2313 East 55th Street

 

This Queen Anne-styled building at 2313 East 55th Street in Cleveland, Ohio was not only a residence, but home to several businesses and ruinous incidents.

 

 

In the 1950s and 1960s, 2313 East 55th was the headquarters of the Burden Syrup Company, founded by Everett Burden in 1935. The company manufactured Dalo fruit drinks and Burden syrups and was sold in 1976 to the Ashley Distributing Company.

 

The storefront later housed the Shrimp Boat, a barbecue and seafood fast-food restaurant that opened around 1967. Its location, however, was in a neighborhood that was in steep decline both demographically and economically. The corner of Central and East 55th had become known as a drug corner and was the site of frequent incidents - including three murders.

 

On September 8, 1970, Robert L. Weakley was shot by a security guard at the Shrimp Boat after Weakley had threatened to kill the guard in an attempted robbery. The guard was questioned and released, the shooting ruled justified.

 

In another murder, Derrick Evans, 16, shot Angus Berry, 18, after an attempted robbery on January 20, 1975. Evans had confronted Berry and two others who were on their way to East Tech High School that morning and ordered them to put any money into their coat pockets and to remove their coats. After Berry motioned with his hands, Evans shot him with a .25-caliber automatic pistol. Evans had earlier robbed a poor woman of a coat and food stamps. He was convicted of murder in a trial that concluded on June 7, and was sentenced to 15 years to life. In addition, he received four to 25 years for the aggravated robbery.

 

Below: A January 22, 1975 photograph by Tony Tomsic, sourced from Cleveland State University's Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections.

 

 

Finally, on May 7, 1983, two-time killer J.D. Scott, 34, shot and killed Alexander Ralph Jones, 44, a security guard at the Shrimp Boat. Scott had been sentenced to death in 1984 for the May 6, 1983 killing of an elderly storeowner at a delicatessen. The murder of Jones only added a second death sentence. On appeal in 2001, his sentence was reduced to life with parole after 30-years imprisonment due to his diagnosis as a schizophrenic. He was executed on June 14, 2001.

 

The property was sold to Paul Arnold in February 1983 and was foreclosed in October 2009. The lot sold at a sheriff's sale in April 2010.

Sherman, can you please add "Cleveland: " to the thread title?

 

Interesting story, btw. Hope it finds a caring owner!

There are so many wonderfully detailed buildings in Cleveland that have these hideous commercial appendages. One successful removal of said commercial cinder block is the tuscan house on Prospect Ave that for years was obscured and is now a great addition to the streetscape.

Neat!