Neighborhood: Kinsman
Distance This Neighborhood: 35.4 miles
Distance So Far: 1,014.7 miles
The Kinsman neighborhood was originally part of Newburgh township (1814) until the City annexed the area in the late 1800s. With many steel mills and oil refineries nearby, the neighborhood became a busy location for train traffic. However, after WWII, the neighborhood began a steep economic decline. Kinsman's demographics shifted from a progressive Jewish population in the early 20th century to largely African-American during the Second Great Migration. Kinsman also has a long history with public housing (Garden Valley was one of the city's first developments and CMHA is headquartered there today). Today, the neighborhood has become a leader in Cleveland's sustainability efforts. More on all of this below.
Kinsman's western edge begins at the E. 55th RTA Rapid Station (which is also the start of the Opportunity Corridor). After 7 years of planning plus a year of construction, it opened in 2011. Its stone facade was selected to represent the many churches in the E. 55th Street vicinity. The station is served by all three of the rapid lines (Red, Blue & Green), connecting east and west side services. RTA received an Honor Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) for the facility in 2011.
This mural at the station is entitled Space, Speed and Time and was created by Shan-Shan Sheng, a renowned international artist. The 25-30 colorful art panels depict train tracks and reflect window light as they hang in the bridge walkway.
This second piece of station art was completed by local artist Michael Murphy. The figures are completed in a series to portray motion and movement associated with public transit and, in particular, train travel.
This shared-use path was constructed along the Opportunity Corridor and spans from E. 55th to E. 105th in University Circle. Cleveland Metroparks and Cleveland plan to make a connection from E. 14th (downtown near the main post office and future soccer stadium) to E. 55th as part of the Opportunity Corridor Connector project.
Site prep for the Kingsbury Run Consolidation Sewer project, a Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) project which is part of Project Green Lake, a $3 billion 25-year program that NEORSD began in 2011 to address water quality issues in the Cleveland area.
This Certified Wildlife Habitat sign was located near the construction site...but was nailed to a tree (ugh).
Heritage View Homes is a newer public housing development located in the 6900-7900 blocks of Kinsman Road. It was constructed in phases around the early 2010s by the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority and replaced the outdated Garden Valley Estates public housing project of the 1950s. The background: In 1954, the Cleveland Development Corporation raised $2 million to aid City leadership in building housing for those displaced by urban renewal projects. Garden Valley in Kinsman was their first location and they hired a young local planner named Allan Young to do the job. The name Garden Valley was unintentionally ironic given that much of the initial development was built on a landfill which subjected residents to dangerous debris in their private and public greenspaces. It is considered a national example of the type of issues that led to the environmental justice movement in the country. Here's a good article on how it all came together and the mistakes made from inception. And here's a short 9 min video that also provides a decent overview. A century ago, the site above was home to a few single-family homes as well as New Zion Church of Christ, City Iron Works, Mowrey Metal Company, and Kinsman Laundry Company. Fun Fact: Famed comedian/actor/talk show host Arsenio Hall's childhood home was located at E. 79th & Kinsman Road near the edge of Garden Valley Estates.
And speaking of CMHA, their main campus is located in Kinsman on this 25-acre campus where it is staffed by more than 400 employees. Established in 1933, CHMA is the first chartered public housing authority in the country. They moved their headquarters to the Kinsman location in 2011.
On the CHMA campus is this six-acre solar field consisting of 4,200 solar panels, generating 1.1 megawatts of electricity. CMHA collaborated with Carbon Vision and Cleveland Public Power to conceive of and install it. 100 years ago, it was the site of a Pennsylvania Railroad storage and repair facility which then became a large brownfield.
The Garden Valley Neighborhood House (7100 Kinsman Road) began at Bethany Baptist Church in 1926 until it relocated to Glenville in 1945. In recent history, it's served as Northeast Ohio's single largest satellite food pantry. (During the pandemic, they served over 30,000 individuals per month). The center closed in 2009 due to lack of financial support but was reactivated by retired public library administrator and dynamic community hero Jan Ridgeway. Ridgeway worked absolutely tirelessly to not only keep the facility functional and help those in need but lead other impressive initiatives as well. For example, it's estimated she's invested over $115K from her own retirement checks into the building over a decade+. For the better part of the 2010s, the building was also home to the Durham Construction Trade Institute, a construction training program for young African Americans run by Quinton Durham (who was also Jan's life partner and childhood friend from Georgia). Durham worked in the field for 60 years and had his own construction business on Lee Road in the Lee Seville neighborhood. In the 1980s, it was the largest African American-owned construction company in Cleveland. He built, restored, and/or renovated over 500 houses and built four churches in the city alone. Here's an article/interview about his efforts. Durham passed away in 2021 at the age of 78. The building changed operators, went into State forfeiture in 2023, and was claimed by the Cuyahoga County Land Bank who allowed the new operator to continue the food pantry program. However, they were eventually evicted over sanitation issues. The current status of the building is unclear.
This house on Roy Street was built in the 1890s and is one of the oldest still standing in Garden Valley. It's been owned by the same individual for the past 42 years. The street itself dates back to at least the 1870s.
Anton Grdina Elementary School (2955 E. 71st Street) is a PreK through 9th grade school built in 2011 and serves around 340 students. Anton Grdina played a significant role in the Slovenian community in Cleveland, specifically in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood where he owned a hardware store, funeral homes and organized financial institutions. He helped rebuild part of St. Clair Superior after the East Ohio Gas Co. explosion. Grdina was the first U.S. Slovenian to receive the Third Order of the Yugoslav Crown, awarded by King Peter in 1938. In 1954 he became a knight in the Order of St. Gregory by papal decree.
Ill communication on E. 79th.
Fire Station No. 26 was built in 1898 and is the oldest operating fire station in the city. However, the City is building a new 16,500 sq ft station about a half mile down away given that many of the modern apparatuses cannot fit into the historic building and upkeep is no longer cost-effective. This is a photo of one of the station's final days.
Here's the shot of the new fire station at 9026 Kinsman Road. The 16,500+ square foot facility includes a 3-bay garage, fitness center, sleeping quarters for staff, and a community meeting room. There will also be a public art project soon as well.
According to County records, this vacant home on E. 80th was built around 1900. It was owner-occupied for most of its existence until it entered State forfeiture in 2013. From there, it flipped among a few different owners for around $5,000-$6,000 and was eventually sold to an out-of-state LLC for $19,000 in 2023. No investment appears to have been made in the property since. In fact, it was wide open, yard unmaintained, and open dumping was beginning to happen. Here's what the property looked like in 2022 before the LLC acquired it. If you've been following this blog, you know full well the plague that many out-of-state LLCs are on the neighborhoods of Cleveland.
Cleveland Gear (3249 E. 80th Street) is 110+ year old city business and a national industry leader in the manufacturing of worm (grooved screw-like "worms" that fit with and turn a grooved-like wheel) and enclosed gears. In fact, they were the first company in the U.S. to manufacture worm gearing for mass production which is used in industries such as automobile manufacturing, steel production, electric power generation, and materials and public transportation. For a period of time they were acquired by the massive Eaton Corp. but have maintained operations at the location above since 1928. Here's a cool matchbox from the 1950s.
Here's Cleveland Gear's second building across the street at 3266 E. 80th Street which was built about 20 years after the building above.
The former Mooney Iron Works building on E. 80th. According to this post, the company was incorporated in 1936 and was a family-run and -owned firm started by John L. Mooney, whose family owned extensive tracts of land around Cleveland. The company made structural steel and specialty structural steel forms and, while still owned by Mooney Properties LLC, it does not appear to be an active facility.
General Steel Corporation (3344 E. 80th Street) is an independently owned and operated company specializing in flame and plasma cutting of steel plate. The company was formed in 1991 to acquire and operate a steel plate burning company that began in 1958.
A trail passes over Bessemer Ave where it has done so since at least the 1870s.
Old but beautiful brick paved E. 80th Street. Its sole remaining commercial tenant is Shear Service, a metal cutting company which has also done some interesting landscaping on the street using metal beams.
Signs of Spring on Kinsman Road.
These new homes on Colfax Ave were constructed in 2022 as part of a 36 scattered site, lease-to-purchase home development which was led by the City of Cleveland and Burten, Bell, Carr, the neighborhood community development organization (more on them later). The project is a result of a comprehensive neighborhood master planning process several years ago in which more than 500 people participated.
Original Harvest Missionary Baptist Church (7109 Kinsman Road) has been a staple of Kinsman for well 60 years. 100 years ago, the site was home to the Sunbeam Theater which operated until the 1940s. It was then renamed the King Theater and ran until the 1960s when the church took over. The church building above was built in the late 1990s.
The E. 79th Rapid Station (Red Line) opened on March 15, 1955. It originally served nearby industrial businesses, such as the Van Dorn Company, who created the superstructure of the Detroit-Superior Bridge and contributed to many other notable Cleveland landmarks. However, with the closing of most of the industrial facilities adjacent to the station, ridership decreased so much that it had become one of the least used stations on the Red Line. RTA had considered closing the station or moving it to the intersection of Woodland Avenue and Buckeye Road but eventually decided to renovate it. The new station above reopened in 2021. It has a unique design that provides access to the station through a series of ramps and stair structures down the existing hillside, similar to a few others RTA has recently done.
Next up on the abandoned historic Hungarian church circuit is the former First Hungarian Baptist Church (8005 Holton Ave) which was built in 1912. For many decades, it was home to Elizabeth Baptist Church (Arsenio Hall's father, Fred, was a longtime pastor). It was last known as Pine Grove Missionary Baptist Church. The City purchased it for $180,000 in 2019 as part of the Opportunity Corridor project but it remains vacant and vandalized. It was approved for demolition - along with almost every other structure left on this block of Holton Ave - earlier this year and awaits it date with the wrecking ball.
The Holton Ave Bridge/Viaduct serves the RTA rapid line and is considered to be one of Cleveland's most interesting and unappreciated structures. Here's a photo of the bridge under construction in 1915. You can still see the same type of American Bridge Company stamped steel pieces in the historic photo like the ones above.
Otter Park is surrounded by some great green infrastructure work which was funded by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District in 2015.
This mural is located on E. 81st just north of the Rid-All campus, under the rapid line overpass.
And here's the other side.
The old Denby Wire & Iron Company building (3005 E. 81st Street). The company was founded in 1917 (this building was built in 1922) and made items such as window guards, locks and park benches among other things. The business closed in the 1980s but the current owner still appears to be paying the taxes and keeping the building secure.
Kinsman Road is notorious for speeding. It's particularly bad between E. 55th to E. 93rd where the sign above is located. The only striping is a yellow centerline, leaving two, wide, 20' drive lanes on both sides. This leads to a lot of speeding/passing behavior...and crashes. The City plans to restripe the road properly as part of the Cleveland Moves and Vision Zero work. The church above posted this sign after a vehicle traveling 90mph crashed into their property, taking out a utility pole, guardrail and 125 feet of their fencing.
And wouldn't you know it, I witnessed an active crash scene on one of my runs in this location. Above is remaining crash debris.
This was an interesting find. This lot is full of framing pieces for a company called Architectural Fiberglass (8300 Bessemer Ave) which makes decorative domes, cupolas, columns, cornices, and balusters for many historic restorations of buildings, churches and institutions. The business was established in 1990 after the owner faced the dilemma of replacing badly deteriorated and fading aluminum domes in his religious institution. He turned to fiberglass as he noted that ships are built of that material but there are few businesses who use it for other applications like building restoration. 35 years later and the business is still going strong. Some of their notable restoration projects include Terminal Tower, the Lerner Theater in Elkhardt, IN and the Hobbs Building in Aurora, IL. While their main building is off to the left in this shot, the lot where these pieces sit was once home to the Brooks Oil Company 100 years ago. Here's an old photo.
I'm not sure if it's part of the same company product but I found what appears to be some historic molds at the end of nearby and highly secluded E. 82nd Street.
Next to the site above is the campus of the old National Refining Company which began in 1882 as a refiner of kerosene, which was the product used by most households for light at that time. It was nationally known for its White Rose brand gasoline and was distributed widely throughout Canada. In fact, by 1962, there were over 3,000 White Rose gasoline stations across Canada. National closed in the mid-20th century. This building above was built in 1951 but its ownership and use was hard to determine (although the ghost sign suggests it involved paint).
Easton Park (3301 E. 88th) is quietly tucked away on E. 88th Street, with residential streets to the east and train tracks to the west. It was established in 1948 and is actually quite large for its location. It features a playfield, play equipment and basketball courts. A century ago, the land was owned by the Belt & Terminal Realty Company whose branding gives you a sense of the type of land use in the area back then.
Church of the Pentecost U.S.A. (3230 E. 90th Street) is a part of a national chapter. This building was built in the late 1990s on land that had a few single family homes built in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The Kinsman Express liquor store on the corner of E. 93rd & Kinsman actually used to be the Kinsman Square Chevrolet. Fun fact: In 1954, a man named Eugene Stenger bought one of the first ever Corvette's at this location. (He bought it at age 21 and paid cash after having saved money since his days as a paperboy at age 10 up to his then-current job at a local factory). Gene took great care of the car over the years and received a call from the Guinness Book of World Records in the 2000s letting him know he owned the world record for the longest continuous ownership of any vehicle from new. Seriously. Here's the story.
The old Peace Evangelical Baptist Church (3250 E. 93rd Street) which began in Slavic Village in 1918 and moved to this location in the 1920s. Today, the building is home to the Golgotha Hebrew Congregation.
The Love Center Church (3296 E. 93rd Street). The congregation has been in this location since at least the early 1990s but this building was built in 2002.
The old Zion M.E. Church (3348 E. 93rd Street) which was a German missionary congregation. According to county records, the church was built around 1900. For at least the last 30 years, it's been home to Greater Whitestone Baptist Church which began in 1965 on Superior Ave. It even has its own swag shop.
The former Columbian Vice Manufacturing Company building (9021 Bessemer Ave) which made - you guessed it - vices. Here's an example. The origins of the company date back to 1905. This building was built in 1927 and the company was acquired in the 1960s but kept operations active in this location until likely around at least 2000. Its last occupant was a demolition and excavation business. The current status of the building is unclear but it's in rough shape.
This nearly 12-acre parcel in the 3400 block of E. 93rd Street was once the site of the National Bronze & Aluminum Company, Harshaw Chemical Company, and the Cleveland Transit Company, among various other industrial uses over the past 100 years. It's now the target of a massive remediation by the Cuyahoga Land Bank, in collaboration with the City of Cleveland Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund with funding provided by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) and Vibrant NEO Revolving Loan Fund (RLF). The goal is to get the site cleaned up and ready for site development.
Mary's Diner (3450 E. 93rd Street) is one of the few restaurants in Kinsman. This quaint spot is known for their salmon croquette and grits. The building next door is owned by longtime neighborhood advocate Mya Simmons who grew up nearby, worked 42 years in the local steel mill, purchased/fixed up homes, and hosts an annual neighborhood block party. Here's a February 2025 Cleveland Voices oral interview with her.
Enjoying a post-run breakfast inside Mary's.
Bike posted up outside Mary's. Always good to see. (Hope they took the seat with them).
Day Piston Company (9117 St. Catherine Ave) was founded in 1919 and is a fourth-generation family-owned business which makes high-quality pistons used in the automotive market and air compressor equipment industries. The company began on Harvard Ave but moved to this location due to growth. 100 years ago, the building was home to David Henderson & Sons Contractors.
Weavin' my way through E. 88th Street.
The home of longtime City of Cleveland official Valarie J. McCall. McCall grew up in Cleveland and attended Cleveland State for her undergrad and grad degrees. She began her career as a social worker and then worked at Midtown Inc. upon the encouragement of then-Councilmember Frank Jackson. She moved on to positions related to economic development and, in 2002, became the youngest Clerk of Council in Cleveland's history. She would go on to become Chief of Government & International Affairs for the City. Additionally, she hosted a civic affairs TV show; was a board member of RTA, Rock Hall, and Cleveland Opera; helped bring the Gay Games to Cleveland; is an inductee of the Cleveland International Hall of Fame; and has an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, Cleveland State.
The former Associated Savings & Loan Building (3496 E. 93rd) on the northwest corner of E. 93rd & Union Ave. According to City planning records, the building was built in 1927 for the bank and was home to several other banks over the years, most notably North American Bank which was founded by Anton Grdina (see photo at the top of the post about him) to serve the needs of the emerging Slovene community.
This building at 9203 Union Ave was built in 1930 and was home to the Flora Stone Mather Day Nursery which was a daycare associated with the Cleveland Day Nursery & Free Kindergarten Association. The organization was founded in the late 1800s and offered food, clothing, medical care, and a safe place for children while their mothers worked. Flora Stone Mather was a wealthy philanthropist who helped many charitable social reform causes before her death in 1909. Burton, Bell, Carr took possession of it in 2016 when services ended. Today, it is home to R.I.S.E. Ministries.
The Cleveland Public Library - Union Branch (3463 E. 93rd) was established in the early 1930s (first as a "station" and then in 1938 as an actual branch). For its first 50+ years, the branch was located on Union Ave (see below for its longest tenured location). The building above was built in 1982 and took design inspiration from the neighborhood's industrial and religious history. For example, its two entrances feature cupolas echoing church architecture. Notable art at this branch includes Cloud, Wind, Sea by Andrea Hahn.
Here's a photo of the former library branch at 9319 Union Ave. It operated in this location from 1939 until the new branch above was built in 1982. Today, it's home to Moses Free Spirit Church.
Odelia V. Robinson Park (3393 E. 105th Street) was established in 1944 and features a playground area, several swing sets, and some bench seating. It's named after the former Ward 3 councilmember who served in the area in the '90s and '00s. Robinson was known for her founding of the African American Family Festival and Picnic at Luke Easter Park in 1990 which evolved into the Family Unity in the Park, a major annual African American event in Cleveland. Robinson retired from Council in 2000 and passed away in 2003.
This house on Elliot Ave caught fire in April 2025. Firefighters rescued the man from inside the burning house. Here's video footage from the incident.
This mural on the side of 9901 Union Ave was created by local artist Mr. Soul whose work is featured throughout numerous locations on the southeast side of the city.
The former Concordia Lutheran Church (3484 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd) which was a congregation for African Americans founded 1914. They erected a church building and school in 1916 and the main church above was added in 1933. St. Philip's, a Black-majority Lutheran church located in Kinsman, merged with Concordia Lutheran in September 1965, with the new congregation using Concordia's building. Concordia Lutheran then merged with St. John Lutheran in Independence in 1967. The Concordia building was sold to Mt. Haven Baptist Church that same year and that congregation has been there ever since.
A pair of aged but stately homes on Kinsman Road near E. 93rd Street holding on for life. Both were built in the early 1900s. The house on the left was owned by the same couple since at least 1975 but one died in 2006 and the other appears to have abandoned the home. Tax bills show there hasn't been a payment for over 15 years and the condition is poor. Sadly, it will likely be lost to the landfill.
The former Boulevard Elementary School (9700 Kinsman Ave) which opened around 1910 and closed in 1980. It's been home to Freedom Covenant Center since 1987.
This parcel of greenspace at the corner of Kinsman & Kingsbury Blvd is almost all that's left of the old Kingsbury Run Park which was constructed by the City of Cleveland in the 1910s (along with a boulevard). Prior to that (late 1800s), there was a pond, a stream and an ice house on this site. Today, it's owned by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.
The remainder of the old park site has been filled in with newer housing (background), most of which was built in the mid-to-late 1990s as part of a housing development initiative between the City and community development corporations. It remains a very pleasant part of the neighborhood which also has maintained a lot of greenspace throughout.
Joe and Sarah Hill were the former founding pastors of St. Luke Overcoming Apostolic Church on Kinsman Road (featured in a photo above i.e. "please slow down" sign) and were also the first African-Americans to live on Raymond Ave. Both active neighborhood leaders, they were honored with this street dedication by then-mayor Frank Jackson in 2016. Here's an article plus some photos from that event.
Fire damaged home near the corner of E. 99th & Heath Ave. This took place at 3:30am on January 10, 2025...and this aftermath photo was taken nearly 5 months later in early June. Here's video of the blaze. According to county records, the house was built in 1913 and was owned-occupied by the same owner since 1976.
Union Square (3495 E. 98th Street) is a 9-story, 173-unit CMHA apartment building built in 1971. It received $1.3 million worth of upgrades in 2022.
The former parochial school for St. Catherine Parish which was located immediately to the right of this building. The parish formed in 1898 but a fire destroyed their first church several months after it was built. Over the next several decades, a new two-story brick church and the school building above were built, replacing wood-framed structures. The church thrived until the 1970s when mass exodus from the neighborhood took its toll on parishioner figures. The church hung on until 2008, when it then merged with two other parishes to form Holy Spirit Parish in Garfield Heights. Sadly, the church building was demolished in 2013 (photo). The school building was sold to the Ed Keating Center, a sober house which remains active. When I took this photo, they were hosting what appeared to be a Father's Day cookout in the back.
These birds of prey stared me down - in this pose - the entire time I ran past this house. I have no idea what their intentions were but I didn't plan to stick around and find out.
Another one by Mr. Soul, this one on the side of a building at 3775 E. 93rd Street.
Lake Galilee Baptist Church (3333 93rd Street), established in 1982.
Father's Dream Appliances (3319 E. 93rd Street) is a new and reconditioned appliance outlet. Founder and owner Reginald A. Sizemore started the business while working for the Illuminating Company. As the business grew, Mr. Sizemore left the Illuminating Company so he could focus his efforts on his business which was a "dream" of his father. This is actually the orginal building but there's now a second building - a 20K square foot outlet store - on Woodland Ave.
This set of old industrial buildings caught my eye due to their seemingly distinctive design and layout. Turns out, they were designed by noted architect Reynold Hinsdale who designed them for the Gebauer Chemical Company in 1918. Hinsdale also designed the home of Herbert Van Sweringen as well as other notable area houses, apartment buildings and churches. Here's a photo of the buildings above in their prime. Gebauer owned and/or operated this site until 2006.
Cleveland Screw Products (3062 E. 93rd Street) makes many components but is famous for its tube and pipe cutter wheels which can be purchased in name brand tool companies stores across the country. The company has been an active city business since 1916. It has called this building home since at least the 1960s. 100 years ago, the building was home to Gravity Carburetor.
According to county records, this building at 3161 E. 93rd was built in 1901 and was originally a theater. For many decades it was the home of Queen Esther Grand Order of the Eastern Star which is a branch of the Masonic Temple. The building is still owned by the organization and all the taxes are paid but there doesn't appear to be an active chapter in Cleveland and nor does the building appear to be in active use.
The former Woodland Hills Union Church (3158 E. 94th Street) which was formed in 1925 after the merger of Woodland Ave Presbyterian (1872-1925) and Kinsman-Union Congregational (1884-1925). It was one of the first mergers of Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches in Cleveland at the time. The church building above was built in 1914. The church operated until 1976 when it closed and was sold to Hayes Temple Church of God, which is still active today.
E. 87th Street (north of Kinsman Road) was once home to the Cleveland & Ohio Varnish Companies, which had roots back to 1881 (here's an old advertisement). However, today there's a lot of major dumping activity. In fact, if you're in need of an old boat fixer-upper, this is your spot. Several to choose from.
Construction underway at 3081 E. 93rd. According to county records, the building was built it 1915. Currently home to Kirkman's Double Exposure Bar & Grill.
Mount Auburn Manor (3061 E. 93rd Street) is a 6-story, 109-unit CMHA apartment building built around 1970. There's also a series of approximately 40, one-story housing units behind this tower which was built at the same time but then sold to individual owners in the early 2000s. 100 years ago, the entire site was the Woodhill Station and car barn for the Cleveland Railway Company.
V-Lounge (3029 Woodhill Road). From Google Reviews: "Great neighborhood spot for folks to meet up, really friendly atmosphere and lovely staff. They have live DJs and occasional chef pop-ups. 35+ only."
The former Mt. Auburn Elementary School (10110 Mt. Auburn Ave) which opened in 1922 and closed in 2006. The building was designed by architect Walter Roy McCornack who designed many school buildings and public housing buildings in Cleveland (including Cedar-Central Apartments which was one of the first three public housing buildings in the nation). In 1939, he returned to his native Boston where he became dean of the School of Architecture and Regional and City Planning at MIT. The school building is a Cleveland Landmark. The City sought to take possession of the structure and sell it to the neighborhood development corporation and a developer in 2021, but this doesn't appear to have happened. The school district still owns it and has it budgeted for demolition unless a development proposal comes through.
This church at 9326 Manor Ave is home to the Guiding Light Church of God which has been here for over 50 years. 100 years ago, it was home to the Slovak Mission Church of God which was formed around 1930. A new church building (the one above) was built in 1955, according to county records.
The former Luke Easter Park Office building near the intersection of Dickens Ave & MLK Jr. Blvd. At one point in time, the park was the largest recreational facility in the city. The structure appears to have been built sometime between 1935-1950 but doesn't seem to be in active use any longer. In fact, the photo doesn't really give a sense of the size of the building nor the level of deterioration. A real shame given its architectural beauty but also its prominent location right on the park and MLK.
This house on E. 102nd Street was built in 1922 and has been owned by the same couple for at least the last 50 years. The flags and their symbols appear to represent Pan-African origins.
