The City Sights Network


The Detroit-Shoreway Neighborhood

      Historical preservation and neighborhood revitalization is seen at work in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, which from 1854 to 1894, was progressively annexed by the City of Cleveland with Ohio City , Brooklyn Township and the Village of West Cleveland .

     Become an extension to the near West-side neighborhoods’ industrial activity, becoming home to the Walker Manufacturing Company (now Westinghouse), and to a wagon and coach shop which eventually became the Otis Elevator headquarters. The Cleveland-Columbus Cincinnati Railroad as well as the Lakeshore and Michigan Southern Railroad fostered growth in the area as early as the 1850s. Commercial and residential development started encouraged by the addition of horse-drawn street cars, which would eventually give way to street cars, along Detroit Avenue, a major commercial artery in the West side.

     Like the near East side of Cleveland, the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood initially attracted middle-class Irish and German families working in the steel and transportation industry, but numerous larger homes were erect on Franklin Avenue. The Irish community was organized around St. Colman’s Parish, on W.65th street near Madison Avenue. The area is known for this Italian Renaissance style church, built in 1914, as it is one of Cleveland ’s most beautiful churches. As soon as the 1930s, German immigrants settled in the southern portion of the neighborhood. A testimonial of the longevity of their community is St. Stephens Church, a gothic church built in 1873 on W. 54th street between Bridge Avenue and Lorain Avenue .

     At the onset of the 20^th century, families from Italy , Romania and other parts of Southern Europe would settle in this area, creating strong tie with its several churches. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, located at W. 69th and Detroit Avenue , was at the center of the Italian community life. With the depression and World War II, the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood underwent changes in its population, with some of the early settlers leaving for the suburbs as new waves of immigration were replacing them. Today, Puerto Ricans, Appalachians , Mexicans, Vietnamese, Laotians and African Americans have added to the cultural heritage of the Detroit Shoreway community.