South Collinwood - Part 3

This was the third section run of the South Collinwood neighborhood: 

"The South Collinwood neighborhood is a mixture of residential enclaves interspersed with industrial districts that developed along the rail lines which followed the southern shore of Lake Erie. Industrial development accelerated rapidly following the construction of the Collinwood Yards rail switching center and freight yard. It became a neighborhood of Cleveland when the villages of Collinwood and Nottingham were annexed to the City in 1910 and 1913. Most of the housing dates from before 1930 with the oldest cluster, from the late 1800s, located around East 152 nd north of St. Clair."

Map: Run 1, Run 2, Run 3, Run 4

Distance This Run: 10.3 miles

Distance So Far: 639.3 miles

This welcome sign greets you at the intersection of St. Clair Ave & E. 152nd in Five Points.

This former factory on the corner of E. 147th & Velour Ave was built in 1942. Its last use was a business incubator called the Collinwood Enterprise Center (which received funding by the Cleveland Foundation back in the mid-1990s). It housed four different businesses until an explosion and fire in November 2014 shuttered it. The blaze required assistance from 17 different Cleveland fire stations. The site is still owned by the owner of State Supply, a local roofing supplier of over 25 years which occupies buildings just behind these ones.

The all-seeing eye of Ingalton Ave.

These trees on the corner of Rudyard Rd & St. Clair Ave were planted on October 2, 2020 by Western Reserve Land Conservancy. The project was funded by the Cuyahoga County Healthy Urban Tree Canopy program.

I couldn't find the backstory on Lillie Park but it adds some life to this section of E. 145th Street.

Coit Park is a 1.5 acres and was established in 1928. It features a playground, several basketball courts and a play field and is the "main" park for the neighborhood west of E. 152nd.

This building at 1196 E. 152nd was built in 1922 and was used for light manufacturing. It's currently a divided into space for several businesses to include an auto repair shop and a YouTube sex talk show called the Midnight Cowboy Podcast.

This rubble on E. 152nd represents what was once a 22-acre, 13-building General Electric lightbulb factory. The campus was constructed between 1912 and 1953 and was vertically integrated operation that provided manufacturing, assembly and packing of lighting products. In 1990, GE bought out a rival company in Hungary and wound down operations at this site in Cleveland by 2008. In Fall 2022, GE announced plans to demolish the site and prepare it for redevelopment as part of what they describe an act of environmental justice.

The Collinwood Athletic Complex on E. 152nd Street was built in 2005 and is home to the Collinwood High School football and track teams. Nicknamed "The Rail Yard" (the school's nickname is the Railroaders), it has a seating capacity of 3,600 and is owned by the City of Cleveland. Its track is named after longtime and legendary girls track coach Lou Slapnik.

Five Points Plaza is the main shopping center for South Collinwood. It's anchored by Simon's Supermarket. The plaza was sold to a new owner in 2022 for $3.2 million.

This poem by Maya Angelou is located near the intersection of E. 148 & St. Clair. It was done by local artist Aaron D. Williams who also did the neighborhood branded light post banners as well.

The Greater Cleveland Food Bank opened this $40 million, 200,000-square foot distribution center on Coit Road in November 2022. It sits on the site of the former General Motors Fisher Body Plant, which was a primary employer in the neighborhood for over 6 decades. Some of the new facility's key features include a large kitchen that has the capability to make 20,000 meals a day, the cooler area that can store 100 million pounds of food, solar panels on the roof and a recycling center that will convert food scraps into fertilizer and renewable energy.It's the GCFB's second location in South Collinwood. Their resource center building on S. Waterloo will soon transition into a one-stop shop for food and social services this Fall.

The entrance to the new GCFB facility is named "DiGeronimo Drive" in honor of Vic DiGeronimo of the DiGeronimo Companies who donated the land for the development. DiGeronimo also serves on the Food Bank's board.

The Otto Knoingslow Manufacturing Company (13300 Coit Road) was founded all the way back in 1894. Otto was born in Cleveland in 1860 and moved to Germany when he was 10. There, he completed trade school until he was 14. At some point, he moved back to Cleveland and started a number of businesses including this one. The business primarily focused on automotive parts, became an expert in sheet metal, and developed 25 patents. Most interestingly, the business created their very own bicycle in the late 1800s ( the "O.K. Bike", photo here) and an automobile around the turn of the 20th Century, called the "OttoKar" (photo here). Today, the business mostly provides precision metal stampings, blanking and machined products for commercial and aerospace customers.

This random food spot - BNS Food4U Happy Cartz - is located in the side yard of a home on Coit Road. I wanted to try it by they're weren't open.

This house on Casper Ave was the coolest one I saw on this run. It was built in 1910 and it's current owner has lived there for 36 years.

Kenneth W. Clement Boys' Leadership Academy on Woodworth Ave is a CMSD all-boys Pre-8th school serving 175 students. Home of the Mighty Bees. Kenneth Clement was a prominent African-American surgeon from Cleveland. He was appointed by John F. Kennedy and LBJ to various federal medical boards, one of which helped draft the original medicare regulations. He was also active in politics and helped get Carl Stokes - Cleveland's first black mayor - elected in 1967.

A solid row of homes on the 13900 block of Woodworth Ave.

Meanwhile, these properties are on the same street about a block away but on the East Cleveland side of the street. The contrast highlights the supreme governmental struggle of that community.

While technically on the side south side of Woodworth Ave (which, again, is East Cleveland), the Coit Road Farmer's Market is a notable enough landmark that it has to be mentioned. According to their website, the market "has been an anchor on Cleveland’s east side since 1932, with a mission of providing access to affordable, locally grown farm fresh products to the residents of Greater Cleveland. The East Cleveland Farmers Market Preservation Society (ECFM) is an all volunteer 501 c (3) non-profit organization that operates the market year round." They offer gardening and farmer apprentice programs, a learning garden for youth and numerous events and workshops for the public throughout the year.