IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS IN CLEVELAND*
By WELLINGTON G. FORDYCE
The immigrant's church has been the
strongest single force
in preserving his racial solidarity.
Like the Pilgrim fathers, the
immigrants brought with them their
Bibles, hymn books, clergy,
and churches. These churches were
strongly attached to the
homeland, depending upon it for
literature and clergy. Political
and social antagonisms have been aroused
among native Ameri-
cans, and the immigrant's religious life
has been complicated by
church disputes arising over property
and the clergy. In 1914 it
was estimated that one-third of
Cleveland was Roman Catholic,
and that most of the members of this
church were immigrants.1
The readjustment necessary with the
introduction of this ele-
ment into a city of Puritan origin was
considerable. The problem
of the Roman Catholic Church in trying
to supply clergy for the
various groups was difficult for a time,
and this caused trouble in
the church itself. An Italian priest in
a Polish parish was often
a source of dissatisfaction to the
parish. Another aspect of this
problem was that the peasant immigrant
did not understand the
American separation of church and state.
When the priest so-
licited funds for the church, the
immigrant thought it wrong.
In the fatherland the government had
paid the priests, and they
seemed unable to understand that a
different system prevailed in
America.2 In 1896 there were twenty-two non-English speaking
Roman Catholic churches in Cleveland
representing nine different
immigrant groups.3 In 1915
there were thirty-five Roman Catho-
lic non-English speaking congregations
in Cleveland and seventy
* This is the third of a series of
articles by Mr. Fordyce on the nationality groups
of Cleveland. The former were published
in the Quarterly for October, 1936, and
April, 1937.--Editor.
1 E. A. Ross, The Old World in the
New (New York, 1914), 252.
2 Peter Roberts, The New Immigration (New York, 1920), 207.
3 E. A. Roberts, ed., Official Report
of the Centennial Celebration of the City of
Cleveland and the Settlement of the
Western Reserve (Cleveland, 1896),
197.
(87)
88
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Protestant churches which had
non-English speaking congrega-
tions.4 In 1927 there were fifty-two Roman Catholic, eleven
Greek Catholic, five Greek Orthodox, and
forty-one Protestant
churches with foreign born
congregations.5
The Protestant sects paid little
attention to the foreign born
until after the war. The attempt to
establish missions among
them might have enjoyed a greater
success if it had been started
early in the 1900's when so much
dissatisfaction existed in the
Church over the clergy. In 1921 a survey was made by the
Federated Churches, and it revealed that
many of the foreign
born were not affiliated with any
church. A campaign was
started to coordinate activities to work
for the success of the
missions among the foreign born. Fifty
missions were engaged
in this work and eight institutional
churches were set up.6
The institutional churches were churches
which had been
abandoned when foreign elements had
appeared in the district, or
when industry had driven out the old
residents. They carried
on their program in English,
supplementing it with foreign-
language services when necessary. Their activities included
clubs for men, women, and children,
sewing, gym classes and
other recreation, educational work, and
home visitation. Special
activities included a summer camp.7
The success of the enter-
prise just described has been small.
Many of the missions were
of long standing and they had had little
success. The segrega-
tion of the immigrant led him to
associate himself with those
who spoke his language and knew his
customs. The institutional
churches were in charge of people of
various races, but their
practices were unfamiliar and with the
stabilizing of his native
church he returned to the fold.
Most of the German Protestant churches,
which numbered
fifty-two in 1870, have given up holding
services in their own
language in order to hold the younger
generations. Many of
them were pietistic, and forbade
dancing, saloon-keeping, and
4 John Mohr, Map of the City
of Cleveland Showing Colonies of Foreign Born
(Cleveland, 1915). Statistics furnished
by the Citizens' Bureau.
5 Compiled from Cleveland Year Book, 1927,
243ff.
6 Ibid., 1921, 287ff.
7 John Prucha, ed., The Churches and
the Foreign Situation in Cleveland (Cleve.
land, 1921), 9.
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS IN CLEVELAND 89
secret societies.8 One of the oldest German churches is
St.
Peter's Roman Catholic Church. It was
founded in 1854, and
from 1854-1929 it had only three
priests.9 Three of the five
bishops of the Cleveland Diocese have
been Germans, Louis A.
Rappe, Ignatius A. Horstmann, and the
present bishop, Joseph
Schrembs. There are three groups who
dominate the Germans in
Cleveland. The Catholics stand first,
the Lutherans second, and
there are a considerable number of Free
Thinkers.10 A few
still conduct their services in German,
and a larger number have
alternate services in English and
German. In 1932 there were
sixty-three Protestant churches and ten
Roman Catholic churches
in Cleveland, of German origin. Of the
Protestant churches,
twenty-five were Evangelical Lutheran,
the most numerous Prot-
estant sect.11
The religion of the Czechs in Cleveland
has an interesting
history. All sects except the Roman Catholic had been sup-
pressed in Austria after the death of
John Huss, but in the at-
mosphere of free thought in America a
break appeared. In 1870
a dispute arose over the organization of
an insurance and fra-
ternal society in Cleveland, when the
priest opposed it. Over
half the Czechs withdrew from the church
and most of them
became ardent followers of Thomas Paine
and Robert Inger-
soll.12 An interesting incident to illustrate the violence of this
controversy is to be found in the death
of one Anton V1cek, a
bookkeeper and member of several radical
Free Thinkers' societies
in New York. His friends, examining his
effects after the
funeral, found that he had been at one
time a priest in charge of
St. Prokop's Roman Catholic Church, the
second largest Czech
Catholic church in Cleveland, and that
he had left the church
because of this quarrel.13 Some of the seceders drifted into
Protestant churches, but most of them
remained unaffiliated with
any church. In 19I5 there
were eight Catholic and eight Prot-
8 E. A. Roberts, Report of the
Centennial of Cleveland, 207.
9 Cleveland Press, October 23,
1929.
10 Charles J. Wolfram, The Germans in the Making of Cleveland, MS. (in
Cleve-
land Public Library), 14.
11 Cleveland Press November 1,
1932.
12 Eleanor E. Ledbetter, The Czechs
in Cleveland (Cleveland, 1919), 19.
13 Thomas Capek, The Czechs
(Bohemians) in America (Boston, 1920), 135.
90 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL
AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
estant churches with mixed parishes of
Czechs and Slovaks.14 In
1927 there were fifteen Catholic and
seven Protestant churches of
these groups.15 The Czechs
have frequently abandoned their
parishes. As a district became crowded,
they moved towards
the suburbs, abandoned their church, and
sometimes affiliated with
American groups instead of founding a
new one. In this move-
ment they have been followed by the
Slovaks, with whom they
were friendly and influential.16
The Poles have been a solid Roman
Catholic unit. They
have always regarded their church as the
most essential factor
in their social welfare. The Pole is
deeply religious. His reli-
gion permeates his speech, thought, and
daily life. The early
Poles in Berea requested Bishop Rappe
for a place to worship.
They were given St. Marys on "The
Flats." This building
was
the oldest Catholic church in Cleveland.
The priest traveled to
Berea twice a month before his
congregation was assigned to this
church. When winter set in, the trip to
Cleveland was difficult.
Bishop Rappe then assigned them the
Chapel of St. Joseph on
East 26th Street. In 1879 under the
leadership of Father Wolf-
gang, a German who spoke Polish, they
purchased a site at East
65th and Forman. Here they erected St.
Stanislaus Church.
From this church, which probably has the
largest parish in the
United States, developed seventeen
others. Each church has its
school, choir, social hall, library, and
gymnasium.17 St. Stanislaus
had a parochial school with an
enrollment of over two thousand,
supported a choir of one hundred voices,
and within its control
had sixty-five societies.18 There
are also two National Catholic
churches, which hold services in Polish
instead of Latin, and do
not recognize the Pope. One small
Baptist mission has struggled
for existence in the Polish district.19
The Italians, with the exception of a
few small missions, are
supporters of the Roman Church. There
has been a difference in
14 Mohr, Map
of Cleveland.
15 Cleveland
Year Book, 1927, 288.
16 John Prucha, "Among
the Slavic People in Cleveland," Missionary
Review of
the World (Princeton,
N. J.; New York; London), XLVIII, 604.
17 W. J. Nowak,
ed., Survey and Maps of Polish Cleveland
(Cleveland, 1930), 1.
18 C. W. Coulter, The Poles
in Cleveland (Cleveland, 1919), 24.
19 Nowak, Survey of Polish Cleveland,
8.
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS IN CLEVELAND 91
the relationship between the Italian and
his church, and that of
other racial groups. Because of the attitude of the Church in
Italy toward personal liberty, the
Italian has not been as much
under the influence of the clergy as
other racial groups.20 This
sentiment flared up in various parts of
the United States on the
death of King Humbert of Italy. In many
cities, including
Cleveland, high mass was held in his
honor. In Louisville the
bishop refused to hold high mass, and
the Italians of that city
filed a formal protest with the papal
legation at Washington.
This incident is cited as an example of
their attitude toward the
clergy.21 There were
three Italian Roman Catholic churches in
Cleveland in 1915 and four in
1927.22 That the distrust of the
clergy is present among Cleveland
Italians is shown by the fact
that there are only two Italian
parochial schools in the city. The
rapid disintegration of the Italian
colonies since the war has also
served to weaken clerical control.
There are seven Russian congregations in
Cleveland, three
Russian Orthodox and four United Greek
Catholic. The latter
sect is commonly called the
"Uniat" church. There are also two
Ukranian Uniat churches. Originally, the Russian Orthodox
church was under the headship of the
Russian Patriarch at Petro-
grad. Since his death, and the stoppage
of financial as well as
spiritual aid from Russia, it has been
under the Metropolitan
Archbishop of Moscow. The Soviet
Government refused to per-
mit the council to meet for the election
of a new Patriarch, or
to permit foreign delegates to enter
Russia. The possible effects
of this policy cannot be predicted.
A
curious feature in the history of the Russian churches
has been the litigation which appeared
in Cleveland in 1921. Two
of the present Orthodox churches were
founded as Uniat
churches. In 1918 a movement
swept the Russians in America
which led many Greek Catholics to join
the Orthodox Church.23
In Cleveland this was the cause of
litigation between factions in
20 C. W. Coulter, The
Italians in Cleveland (Cleveland, 1919), 61.
21 Cleveland Plain Dealer, August
26, 1900.
22 Cleveland Year Book, 1927, 288.
23 Ina Telberg, Russians in Cleveland, MS. (Master's thesis in Western
Reserve
University), 20.
92 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the church of St. John the Baptist, and
St. Peter and St. Paul.
In the congregation of St. Peter and St.
Paul only twenty-five
members remained loyal to the Uniat
church. The Orthodox
members built a church on land that had
been purchased by the
congregation as Greek Catholics. The
loyalists sued, and in
equity the Orthodox group was given
thirty days to buy out the
Uniat loyalists at a price fixed by the
court. This was done. In
the case involving St. John the Baptist
Orthodox church, the
Uniats won a complete victory, as church
and land had been pur-
chased by the congregation as Uniats.
The Uniat Church retains all practices
and liturgy which are
used in the Russian Orthodox Church. The
one difference is in
allegiance, the Uniats recognizing the
headship of the Roman Pope.
An agreement was made between the papacy
and the Uniat Church
in 1646. On condition that they
recognize the headship of the
Pope, certain privileges were to be
granted to them. These
were: (1.) to perform mass in the
language of the people, (2.)
selection of their bishops by the Uniat
clergy, (3.) confirmation
by the priest, and (4.) marriage of the
clergy to be permitted
before ordination. Since the Russian and
southern Slav immi-
gration to America brought the problem
to this country, the
celibate Latin clergy has protested the
practice of marriage by the
Uniat clergy. As a result, the papacy
since 1890 has periodically
issued bulls that forbade the marriage
of the Uniat clergy. In
1907 a bull was issued directed at the Ruthenians in
particular.
It forbade the ordination of any but
celibate candidates to the
priesthood from this group.24 In
1929 another bull prohibiting
the future marriage of the Uniat clergy
was issued.25 This new
order caused trouble in the Uniat
congregations throughout the
United States.26 The American Russian Messenger, official
or-
gan of the Uniat churches, has become
the mouthpiece of the
protests in the United States. The bull is protested on the
ground that it violates the agreement of
1646. The Uniat churches
in Cleveland seem to be united on this
question. Priests and con-
24 Pius X Pontifica Maxima Acta (Rome), V (1914), 60-1.
25 Acta Apostolicae Sedis (Rome), Annus XII, Vol. XII (1930),
102-3.
26 Donald Attwater, The Catholic
Eastern Churches (Milwaukee, 1985), 87.
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS IN CLEVELAND 93
gregations alike are opposed to the new
order. About one hun-
dred and twenty congregations have
seceded from their allegiance
to the papacy. This may lead to the
appearance of a new reli-
gious sect in the United States.
Of the Hungarians sixty per cent. are
Roman Catholic,
twenty-five per cent. Calvinists, five
per cent. Greek Catholics, five
per cent. Lutherans and five per cent.
Unitarians, Baptists and
others. The first Hungarian Roman Catholic
church, St. Eliza-
beth's, was founded in Cleveland in
1891. Father Carl Bohm,
its first priest, was brought from
Hungary. It has a large paro-
chial school, and numerous societies
under its direction. The
first Hungarian Protestant church was a
Reformed church
founded in 1891. This church grew
rapidly, and it established
a branch in 1894. The first Hungarian
Lutheran church was
founded in 1905.27 In 1915 there were two Hungarian syna-
gogues, two Roman Catholic churches,
three Protestant churches,
and one Greek Catholic church. In 1927
four more Protestant
churches were in this list.28 The
Hungarian Uniat Church op-
posed the new rule of celibacy issued by
the Pope. One of the
reasons suggested for the increased
opposition to the marriage
of the clergy was a matter of social
prejudice. The peasant brings
his ideas of social caste with him. The
wife of the priest must
be looked up to, as well as the priest
himself. Many of these
marriages in America have resulted in
alliances between the
priest and a woman of peasant
stock. This has affected the
priest's standing in the colony.29
There is one Greek Orthodox church in
Cleveland, the Church
of the Annunciation. Greeks from all
over the city constitute its
congregation. The Greeks in general have
not been as deeply in-
terested in their church as other
groups, some because of indiffer-
ence and others because of
intermarriage. Their early clergy
came from the ranks of the immigrants
and was poorly trained.
The newer clergy came from Greece, or
was trained there. Rev-
27 H. A. Liebovitz and P. Mihaly, A
Clevelandi Magyarok Tortente (The History
of Cleveland Hungarians); tr. by
Frederick Gonda (Cleveland, 1919), 130.
28 Cleveland Year Book, 1927, 288.
29 Hungarians interviewed by the writer
emphasized caste distinctions in discus-
sions of their people in Cleveland.
94
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
erend John Lavrakas, the present pastor,
came to Cleveland in
1916. He was graduated from the
University of Athens, and is
considered an authority on scriptural
history and the laws of the
Greek Orthodox Church. Syria was the
birthplace of two mono-
theistic religions, Judaism and
Christianity, and was closely asso-
ciated with the third, Mohammedanism.
There have been five
Syrian religious groups in Cleveland,
Syrian Orthodox, Druse,
Mohammedan, Greek Catholic, and
Maronite. The origin of
the last religion goes back to Paul. It
is oriental in tradition and
ritual. Its bishop is called
"Patriarch of Antioch and All the
Orient." It has been affiliated
with the Roman Church since
1182. Some modifications were permitted. Syriac is used in
all ritual and the sect has its own
feast days.30 The few Druses
in Cleveland have a religious society
but no church. There is
only one Syrian mosque in the United
States, and that is in
Detroit. One small Greek Catholic and
two Syrian Orthodox
churches complete the list. The largest
of the Syrian churches
is St. George's Syrian Orthodox Church.
The clergy have come
from the fatherland.
There are four Rumanian churches in
Cleveland, one Ru-
manian Orthodox, one Baptist, and two
small Uniat churches.
The single Baptist church was founded in
1914 during a nation-
wide missionary campaign. It was a small
church and recently
split due to a factional quarrel. The
two Uniat churches have
opposed the papal bull on celibacy as
have the Cleveland Uniat
churches of other groups. St. Mary's Rumanian Orthodox
church was founded in 1904. It has been a
leading factor in
attempting to preserve Rumanian
folk-culture among the Ru-
manians in Cleveland.
The Jugoslavs are practically all Roman
Catholics. There is
one Serb Greek Orthodox church which was
founded during the
war, and one Croat Greek Catholic
church. Four Slovene Roman
Catholic churches are the most important
among this group.
The Dutch in Cleveland who have arrived
since 1900 have
been generally indifferent to church
membership. The oldest
30 Philip K. Hitti, The Syrians in
America (New York, 1920), 37.
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS IN CLEVELAND 95
Dutch church in Cleveland is the Calvary
Reformed Church on
West 58th Street. The first Dutch in
Cleveland attended a Ger-
man church but as soon as there were
enough of them, they
founded Calvary Reformed Church. This
church was affiliated
with the American Dutch Reformed Church.
Seceding groups
founded a new sect, the Christian
Reformed Church, of which
there are two in Cleveland. The latter
churches hold services in
both English and Dutch. Calvary Reformed
Church has held
all its services in English for a number
of years. The clergy
for the Dutch churches have come from
the Michigan colony.
There were three small Finnish
congregations in Cleveland
in 1921.
They had no buildings of their own but
used churches
of other denominations at odd hours.31
Because of the absence
of compact colonies, the Swedes,
Norwegians, and Danes have
had few churches, and they have rapidly
lost their identity as
racial congregations. The Danes and
Norwegians have combined
in two churches. Bethel Congregational
is Norwegian-Danish
and Emanuel Lutheran is a Danish
congregation. The Norwegian
Church of Our Savior has services in
English and Norwegian on
alternate Sundays. Reverend Oscar Strom
acted as pastor for
the latter two churches for many years,
and was an influential
figure among both Danes and
Norwegians.32 There were
four
Swedish churches in Cleveland in 1927 but they had
really lost
their identity as Swedish institutions.
Their services were held
in English, as most of their members
were of the second genera-
tion.33
The Swiss in Cleveland have no churches
of their own.
They generally affiliated with a German
church. The Swiss are
good Christians, but as a race have been
poor church-goers in
Cleveland. This has been due to a
clerical antipathy which has
developed from their experience in the
homeland. Sixty per
cent. are Protestants and the remainder
Roman Catholics. The
latter group came from the French and
Italian cantons.
The Old Stone Church (Presbyterian) has
been the only
31 John Prucha, ed., The Churches and
the Foreign Situation in Greater Cleveland
(Cleveland, 1921), 7.
32 Cleveland Plain Dealer,
March 20, 1927.
33 Cleveland Year Book, 1927,
288.
96 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
church to make any progress among the
Chinese. This was due
to its proximity to the old Ontario
Street Chinatown, and perhaps
the fact that John Hay was a member of
this church had some
effect on its success. This church conducts a Chinese Sunday
School, and has willingly donated the
use of its halls and audi-
toriums.34
The first Jewish synagogue was organized
in Cleveland in
1839. After a secession quarrel, the
reunited groups founded the
society which became the present Euclid
Avenue Temple. Their
first building was erected on a lot
donated by Leonard Case.
New arrivals from Germany and Bohemia
founded the Tifereth
Israel Congregation in 1850. This group
caused further schisms
among the Jewish groups in Cleveland.35
There were disputes
over sermons in English, having an organ
in the church, and the
question of a choir. In 1917 there were
twenty synagogues, all
having religious and Hebrew language
schools.36 The four largest
synagogues are: The Temple, Euclid
Avenue Temple, Temple on
the Heights, and the Jewish Center.
These four have at least
5,000 in their congregations. The
Orthodox congregations are
more numerous, but smaller in
enrollment. There have been
German, Hungarian, Bohemian, and Russian
groups which have
clung together under these racial
designations. The rabbis of
Cleveland Jewry have been leaders not
only of their own people
but of the whole community. Rabbi
Michallis Machol, a gradu-
ate of the University of Breslau, was an
outstanding figure in
Cleveland from 1876-19O7.37
Rabbi Leo Jung was called to Cleveland
in 1919. He was
a leader of Orthodox Judaism. Rabbi Jung
was responsible for
the founding of four branches of the
Sinai League for the study
of Orthodox Judaism. His influence in
educational and ritual
affairs was felt by the whole community.38
Four Cleveland rabbis
are outstanding liberals in Cleveland
Jewry and in local and civic
affairs. They are Rabbi Barnett
Brickner, Rabbi Harry Davido-
34 Luis J. Zuiano,
"Our Chinatown," The Clevelander, III (December, 1928), 31.
35 Cleveland Jewish Society Book, II, 8ff.
36 Ibid., 19.
37 Ibid., 12.
38 Ibid., V, 83.
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS IN CLEVELAND 97
witz, Rabbi Abram Nowak, and Rabbi Abba
Hillel Silver. The
last has a national reputation as a
liberal thinker, and is a lecturer
much in demand. The synagogue has been
the center of the
Jewish community in Cleveland. Since the
war it has expanded
its interests, to other things than
religion. The synagogue has
become during this period the center of
Jewish religion, music,
and culture, an institutional center for
all that the race has to
offer.
The diffusion of racial colonies since
the war has affected the
immigrant churches enormously. It has
broken racial solidarity
and threatened clerical control. Most of
these churches have lost
their racial character to some degree,
and many of them entirely.
The stoppage of immigration has made
their survival depend upon
the adoption of English in their
services. Attempted language
schools have not been successful. The
Orthodox Church, if it
is to last as a faith, probably must
make this change. Most of
the priests reluctantly admitted to the
writer that it had become
increasingly difficult to interest the
younger generation. Some
Orthodox priests believe that the
movement for the organization
of an American Orthodox Church must gain
momentum soon,
and that it is either a case of adopt
the English language or de-
stroy the sect in America. This may well
apply to every immi-
grant church whose liturgy is celebrated
in the native tongue.
The outcome of the struggle over
celibacy in the Uniat clergy
may destroy the sect. In the past the
Uniats have been able to
conquer the opposition of the papacy,
but the conditions are some-
what different at present. They are
having the same difficulty
over language as the Orthodox churches,
and the Roman bishops
are not filling vacant parishes unless
an unmarried priest is
available. Some have already seceded and thus America has a
new religious sect. Some have joined the
Orthodox Church.
Some are simply marking time. Whether
the Roman clergy will
win the struggle, or new sects will be
formed, or whether the situa-
tion will be settled on the old basis,
is impossible to predict. All
three of these possibilities exist in
Cleveland.
A number of non-religious institutions
originated with the
98 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL
AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
immigrant groups of Cleveland and
deserve some notice. The
Beer and Skittles Club was founded by
Morris Black and his
political followers. It met in an
obscure Hungarian restaurant.
Here the young reformers and political
crusaders of the 1890's
met to discuss their plans and to plot
against the bosses. The
humorous and youthful aspect of this
organization is found in
the invention of an extremely potent
drink called "Slivwitz
Punch." Their custom was to invite
their political enemies to
dine, and fill their glasses frequently
with "Slivwitz." The out-
come would be that they would
"later tuck them tenderly into a
cab," with instructions to the
driver to take them for several
hours jolting around Public Square. The
politician's discomfiture
and the ridicule which followed may be
imagined.39
All the immigrant groups of Cleveland
have halls which
have the status of institutions. They
are generally corporations,
the stock of which is held by the
societies that use the building.
Those of the Czechs are very complete.
They contain theatres,
gymnasiums, club rooms, libraries, and
dance halls. Each hall
of this type served as a cultural center
for the group which main-
tained it.40 The most famous of the Czech
halls is the Bohemian
National Hall on Broadway. It was
founded in 1896 and is
owned by thirty-four of the ninety Czech
societies which use
the building.41
Several social settlements founded by
native Americans hold
the status of institutions among the
foreign born. Alta House,
in the center of a colony of 20,000 Italians,
is one. Its activities
include educational classes for men,
women, and children, a
gym and pool, playgrounds, music, art,
and dramatic clubs, a
branch library, kindergarten, and a
clinic conducted by a visiting
nurse. Eighteen Italian lodges meet
here, and it has been the
scene of weddings, christenings and
receptions. Alta House main-
tains a summer camp for ten weeks each
summer where it cares
for two hundred children, and furnishes
facilities for day picnics
for fifteen hundred Italian mothers
during a season.42 Goodrich
39 Frederick C. Howe, The Confessions
of a Reformer (New York, 1925), 81.
40 Ledbetter, Czechs, 25ff.
41 Cleveland Plain Dealer, March
21, 1927.
42 Cleveland Year Book, 1927, 347.
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS IN
CLEVELAND 99
House has maintained the same kind of
activities among the
Lithuanians, Poles, and Slovaks. This
institution is not as large
as Alta House, but carries on the same
wide variety of activities
to provide a sane social life for the
foreign born. It supports a
farm near Akron for mothers and children
who are in need of
an outdoor life for reasons of health.
Merrick House centers its
activities among Ukranians, Slovaks, and
Poles. The East End
Neighborhood House centers in a Polish
colony. In addition to
activities similar to the others just
mentioned, this institution has
a maternity dispensary, classes in home
arts, and is famous for
its folk celebrations.43
The two oldest German institutions in Cleveland
are St.
Alexis Hospital and St. Johns Hospital.
The founders of St.
Alexis, Sister Leonarda and Sister
Alexa, came to Cleveland in
1884 from Bavaria. They had two dollars
in cash and the clothes
they wore. Father Kilian Schlosser
established them in an old
abandoned brick school. Their start was
humble, but it grew into
the present modern St. Alexis. The
fortitude and patient service
of these two women brought gifts of
money, supplies, and service
by physicians. Today it is one of two
remaining downtown
hospitals, and seventy-five per cent. of
its work is charity. Reli-
gion has been no bar to receiving its
aid.44
The Altenheim was established in 1876 as
a home for aged
men and women. It has been supported by
the Germans of
Cleveland ever since by fees, gifts, and
entertainments. Since
1864 Germans have supported a Children's
Home at Berea. It
has a capacity of one hundred
twenty-five, and all of the orphans
have a chance for a high school
education.45 The Cleveland
Deutsche Zentrale, a registered social agency composed of repre-
sentatives of Cleveland German
societies, has proposed the erec-
tion of a half million dollar social
center to house the four hun-
dred and fifty German societies of
Cleveland. This has not yet
been carried out.46 The same
organization opened Unsere Farm
in 1926.
This was a social and recreational center
for Germans,
43 Ibid., 348ff.
44 History of St. Alexis Hospital
1884-1909 (Cleveland, 1909), 14ff.
45 Cleveland Year Book, 1927, 146.
46 Cleveland Plain Dealer, June
1, 1926.
100 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
and its Sunday programs were like those
in the old beer gardens,
minus the beer.47 The two
German Turnvereine have halls which
are the oldest centers of German culture
in Cleveland. One hall
is on East 55th Street and the other on
the west side. Both are
flourishing, and their traditional
importance is unimpaired. Many
other German institutions have lost
their German identity through
American assimilation.
The principal Greek institution has been
the Kuffenein, or
Coffee Shop. This was the poor man's
club. Here Greeks met
to drink coffee and to smoke a water
pipe. Politics and literature
were under discussion. Every other door
on Bolivar Street was
a Greek Coffee House before the war. It
was a transplanted
institution that is dying out because of
the pressure of industry
in the Bolivar Street neighborhood,
naturalization, and intermar-
riage. The coffee houses were famous for
their coffee, and for
a delicious white goat cheese. Bolivar
Street shows today that
their existence is about to end. A few
are still there, while on
either side loom the walls of factories.
Ahepa, the national so-
ciety, has purchased land for the
erection of a Greek hall. The
construction of the building has been
delayed because of economic
conditions.
Eight Slovene halls have been erected in
Cleveland since
1900. The largest is the Slovene
National Home at East 66th
and St. Clair. Seventy-five societies
united to build it. It cost
$300,000, and has a library, club rooms,
gymnasium, and an
auditorium seating two thousand.
This hall is a center of
Jugoslav culture in Cleveland. It has
entertained artists, musi-
cians, and other notable figures from
the homeland. The Ar-
menians have a small community center on
the east side where
they hold religious services, musicales,
and political meetings.
Carpatina, a Rumanian society, owns a hall containing a library,
club rooms and an auditorium. It divides
the cultural leadership
of Cleveland Rumanians with a similar
institution that is under
the control of St. Mary's Rumanian
Orthodox Church.
The Syrians have had a coffee house or
two in Cleveland,
47 Cleveland Press, May 21,
1931.
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS IN CLEVELAND 101
but as a race have not developed any
institutions similar to those
of other groups. The family is their
most important unit, and
public recreation has not attracted
them.
One Finnish institution in Cleveland is
of an unusual kind.
It is a bath house of the type common in
rural regions, but mod-
ernized to meet urban conditions. It is
housed in a brick build-
ing. From the dressing room one enters a
shower room and
then the steam room. In the latter is an
open furnace filled with
stones. The stones are heated by a fire
underneath them until
they are red hot. Water is sprayed upon
them and steam comes
from the door and fills the room. Each
patron is furnished with
a small brush of leaves similar in shape
to a small broom. The
patron soaks his brush in the steam of
the furnace door and
proceeds to slap his body with it. This
procedure lasts about
half an hour. Hard benches furnish the
only resting place. This
institution was founded in 1912, and is
heavily patronized the
three days a week it is in operation.48
The Polish National Hall has been the
leading institution of
the largest Polish colony. It is in the
heart of the Broadway
colony and has all the facilities common
to such institutions among
other immigrant groups in
Cleveland. It has been especially
noted for its development of drama. A
downtown theatre occa-
sionally receives one of its plays after
it has completed a stand in
the Polish theatre. The Poles of
Cleveland also maintain a
Polish hospital. The older generation
has demanded such a
hospital, to be conducted by their own
people, and furnishing
familiar foods.49
There have been innumerable Jewish
institutions in Cleve-
land. They have been largely
consolidated since 1922 under the
Federation of Jewish Charities. They
include orphanages, old
peoples' homes, and hospitals. The
largest hospital is Mt. Sinai
on East 105th Street. The Jews have a
very humane method of
dealing with their orphans. They maintain a family placement
bureau, and strive earnestly to give
each child a normal family
life. The Jews of Cleveland care for
their own charity, and
48 Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 28, 1927.
49 Michael M. Davis, Immigrant Health
and the Community (New York, 1921), 322.
102 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
have more philanthropic organizations
and institutions than any
other group in the city.50
The Theatre Guild of the Temple
represents an interesting
activity. It maintains what is probably
the largest Hebrew library
in the city, 5,000 volumes with a
subscription list of forty Jewish
periodicals. The Theatre Guild has produced many plays in
Hebrew, and its theatre has been a
center of Jewish drama and
language development.51
The most important Jewish institution in
Cleveland is the
Cleveland Jewish Center. The
congregation of this synagogue
was made up of two smaller ones who came
from Poland and
Lithuania. Rabbi Samuel Margolis
originated the idea of this
center.
Its purpose is to promote and influence every aspect of
Jewish life, religious, cultural,
social, physical, and recreational.
The Center has a pool, gymnasium, roof
garden, library, classes
in Hebrew language and literature, boy
and girl Scouts, art classes,
lectures on cultural subjects, and a
political forum. It is probably
one of the leading Jewish cultural
centers in the United States.
Another type of institution whose
influence was felt strongly
in Cleveland's foreign colonies, was the
American saloon. In the
homelands of all these people, the public
house, the coffee house,
the hazpoda, or the hazgarten was
a place where a man took his
family for an evening of recreation. He
drank his beer or wine,
read the papers, enjoyed the music, and
went home none the worse.
The American saloon did not have these
conditions, and caused a
real social problem, especially among
the older men. The soft
drink parlor and the "speak
easy" occupied its place during the
prohibition era. The effect of the
repeal of the eighteenth amend-
ment has been no different for the
immigrant than the native
American. The new drinking places have
taken on none of the
characteristics of institutions, nor are
they characteristic of any
nationality group.
A great service has been rendered by
these various immi-
grant institutions, both to the
immigrant and to his adopted city
and country. They have served as a link
with the fatherland and
50 Cleveland
Jewish Society Book, V, 207.
51 Cleveland Jewish Independent, October 4, 1929.
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS IN CLEVELAND 103
have helped to relieve the nostalgia of
people far from their native
land. They have been social anchors in a
strange land. Many
of the districts that the immigrants
were forced to occupy in
Cleveland were not the best residential
areas. Some have since
been labeled as delinquency areas. Under
these conditions they
were forces for morality and good
citizenship. They were cul-
tural centers, diffusing the culture
brought by the immigrant into
American life, and in turn aiding the
newcomer to assimilate the
best in the community's life and
culture. Many times attacked,
commonly misunderstood, the immigrants'
institutions have served
a purpose in assimilation of alien
groups, and are today being
accepted more as American institutions
than as contributions of
immigrant peoples.
IMMIGRANT INSTITUTIONS IN CLEVELAND*
By WELLINGTON G. FORDYCE
The immigrant's church has been the
strongest single force
in preserving his racial solidarity.
Like the Pilgrim fathers, the
immigrants brought with them their
Bibles, hymn books, clergy,
and churches. These churches were
strongly attached to the
homeland, depending upon it for
literature and clergy. Political
and social antagonisms have been aroused
among native Ameri-
cans, and the immigrant's religious life
has been complicated by
church disputes arising over property
and the clergy. In 1914 it
was estimated that one-third of
Cleveland was Roman Catholic,
and that most of the members of this
church were immigrants.1
The readjustment necessary with the
introduction of this ele-
ment into a city of Puritan origin was
considerable. The problem
of the Roman Catholic Church in trying
to supply clergy for the
various groups was difficult for a time,
and this caused trouble in
the church itself. An Italian priest in
a Polish parish was often
a source of dissatisfaction to the
parish. Another aspect of this
problem was that the peasant immigrant
did not understand the
American separation of church and state.
When the priest so-
licited funds for the church, the
immigrant thought it wrong.
In the fatherland the government had
paid the priests, and they
seemed unable to understand that a
different system prevailed in
America.2 In 1896 there were twenty-two non-English speaking
Roman Catholic churches in Cleveland
representing nine different
immigrant groups.3 In 1915
there were thirty-five Roman Catho-
lic non-English speaking congregations
in Cleveland and seventy
* This is the third of a series of
articles by Mr. Fordyce on the nationality groups
of Cleveland. The former were published
in the Quarterly for October, 1936, and
April, 1937.--Editor.
1 E. A. Ross, The Old World in the
New (New York, 1914), 252.
2 Peter Roberts, The New Immigration (New York, 1920), 207.
3 E. A. Roberts, ed., Official Report
of the Centennial Celebration of the City of
Cleveland and the Settlement of the
Western Reserve (Cleveland, 1896),
197.
(87)