COLLINWOOD NOTTINGHAM HISTORICAL SOCIETY ReCollections Volume 5 / Issue 1 Spring 2013 Restoring the Collinwood School Fire Memorial Garden CNHS New Project Collinwood School Fire Memorial Garden 1960 s? Collinwood Nottingham Historical Society Cleveland Ohio Phone: 216 486-1298 Email: CollNottHistory@aol.com or CollNottHistory@gmail.com New Website: http://collnotthistory.weebly.com/index.html ReCollections is the Official Publication of the Collinwood Nottingham Historical Society 2013 / Collinwood Nottingham Historical Society - Established 2009
Letter from the President By: Mary Louise Jesek Daley It has been a while for our newsletters. However, that doesn t mean that the CNHS has not been busy. We met during the months of January thru April for dinner and meeting at Kristy s Tavern on East 200 th Street. Now it is time to get to work and get out. Watch the website for meetings and outings for the Spring, Summer and Autumn periods. We will be concentrating on projects and activities than actual meetings per say. Speaking of activities, you can see by the pictures and information enclosed in this newsletter that we are going back to working with the Memorial Garden. The Memorial Garden has been neglected for years. Back in 1909 the Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill #140 declaring that a memorial should stand in perpetuity to honor those who lost their lives in this school fire tragedy. Therefore, we are obligated to do this. We will need many volunteers to make this project work but again, it is something we must take on. Any expertise or enthusiastic volunteer help is greatly appreciated so that we can recreate something to be proud of at the Memorial Garden that pays tribute to the neighborhood and the school fire of 1908. Lest we forget You will also see pictures of the Freeway bridge that was taken down in March by a dump truck What a weekend. It effected people getting to a meeting I was involved with all the way out in Mentor because attendees were delayed getting past East152 Street The Councilman is in the process of negotiating with ODOT and the State as to what their plans are regarding the pedestrian bridge as well as talking with Northeast Shores Development Corp., BikeCleveland, and Friends of Euclid Creek amongst others to determine if the bridge is necessary to complete bikeway and pedestrian plans to connect Euclid Creek MetroPark to Lake Erie. Speaking of Lake Erie, the Euclid Creek Lacustrine Project is nearly complete. Walk down into the Euclid Creek area at Wildwood Park and see what the project has done for the creek bed. Besides recreating a fish habitat we hope that certain wildlife will return to the area including hawks and possibly a bald eagle like we once had down in that area. The project also exposed former docks dating back to the Turn of the Century (early 1900 s) when Euclid Creek played an important role in the industry of the Nottingham Community. Finally, the State of Ohio, the City of Cleveland and the Cleveland MetroParks are working out a plan for Cleveland MetroParks to take ownership of the Cleveland Lakefront State Parks from Edgewater to Wildwood. Our community is served by three (3) Lakefront State Park sites, Wildwood, Euclid Beach and Villa Angela. The State has passed their legislation for this to happen and now the City is in the process of passing the first of its new Ordinances pertaining to this. Ordinance 504-13 authorizing the Director of Public Works to enter into a Lease Agreement with the Board of Park Commissioners of the Cleveland MetroPark District to lease certain City-owned lakefront parks was passed under Suspension of the Rules of Council on Monday, April 8, 2013. Therefore, MetroParks is authorized to acquire/lease property for the conservation of the natural resources of the State of Ohio and to develop, improve, protect and promote the use of the Parks pursuant and subject the provisions of Chapter 1545 of the Ohio Revised Code. Look for continuing improvements in our parks including hopefully the rebuilding of the historic Euclid Beach Pier Remember, keep in touch with us. We have fun and would love for you to join us If you cannot reach us in any other way you may always call me at the Office of Councilman Polensek at (216) 664-4236. Check the website for pictures including some great ones of the recent pedestrian bridge coming down Look under the Future History tab Thanks
The Society Begins The Collinwood School Fire Memorial Garden Restoration Project We re going back to our roots so to speak... when our band of local history buffs came together to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Collinwood School Fire, as the Collinwood School Fire Centennial Commemoration Committee (CSFCCC). That was a successful effort, and since then, of course, we ve morphed into our Collinwood Nottingham Historical Society (CNHS), expanding our focus to all Collinwood history & stories. But there s always been the Memorial Garden, standing neglected, and in need of so much help. Which we ve always recognized - and which we have been talking about, getting facts & ideas together. And now it s time to DO this Partnering with Memorial Spiritual Christian Church (whose own roots go back to the Fire its founders daughter, Laura Baldwin, died in the Fire), and the Cleveland School District (especially the students at Memorial School), we re now ready to round up all the expertise and workers we ll need to make this Restoration happen. Our front cover shows the Garden sometime in the 1960 s. Photos on the next pages show the current Garden as it stands now sadly in need of new planting and concrete repair, and a plan to maintain it. So... where do we go from here? Right off the top we ll need all kinds of expertise in concrete work, gardening, conservation etc. Any help you can offer on this will be very much appreciated. Meanwhile, we ve already done our preliminary assessment (this March), & seen basically where the problems are physically; we ll be looking at things again come later in the spring to see what s going on with the plants and trees (March proved to be too early this year to really see the conditions of the plants nothing was really growing, budding - or green) So come on out, and be part of restoring an important part of our neighbor s history And thank you We are putting together the Collinwood School Fire Memorial Garden Committee, to work on this project. Stay tuned for details our first meeting will be mid-may. Meanwhile, check the website to see what s happened so far. Be sure to get in touch with us to be on our contact list (see front page for the CNHS contact info) We ll need all of you to make this happen, so we look forward to hearing from you. Thanks
Be Sure to Check Out Our New WEBSITE We re Now Online at: http://collnotthistory.weebly.com/index.ht ml Come & See Us Collinwood Nottingham Historical Society Cleveland Ohio Phone: 216 486-1298 Email: CollNottHistory@aol.com CollNottHistory@gmail.com
Collinwood Nottingham Historical Society 1141 East 167 Street - Cleveland OH 44110 Phone: (216) 664-4236 Email: CollNottHistory@aol.com CollNottHistory@gmail.com Web: http://collnotthistory.weebly.com/index.html Officers: President: Mary Louise Jesek Daley // Vice President: Dennis Crislip Secretary: Elva Brodnick // Treasurer: George Neff, Sr. Board of Directors: Eric Deutsch - Lou Drasler Martin Hauserman Jim Valentino ReCollections Editor: Elva Brodnick email: carrollsell@gmail.com Removing the Bridge...