Cleveland Cultural Gardens

29 Locations | Curated by CSU Center for Public History + Digital Humanities

Perhaps the world's first peace garden, the Gardens embody the history of twentieth-century America. They reveal the history of immigration to, and migration within, the United States. They comment on how we have built communities and constructed our identities as individuals and collectives. The gardens reveal the stories of the major conflicts that gave shape to the century: World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. They also provide insight into the large social, economic, political, and cultural upheavals that roiled through the nation during the last century: the Great Depression, suburbanization, the Civil Rights Movement, and the deindustrialization of America's industrial heartland.

This is a story of hope and despair, joy and sadness, conflict and cooperation, growth and decline. The stones, paths, and memories of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens tell us what it has meant to be an American.

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…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

The dedication of the Syrian Cultural Garden on May 29, 2011, marked the first Arab American presence in the Cultural Gardens. This garden had been more than eighty years in the making from the original award for the land for a Syrian garden in 1929 to its dedication. Despite being an early…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

The Croatian Cultural Garden is situated between the Hebrew and the Hungarian Gardens at the Cleveland Cultural Garden to pay homage to Cleveland’s Croatian community. Discussions concerning creating a new garden to showcase Croatian heritage began in early 2010 with a meeting between the Croatian…
View Story | Show on Map

Originally inaugurated by Leo Weidenthal, Shakespeare Garden (now British Garden) was the seed that eventually led to the formation of the Cultural Gardens. Dedicated in 1916, the Shakespeare bust and the Shakespeare Garden originated as part of a celebration that stretched across the world. Cities…
View Story | Show on Map

The Hungarian Cultural Garden began with the dedication of a bas-relief to composer Franz Liszt (1811-1886) on the site in 1934; it was completed and formally dedicated in 1938. The Garden is constructed on two levels along the upper boulevard, and overlooks lower East Boulevard. Designed by a…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

Greeks form a small but cohesive ethnic group in Cleveland. Panagiotis Koutalianos, a fabled "strong man," is said to have been the first Greek to settle in Cleveland in the 1880s. Between 1890 and 1925, another 5,000 Greeks settled in Cleveland. Many settled in "Greek Town"; an…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

Slovaks began immigrating to Cleveland in the late 1870s, settling first around E. 9th Street near the Cuyahoga River. As the community grew some members moved to the lower Buckeye Road neighborhood between E. 78th Street and Woodhill Road. Others moved to the west side, settling in Tremont and in…
View Story | Show on Map

The plot of land that makes up the Rusin Cultural Garden is located along East Boulevard. It was dedicated in June, 1939. Most Rusins immigrated to Cleveland in the period from 1880 to World War I. The Rusins are an Eastern Slavic ethnic group who speak a dialect known as Rusyn or Lemko. Rusins…
View Story | Show on Map

Dedicated in 1935, the Czech Cultural Garden tells the story of migrants from the central European region of Bohemia and Moravia through a sculptured frieze depicting the history of the migration of Czechs to the United States. Landscape architects B. Ashburton Tripp and Maurice Cornell designed…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

The Albanian Cultural Garden at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens in Rockefeller Park is the first garden to be located on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard’s east side. Previously, all gardens to the east of the boulevard faced East Boulevard. The Albanian Cultural Garden was planted to celebrate the…
View Story | Show on Map

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.…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

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…
View Story | Show on Map

Originally dedicated in 1958, the Finnish Cultural Garden was rededicated in 1964, celebrating Finnish cultural identity in the face of Russian imperialism. Finnish immigrants first settled in Cleveland in 1885. More Finns arrived over the years, with most settling in the Clifton Avenue area…
View Story | Show on Map

Dedicated in 2005, the Indian Cultural Garden was the first to be added to the chain of gardens since 1985, when the Chinese Cultural Garden was inaugurated. Individuals from all regions of India have immigrated to Cleveland with more coming from Gujarat than from any other Indian state. The U.S.…
View Story | Show on Map

Show Comments