Saturday, April 15, 2006

Taking a tour of East Cleveland

This post is a continuation of a previous post from last year. Please read that post and the comments so that you understand the background behind it.




As I drove along Euclid Ave. I captured some memorable places (you may click on any picture to enlarge). Enjoy!




This is the East Cleveland Presbyrterian Church on Euclid Ave. When we had parades on Euclid Avenue this is where we ended up. I was in a Boy Scouts Troop and marched a few times. Then I had to walk all the way back home!




The sign says the church was established in 1807. Wow!




Remember the Warner and Swasey Observatory off of Taylor Road?




It's getting a bit of a face lift.




This isn't Nela Park but this building off of Euclid Ave. shows how much GE Lighting was a part of East Cleveland. Now most bulbs are made offshore.




There's lots of interesting grafitti on the buildings. I was trying to find Jaye n Jaye hobby shop and it had an archway door. Was this it?




There were plenty of motels on Euclid Ave. Some are still open.




Unfortunately there are plenty of eyesores on Euclid Ave. This one is on Euclid Ave. near Hastings Rd.




This is the corner of Euclid and Hastings.




There isn't anything left of the old Shaw High School but it looks like they are building something better to replace it.




It looks like a very big school project is underway here at the corner of Euclid and Shaw Avenues. I love seeing the investment in schools.




This building was near Prospect Elementary and in the middle it had a small store. It was always an important snack stop, both at lunch time and after school. Remember the East Cleveland schools didn't have cafeterias or school buses! We walked home for lunch every day, rain or snow, or riot, or whatever. I think the street to the left was Stillman.




Here is Mr. Donut! Of course it's called something else now but they still make donuts here. The window to the right is where Willie would do the baking.




Kirk Junior High is long gone. It looked stunning from the outside, a beautiful colonial style school. It's been replaced by a beautiful modern building. Many people complained about tearing down the old building but let's face it, as good as it looked from the outside, it was a dump inside. It was old back in the 60's. The students of East Cleveland deserved a lot better.




The "Y" is now a Y"W"CA. Not sure why but I guess the women wanted a turn to run things.




Front view of the YWCA on Lee Rd. East Cleveland.




Another look at the new Middle School from the backside. The old football field was to the right.




Heritage Middle School parking lot entrance. The Hastings home is the red one to the right. The school is at the corner of Rosemont Rd. and Terrace Rd.




This is the old East Cleveland police motor pool next to the fire station. Note the doors and arches from back in the days of horses and carts.




The road between the motor pool and the fire station now has a lock-up or expanded jail.




The fire house is the same. It's amazing that they can turn those engines on narrow Marloes Rd.




The famous Windermere storage building. I thought it appropriate to have a fire truck in the picture if you remember the fire there in the late 60's.




I think this was a Methodist church on Euclid Ave near the library.




This is the old Windermere Presbyterian church on Euclid Ave. where I went as a child. It is now a performing arts center. Sorry about the bad picture. The sun was right behind it causing a backshadow.




St. Philominas on Euclid Ave in East Cleveland.




Here's a couple of old East Cleveland businesses. First is Bill Kap Piano. His son, was in my sixth grade class. One time Bill Kapp, (note two p's in his real name) came to class with a huge bruise on his face. He said his dad beat him all the time. Not much protection for children back then. I felt bad for him, he was a smart kid, but had already taken to smoking and drinking in 6th grade.




How about Mickey's Rustproofing? Guess they don't need that anymore.




East Cleveland has a beautiful library expansion and it looks like they kept the old one.




Windermere Rapid Station has a fresh new look.




But City Hall looks the same and acts the same too. If they can weed out the corruption, start knocking down some of the beat-up areas, and start things afresh the town can be great again.



Copyright 2006 James D. Fisher
All Rights Reserved


Labels: , ,

21 Comments:

At 12:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I LOVE East Cleveland. It's where I was born and raised. And although I', no longer there, I ALWAYS tell people that's where I'm from.

Someday, I hope it will return to Glory.


Shaun_Blaze10@hotmail.com

 
At 10:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jim,

Nice site! I think the picture you have captioned "I think this was a Methodist church on Euclid Ave near the library" looks like the old Windermere church which caught fire in about 1946. I was 5 years old then and living at 1735 Strathmore Ave off of Euclid Ave, a few blocks away from the church. I can recall the smoke. My grandfather, an early riser, called in one of the alarms, as I recall the family story going.

John Knight
Springfield, VA

 
At 10:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jim,

I believe the picture captioned " think this was a Methodist church on Euclid Ave near the library" is the old Windermere church that burned in 1946. I was 5 years old then and saw the smoke. I lived on Strathmore Ave, which ran north from Euclid.

John Knight
Springfield, VA

 
At 2:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I noticed a pic. of Hastings and Terrace. My family lived on Hastings Hill off Terrace Ave. in a house called "Hilltop". I plan a trip back this summer to see it. My aunt (who lived at Hilltop as a child) loves to reminisce about that area and her memory of that time is remarkable...including the observatory near by which neither of us (until I saw your pic.) remembered the name of. Thanks for the added info!! I will inform her about Shaw and Kirk Jr. high also. If you have any info on "Hilltop", I would appreciate it. seeunaz@aol.com

 
At 7:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I came accross this website one day and i saw sooooo many things that i remember, it just brought back so many memories. if you have any pictures of collonade towers please send them to me. we moved from cleveland ohio to atlanta georgia in 1998, but it feels so good to be able to "go back home" just by veiwing this website. thank you for bringing cleveland to atlanta via the web.

p_algarin0615@yahoo.com

 
At 11:23 AM, Blogger RickiLynn said...

I graduated from Shaw in 1967. Thanks so much for a trip down memory lane!

Ricki Simon

 
At 9:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

St.Philomena's Church is misspelled.
I was Music Director there for 12 years in the 70s and 80s. Two friends were both musicians at the First Presbyterian Church, also on Euclid but farther east.
I have many memories of living there during that period, some excellent, some horrific. I moved from East Cleveland to Manhattan in 1987.
David Dunkle

 
At 2:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I also have fond memories of East Cleveland. I was organist at Historic First Presbyterian and also lived in E Cleveland for a time.
David 'The Alma' Usis

 
At 4:55 PM, Blogger spull said...

Thanks for sharing, I graduated in 1964 and remember it well. It's a shame that Kirk is gone, what beautiful building that was. I went to Prospect Elementary, Kirk and Shaw. Will always have fond memories of East Cleveland.

Shirley (Bianchi) Pullar

 
At 1:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think Kap's son was Brian Kapp. I went to Prospect and then for a bit of seventh grade at Kirk, and Brian was my friend during my short stint at Kirk. I could be wrong, but feel like his name was Brian. He was really nice.

 
At 1:21 AM, Blogger David Chamberlain said...

Mickey's Rustproofing looks a lot like the Rambler dealer on Euclid very close to the East Cleveland city limit.

 
At 11:29 AM, Anonymous Kathy Rapp said...

What a great job you have done. Both my husband and myself grew up in East Cleveland. I was by Woodworth & Coit and he was borderline East Cleveland and Cleveland Hts.(Noble Road) I went to Kirk & Shaw and loved it all. My husband was a firefighter for Cleveland Hts. and was backup many times for East Cleveland. How sad it is today!!!

 
At 10:02 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I went to Chambers Elementary until 1961 and then moved to Mentor...lived at 14214 Shaw Ave..right across from the school... Shaw Pool...and stadium....loved living there in the 50's...fondest memories!..Any pics you might have would be great of that area!!!...thanks!

 
At 12:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The pictures were great I graduated in 1958 and often think of the great friends and fun we had there. I lived down off of Hayden and after being back it made me really sad, it looks like its been bombed. Your pics of Kirk were great. Yes it was a neat old building but new is better. Thanks for sharing.
Barbara

 
At 1:26 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you for the pictures. Lived in East Cleveland as did my parents and grandparents--1930's thru 1970. All belonged to St. Philomena's; Sacred Heart Academy; Shaw High School. Would like to see a picture of the original city hall. What a wonderful place to grow up--Shaw pool; skating rink; forest hills park; all the "mom and pop" grocery stores--one on almost every corner.
Live in Florida now but will never forget it!!!

 
At 11:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I attended Prospect Elementary in 1962 and Mrs. Beasley was my kindergarten teacher. I remember her as being mean. My Grandfather walked me to my first day of school. We lived on Holyoke, which wasn't the best - we were working class people. My Dad worked on the assembly line at Werner and Swasey. I was baptized at Windermere Methodist Church. Our family frequently went to Forest Hills Park, which I think was across the street from Huron Road Hospital where I was born. There was a hill at the park that we kids would roll down in the summer and sled down in the winter.

 
At 12:20 AM, Anonymous Ron Kay said...

Jim, You're right Prospect Elementary did not have a cafeteria, but as a former kindergartner and 1st grader, in 1950 and 1951, we just filed in line across the street to Kirk Junior Hi. A burger, carton of milk and a hunk of cherry pie.....was my "usual". 10 cents, maybe 20. And 2 cents got us into the Kirk Auditorium for whatever time we had left in our literal lunch hour. They showed public domain cartoons, newsreels, and comedy shorts. Mrs. Lowery wrestled us into decency in the kindergarten, while every boy fell in love with Miss Jones in the 1st. A stunning black haired beauty, probably fresh out of teacher school.

thanks,
ron kay
sacramento ca

 
At 9:38 PM, Anonymous Joanne Kitson Palmer said...

We lived up the hill and attended Caledonia. My brother and sis graduated from Shaw in 1955. When we moved to Lyndhurst in 1957, I cried. I wanted to go to Shaw. I have lots of memories - skating and sledding in Forest Hills, Nela Park, Feanklin Ice Cream and Hough Bakery on Noble rd. Our whole neighborhood smell great on Friday nights when Hough was baking bread. I moved out of state in 1968, but drove through EC in 2011. I just couldn't believe the decay. Love the memories. Joanne Kitson Palmer

 
At 5:07 PM, Blogger Tommy said...

This posting provides so many memories. Grew up in East Cleveland. Attended Windermere Presbyterian with my family as a kid until it closed. Went to Mayfair Elementary K-6 in the 1960's and Kirk in the early 1970s. It's truly heartbreaking to see what it has now become. Perhaps it will merge into Cleveland. Thanks for keeping alive the memories of what it once.

 
At 5:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This posting provides so many memories. Grew up in East Cleveland. Attended Windermere Presbyterian with my family as a kid until it closed. Went to Mayfair Elementary K-6 in the 1960's and Kirk in the early 1970s. It's truly heartbreaking to see what it has now become. Perhaps it will merge into Cleveland. Thanks for keeping alive the memories of what it once.

 
At 2:02 PM, Blogger Goat Watches said...

This has been great. Thanks to the creator of the article. I'm from EC...Kirk and 94 Shaw grad. Please check out my website. www.stevemart.com...You kno we stay hustln y'all.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home