the western part of the area. See notes in Dedication. For many years she worked at the West 14th Street Drugstore at Auburn and West 14th Street. In the 1960's she was brutally attacked and violated at work and credits her faith for keeping her going. She was an avid and knowledgeable volunteer for the community and her church, collecting material and memorabilia for a library at the Byzantine Catholic Cathedral on Snow Road in Parma. Because of her valued contributions, Susan will have her own section under "Dedications." Today she is in a nursing home, still with us but yet not. ********** " I’ve decided to add a few of my memories. I was born on West 5th Street between Literary and Jefferson (closer to Literary) in a seven (7) family home, upstairs on the 2nd floor with 2 other families. We had no bathroom but there were 2 toilets in the hallway which we shared with the other two families. The rooms were heated by a coal-stove in the kitchen on which food was cooked. We took our baths in the kitchen in round metal tubs set on 2 chairs. These tubs were also used to hand-wash laundry on a wash-board which was put in the tub. The clothes were then rinsed in the same tub. "Across the street from us was a small grocery store which also had penny candy for children. It was owned by an old Polish woman whose last name was Ryba translated to English was “Fish” (pronounced by the immigrants as “Feesh”, so everybody called her 'Feeshka.' She was very stern and all the children were afraid of her. "Next door to her, lived a bootlegger whose name I have forgotten. He made the whiskey himself and had quite a business. I can remember Police used to break in and pour all the whiskey out the upstairs windows. Eventually the man gave up. "Farther down on 5th street, past Jefferson, lived a gangster, Joe Filkowski, who with time built quite a reputation for himself. Elliot Ness who was already a well known F.B.I. man eventually eliminated him. "All these things and a few others influenced our lives. Seventy years later, I can still remember and picture all these things. "When I was about 8 years old, my parents bought a home on West 15th Street. The neighborhood was quite different and beautiful. I went to Scranton School and eventually to Lincoln High School. I have many fonder memories of this. When I was graduating from Lincoln, I was awarded three scholarships. Two were out of Cleveland and with the illness at home I could not even consider them. The third was 'Flora Stone Mather'—rated the finest, where all the wealthy people sent their daughters. I attended a tea which was held for the introduction of new pupils. It was beautiful! I was quite impressed with the students and teachers, the china and silverware and the goodies. "After a time it was necessary for me to go to the washroom. While in a cubicle behind a closed door, I heard the regular pupils laughing at me. They ridiculed my clothes, my sister Alice had made me a simple rayon dress, and I had on oxfords (we couldn't afford more than one pair and oxfords were more practical) and we couldn't afford a hairdresser so my straight hair was very simple. In addition to this, they laughed at my clumsiness in handling the dainty ware and lack of 'manners.' It was very humiliating and I decided there and then, 'This is not the place for me,' so I did not accept the scholarship. I have always regretted that I could not continue my education, but I have never regretted that particular decision. "I did take some classes at Cleveland College and even at Case but never finished to graduate." Susan Mandzak, 1989. (This material and most of the documents featured in this website from Susan Mandzak are now in private collections) |
His family moved to Cleveland’s Southside in 1923. Paul wrote “Tremont, Cleveland, Ohio’s Southside” in 1990. A profile of his book is available in Books and Links. Mr. Ziats passed away on January 15, 1999. What is included here are from letters he shared with a private contributor on his recollections of the Southside. The first section from the original copy, dated September 6, 1988, is on very fragile paper and in all caps. Parts do not relate to the Southside and they were not included. The text has been changed to reflect upper and lower case. **************** “It was a good neighborhood, it was a poor neighborhood, it was an ethnic neighborhood. It was not a ghetto type, it was Cleveland’s Southside. “The ‘South Side’ is bounded by the Cuyahoga River on the east, West 14th on the west and the river valley on the north. The south edge, beyond the home area is mostly an old swamp low land called ‘Hedlow Farm.’ There the kids searched and brought to school arrowheads of many Indian tribes. “Work was plentiful, wages were low, hours were long and the majority from ingrained habits, worked hard from sunrise to sundown. “Their labors consisted of mostly meanial (sic) jobs to be sure in places like the steel mills bordering the east side of the area, brick yards, foundries, coal yards, construction, scrap metal yards, textile mills, slaughter houses, railroad track gangs, livery stables, street repair gangs, all with walking distance of the home on the Southside. Most of these people rented. Children were everywhere. The average family had at least 5 children and as many as 15. European sex habits, church laws against contraception were strictly followed. “If one could visualize an area approximately one mile east of W. 14th St. by 2 miles from University Ave. south to Starkweather Ave. one could get a better idea of how much the church meant to these people. They founded them, they governed them, they voted in their own aldermen, deacons, etc. Something never heard of in Europe, and they relished in their own freedom. Even to the extent of ousting an undesirable priest, or minister. “In the early 1920’s a public bath house was built by the city of Cleveland. The only requirement was your own soap and towel, not tubs, but showers, which were widely taken advantage of especially by the new generation of youngsters. “A South Side child became bilingual in reading and writing, thus also preserving a culture that otherwise would be lost. “Professor Ave. was the shopping street, situated in the center, running north and south from West 10th St. south to Starkweather Ave. There were grocery stores, a photo studio, two funeral directors, three candy stores, two drug stores, three banks, two florists, four furniture stores, two used furniture and appliance stores, a bowling alley, three pool halls, three diaries, (and) four real estate agencies. To read the rest of Paul Ziats' Memory click here: |
children of Mihaly (Mike) and Anna Metro Knysz. She and her family moved back to Cleveland after 1923 from the coal mining area of Scalp Level (Mine 40), Pennsylvania. The family first settled into 605 Railway Avenue, moved to another home but returned to the Railway address for much of the 1930’s. In another section of her memories not included here, she remembers being put into a special section for pupils who may have or looked liked they had tuberculous at Tremont School. She stayed in that class for over a year until she gained enough weight before she could be put back with "healthy" children. Pauline married Paul Mills in 1940, and moved to Arizona in the mid-1950’s. Here is her memory. ****************** “We came to Cleveland by which means is unclear, and moved into a house on 605 Railway Ave., the Southside, also called the “Flats.” We occupied the second floor. There was no hot water, no electricity and no bathroom facilities. There was a small cubical in the hallway with only a small window and a toilet. You pulled a chain and it released water from a box near the ceiling to flush the toilet. Dad made a wooden box and nailed it to the wall. We cut newspaper to fit into the box. That was our ‘toilet paper’. It was a miracle that the newspaper never plugged the toilet, by its daily use. “The house was evidently built to accommodate borders. Each floor had a front and rear apartment, consisting of a kitchen, small living room which had a small closet. Off the living room, a small windowless bedroom. “We occupied the entire second floor which provided us with two kitchen sinks and an outlet for a coal stove. The rear unit also gave us extra bedrooms that we needed for the 9 people in the family. The third floor was occupied by men, as well as the first floor rear. Katy, the bootlegger, who lived in a house in the backyard, used the first floor front unit to store the bootleg whiskey. "Since we had no electricity, there was a gas fixture in the ceiling of both kitchens, which required a gas mantle. It was made from material that resembles today’s fiberglass. The mantle was attached to the fixture and the gas turned on slowly as the mantle was lit with a match. The mantle expanded when lit and care had to be taken not to jar it or it would disintegrate. The brightness was adjusted by the amount of gas released. We always had extra mantles on hand because Uncle John (mother’s brother), a giant of a man, always forgot to duck when he came into the room. "The other rooms were without lights. So we spent most of the evenings in the kitchen or went to bed early. It was a miracle the entire building didn’t go up in flames because it was a fire trap. "The men (upstairs) were drunkards and never cleaned their rooms. Cockroaches and bedbugs were plentiful. The darkness of the rooms provided a good breeding place for the ‘critters’. "The smells in the hallways were terrible. The aroma of Katy’s whiskey trailed out when she opened the door. The toilets on the 3rd floor and first floor were unbearable. There we were living between two ‘evils.’ "Katy’s whiskey was delivered by bootleggers in a big touring car, parked in the alley behind the house. Two bootleggers each carrying a wooden keg took them to the first floor rooms. The amount that she received depended on how good business was. She watered down the ‘rot-gut’ and sold it for 25 cents a pint. Even so it was very ‘potent’. She wasn’t pestered by (the) police. In fact, her daughter married the one that patrolled the area. To read the rest of Pauline Knish Mills' Memory click here: |
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******* My grandmother was born in 1869 in Sommerau, Rosenberg, Deutsch Eylau, present day Germany. She came to America in the late 1880's and eventually settled in Cleveland. She married Johann Julius Torno on March 4, 1892, at the Zion Evangelical Church on Jennings Street at Branch Avenue in University Heights, also known as the Southside of Cleveland. Johann was known as Julius. He worked for the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Dock Company in the Flats and in December 1902, he was critically injured on the job. He died in January 1903. At the time Emilie and Julius had five children and Emilie was pregnant with their sixth child (June's mother) who was born a month after his death. Emilie filed a wrongful death suit against the dock company and was eventually rewarded (awarded) a settlement of $194.00 and one dollar additional for each child. To put this award into prospective -- their home on Clarence Court was worth $325.00 at the time. The house on Clarence Court was on the side of a very steep hill overlooking the steel mills. The house was torn down in the 1950's. Grandma did housework for the wealthy families at the top of the hill on Starkweather Avenue and the older boys, age 10 and 9 went to work also. Grandma never learned to speak English and it was fun to hear her and Mom talking in German. The house had no electricity nor plumbing. In later years, a toilet was installed in the enclosed side porch. All the lighting was by big, beautiful kerosene lamps and heat was from a pot-bellied stove in the living room and a big coal/wood stove in the kitchen. The "parlor" at the front of the house was always closed and a pump organ was in the parlor. Grandma had "flatirons" to do her ironing. These were flat, black irons that had to be heated on the cook stove. This was at the time that girls and women wore long dresses! There was a small hand pump at the kitchen sink that had to be primed before pumping the water. Mom's brother, Otto, was in World War I. Another brother, Wilhelm known as Bill, was also in World War I and when he returned home he went out drinking with some buddies. Late at night they stopped outside of the gate at Grandma's house and were singing. A neighbor came out and yelled at them but they kept singing. The neighbor went back in the house and then came out with a shotgun and shot and killed Bill. June Pagel Lenthe, January 2007. |
| Memories are important. There are other websites having transcripts of interviews done about the Southside/Tremont. Please check them out. This section is not about interviews but written memories with no questions asked. Each memory is included here as it was written and given to this site. New memories are added to the bottom of the page. If something is underlined, it is a link to another page. |
fun years. My family ended up in the “Projects” after my father left my mother with two infants and no money (even taking what little savings there was). Even though my mother was a professional secretary who had supported her parents and siblings during the Depression, as a single working woman she still could not support herself and two small children without the assistance of subsidized housing. The “Projects” was officially known as Valley View Homes. It got it’s name of "Projects" because it was built by the WPA as a “project” in 1939. It was a place filled with 250 transient family units, most of which were fatherless. The few men who were living in the “Projects” were either World War II amputees who had given up on life or drunks who usually did not work and beat up their families. I grew up with the impression that to have a father in the house was not a good thing. The highlight of growing up in such a community was that there were hundreds of children, all of whom were as poor as you were. We created our own childlike world where our playground was the hillside overlooking the bustling steel mills with railroad cars and tracks to entice the adventurous boys. You could easily get enough boys together for a “rubber ball” game. We played in the cinder lot, right on the 7th Street hill. The outfield was the steep street going down to Houston and the Flats. A long hit ball could roll forever. The Projects provided a great place to play “Army”. The war could be played over the hill or in the “dumps” near Clark Field where there were huge sand and gravel piles on one end. The swamps below Fruit Ave. provided our “Tarzan, Cowboys and Indians or Korean war” terrain complete with vines to swing on. Although there were the large groups that played together, there were always special groupings of kids. The grouping of boys I hung around with (Donalins, Butanwiczs, Felter, and Vanek) were in much the same boat as I was. We had no Dads, we had no money, we had little structure in our lives. I credit a lot of my ideals and goals to some of those mothers who always seemed to have time to sit and chat with us. They shared their advice and correction on a moment’s notice. They weren’t afraid to “mother” any one of us. There were also the numerous clubs formed by some enterprising young person (usually me) and they always included some sort of initiation for only the brave. One club we started didn’t grow too large because the initiation was very dangerous; we really weren’t too smart. If you wanted to belong to this exclusive club you needed to walk the “catwalk” under the Clark Ave. Bridge for the entire one mile span. This meant walking on two 12"x10' planks while crouched down because the clearance was only 4' overhead. 110' below was the railroad tracks and Cuyahoga River. The only thing you could hold onto for balance was the overhead asbestos wrapped pipes. Looking back I wonder how we survived our childhood playing on railroad tracks, bridges, swamps, and other environmental hazards. There was some limited organized activities. Fisher Foods donated shirts for baseball teams down at the new Clark Field in the Cleveland class “F” league. Lincoln High School student Bob Trzebuckowski was the Coordinator from the City. After playing thousands of sandlot games it was a big thrill to get the free matching shirt and to be on a real team The Boy Scouts sponsored a troop at the Valley View Office. It was lead by Mr. Ellis, a war veteran, who taught us some valuable life lessons Having attended Tremont Elementary School and Lincoln High School from kindergarten through 12, I established many great friendships. Many of the teachers in those schools went way beyond their scope of teaching responsibilities. Mrs. Updegrove often took kids on weekend excursions, picnics or helped out with a few extra things when they were desperately needed. My phys-ed teacher became my lifelong friend and colleague. George Chandick saw this shy athletic kid with low self esteem and encouraged me to become involved in track, basketball and baseball. For 50 cents a semester we could join his well run Community Center. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we played basketball, board games, boxed and learned how to dance. Dancing led to the discovery of girls. Being a boy who could dance made this shy freckled faced kid have some confidence; after all, if you could dance, you were cool and the girls always needed a partner. George Chandick was a big influence on my life. Because of his tutoring, I have enjoyed the benefits of competitive sports. This love of sports has lasted into my graying years as I still play baseball and still referee basketball, as well as going to the World Series every year. He also influenced me to become active in community. We were both elected to Seven Hills City Council together in the 80's. Mr. Chandick eventually became the Mayor while I represented the people for 21 years. It was a thrill to work with a man who once was my teacher. When we became too old for Cowboys and Indians playing sports took on a greater roll. We use to squeeze through the fence at the Bath House to shoot baskets even after shoveling away the snow. The Merrick House is where we really learned how to play. This naturally led to playing sports for Lincoln High School. To read the rest of Robert Leech's Memory click here: |
moved to the Cleveland area, eventually settling on the Southside. In her history of St. Theodosius Greek Catholic/ Russian Orthodox Church, written in 1946, she reminisces about a section of the Southside and the valley before her church was built. Please refer to Maps as a reference aid and St. Theodosius R. O. Church for more information on the church. ********* "The Convent of St. Joseph's of the Augustian Sisters was located at the foot of the Starkweather Avenue comprising several acres of beautifully kept grounds, extending from Professor Street to West 7th Place, a short block past present day St. Olga Street and down the bottom of the valley. At the bottom of the valley was a driving park, now the sight of the B & O Railroad yards, the Corrigan McKinney furnaces and Clark Avenue Bridge. "In those halcyon nostalgic days, this territory was a far cry from the dismal, smoky surrounding of today. The valley was a flat, green meadow on which many cows were tranquilly pastured. All along the hillslopes were luxurious vegetable gardens. Farther to the south were fields blossoming with violets in the springtime, followed by hosts of daisies and buttercups later on in the summer. In the distance, past the meadows at the foot of the hills, were nestled cool pleasant picnic grounds under tall shady groves of trees along side the old historic Ohio Canal. In this particular spot, the muddy Cuyahoga was clear and lovely. Its waters were haunted by canoeists. "On summer days, great crowds thronged into the valley down University Street or West 7th Street driving horses and buggies and surreys 'with fringes on the top' to watch the horses race around the track. Strains of band music floated enchantingly on the air. Grooms were busy exercising and watering the horses while children were busy peeping through the knot holes in the high board fence, a gay spirited bustling scene if there ever was one. "The Convent grounds were tightly enclosed by high fences, the privacy of which was greatly increased by high thorny hedges, topped with dense shady trees impossible to penetrate even with the eye. Inside, the grounds were lovely. Could you enter, you would find vegetable gardens, orchards, shrubbery and flowers. The stone building in the center was large enough to accommodate all the needs of the people. Mr. John Ferencz somehow got wind of the fact the Nuns wished to dispose of their property. He informed Father Kappanadze of the fact and soon they were busily negotiating to acquire the property. He (John Ferencz) took a great personal risk and mortgaged his own property to help matters along." Julia Maharidge Cherevkoff, summer 1946. |
Wilson was Gardening Editor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer for many years. She passed away on December 18, 1939. Here she writes about her early childhood experiences living in an area that would eventually be called the Southside. *********** "In 1866, we moved from Jennings Avenue to a home on Scranton Avenue opposite what is now Buhrer Avenue. At that time. Mrs. (Margaret) Althen's apple orchard was just to the south of us. Her husband some years before had bought a small farm which extended along both sides of present day Pearl Road (West 25th Street.) Althen Avenue was later opened through this tract. The Althen home was a large brick house set back some 200 feet or more from the street and facing Pearl Road. Mr. Althen had died, leaving his widow with a son and a daughter. Laura Althen was about my age, and she and I became fast friends. The friendship extended over 60 years. "The girls in our day were as sentimental as the young ladies of today and one of our special pleasures was in watching the courtship of Leonard G. Foster of Brooklyn and Lydia Holmden. The Holmdens lived on the edge of the Cuyahoga Valley and at that time neither Buhrer nor Holmden or Brainard Avenues were laid out. Young Foster drove a spanking team of bays hitched to a high seated buggy, and we girls, perched up on the cherry trees, would watch him come up the dusty Scranton Road, deftly turn the gate straight up into the air, and disappear down the drive between the corn fields to the house. The we would lay wagers on how long it would take him before he would return with Miss Lydia sitting up straight and prim by his side. "He (Foster) informed me that he was the first principal or superintendent of Tremont School, that he was a teacher at Humiston's Institute when that famous South Side school was in the prime, and that he was one of the charter members of Pilgrim Church. That church, by the way, was noted for its strawberry festivals, one of which was held one year at the home of the grand old Cleveland pioneer, E. J. Holmden. E. J. Holmden's home "stood on a bluff overlooking the Cuyahoga Valley. To reach it one had to go down a long land, which was later Rowley Street. There was a beautiful view then across the valley, no smoke, no factories, only the beautiful Cuyahoga River running through daisy fields." "Mrs. Althen, in her stiff black silk dress with white lace collar, chaperoned her daughter, Laura, and me to the festival." At the festival were "home made cakes, ice cream and strawberries" being offered as refreshments. "The berries were grown by the Holmdens and, as I recall, our strawberry season then lasted only a few days in June. Girls of today wouldn't see much in those strawberry festivals but to me they were glorious occasions, looked forward to for weeks by everyone and especially young people." "Nor can I ever forget that gorgeously bordered lane leading to the Holmden place, with a hedge of sumachs (sic) and elderberry bushes on one side and wild roses on the other." Source: Early Days of Cleveland's South Side by Ella Grant Wilson, August 10, 193? A collection of her writings, papers and photographs are available at the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland. |
Easter and the Southside: See also, Easter.
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