There's a sense among Cleveland's old-line leadership that density was part of the problem, part of what led to the riots, which is why Hough's redevelopment has been so suburban in character.  One can see the results of this thinking throughout the east side, but particularly in Hough.  Density is still viewed as an undesirable condition set aside for undesirables, and the solution has been to replace it with suburbia.  Whitey said apartments and transit are for you, single family homes and car dependent lifestyle are for us.  This positioned urban density as a badge of inferiority and the response was a conceptual rejection of urban density by both sides.     

 

Hence we have Church Square plaza and scattered McMansions where it once looked like Boston.  This is the response to redlining, to white flight, to widespread discrimination in the suburbs.  That line of thinking needs to be addressed directly if we're ever to turn things around.  We need to move past the idea that density is something that whites foist upon unwilling blacks.  Maybe for a time it was, but too many have gleaned the wrong lesson from that tragic episode in our history. 

The densities and incomes of Hough before 1930 were probably what one might want from a vibrant urban neighborhood. Household incomes were on the slide from 1930 to 1950 and densities rose gradually over time as single-family homes became boarding houses, and apartments were subdivided. But when the Central neighborhood was being demolished for the Central Interchange and the Willow Freeway (I-77), Hough starting getting several low-income families living in one apartment because unscrupulous landlords were trying to max their incomes. Not only were densities getting too dense, but most of the new residents were low-income, had little education or marketable skills and many employers in/near Hough were leaving. Such overcrowding, concentrations of poverty, plus hopelessness and desperation built a powderkeg that an inevitable spark would ignite.

I dont think anyone would say that "split up" apartments, and single family homes turned into boarding homes are "good density".  Density may seem like a 4-letter word to some, but the example of Hough is one of extreme overcrowding mixed with poverty and racism.  One can still "sell" density to suburbanites, ask anyone who visits friends and relatives in Chicago or New York.  They love dense vibrant neighborhoods, but just can't imagine it here.

 

We need developers to take chances and build this kind of density downtown again and to show people that Cleveland can be a livable and walkable community.  A dense and energized downtown core is not inherently bad, but rather its the imagination needed to see that quality of city in our hometown that is our biggest challenge.  Too many people think what they see in Chicago or Boston is just not possible here.  That Cleveland is suburban lots surrounded a deadzone of surface lots and a couple sports arenas.  We need to change that stigma, not one that says density is bad, but that Cleveland simply can't achieve it.

 

The densities and incomes of Hough before 1930 were probably what one might want from a vibrant urban neighborhood. Household incomes were on the slide from 1930 to 1950 and densities rose gradually over time as single-family homes became boarding houses, and apartments were subdivided. But when the Central neighborhood was being demolished for the Central Interchange and the Willow Freeway (I-77), Hough starting getting several low-income families living in one apartment because unscrupulous landlords were trying to max their incomes. Not only were densities getting too dense, but most of the new residents were low-income, had little education or marketable skills and many employers in/near Hough were leaving. Such overcrowding, concentrations of poverty, plus hopelessness and desperation built a powderkeg that an inevitable spark would ignite.

 

^ Damn freeway construction...

 

Took out "Big Italy" too...

 

^ Damn freeway construction...

 

Took out "Big Italy" too...

 

 

 

Very true. Where many of Hough's residents came from.......

 

 

 

Where they went to.......

 

 

 

And the consequences of overcrowding of low-income residents into a confined area with few opportunities.....

 

 

 

 

A two-unit brick housing unit in ruins on E. 84th St. just north of Chester in 1981.

 

Murray Hill - if your photo from above is right, these are the remaining buildings from Little Hollywood.

 

Cringed looking at those old photos...  My father told me stories of watching the sky from Collinwood and seeing "hough on fire"

 

Correct.  That's all that remains.  And from the picture, it doesn't even looked like it's being lived in or used!  I hope for history's sake, it will remain standing for some time.

^I doubt those apartments will stay up for long.  I know residents in that cul-de-sac which used to be Little Hollywood who want those apartments torn down.  To be serious, I can't blame them- at least one of those houses in that area is valued at more than $1 million and that part of Hough's history is long gone (for better or for worse).  Shows how much the neighborhood has changed... though there's a dichotomy of sorts between the "old" (mostly north of Hough Ave.) and "new" (south of Hough Ave.) Hough among the residents. 

Nice history lesson

33 Photos Taken During and After the Deadly 1966 Hough Riots

http://photos.clevescene.com/33-photos-taken-deadly-1966-hough-riots/?slide=1&1567-east-65th-street-partially-destroyed-during-hough-riots-1967