures by Girts and Gaits (father and son).
Pioneering Latvian families in the Cleveland area are considered to have been the Raufmanis (sometimes given as Kaulomonis) family who arrived in 1887 and the Krastins (sometimes Krostius) family who arrived in 1902. Because they were often counted by country rather than by ethnic origin in the U.S. Census, it is difficult to determine exactly how many Latvians lived in the area at different points in time. What is certain is that Cleveland's Latvian population remained fairly small, numbering only about 1,000 in 1930. The group did not occupy any distinct neighborhoods except for an area near W. 25th St. and Memphis in the Buckeye Rd. area. An estimated 2,500 Latvians had settled on the west side and in the suburbs by the end of the 1960s. Reflecting the difficulties faced in determining the Latvian presence in Cleveland, estimates of the Latvian population in the 1970s for Cuyahoga County range from 1,500 to 3,000.
In 1963, 1968 and 1973 the community hosted the Latvian Song Festival. The first such Latvian song festival was held in the city of Riga in 1873 while the city and country were still part of the Russian empire. It is considered to have been "the first organized countrywide manifestation of nationalism." This gave later festivals strong overtones of patriotism and nationalism. Cleveland's festival of 1963 reportedly brought 10,000 Latvians to the city. The centennial (1973) song festival attracted an estimated 15,000. With Latvia gaining its independence in August of 1991, many Cleveland Latvians began revisiting their homeland. Visitors arrived from Latvia as well. Among these was the President of Latvia, who visited Cleveland in November of 1994 for the re-opening of the Honorary Latvian Consulate.
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]]>The Hebrew Garden was designed by T. Ashburton Tripp. It was the first garden to be built after the Shakespeare Garden and signaled the formal beginning of the Cultural Gardens. Dedicated in 1926, it is a monument to the Zionist movement, as well as the vision of Leo Weidenthal. Originally naming it "Poet's Corner", Weidenthal was instrumental in the founding of the Cultural Gardens chain. The Jewish Federation of Cleveland sponsors the Hebrew Cultural Garden through its Hebrew Cultural Garden committee.
The pink Georgia Eweh marble fountain is the centerpiece of the Hebrew Cultural Garden. The bowl sits on seven pillars referred to in the Hebrew holy texts. In the King James translation of Proverbs chapter 9, verse 1 that text states the following: "Wisdom hath built herself a house; She hath hewn her out of seven pillars". A popular explanation or commentary on the text suggests that the first sentence refers to that God created the world, with the second sentence referring to the seven days of creation.
Directly south of the fountain is the Musicians' Garden, which is in the shape of a lyre or small harp, framed by a sidewalk. The September 10th, 1937 article Wisdom's House Dwells in Hebrew Cultural Garden states that "the triangular pillar at the south end bore a plaque on its north face honoring Jacques Halevy, author of the opera 'The Jewess', Giacomo Meyerbeer, composer of the opera 'L'Africana', and Karl Goldmark, author of 'Queen of Sheba'."
The central architectural feature of the Garden is a hexagonal Star of David, which gives shape to the landscape. In an October 11, 1942 story in The Plain-Dealer, Mary Hirshfeld described the garden in the following way: "From the pool stone paths radiate and form the Shield of David. At four of the six points which form the double triangle of the Star of David are memorials to the Hebrew philosophers; Moses Maimonides, Baruch Spinoza, Moses Mendelssohn, and Ahad Ha'am".
A round bronze plaque is attached to an elevated boulder in the northern section of the garden. The plaque bears Emma Lazarus' poem for the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." Underwritten by Federation of Jewish Women's Organizations and dedicated on June 14, 1949, the plaque is located adjacent to a boulder with Lazarus likeness on it.
The first Jews to make their home in Cleveland were from Unsleben, Bavaria. In 1840 there were 20 families alongside 20 single males living in the city. Jews settled in Cleveland during two "eras": The German Era (1837-1900) and The East European Era (1870-1942). By 1880 there were 3,500 Jews living in Cleveland. This number increased dramatically over the next generation.By 1925, about 85,000 Jews lived in the city. Initially, Jewish settlements were established near the Central Market east of the Cuyahoga River. As the community grew, they moved farther and farther east, first to Glenville and the Mt. Pleasant/Kinsman districts. Following World War II the Jewish community moved into Cleveland Heights and other eastern suburbs. At the turn of the twentieth century only a small number of Jews remained on the west side. In 1910 they formed a congregation which later became known as the West Side Jewish Center.
On the east side, the area between Coventry Rd. and South Green Rd in Cleveland Heights became the heart of the Jewish community. In the late 1950s and early 1960s the focal point was Taylor Rd., which witnessed the greatest concentration of Jewish institutions in Cleveland's history. Later decades have seen many Jews moving even further east, most recently to Beachwood and Pepper Pike.
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]]>In the 19th and 20th centuries Germans formed one of Cleveland's largest nationality groups. They began arriving here in substantial numbers during the 1830s, after the canals were built. The first German settlements were built along Lorain Street in Brooklyn and along Superior and Garden (Central Ave.) Streets on the east side. Succeeding generations have lived among the rest of the city's population.
Between 1840 and 1846 Cleveland's population grew from 6,000 to 10,000. One third of this growth was due to immigrants arriving from Germany. By 1848-49, the German-born population reached 2,590 (60 less than the total of all other foreign-born residents). German immigrants remained the largest ethnic group arriving in the city until the mid-1890s. By 1900, more than 40,000 Germans resided in Cleveland. Immigration continued into the twentieth century, but on a smaller scale. German culture and customs in Cleveland have been preserved both in Gemuetlichkeit (public festivity) and German clubs.
Clara Lederer writes that "The Cultural Gardens fountain, stone walks and double lateral sections of linden alleys center about an impressive bronze two-figure statue of Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) and Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805), Germany's greatest two poet-philosophers. The statue is a replica of the famous Weimar statue, modeled in 1856 by Ernest Reitschal, the Dresden sculptor. Here tower the two mighty figures, joined in friendship as they were in life, and grandly dominate the spacious and imposing German Garden. The garden is entered at the upper Boulevard level through a triple-arched ornamental iron gate. The German Cultural Garden was dedicated on June 2, 1929, as part of a week-long celebration commemorating the Lessing-Mendelssohn Bi-centennial. The Lessing bust was unveiled at this time, and the Goethe-Schiller statue, which formerly had stood in Wade Park, was rededicated in its new place of honor in the German Garden."
The garden also commemorates other German heroes with plaques, busts, a gate and fountain. Among the many figures honored are naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), composers Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827), and artist and theorist Albrecht Durer (1471-1528).
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]]>In 1966, the city's Estonian community unveiled a symbolic flame to Estonia--then a state within the USSR. Designed by Oberlin graduate and prominent architect Herk Visnapuu, the Estonian Garden features an abstract sculpture, an inscribed flame, at its center. Sculptor Clarence E. VanDuzer designed the inscribe flame that represented freedom from bondage, and hope for a brighter future. This was an especially poignant message in 1966 when Estonia was still part of the Soviet Union.
The Inventory of American Sculpture describes the inscribed flame as being "a tapered cement shaft with curved tips. The top of the shaft is cut out in the shape of a petal or a leaf. The cutout area holds flame-shaped pieces made of wood. The sculpture rests on a raised mound surrounded by trees." The inscription on the monument is from Kalevipoeg, an epic poem written by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, a writer and physician (1803-1882) in the 1850s but originally published in 1861. Part of the broader awakening of nationalist sentiment in Europe, Kalevipoeg became a lightning rod for the creation of Estonian national identity, of self-confidence and pride. It reads: But the time will come when all torches will burst into flame at both ends.
It is believed that the first Estonian settler, Geo. Tammik arrived in Cleveland in 1903. About 35 more people were recorded as Estonian immigrants by 1945 with about 200 more arriving following World War II. They are still one of the smallest ethnic groups in the Cleveland area.
September 2010 marked the completion of the remodeling of the Estonian Garden's central area. A large, sandstone, boat-like planter surrounded by sandstone walks, has replaced the original walkway. The Baltic Sea is an important part of Estonian life and the boat suggests as much. Text incised in a paver at the boat's stern is also from the Estonian epic poem, Kalevipoeg.
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]]>The Azerbaijan Garden was dedicated on May 12, 2008. Khanlar Gasimov's sculpture, "Hearth," stands at the center of the Garden. Made of polished stainless steel, the bowl-shaped sculpture allows viewers to see the reflection of the earth and sky in its exterior and interior curves. The "Hearth" was inspired by the 12th century Azerbaijani poet Ganjavi and the 14th Century Azerbaijani philosopher Imadeddin Nasimi. The sculpture embodies contradictions. According to Gasimov, "its physical form, with its defnitive height and diameter, represent limits, containment, and finite, while the circles represent boundlessness, openness."
When the garden was dedicated, Karl Turner wrote for The Plain Dealer that "A chorus of 'Wow' resounded when the white canvas fell away and a giant stainless-steel bowl shimmered on the wet green grass. The seventh grade boys from University School had come to Rockefeller Park to witness a Cleveland ethnic tradition -- the dedication of a cultural garden. Among the Azerbaijani-Americans gathered for the noon ceremony, the response was something softer and more powerful -- a collective breath, followed by smiles that lit up a rainy Monday."
"'It's a great honor to see our symbol here,' Dr. Dilara Seyidova Khoshknabi explained. The Cleveland Clinic brought her from Azerbaijan, in western Asia, eight years ago for medical research. Now she and her husband, Mohammad Khoshknabi, call the city home. 'I feel like it's a piece of my land here in Cleveland,' she said. The Cleveland Cultural Gardens have bestowed that gift of belonging upon generations of immigrants, often people from small, emerging nations who badly want the world to know who they are. The moments of recognition do not come as often anymore. But Monday's ceremony proved that the 92-year-old garden chain still stirs emotion and pride."
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]]>Dedicated on September 19, 2010, the Armenian Cultural Garden celebrates the distinctive identity of the Armenian people. Designed by architect Berj A. Shakarian, the site plan is devised in the form of the "vesica piscis", a sacred geometric symbol representing Christ and by extension the conversion of Armenia as the first Christian nation in 301 CE. The "Alphabet" monument symbolizes the centrality of the Armenian language in creating the Armenian state. In order to make the Bible accessible to Armenians, St. Mesrop Mashtots invented the alphabet circa 404 CE. According to the Armenian delegation, "The garden's divinely inspired script is the 'secret code' that defines the unique Armenian identity."
"Alphabet" is composed of staggered granite blocks, representing both the turbulent history of the Armenian people and the ruggedly beautiful landscape of Armenia and the Caucasus region. The reverse side of the monument is inscribed with "Pride of a Nation" and lists the anglicized names of 33 men and women who are noted for their historical and cultural contributions to the Armenian nation. Their accomplishments are briefly noted next to their names. These important Armenians' lives span history from antiquity to the 21st century; from the king Tigran the Great (140-55BCE) to the journalist Hrant Dink (1954-2007).
Armenians began immigrating to Cleveland in 1906 or 1907 from Worcester, MA to work in a Cleveland branch of a Massachussetts company. By 1910 there were more than 100 Armenians in Cleveland, many originally from the Turkish city of Malatya. The Armenian population approached 1,500 by WWII.
The Armenians arriving in Cleveland did not settle and congregate in any distinct areas. The Armenian Church became the protector of traditional Armenian culture. In addition, a Saturday school that taught language and history was opened in 1970, and, between the 1950s and the 1970s, an Armenian radio program played for an hour every week. The community has remained stable since the 1960s, with a population of around 2,500.
]]>There are two sections to the American Legion Peace Garden. One celebrates the international contributions with intermingled soil; it is designated the American Legion Peace Garden (Nations). The other celebrates distinctive "American" contributions. It is designated as the American Legion Peace Garden (States).
From Clara Lederer's The Paths Are Peace - "The chief feature of the Garden of the Nations is a semi-circular, high-backed seat of classical design, surmounted by the head of a beautiful woman, symbolizing peace, and done in Tennessee marble by Henry Herring... Also upon that occasion, the soil from twenty-eight nations was deposited by ambassadors and consular representatives of those nations in a marble crypt at the base of the monument, and the bronze tablet now covering it is inscribed: 'Here in soil from historic shrines of the Nations of the World, are planted trees to create the American Legion Peace Gardens. May the intermingled soil of the nations symbolize the united effort of their peoples as they advance to a better understanding. These gardens planned by men who know the horrors of war, are dedicated to the brotherhood of man and peace throughout the world. Established by The American Legion 1936 Convention Corporation of Cleveland and dedicated by Ray Murphy, National Commander, The American Legion.' The author of the tablet was Legionnaire Glen Campbell and the sculptor was Frank L. Jirouch."
From Clara Lederer's The Paths Are Peace - "The section devoted to the United States and known as The American Legion Peace Garden of the States lies north of the Garden of Nations on the east side of the upper drive. It is marked by a stone pedestal upon which is affixed a bronze tablet similar in design and inscription to the one dedicated to the nations. It bears the following inscription:"...'Here in soil from historic shrines of the States of the Union, are planted trees to create The American Legion Peace Gardens. May the intermingled soil of the States symbolize the national unity which constitutes the strength of our great Republic. These gardens, planned by men who know the horrors of war, are dedicated to the brotherhood of man and peace throughout the world. Established by The American Legion 1936 Convention Corporation of Cleveland and dedicated by Ray Murphy, National Commander, The American Legion.' In this section there is also a bust of George Washington, presented by the American Legion and unveiled on July 4, 1943. Brigadier General Robert L. Denig, U. S. M.C., delivered the principal address."
Clara Lederer in The Paths Are Peace wrote of the dedication of the Gardens - "Many of the members of the American Legion who had taken part in the founding and dedication of the Peace Gardens in 1936, took an active part in planning and conducting the 7th World Poultry Congress which took place in Cleveland in July of 1939. At this time occurred the mass dedication of the entire Cultural Gardens chain, when Paul V. McNutt, past national commander of the American Legion gave the principal address."
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]]>The American Colonial Cultural Garden is planted with native varieties of trees, shrubs and vines to create a forest in the gardens. It also contains a number of busts made by Frank Jirouch.
On May 24, 1935, the Parent Teachers Association Council presided over the dedication of what was then known as the American Cultural Garden. They were aided by numerous Cuyahoga County schoolchildren and their mothers who sang folk songs. Those same schoolchildren also collected pennies toward the purchase of a bust of Mark Twain. The bust was finally unveiled on December 6th, 1935, the 100th anniversary of his birth. On July 23, 1939, the B'nai B'rith presented the garden with a bust of John Hay; secretary to Abraham Lincoln, Secretary of State from 1898-1905 and husband of Clara Stone of Cleveland. On August 2, 1948, The Plain Dealer presented a bust of Artemus Ward (pen name of Charles Farrar Browne); noted lecturer, humorist and member of the Cleveland Plain Dealer staff in 1859, to the city. In later years the Tuskeegee Airmen Alumni association of Cleveland donated a bust of educator, author, orator and political leader Booker T. Washington. The Pearl Harbor and Space Exploration Monuments were also added to the Garden.
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]]>The African American Cultural Garden was dedicated in 1977 following years of effort by local community leaders such as Booker T. Tall. For many years the African American Cultural Garden's construction lay mostly dormant as the delegation developed plans and raised money for the garden along Martin Luther King Jr Drive.
Cleveland has a long history of African American settlement but mass migration from the South increased Cleveland's African American population considerably between 1890 and 1920. In 1900, about 6,000 African Americans lived in the city. By 1920, the number had grown to almost 35,000. Most of the African Americans who arrived in Cleveland came from the South; especially from Georgia and Alabama. Upon reaching Cleveland, many settled in the area along Central Ave. between the Cuyahoga River and E. 40th St. This was also the home to many Italian and Jewish residents at the time.
African Americans kept arriving in Cleveland even after the first great migration and World War I. Coupled with natural growth, the number of African Americans living in the city more than doubled between 1920 and 1930 to reach a total of 72,000. During the second great migration from the South, Cleveland's African American population grew from 85,000 in 1940 to 251,000 in 1960. By the early 1960s they made up over 30% of the city's population; a vast increase from the 1.6% of 1900.
As the suburbanization of the rest of the city's population accelerated, the African American community expanded to the east and northeast of the Central-Woodland area, particularly into Hough and Glenville. Cleveland's African American population stabilized in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 70s, fair housing programs and laws made it possible for middle-class African Americans to move to the suburbs.
When the African American Cultural Garden was dedicated in 1977 there were plans to honor six prominent African Americans: Richard Allen, founder and first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church; Garrett Morgan Sr., inventor (of the safety helmet, gas mask, and a traffic light with a caution signal) and founder of the Cleveland Call & Post newspaper; Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1976; John P. Green, an elected official in Ohio who introduced the bill in 1890 that made Labor Day a holiday in Ohio; Jane Edna Hunter, who established the Phillis Wheatley Association to assist unmarried African American women and girls who had newly migrated to the North; and Langston Hughes, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance who spent part of his youth in Cleveland. His poetry and prose offered evocative portrayals of African American life in America.
In his poem "Dreams," Langston Hughes writes:
Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die,
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly,
Hold fast to dreams,
For when dreams go,
Life is a barren field,
Frozen with snow.
In 2003, the late Cordell Edge, a longtime Glenville resident, was appointed to engage a committee to develop the African American Cultural Garden. Mrs. Edge began a journey to cultivate and renew interest in the Garden and hired a landscape architect to develop a design within the specifications of the Cleveland Cultural Garden Federation. Later, Mayor Frank Jackson organized a task force to develop and implement a plan for the garden. In 2016 the first major element of the plan was dedicated. This element, called the Past Pavilion, depicts corridors within slave castles along the western coast of Africa. Present and Future Pavilions are planned to complete the garden as funds are raised.
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]]>The first Irish immigrants arrived in Cleveland in the early 1820s, with approximately 500 Irishmen and women residing in the city by 1826. Within two decades, the number had doubled, reaching 1,024 by the late 1840s. The passing of another twenty years saw an even greater increase as the Irish population in Cleveland grew ten-fold. In 1870, the U.S. Census counted almost 10,000 Irish living in the city, making up ten percent of the total population.
Most of the Irish lived around the east and west banks of the "Angle," a bend in the Cuyahoga River. Another significant community resided along Detroit Ave. Over time, however, the Irish began leaving their unique enclaves and started settling among other groups. Furthermore, the number of new immigrants began to dwindle. By 1930 there were 8,113 Irish immigrants living in the Cleveland metropolitan area. But, although the number of new immigrants was decreasing, the number of Clevelanders with Irish heritage continued to grow. By 1970, with no distinct Irish neighborhoods remaining, estimates of Irish descendants living in Cleveland varied wildly, ranging anywhere from 37,000 to 100,000.
The Irish Cultural Garden was originally dedicated on May 28, 1933. A refurbished Garden with a renovated and enlarged northern section was re-dedicated on October 3, 2009. Numerous groups have sponsored the Garden over time, including The Irish Garden Club (the original sponsor), The Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, and Murphy Irish Arts Center. These three groups currently share responsibility for upkeep and other activities.
The principal feature of the Irish Cultural Garden is a sandstone walk with a Celtic cross design. In 1960 the Irish Cultural Garden League dedicated a granite pillar and a bronze bust of Victor Herbert, renowned Irish-American composer and musicians' organizer. Originally placed at the northern edge of the Garden, it was moved in 2009 to its current site at the east side of the north central part of the Garden. Black granite pillars with the portraits of Irish literary figures were part of the Garden's re-dedication in 2009. Among the people honored are Samuel Beckett, dramatist, poet and writer (1906-1989), and author, playwright and poet James Joyce (1882-1941).
Writing in "Their Paths are Peace," Clare Lederer describes the natural beauty of this "greenest of the park gardens." She reports that "Irish juniper, yew and white lilac, hawthorn, lavender and wisteria have been planted, and shamrocks, cowslips, and Shannon roses form the borders. There are beds of Killarney roses and of the "Last Rose of Summer" species. Along a cinder path descending to the Irish Garden are planted Irish blackthorn, used in the making of a shillelagh, or cudgel."
The Irish Cultural Gardens was designed by Donald Gray.
]]>With the dedication of a bust of the poet Virgil, the Italian Cultural Garden was opened on October 12, 1930 before a crowd of 3000 local Italians celebrating Columbus Day and the 2000th anniversary of Virgil's birth. Over the next decade, the Italian Garden Delegation added sculptures, and designed and constructed the formally landscaped space. On September 14, 1941, the Italian Cultural Garden was officially dedicated. It cost over $100,000 to build the garden, with the city contributing approximately $18,000 and the Federal Government contributing over $94,000 through WPA funds.
Cleveland's Italian community started to slowly form during the Civil War. The U.S. Census of 1870 shows a very limited Italian presence in the city, as only 35 Italian immigrants were registered. The next 50 years, however, saw a far more explosive growth as 20,000 Italians moved to the city. By the late 1920s, 6 Italian neighborhoods were established in Cleveland; Big Italy, between Woodland Ave. and Orange Ave. from E. 9th St. to E. 40th St., was the largest community. Another neighborhood grew up around the St. Marian Church at E. 107th St. and Cedar Ave., and Collinwood also housed a significant number of Italians. On the west side, Italians took up residence in two areas; one near Clark and Fulton Avenues, and one on Detroit near W. 65th St. At the end of the 1920s some Italians moved out of Big Italy to an area at Woodland Ave. and E. 116th St. After WWII many Italians moved to the suburbs while others kept the Italian neighborhoods viable into the 1970s.
In 1960 there were still 19,317 foreign-born Italians in the city. By 1990 this count was 1,429 though still the second largest European immigrant group in Cleveland.Today, Little Italy, centered at Mayfield and Murray Hill Roads is Cleveland's identified Italian community.
Designed formally, the two-level Italian Cultural Garden was, to borrow Clare Lederer's phrasing, "grandly conceived in the spirit of the Italian Renaissance." The upper level of the garden has a large circular marble fountain, a stone parapet, and a bronze bust of the poet Virgil. Mounted on a stone column taken from the ancient Roman forum, this sculpture was a gift from the Italian government under Mussolini. The upper level also includes a block of stone extracted from the side of Monte Grappa in northern Italy. This is in honor of the many northern Ohio members of the 332nd Regiment of Infantry who fought on Italian soil during World War I. There is also a table that recalls the flight of Italian General Balbo from Rome to Cleveland in 1933.
The lower level is accessible from above by two curved staircases that flank a semicircular, brick-paved court. Set into a thirty-foot, decorated retaining wall is a double shell fountain. Six medallions of carved stone adorn the wall and represent six Italian cultural figures: Giotto di Bondone, a painter, sculptor and architect (1267-1337); Michelangelo, a painter, sculptor, architect and poet (1475-1564); Petrarch, a scholar, poet and humanist (1304-1374); Guiseppe Verdi, an operatic composer (1813-1901); Leonardo da Vinci, painter, sculptor, draftsman, architect, engineer and scientist (1452-1519); and Guglielmo Marconi, an inventor best known for his work in radio technology (1874-1937).
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]]>Cleveland's Chinese population began to slowly grow after the 1860s. In 1880, the U.S. census counted a total of 23 Chinese and Japanese immigrants living in the city. The 1890 census recorded 38 Chinese with the number exceeding 100 by 1900. The Chinese settlers were Cantonese from the province of Guandong (Kwangtung) who came to Cleveland after having lived on the west coast of the United States.
The first Chinese settlement was on what is now W. 3rd Street. It then moved to Ontario St. between Public Square and St. Clair Ave. In the late 1920s, as major buildings were starting to occupy Public Square, some of the Chinese immigrants moved to E. 55th St. between Cedar and Euclid Ave. In the 1930s, with the population at about 800, the Chinese community settled around Rockwell Ave. and E. 21st St. Since 1930 the block on the south side of Rockwell Ave. between E. 21st St. and E. 24th St. has been Cleveland's Chinatown with about 2-2,500 Chinese living there in 1980. The 1990 U.S. Census estimated that 985 Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong immigrants resided in Cleveland.
The Chinese community has always maintained their Chinese values and traditions. The movement to preserve their cultural values grew particularly strong during the 1960s. Since then, language and history classes have been taught in academies and public libraries, cultural programs have been created for Cleveland's public television station, and traditional Chinese music has been presented in concerts with musicians from Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. With these activities Clevelanders have had the opportunity to gain a wider understanding of China and Chinese culture.
Established in 1985, the Chinese Cultural Garden was a gift of the city of Tapei and its business community and was modeled after the Chinese Imperial Palace. The plaque acknowledging the gift says: "On behalf of the people of Taipei We present this Chinese Cultural Garden to the people of Cleveland as a confirmation of friends and cultural exchange between our sister cities."
The Chinese Cultural Garden embodies the complexities of Chinese history in the twentieth century. After civil war ended in 1949, China was split between the People's Republic of China (which control's mainland China) and the Republic of China (which controls Taiwan and several surrounding islands.) Off the main chain of gardens, the Chinese Garden is notable for the contrast of its stark white marble against a lush green background. Two Chinese dragons guard the entrance with a statue of Confucius (a teacher, philosopher and political theorist, 551-479 BC) atop a white pedestal.
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