Early Croatian immigrants attended religious services at St. Vitus Church prior to creating churches that fit their own needs. St. Vitus Church seemed like a logical place to attend mass for early Croatians who did not yet fashion their own church because St. Vitus Church held mass in a similar language (Slovenian) and the Slovenes had a similar culture. There was a natural split away from St. Vitus Church, in part due to the increased population of Croatians in Cleveland leading to a collective desire for church services to be performed in Croatian. The last push towards establishing a new church came when the Slovenian priest at St. Vitus accused the Croatian parishioners of adhering to their Greek Orthodox practices rather than conforming to St. Vitus’ way of worship. Originally, Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic Croatians, as well as members of St. Joseph Society wanted to create one united Croatian church; however, there were disagreements on the name that could not be rectified due to the Greek Orthodox members wanting the church to be called the “Croatian Roman and Greek Catholic Church,” while the Roman Catholics wanted it to be called the “Croatian Roman Catholic Church.”

As a result of this disagreement, two important churches were established in Cleveland to fit the religious needs of Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic Croatian immigrants. The first Croatian Catholic Church of Byzantine Rite in the United States was Cleveland’s St. Nicholas Church, which was established in 1901. Rev. Mile Golubić was sent from Zumberak to be the priest of St. Nicholas Church. Golubić would not stay the priest of this new Cleveland church for long. He asked to return to the old country due to a scuffle with the church board over his salary, separation from his family, the burden of fundraising on top of his religious duties, poor health, and the poor Cleveland air. The Diocese sent another priest, Rev. Marko Relić originally for a term of six years but he only stayed from 1903 to 1905. St. Nicholas Church did not have a priest for nearly ten years, so the church board sold the church and parsonage. During this time, some parishioners attended St. John the Baptist Church, which was a Rusyn Greek Catholic Church. Most former St. Nicholas Church parishioners attended mass at St. Paul’s Church. Vlado Hranilović was able to procure a new priest in 1913 for St. Nicholas Church. Coincidentally, he went to Croatia to visit family and was able to convince his brother Rev. Milan Hranilović to head the church and his brother was the priest until 1928. Rev. Relić returned as the church’s priest for a little while but left due to failing health. His successor was Ilija Severović.

After a rocky start to the church’s history, St. Nicholas Church became more stable in the 1930s under Severović. After World War II, Cleveland’s Croatian population increased and there was a greater need for a larger church to serve the growing community. In April 1975, St. Nicholas Church constructed a new church in the place of the old church to accommodate more parishioners and their families that grew since their migration to Cleveland thirty years prior. By the 1970s, St. Nicholas Church served 250 families. Although there were many parishioners that attended services at St. Nicholas, attendance dwindled over the years as the Croatian community started to move outside Cleveland. St. Nicholas Church is located at Superior and East 36th Street and was a fixture in the community until its closure in 2020 due to low parishioner attendance.

Another church in Cleveland that served Latin Rite Croatians was St. Paul Croatian Church. The Roman Catholic Croatians decided to buy a plot of land at East 40th south of St. Clair Avenue in 1901, and the forming church secured its first priest, Br. Milan Sutlić, after sending a letter to Zagreb. The cornerstone for what would be known as St. Paul’s Church was laid on August 2, 1903. On Easter Sunday in 1904, the first mass in the newly constructed church was held by Rev. Milan Sutlić. Like other priests sent over from the old country, Rev. Sutlić left Cleveland and returned to Zagreb’s Archdiocese after reportedly claiming “he would rather beg in the old country than be [a] parson in America.” Rev. Sutlić was replaced in 1904 by Rev. Niko Grsković and he was able to garner a lot of support not only by Roman Catholic Croatians, but also Greek Catholic Croatians and Slovenes to the detriment of St. Vitus Church. He left the church in 1917, due to his political work and support during World War I for Yugoslavia. Rev. Michael Domladovac left his parish in Youngtown, Ohio to head St. Paul’s Church where he was immediately challenged by the Spanish Flu outbreak. The flu killed fifty parishioners cutting the church’s income; however, the parishioners were able to support one another through this difficult time. Economic issues continued to plague the church when many Cleveland factory workers lost their jobs in the early 1920s, as well as when the Great Depression hit in the 1930s.

After the Croatian population increased following World War II, St. Paul’s church was dedicated to helping new Croatian immigrants find a home and a job after the war. By the 1970s, St. Paul’s Church served 5,000 parishioners. With this ever-growing population, St. Paul’s Church continued to support its community by helping to fund Cuyahoga County Croatian activities and organizations into the 1990s. From 1995 to 2018 Rev. Marko Hladni was the pastor of St. Paul’s church and Rev. Zvonko Blaško took over as the church’s pastor after Hladni’s death. Despite these early setbacks, St. Paul’s Church continued to serve its parishioners through the 20th century and remains an important church in Cleveland and continues to serve the Croatian population.

Although the two Croatian churches were established due to religious differences, they both played pivotal roles in the religious and social fabric of the Croatian community. Through the years, the churches have not only offered religious services, but have also helped keep the Croatian community together after many Croatians settled in the broader Cleveland community.

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When the North Presbyterian Church was dedicated on October 23, 1887, the congregation held its first two services with 800 people in the pews. According to a contemporary account, “The interior is very cheerful, being finished with light drab and terracotta tints. The circular dome is filled with handsome windows of stained glass which flood the whole amphitheatrical interior with mellow light… Before the altar numerous flowering plants lifted up their fragrant blossoms seemingly in joy and thanksgiving… The choir, which is led by a cornet, two violins and an organ then rendered an anthem…‘Christ is Our Corner Stone.’” The next day, the Cleveland Plain Dealer observed, “When you enter the sanctuary at North Church, you feel transported to an otherworldly, protected place…The building is an architectural expression of ‘A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.’”

The church started as a Sunday School Mission of the First Presbyterian (Old Stone) Church in 1859. From that Sunday school, North Church Congregation was established on St. Clair Avenue in 1870. The congregation moved from location to location before ultimately finding a home at East 40th Street and Superior Avenue in 1887, serving this primarily industrial neighborhood under the leadership of Dr. William H. Goodrich (then assistant minister at Old Stone) and then elders Ruben F. Smith and George H. Ely. Fifty former members of the Old Stone church became charter members of the new North Presbyterian Church, with Rev. Anson Smyth D.D. as their first pastor. The church was additionally responsible for starting other Presbyterian churches as Sunday schools, including the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in 1890 and the Glenville Presbyterian Church in 1893.

The North Presbyterian Church was designed in 1886-87 by the architectural firm of Forrest A. Coburn and Frank Seymour Barnum. Although not traditionally considered architects of sacred spaces, Coburn and Barnum were responsible for designing only a few of the churches in Cleveland in the late 19th century. The firm designed North Presbyterian in the Gothic style and styled the interior according to what was known as the Akron Plan.

The Akron Plan was a popular type of religious building construction so named for its origin in the First Methodist Episcopal Church built in Akron, Ohio, in the 1860s. The main feature of the Akron Plan is a large open “rotunda” surrounded by smaller classrooms on one, or even two levels. All of the rooms opened into the rotunda by means of folding, sliding or rolling doors/shutters. In the case of North Presbyterian, the Akron Plan served the purpose of the building well. The architectural plan of the church lends itself to an environment whose main concerns were church, education, and community. The Akron Plan reflects a Uniform Lesson System within the church. This system dictated that all children learn weekly lessons in addition to attending church service. This system caught on in the latter portion of the 19th century. An Akron Plan Sunday school is a direct result of the Uniform Lesson System, by combining the space needed for worship and prayer, but also providing the compartmentalized space for individualized teaching for children of all age groups.

After North Presbyterian opened, Sereno P. Fenn served as the superintendent of the Sunday school from 1879 to 1906. During this time the church reached a peak membership of more than 1,200, making it one of the largest churches in Cleveland at the time. When Rev. Robert J. McAlpine accepted a call from Boulevard Presbyterian Church in 1909, however, many North Presbyterian parishioners followed, only leaving around 300 members. Despite the setback, the church managed to thrive again and serve its local community.

Under Dr. Harvey E. Holt’s pastorate (1918-1930), the church initiated many community programs. The church also became a center for offering emergency food, clothing, childcare and other services, all administered by other community volunteer organizations. Throughout the twentieth century, the church also served many of the increasing numbers of minorities arriving in Cleveland. This included Slovaks, Croatians, Serbians, and Romanians. Many of these individuals were employed in the mills and factories of Cleveland, and the church served as a space to otherwise occupy individuals in the bustle of cosmopolitan life. The church continued these programs under Rev. Arthur R. Kinsler Jr.’s pastorate (1930-1968).

The congregation celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1970, and in the coming years it continued to serve the primarily industrial neighborhood. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In recent years, the North Presbyterian congregation got too small to afford the continued upkeep of its building and moved down the street to a building on East 45th Street, where it shares a space with Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry. North Presbyterian is still a vibrant congregation with a diverse socioeconomic and spiritual background, and continues to serve the Midtown community. The new sanctuary, although much more modern in construction, still relies greatly on the same multi-functionality aspects of the Akron Plan to fit the varying needs and missions of the congregation.

Created in 1870, the North Presbyterian congregation founded a space that they would have never thought would hold such a rich history. The building itself stands as a living memory, not only of a widespread architectural movement, but also of a vibrant congregation. The Akron Plan of the building worked perfectly in conjunction with the mission of the congregation to provide educational and personal resources not only for their congregation, but also for their greater community. Although the congregation continues to strive towards serving the local Midtown community, the churches need for an Akron Plan Sunday school has become unnecessary. Churches, like North Presbyterian, have changed their Sunday school approach to be more one on one with students, and separate from entire sessions. This eliminates a need for school-wide spaces, and has churches abandoning their, what they now might deem, awkwardly shaped and imperfectly soundproofed rooms for more traditional style classrooms. Today the North Presbyterian Church building stands as one of the few remaining spaces with an Akron Plan interior, and provides an example of this religious practice in Cleveland history.

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As you explore St. Clair-Superior, you will see a traditional, turn of the century, working-class, immigrant neighborhood. Yet there is a small area, no larger than a city block, which feels out of place. Instead of the multistory frame houses that mark a historic mixed-use neighborhood like St. Clair-Superior, these brick houses hearken to postwar suburban developments like those in Parma, Ohio. In fact, residents of these houses refer to this small pocket of St. Clair-Superior as “Little Parma.” While the out-of-place architecture alone makes it noteworthy, Little Parma is important for another reason. Little Parma, as well as nearby Grdina Park, marks just some of the area destroyed by the worst fire in Cleveland’s history, the East Ohio Gas Company Fire.

Originally built in 1902, the ten-acre East Ohio Gas Company plant, spanning from East 55th to 63rd Streets, provided natural gas to most of Cleveland, including many businesses in the neighborhood. By 1940, part of the plant was converted to a liquefaction, storage, and regasification facility, which was one of the most modern gas plants in the country, safely storing large quantities of liquefied gas in four separate holding tanks. While it might seem odd today to have such a volatile substance amongst residential homes, in early industrial cities before affordable transportation it was practically a necessity for laborers to live close to their place of employment. A gas storage facility was simply one among many industrial operations one would expect to find in a typical working-class neighborhood of the time. However, given the plant's modernity and safety, people living in the area felt they had no reason to fear. That is, until a fateful day in October when fire fell from the sky.

It was an average Friday, a cool breeze blowing over the lake, and the sounds of industry in the air. At the East Ohio Gas Company, however, an equipment malfunction was about to change the neighborhood forever. To most witnesses, it sounded like a clap of thunder, an innocuous sound, nothing deserving much attention. It was not until workers saw a stream of liquefied gas pouring out of one of the cylindrical tanks that people began to panic. As the liquefied gas flowed into the street, it vaporized into a thick white fog that slowly snaked into the street. Given the incredibly volatile nature of the expanding fog, it was not long before it ignited, either due to friction or an open flame. The explosion that followed destroyed the tank, while at the same time creating fireballs which began falling into the neighborhood. For nearby residents, the initial shaking of the explosion was little cause for alarm. After all, the heavily industrialized neighborhood often felt vibrations as factories used drop forge hammers. The hot air, however, told a far different story: the city was about to burn.

While the initial blast created the most devastation, there were at least six more major explosions that occurred after the first fire, continuing the inferno that was quickly spreading over 108 acres. One explosion, occurring about 20 minutes after Tank No. 4 failed, was a result of yet another holding tank erupting, sending more fuel into the already devastating fire. Thankfully, the other two holding tanks managed to withstand the heat, which at times topped 3,000 degrees, and stress of the fire, preventing the already devastating inferno from getting any larger. Nevertheless, the failures were enough to engulf houses and automobiles.

Cleveland’s fire department were quick to respond but, due to technical limitations, had difficulty with communications. The department bravely fought the fire for hours while dealing with intense heat, explosions, and equipment literally sinking into the ground. By 7:00 pm, the assistant fire chief reported the fire was contained between East 55th and. 63rd Streets. By midnight James Granger, the fire chief, declared that the fire was under control. Work continued for another two days and by Sunday, save a stubborn pile of coal, the fire was finally extinguished.

The East Ohio Gas Company Fire marks one of Cleveland’s most devastating disasters, destroying 79 houses, two factories, and 217 automobiles and damaging 85 houses and 18 factories. Property destruction, while devastating, pales in comparison to the lives lost in the fire. One hundred thirty civilians lost their lives to the fire, 98 of whom were employees of the company. Shortly after the explosion, the two undamaged tanks were carefully emptied, keeping the area safe from further travesty. In order to help, City Council appropriated $200,000 to the area for infrastructure repair. Similarly, the recently formed St. Clair-Norwood Rehabilitation Corporation raised money for victims, bought plots, and built sixteen reasonably priced houses to sell to victims of the disaster. These relief structures are the very houses that comprise Little Parma today.

The victims of the explosion and fire are memorialized in Highland Park Cemetery, where the unidentified bodies were buried, a stark reminder of one of Cleveland’s most devastating disasters. Today, Little Parma remains a unique and vibrant section of the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood, showing a city's ability to move on but also marking a dark chapter in Cleveland’s history.

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The small, two and half story, red brick building lying in the shadow of the long-abandoned Richmond Bros. complex on East 55th Street is not exactly welcoming. The building sits on a weed-filled lawn behind a small parking lot, surrounded by a barbed-wire-topped chain link fence. The windows are covered and the small sign above the doorway can barely be made out from the street. Security cameras are prominently placed and focused on the entrance of the building. An unassuming passerby may well wonder what sort of nefarious deeds are occurring there that warrant such secrecy and security. Well, none, actually—other than some rather aggressive digging, setting and spiking. It happens to be the hall of the Cleveland East Side Turners, Northeast Ohio’s most popular volleyball club.

Like its building, the history behind the East Side Turners would surprise many unknowing passersby. Turners is an Americanization of Turnverein, a gymnastics movement started in 1811 by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in the Germanic lands of Central Europe. Jahn was a nationalist who wanted a united Germany, but, above all, he believed proper exercise would propel the Germanic people to preeminence in the region. Seen by some as an eccentric outcast with xenophobic, anti-Semitic, and militaristic tendencies bent on improving the Germanic race, it is not hard to understand why some historians have drawn parallels between Jahn and a later German with a similar worldview and mindset—Adolph Hitler. Jahn was exiled during Clemons von Metternich’s anti-liberalism crusade in 1819, becoming a mere figurehead as his Turnverein evolved into a more inclusive group. After the Germanic Revolutions of 1848 the organization was disbanded and its leaders arrested, which led many members to seek new lives with greater freedom and economic opportunity in the United States.

The Cleveland Turnverein was the fourth formed in the U.S. behind Cincinnati, Boston, and Philadelphia. Established in 1850, the members initially met at Welch & Frank’s—a local, German-run shop, while practicing their gymnastic exercises in Bellevue Garden on Central Avenue near what would later become the Gateway complex. Membership grew as Germans continued to flock to the Cleveland area in the mid-19th century, until the Civil War intervened. The Turnverein members tended to be staunch abolitionists and the entire Cleveland Turnverein joined the Union Army en masse in 1861. Their initial three-month enlistment created the 150-man, Company K of the 7th Ohio Volunteers—the first all-German unit from Cleveland. Most members immediately reenlisted in the same regiment after this first stint, and the unit fought bravely at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Chattanooga. One Turnverein member from the original Company K, Dr. Charles Hartmann, instead joined the illustrious 107th Ohio Infantry as the regimental surgeon. At Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, he entered the fray in an attempt to rally the troops and prevent the regiment from being routed. However, he was gunned down by advancing Confederate troops, and became the only surgeon killed in battle during the war.

As German-American soldiers made their way home after the war and attempted to reunite the Turnverein, difficulties arose and the social club splintered. In 1867, a west side group began meeting at the Free German School auditorium on Mechanic Street (now West 38th). Another faction stationed on the near east side of downtown started calling themselves the Germania Turnverein in 1876, initially meeting at a hall on Woodland Avenue before building Germania Hall on Erie Street (East 9th) a dozen years later. Yet another group, calling themselves the Turnverein Vonvaerts, formed in 1890, and in 1893 they built the red-brick hall on the corner of Willson Avenue (East 55th) and Harlem Street. The Germania Turnverein merged with the Vonvaerts in 1908 and the combined clubs have since remained at that location in the shadow of the Richmond Bros. building.

The athletic emphasis of the Cleveland Turnverein was reestablished after World War I and they regularly held large, public gymnastic displays. Men and women would engage in elaborate demonstrations that showcased their agility and strength at public venues in front of enormous crowds—a kind of forerunner to today’s Cirque du Soleil. One prominent member, Dr. Karl Zapp, was an early and loud advocate for instituting physical education classes in school curricula. It is through his early efforts that American children have enjoyed the benefits, or torments, of gym classes since the 1920s. The Turnverein was also instrumental in popularizing bowling throughout the United States as a form of recreational exercise.

Aside from brave Civil War medics, various lithe gymnasts and physical education proponents, many illustrious Clevelanders have been members of the Cleveland Turnverein. Ernst Mueller was one of Cleveland’s most successful brewers, founding the very popular Cleveland Home Brewing Co, and serving as President of the enormous Cleveland-Sandusky Brewing Corp. The architect Theodore Schmitt was responsible for many public structures throughout Cleveland, including the Cuyahoga County Courthouse, the Joseph & Feiss Building, and the Euclid Avenue Temple, among many others. His father Jacob was Chief of Police for the city, and when he died in 1893, his obituary in the Cleveland Plain Dealer claimed that he was “better known than any other one man in the city.” Although the Turnverein concentrated on athletics, and gymnastics in particular, it also served as a German social club for the city’s large and influential German population, and many of its members were prominent citizens.

The World Wars brought certain prejudices, and German-Americans during this time sought to distance themselves from purely Germanic associations and better assimilate into American life. To this end, the Turnverein began referring to itself simply as the more acceptably American sounding--American Turners. By 1941, the Turnverein Vonvaerts had become the Cleveland East Side Turners.

As the enthusiasm waned for public displays of gymnastics, the East Side Turners eventually transformed into an organization running popular volleyball leagues and tournaments. The outlying structures of the property on East 55th Street, which once included a separate meeting hall and a large kitchen facility, eventually were lost until only the gymnasium remained. Although this lone building in a corner of the resurgent St. Clair-Superior neighborhood may look foreboding, volleyball enthusiasts of every nationality are warmly welcomed here. Like the convoluted history of its ancestral gymnastics club, the nondescript brick building that is home to today’s Cleveland East Side Turners is far more interesting, and less frightening, than it seems at first glance.

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Jožef Turk arrived in Cleveland from Slovenia on October 25, 1881, and was soon followed by so many of his fellow countrymen that by the early 20th century Cleveland could be considered the third largest ‘Slovenian’ city in the world. These staunchly Catholic Eastern European immigrants began settling on the northeastern outskirts of the city, working, like Turk, in local industries such as the Otis Steel Company located on nearby Lakeside Avenue. As Turk’s wealth and influence expanded, he opened a saloon, a grocery and boardinghouses along St. Clair Avenue, but the growing Slovenian community also demanded a church of its own. In 1893 he arranged for a young priest named Vitus Hribar to be sent from Kamnik, Slovenia, to minister to this burgeoning community in their mother tongue. Hribar initially held services at the old St Peter’s Church located further west on East 17th and Superior while Turk raised $6,000 to acquire suitable land within the neighborhood. On October 4, 1894, taking less than a month to construct, a small wooden church was opened on the corner of Norwood and Glass (now Lausche) Avenues. It was named St. Vitus Church after the namesake of its founding priest, and was the first Slovenian Roman Catholic parish in Ohio. In the ten years that followed, however, the congregation began growing less pleased with their priest. By June of 1904 several conflicts arose between Hribar and a segment of his parishioners that would splinter the community and lead to the formation of a breakaway church. Hribar maintained that the dispute stemmed from his refusal to allow beer sales at a lunchtime fundraiser to take place on church grounds—a charge vehemently denied by his opponents. Instead, the disgruntled faction complained that Hribar used the church treasury as his own personal account, further enriched himself by overcharging for such things as weddings and christenings, and refused to make badly needed renovations to the church. Anton Grdina, who was the most prominent member of the congregation, was removed as treasurer of the church after he confronted Hribar over these financial concerns. Together with Louis Lausche, whose son Frank would later become mayor of Cleveland and governor of Ohio, and a group of at least 300 parishioners, Grdina petitioned Bishop Ignatz Horstmann for the removal of Hribar. This conflict would continue to boil for the next four years. Many incidents required police intervention and legal action during this period. Right from the start Hribar feared for his life and was eventually granted round-the-clock police protection from August 5, 1905. Later that month he stood before a church tribunal of twelve fellow priests, after being charged with the misadministration of church affairs. The day before the trial was set to begin, Hribar arrived at St. Vitus on Sunday August 23 to discover that the door of the church was nailed shut and he was unable to enter. A belligerent mob soon surrounded him and the police arrested 11 men, though Hribar ‘forgave’ them and refused to press charges. Hribar was admonished by the church council regarding his financial improprieties, but returned to his duties while tensions continued to percolate over the next year. Bishop Horstmann finally recognized the situation was untenable, and on January 5, 1907 he called for a separate, though un-funded, church to be formed for the anti-Hribar coalition. Father Kasimir Zakrajšek had recently arrived in the United States from Ljubljana and was brought to Cleveland to head the new breakaway church—fittingly named Our Lady of Sorrows. It operated out of Ulmann’s Hall, which was attached to a saloon just down the street from St. Vitus on the corner of Stanard and East 55th. Zakrajšek was immediately popular with the new congregation, and they continued to push the Bishop to replace Hribar with him and reunite the church. These protests intensified, culminating with large marches involving thousands of people in the spring of 1907—first to Hortsmann’s residence, and then to Mayor Tom Johnson’s after the Bishop successfully eluded them. As they returned from one such march on June 6, they approached Hribar sitting on the porch of his house beside the church. Angry words were exchanged until a firecracker exploded near his chair. The protesters claimed that Hribar had fired upon them and a melee ensued, which was further fueled by hundreds of interested bystanders flooding from the nearby bars and dance halls. Dozens of arrests followed. Finally, on August 2, Hribar was transferred to a church in Barberton. Unfortunately, he was replaced, not by the beloved Zakrajšek, but by Father Bartholomew Ponikvar, which initially did little to quell the turmoil. That winter Horstmann attempted to further defuse the situation, this time by removing the popular Zakrajšek, who would go on to become an influential Franciscan monk serving a diocese outside Chicago. He was replaced at Our Lady of Sorrows by Father Casimir Stefanic, but his appointment split that troublesome congregation in half again when 500 members, including Grdina and Lausche, refused to recognize him and demanded the return of Zakrajšek. One of Stefanic’s first actions was to move Our Lady of Sorrows out of Ulmann’s saloon and into a storefront that previously served as a Greek church on East 41st and St Clair. This new church was immediately vandalized on January 16, 1908, with Stefanic accusing the Zakrajšek faction, while they blamed St. Vitus parishioners. The steady and capable influence of Ponikvar at St. Vitus, along with the realization that Zakrajšek was not coming back, eventually led to a reconciliation beginning later in 1908. By 1930 Ponikvar was leading the largest Slovenian congregation in the United States, and the small wooden church was bursting at the seams. He arranged for the construction of a new church to begin a block away on East 61st and Glass. The new Byzantine-style church made of yellow Falston brick was designed by William Jansen, a prodigious architect responsible for over two dozen Catholic churches in the area, for the cost of $350,000. When it was completed just two years later, it was, and still is, the largest Slovenian Roman Catholic church in America. Despite the shaky origins of St. Vitus Church, it has ever since served as the heart and soul of Cleveland’s vibrant Slovenian community—through good times and bad.

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Across the United States there are over twelve thousand bowling alleys in operation. Of these twelve thousand, the Bowling Proprietors Association of America recognizes only twelve registered alleys which still use manual pin setters to reset their lanes, one of which is located in Cleveland, Ohio. Maple Lanes Bowling Alley and Tavern gives bowlers an experience unparalleled to those found in modern bowling facilities. Real maple wood lanes, manually operated pin setting machines and ball returns, and scorecards that still require one to put pen to paper harken back to an era unaccustomed to instant gratification.

In 1964, sisters Ann Abranovich and Josephine Reeves were both working mothers looking for a way to maintain their income and spend more time with their growing families. At the time, 6918 St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland had housed Maple Lanes Bowling Alley and Tavern since 1940 and was sporting a ‘for sale’ sign in its front window. The pair thought acquiring and operating the business could provide them with the lifestyle they hoped for and decided to mutually purchase the site.

Josephine lived on East 61st Street only a few blocks from the bowling alley and once the sale was finalized Ann moved herself and her family into the apartment upstairs. Since then, the family has been operating Maple Lanes and maintaining all the original features they inherited with the building in 1964.

As a right of passage, all members in the Abranovich family begin their careers as pin setters and ball returners. An art all its own, resetting the pins takes nearly as much skill as bowling a perfect three hundred game. Prior to the technological advances in bowling alley equipment that people are likely familiar with today, a pin setter was once considered the equivalent of a caddy in golfing. Much like a good caddy-golfer pair, bowlers and pin setters worked quietly, and patiently, in sync with one another through ten frames of play.

Because the alleys are real, aged wood, current co-owner of Maple Lanes, Barb Rogers recalls that her father often used to say that bowling at Maple Lanes required challenging the lanes, not other bowlers. Modern, laminate floors provide today’s bowlers with smooth, even surfaces. Maple Lanes, on the other hand, have alleys which possess divots and waves in the wood that require a bowler to understand how to maneuver the ball on the lane to knock down the pins. After over seven decades of play, no player is known to have scored the ever-elusive three hundred game on an alley at Maple Lanes.

In addition to the unique experience the bowling alley provides, the front tavern has an allure all its own. Seductively posed above the bar is the likeness of a woman that has been watching over Maple Lanes patrons for over half a century. Painted in 1954, the image is that of Lili St. Cyr, an erotic actress and burlesque dancer of the early twentieth century. Known for her high class, innovative performances, Lili St. Cyr was a pioneer in the striptease business.

In an effort to cultivate an individualized persona, St. Cyr would often devise unique stage tricks to thrill her audiences, one of her most famous being ‘the Flying G.’ During the act, St. Cyr would perform a burlesque dance under slowly dimming lights. Just before the room fell completely dark, St. Cyr’s g-string would be pulled away by a man offstage with a fishing pole, giving the illusion that the article of clothing vanished. The story holds that a regular patron of Maple Lanes saw Lili St. Cyr at her show in Las Vegas and became so enamored with the dancer that he painted the mural at Maple Lanes strictly from memory His compensation was a six pack of beer, although the brew is unknown. Just above St. Cyr’s legs in the painting reads the English proverb, “A woman is an angel at ten, a saint at fifteen, a devil at forty, and a witch at fourscore.”

From the enchanting image of Lili St. Cyr, to the solid, maple wood lanes, the leagues that bowl at Maple Lanes and the patrons who visit the bar live in the same reality as several generations before them. Much like many of the original businesses which have remained in the neighborhood, Maple Lanes Bowling Alley and Tavern provides an experience for patrons steeped in authenticity. The family’s dedication to the preservation of the facility makes Maple Lanes not only a treasure to the city of Cleveland, but as one of only twelve bowling alleys with manual pin setters, a treasure to bowling enthusiasts across the country.

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Cleveland is a city that was built upon the backs of industries and although it has come to be identified with burning rivers and unavailing sports franchises, the industrial culture of the region is what drove, and continues to drive, a significant amount of the economic prosperity of the city. A strong player in Cleveland’s industrial market in existence for over a century is SIFCO Industries, Inc. located off of St. Clair Avenue on Cleveland’s east side.

SIFCO was originally founded in 1913 by a small group of men in Cleveland who set out with one goal, to improve the strength of metals. Accordingly, their operation was initially known as the Steel Improvement Company and they began to build their business by testing and enhancing the properties of steel through the use of thermal cycles. Directly next door to the Steel Improvement Company at the time was the Forest City Machine Company who manufactured hardware using many of the types of metals the Steel Improvement Company was attempting to enhance. Deeming a merger as an opportunity for growth for both businesses, the neighbors merged in 1916 to form the Steel Improvement and Forge Company.

One reason that SIFCO has been able to remain a viable entity in an industry that has seen drastic changes since the company’s conception in 1913 can be attributed to the fact that, much like the city of Cleveland itself, SIFCO possesses an affinity for adaptability. During the early years of the business when the world was entrenched in World War II, it was SIFCO who played a pivotal role in contributing to the Allies' success. The Allied Powers had tested launching torpedoes from aircrafts only to find that the propellers needed to direct the torpedoes once in the water could not withstand the force of being launched from a plane. SIFCO engineers were able to develop a forged steel alloy propeller strong enough to make the airstrikes possible. The company shifted gears and produced every propeller for aircraft-launched torpedoes used by the United States throughout the duration of the war. For this and many other wartime contributions, SIFCO was awarded the ‘E’ Pennant for Defense Manufacturing Excellence, the highest such honor bestowed on manufacturing entities, by President Roosevelt in 1942.

Following its collections of notable wartime successes, SIFCO shifted its focus once again and reconnected with the roots of the company, improving steel. The art of forging metals has been in existence for millennia, and while the methods employed in forging metals are universally standard, the materials used are where the possibility for advancements exist. Only a few short years after the conclusion of World War II, SIFCO became the first company to forge titanium in 1949, harkening back to its pioneering of the forging of the alloy monel before the onset of the war.

One way in which SIFCO’s war involvement did change the trajectory of the company, though, is the industry in which SIFCO began to specialize in. Recognizing the growing importance of the airspace industry, both for commercial and military purposes, SIFCO established itself as a premier supplier of forged components for airspace and engine construction and retains that same identity today.

Aside from the many milestones the company had achieved in its work with metals, SIFCO also added another feather in its cap when it joined the New York Stock Exchange in 1969. The acronym SIFCO was never actually used by the company until its debut on Wall Street when the company, then referred to solely as the Steel Improvement and Forge Company as it had been since 1916, was given the symbol SIFCO to be identified by investors. In an effort to connect itself with this new moniker, the Steel Improvement and Forge Company rebranded around the name SIFCO and has used the abbreviated name in all its operations since.

In addition to its home for over century in Cleveland, SIFCO’s innovations and dedication to the craft and quality of forged metals has allowed the company to expand its operations beyond its plant on East 64th Street. With nearly one hundred and fifty employees working in its corporate offices and production shop in Cleveland, SIFCO conjointly has plants in Alliance, Ohio, and Orange County, California. In 2015, SIFCO also expanded its operations overseas with the purchase of C*Blade S.P.A. Forging & Manufacturing in Italy.

Today, SIFCO remains a robust company in the city of Cleveland, the United States, and abroad. Nearly every plane in flight today has at least one component produced by SIFCO. The business has remained in Cleveland at a time when many other companies relocated to the suburbs because of the talented workforce in the area, connections to transit, and its ties to its heritage. As a centennial celebration of SIFCO’s history, the company produced an online blog and Ebook highlighting some of SIFCO’s many accomplishments and distinguished employees. Though not immune to economic downturns, it is SIFCO’s dedication to craftsmanship and ability to work with exotic metals to produce highly specialized, durable products that has kept it a viable, growing company for over a century.

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Funeral homes are necessary to every functioning community, but they are generally not the sexiest and most popular businesses in town. Successful ones, however, provide more than just rudimentary mortuary services to their neighbors, and are staunch and dependable cornerstones locals know they can rely on in times of need. The St. Clair-Superior neighborhood has been a close-knit, self-contained community ever since it began to develop in the mid-19th century. Central European immigrants initially built this area of Cleveland in the image of the small Germanic towns they left behind for the enticing opportunities and freedoms America promised. They opened businesses offering jobs, goods and services of every description that supplied the growing neighborhood with everything it needed. There has been a funeral home stationed at 6016 St Clair Avenue since 1871, which has been operated by just two families during that entire period. To be a successful entity for that length of time takes more than just hanging a shingle and setting up shop. Because of their devotion to, and belief in their community, the Ziehm, and following them, the Zakrajsek families have operated an integral and well-rooted funeral home that has faithfully served the neighborhood for nearly 150 years.

The funeral parlor on St Clair between Norwood Avenue and East 60th Street has long sat at the epicenter of Cleveland’s Slovenian community, but it was first owned by Frederick Ziehm, a German immigrant that would head a large, prosperous and industrious family. Cabinetry and the funeral business seemed to go hand in hand in the 19th century, and Frederick opened the business in 1871 as a cabinetmaker/undertaker. Eventually an efficient horse-drawn ambulance service and livery was operated from the business as well, and on July 16, 1907, a record-breaking ambulance run was made to Lakewood and back to Glenville Hospital to aid a worker who had fallen 50 feet from a scaffold—covering the 16 miles in a maniacal 76 minutes. The business continually expanded in the early 20th century as Frederick’s sons opened up similar shops of their own. All seemed to be capable, well-respected and confident men. One such son, William, was working out of the shop on St Clair in late January of 1901. As he left a nearby saloon, he was accosted by a ‘highwayman’ who pressed a gun to his head. Ziehm calmly shoved the gun aside and proceeded to beat the man bloody saying, “If I had hit the man twice more I would have had to embalm him.” Instead, he judged the beating punishment enough and sent the man home to his family without bothering the police.

In 1890, as the Ziehms established themselves on St Clair, Frank Zakrajsek, another carpenter/undertaker, opened a similar shop only a short walk away at 1105 Norwood Avenue. Although the neighborhood residents from a range of Central European backgrounds seemed to have mixed well in the area, there were inevitable misunderstandings, and there is even evidence of possible competition between the two strong-willed, neighboring undertakers. A battle over the body of a young Slovenian painter, Frank Alic, took place in the basement of Zakrajsek’s establishment on November 11, 1907. The young painter had no relatives in America and was suspiciously well-off when he passed away. Being Slovenian and a member of St Vitus church, which particularly catered to area Slovenes, it was not unusual that Frank Zakrajsek would rush over and bring the man’s body to his funeral home. Apparently, arrangements had already been made with Ziehm, however, and an overly-aggressive deputy burst into Zakrajsek’s shop and proceeded to crack heads with “chairs and casket lids” until he was able to throw the unfortunate Alic’s body over his shoulder and carry him out to the waiting Ziehm ambulance.

Things have calmed down considerably these days. In 1932, the current St. Vitus Church was built on East 61st Street and Glass Avenue (now Lausche), and, despite struggling through the hard-times of depression era America, the Zakrajseks decided it would be wise to move the short distance right along with it, and bought the Ziehm property that sat on the opposite side of the block from it. They rebuilt the structure in 1937 creating the current red-brick Colonial Revival-style building with the four sets of distinctive white double-pillars that has been a familiar landmark in the area ever since. As the neighborhood evolved and became ever more Americanized, the unwieldly Slovenian name was shortened to Zak in the 1950s to make it easier on non-Slovenian tongues. The Zak Funeral Home has served the community loyally for four generations through all of the ups and downs that the neighborhood has experienced. This service was especially evident after the East Ohio Gas explosion in 1944, when desperate families who lost everything in the disaster, suddenly needed funerals for the hundreds of victims. Funerals are always going to be a sad business, but perhaps the saddest occurred when George Voinovich, at the time running for what would soon be his first term as Cleveland mayor, lost his 9 year old daughter Molly when she was hit and killed by a van while walking back to school in 1979. The line of mourners stretched nearly to the Hofbrau House on the corner of East 55th Street for the service.

The St. Clair-Superior neighborhood has been evolving for well-over a century and a funeral home has been a crucial support for this ever-changing community all along. What began as a self-contained neighborhood made up primarily of Slovenian and German immigrants who made their way in their new country with hard work and help from their neighbors, has become an even more diverse area. The Zak Funeral Home prides itself on being a responsible and committed member of the community and plans to continue supplying strong and dependable support for this proud and rebuilding neighborhood.

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Some masters of craft may work in paints, and others, wood. Frank Azman III, however, worked in meats for over four decades. An afternoon spent in Azman & Sons Market over a sausage sandwich revealed in one bite why the shop was a staple of the neighborhood for generations. Similarly, customers who were greeted by first name upon arrival added to the charm of Azman's, harkening back to an era when businesses more commonly knew their customers personally and corner markets stood as epicenters of activity in communities.

The Azman family first began working in the sausage business in the village of Ig, a small town in their native country of Slovenia. Frank Azman relocated his family and business to America during World War I, a period which saw the greatest recorded emigration of Slovenians to the United States in history. Settling in Cleveland, Azman reestablished his sausage shop in 1924 at 6501 St. Clair Avenue amidst the largest Slovenian community in the country.

As not only business owners but, also, residents, the Azman name quickly became recognizable in the St. Clair neighborhood and soon began to spread throughout the city of Cleveland. Proud of their community and eager to participate in local events, Azman son’s, Frank II and Louis, refurbished their father’s old Model T to be used in parades to promote Azman & Sons Market. During its arguably most memorable ride, a Miss World pageant winner once joined the Azmans in the Model T when she arrived late to an event and her scheduled parade float had already set off.

Besides assisting beauty pageant winners in times of distress, the Azman family also helped those looking for the familiarity of a home-cooked meal. In 1968, a crew of Yugoslavian volunteer servicemen were docked in Cleveland and hoped to find a dinner reminiscent of their homeland. After sampling an Azman sausage at a local restaurant, the restauranteur contacted Azman & Sons Market to see if the servicemen could have some sausages to take with them upon their departure. Although already closed for the day, the shop was reopened and the crew was treated to more food for their journey.

What had really kept Azman & Sons in business for over nine decades, though, was the family’s dedication to their local customer base and quality of their products. When asked what the most important ingredient to the Azman sausage recipe was, third-generation owner Frank Azman III pointed without hesitation to the original brick smokehouse. Located behind the shop, the small, unassuming brick structure had been smoking sausages since 1924. Modern-day smokehouses are primarily stainless steel and Azman III argued that they cannot match the flavor of a sausage slowly smoked over cherry wood.

In addition to the smokehouse, the store had also kept the original butcher block table in the center of the kitchen, worn down by years of cleaning. Likewise, the store had continued to use the original cooler, which was first chilled by large overhead ice blocks but was eventually updated to run on electricity. These pieces remained in use as operable parts of the shop’s longstanding history.

Azman & Sons Market once served the community as a full -service grocery store offering patrons produce and pantry items in addition to the three hundred pounds of meat they processed and sold weekly. As the needs of the neighborhood changed, however, Azman & Sons Market scaled back its operations to focus on meats. Azman & Sons closed permanently in December 2021 with the passing of the store’s owner Frank Azman. The Azman legacy continues, however, with Frank’s brother Bill Azman. Bill runs a similar store called Azman Quality Meats located at 610 East 200th Street in Euclid.

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In a city with a history as rich as Cleveland, one would have no problem finding a building, landscape, or district recognized either nationally or locally for its historical significance. Places like the Terminal Tower, Rockefeller Park, or the West Side Market might quickly come to the minds of locals listing significant places in the area, or they may be found on the lists of tourists traveling to Cleveland. When driving down St. Clair Avenue on the city’s near-east side, these same individuals would undoubtedly notice the Slovenian National Home, the largest such cultural center of its kind in the United States. However, locals and tourists alike may be unaware that lurking behind this iconic cultural center is a mansion that has stood on the property for over a century. Built around 1870, the Diemer Mansion was constructed for Peter Diemer, a German immigrant who relocated to Cleveland with his parents in 1840. Peter Diemer’s personal wealth was amassed thanks to his entrepreneurial spirit and business savvy. He began Cleveland’s first artificial ice company capitalizing on a growing national industry that would eventually lead to the downfall of the global Ice Trade of the nineteenth century. As owner of the company, Diemer's success allowed him to become one of the first individuals to purchase and develop land east of East 55th Street where his family would live for almost fifty years. Though not as grand as the sprawling homesteads that would have been found along Euclid Avenue on Millionaire’s Row in Cleveland around the same time, the Diemer Mansion had a dominating presence along the St. Clair corridor. Situated on a sprawling estate, the two story home boasted many unique features which included an access road running along side it, known as Diemer Street, that provided direct access to Lake Erie for the family, now renamed East 64th Street. The exterior of the home is derivative of the Colonial style with Italianate influences. Constructed of red brick, the front facade is perfectly symmetrical around the main entryway with two windows flanking the front door on either side. Four ionic columns support a one story portico and each window on the first and second story are accented with terra cotta keystones. Along the roof line is an ornamental wooden cornice supported by modillions which wrap around the entire structure. The triangular pediment in the center of the facade above the second story windows is surpassed in height on the home only by the cupola in the center of the roof. Immediately inside the front door is the grand foyer with a staircase opened to the second floor. On either side of the staircase stands the parlor and dining room with two matching carved marble fireplaces. Arguably the most unique feature of the interior, though, is the second floor ballroom. To accentuate its grandeur, the ceiling of the ballroom was raised into the attic to match the room heights of the spaces located downstairs. Aside from its significance to the house, the ballroom is also a meaningful space in regards to the Diemer family’s history with the home. In 1918, the ballroom was host to the family’s last social event held there for the marriage of Alma Diemer. Shortly thereafter in the same year, the Diemer family sold the home to the Slovenian National Home Organization. After purchasing the site, the group converted the upstairs bedrooms into classrooms where English classes were offered to immigrants from Slovenia who settled in Cleveland. The organization also excavated the basement to be converted into a private bar for members of the organization. Today, the mansion remains surprisingly unaltered for a structure of its age, both inside and out. The Slovenian National Home did little to the home aside from the reconfiguration of the basement and the shortening of the first floor windows on the front facade. The home was also originally built with wooden shutters which the Slovenian National Home removed but have kept stored in the attic. In 1924, rather than demolish the mansion to make way for a much-needed expansion of the center, the Slovenian National Home had a new structure erected around the house, simultaneously preserving and hiding it away from the streetscape. Traces of the Diemer family near the site are most readily observed by the renaming of an alley behind the Slovenian National Home now recognized as Diemer Court. In 1974, the city of Cleveland designated the mansion a historic landmark with the Slovenian National Home being identified as such a decade late in 1984.

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Imagine leaving work in downtown Cleveland on a cold, early winter evening in 1887. Though that winter would go on record as one of the warmest in Cleveland’s history, and it was in the upper 60s just days before, November 29th was a bitterly cold night with temperatures in the single digits and a coating of ice was beginning to form over the muddy streets. The nights come early at that time of year, and it was already nearly dark as people rushed to the streetcars in the frigid conditions, but a strange orange glow just to the east caught the commuters’ attention, and many drifted in that direction to investigate. Billings-Taylor, the illustrious paint manufacturer chock full of flammable and explosive materials, was spectacularly burning two miles away at the foot of what was then Case Avenue (now East 40th Street) along the Lakeshore Train line.

The horse-drawn fire trucks had broken through the thin crust of ice on the unpaved road and were mired in axle deep mud several blocks from the fire, waiting for additional horses to drag the equipment to the blaze. Upon reaching the building, the firemen were dismayed to see only feeble streams of water dribbling no further than a few yards out of their hoses, due to the overburdened and inadequate supply pipes of the area. After hours of confronting frustrating problems like these and the dangerous conditions, the conflagration was finally under control, but the building was a charred shell, and the once thriving business seemed to be in ruins. A rash of horrific fires like these, soon led to the introduction of fire alarms and sprinkler systems in industrial buildings throughout the country. But this hulking brick structure with the iconic water tower would rise phoenix-like from the ashes to continue as an incubator for businesses headed by enthusiastic recent immigrants in search of the American Dream.

Steven Taylor emigrated from England in 1852 and soon established himself in Cleveland as the premier innovator in dry pigment, and paint manufacturing. Together with Frank Billings he formed Billings-Taylor and Company in 1879 and the firm quickly earned a reputation for quality paint and varnish products used throughout the world on high-end residences, luxury hotels, and various industrial applications. Viewing the fire as an opportunity rather than a calamity, the company quickly expanded using the insurance money. In 1899 the aging Taylor stepped aside to make way for the younger Nathaniel D. Chapin, and it was reorganized as the Billings-Chapin Company. It competed with other local firms to make Cleveland one of the preeminent producers of paint, varnish and dry pigment in the world. The deaths of the founders and indifferent leadership from their heirs, caused the company to eventually lose its focus and the once dominant paint manufacturer was purchased by Glidden in the 1920s, leaving the building at the edge of East 40th Street momentarily vacant.

In 1939 the Canadian Elwood Dyment arrived from Canada and settled in the building with myriad plans for a diverse range of products that he would soon obtain patents for and produce at the Dyment Company, a mounter and finisher of printed material started by his brother in Toronto. The Dyments were one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in Canada, and Elwood strove to stand out from his illustrious and successful band of brothers and cousins, by moving to Cleveland and making a name for himself. From collapsible garbage bins, and ‘noiseless’ poker chips, to various advertising display stands, Dyment seemed to have a limitless capacity to imagine and produce unique products for a wide range of possible uses. Although his products were moderately successful, none became the blockbuster hit he hoped for, and eventually he, too, moved from the large building on the edge of downtown, allowing in the next tenant who was already on the brink of enormous success.

The H. Leff Electric Company moved in by the summer of 1965 after several successful decades in smaller buildings throughout Cleveland. Ironically, it was another disastrous winter fire on another frigid Cleveland evening on February 2, 1961, that caused over $1 million damage to the company’s headquarters on Payne Avenue that eventually prompted Leff’s move to East 40th Street. Leff Electric was founded by Harry Leff, yet another immigrant to Cleveland, who arrived from Russia in 1904, and he and his sons Philip and Sanford grew the company into a hugely successful world-wide distributor of electronics. Among many successful endeavors, Leff supplied Cedar Point with electronic components for its rides and buildings in the 1960s, and, more recently, Cleveland with equipment for its LED streetlight program in 2013. Leff remained at the East 40th Street location until their 2007 move opened the way for the current incarnation of the building.

In 2010 Radhika Reddy, this time an immigrant from India who had originally come to Cleveland on a scholarship to Case Western Reserve University, purchased the building and has transformed it into a modern, dual-use facility that takes full advantage of its location near the lake. Continuing the legacy of what the building has always been, she leases office space to a variety of international businesses seeking to establish a foothold in the United States, while the upper floors of the building utilize dramatic views of the lake and serve as a much sought after venue for events such as weddings, parties and corporate meetings.

Throughout its history at the bottom of East 40th Street, this building has been the home of businesses formed by new immigrants to Cleveland from a variety of nationalities seeking out the American Dream. It is a glistening phoenix on an industrial edge of the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood that demonstrates the work ethic, ingenuity and diversity of the area, and hopes to serve as a cornerstone to an area posed for a rebirth.

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The Richman Brothers Company was originally founded by Jewish-Bavarian immigrant Henry Richman Sr. and his brother-in-law and business partner Joseph Lehman in Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1853. In an effort to become closer to a bustling city, both to expand their operations and customer base, the two men relocated with their families and business to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1879. Originally named the Lehman-Richman Company, the operation took on the moniker the Richman Brothers Company in 1904 after both Henry Richman Sr. and Joseph Lehman had retired and transferred ownership of the company to Henry Sr.’s three sons Nathan, Charles and Henry Jr.

After having a presence in the region for nearly forty years, the Richman Brothers Company commissioned their first Cleveland factory to be built at 1600 East 55th Street after previously retrofitting their operations into several other pre-existing structures throughout the city. Designed by The Christian Schwarzenberg and Gaede Company and constructed by Hunkin-Conkey Construction Co., the building was designated the “Best Built Factory in Cleveland in 1917” by the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. Later additions were added onto the structure in 1924 and 1927, which completed the 650,000 square feet of interior space still present on the site.

The factory quickly became a landmark on the East 55th Street landscape as a result of its domineering size, both inside and out. With fifteen-foot-high ceilings, large-scale windows, and even the world’s largest cutting tables at the time, measuring sixty feet long, the structure provided Richman Brothers’ employees with working conditions previously unheard of in the garment industry.

Not only were Clevelanders familiar with the building, so, too, was the federal government. After entry into World War I, the federal government approached the brothers with a proposition to turn the site over to a military occupation to be used as a hospital for returning injured soldiers. After only one year of owning the building, in 1918 the Richman Brothers readily agreed to allow the government to utilize the structure as needed, making Cleveland the first city in the country to place such a building at the government’s disposal without expense.

Their commitment to the war effort was just one element of the Richman Brothers’ reputable business practices. As a family owned and operated company, the Richman Brothers ensured that each person under their employ felt as though they were part of a family. The first industrial organization to do so, the Richman Brothers Company offered two weeks paid vacation for all employees. Similarly, the company also instituted paid maternity leave, set a thirty-six hour work week, utilized no time clocks, and offered corporate stock options. To assist employees during times of personal distress, The Richman Brothers Foundation was created which provided no interest loans to employees as needed. The brothers were viewed as such progressives that the federal government based many workplace regulation laws off of Richman standards.

The Richman Brothers also tirelessly fought to keep the unions out of their company. Pressures mounted around the middle of the twentieth century, which resulted in the company releasing a statement saying, “The union plan . . . has been one to crush our business. We think this is wrong . . . to put this kind of pressure on our family.” Confident in their business practices, the Richman Brothers believed the union to be unnecessary and felt it would restrict the benefits they were able to offer their employees.

While the name of the company implies that all three brothers were equally in control of the company, it is Nathan Richman who is credited with maintaining the company’s standards and growing the business into one of the largest men’s clothing retailers in the country. At the time of his death in 1941, two thousand employees gathered at the open-casket services to bid farewell to the last surviving Richman brother.

After Nathan’s death the company remained under the ownership of one of his nephews, who continued to successfully grow and expand the business. In 1969, the Richman Brothers merged with F. W. Woolworth Company, who kept the Richman brand viable for another three decades. As the industry changed sharply in the late 1980s, the bloated conglomerate Woolworth began to shutter some of its subsidiaries. In 1990, the Richman Brothers Company was deemed financially unstable and was completely liquidated by 1992. Since that time, the structure on East 55th Street has remained vacant with many unsuccessful reuse projects proposed to redevelop the site.

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Frank Sterle, an immigrant from Ljubljana, Slovenia, founded his Slovenian Country House in 1954. With a small building on East 55th Street, a few picnic tables, and only one waitress - who had to memorize the small menu since none had been printed - Sterle managed to create a successful and lasting business. As the restaurant became well-known throughout Cleveland for its world-class polka performances, Sterle decided to add onto the building until it looked much like the alpine mountain lodge that Sterle lived in when he was a young child. The building had a pitched tongue and groove ceiling. A deer head hung over the entrance, and its walls were adorned with murals of Slovenia, giving the restaurant an atmosphere that was distinct in Cleveland.

After Frank's death in 1986, the restaurant was taken over by Mike Longo and Margot Glinski; immigrants from Italy and Germany, respectively. Despite the change in ownership, the restaurant continued to serve traditional Slovenian dishes and had weekly polka performances and dancing. Favorite menu items included wiener schnitzel, chicken paprikash, stuffed cabbage, klobase and sauerkraut. Among the notable artists who performed at Sterle's were Joey Miskulin, Johnnie Vadnal, “Waltz King” Lou Trebar, and "King of Polka" Frankie Yankovic.

In 2012, Rick Semersky bought the building and promised that he would use Sterle’s Country House “as a catalyst to revive the neighborhood.” Semersky kept using the building as a restaurant until he could no longer keep up with changing times and was failing to fill the large restaurant nightly. In 2016, Semersky opened Goldhorn Brewery next to Sterle’s Country House. The following year, he stopped serving lunch and dinner and converted the restaurant into a special events center. Although Goldhorn Brewery stayed open and was profitable, Sterle’s Country House closed for good in 2020. On November 22, 2022, a fire broke out in the vacant building, leading to the collapse of large sections of its roof and walls. The remainder of the building was demolished the following spring.

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