The  Mount Pleasant  neighborhood has been home to numerous ethnic groups, first Manx immigrants beginning in 1826, then Germans, Czechs, Russians, Jews, and Italians. Today, it is a predominantly African American neighborhood. In fact, Mt. Pleasant counts blacks among its earliest citizens. According to the  Encyclopedia of Cleveland History , in 1893 a contractor who employed a large number of Black workers was unable to pay wages in cash, so he gave them title to lots in the section north of Kinsman Rd. between E. 126th and E. 130th Streets (a house still sanding from that era is featured in this post). The title holders soon built homes there and by 1907 Mt. Pleasant had 100 Black families. Unheard in those parts of Cleveland at that time. The neighborhood has been home to numerous notable Clevelander celebrities over the years such as Jim Brown, Don King and Mayor Carl Stokes and was also the temporary home to a then up-and-coming rap and pop mega star Machine G...