Tremont West Development Corporation
The neighborhood now known as Tremont started out as hunting ground for the native peoples, with lush fields and forests overlooking the Cuyahoga River. Farm families from Connecticut settled the vicinity of Scranton Road and Starkweather in 1830, calling the area Cleveland Heights. At this time, it was considered a part of Brooklyn Township - Cleveland was still remote, as a journey there required a trip by ferry or float bridge - a bridge over the Cuyahoga was many years off yet. In the 1840s, the wealthy Pelton family and other investors aquired land in the West 7th, Jefferson and Lincoln Park areas to create what was to be "the Harvard of the Midwest" - Cleveland University. Opening in 1851, the school closed some three years later with death of benefactress Thirza Pelton, but left behind street names such as Professor, College and Literary.
Wealthy families continued to live here, and much building took place in the 1860s, both to house officers stationed here at Camp Cleveland and at a Civil War hospital. What had been Pelton Park became Lincoln Park, and the area became known as Lincoln Heights. With the building of the Superior Viaduct bridge (1878), access to downtown via streetcar became possible, and the exodus of the wealthy residents, who had built mansions on Scranton and Jennings (now West 14th Street), began. The immigrant community swelled in the years following, drawn by jobs at the steel mills and plentiful housing left behind by the elites. Families from Greece, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and other parts of Eastern and Central Europe, began to join the 'Connecticut Yankees,' the Irish and Germans who had lived here.
The immigrants built fantastic churches with soaring towers, onion domes, and active congregations. The neighborhood became known as Tremont, after the elementary school, the largest in the state (1910), or more simply, as 'The Southside." By the 1960s, outmigration to the suburbs began, and accelerated with the massive destruction of housing brought on by the construction of the freeways which cross the heart of the community.
In the 1970s and '80s, artists began to settle in the area, drawn by the fantastic homes and churches, downtown and river views, cheap studio space - as well as the unique European feel of the neighborhood. Their presence made the community exciting again, and hard work by neighbors, business owners and insitutions resulted in a rebirth of Tremont. Today, the neighborhood is home to artists and galleries, award-winning restaurants featuring fine food and authentinc ethnic cuisine, boutique shops, upscale housing and rehabbed Victorians, churches, institutions, parks, libraries and coffee shops.
Welcome!
Read some recollections of Tremont here; see some images of the neighborhood here provided by Cleveland State University.
A Tremont market, now Edison's, circa 1932. Courtesy Mollie Alstott ©
Tremont History Project
Other Tremont History Links
Cleveland Cartography (Historic Maps)
Cuyahoga County National Register List
Neighborhood LinkPilgrim Church History
Polish Genealogical Society of Greater Cleveland
Filmed in Tremont
Tremont in the Media
Tremont West Development Corporation | 2406 Professor St., Cleveland, OH 44113 | 216-575-0920 | Copyright 2006
