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For more than 120 years, the natural amphitheater of Brookside Stadium has been a place of recreation for visitors to enjoy community events, festivals, and even a concert by John Philip Sousa. Engineered by William Stinchcomb, chief architect of the Cleveland Metroparks, Brookside Stadium officially opened as a premier space for sandlot baseball in May 1909. As amateur baseball found increased esteem, both locally and nationally, Brookside Stadium regularly became popular with thousands of spectators. On Sunday, October 10, 1915, it was host to the National Inter-City Amateur Championship, during which a crowd of an estimated 115,000 people witnessed the White Autos beat the Omaha Luxus 11 to 6. Although there was no formal ticketing system to verify the exact attendance, photographs taken that day strongly suggest that Brookside Stadium hosted the largest crowd in amateur baseball history.
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The Drexel Theatre is a significant example of the once-ubiquitous small neighborhood theatres that appeared in the 1930s, a time when movies were an inexpensive and popular form of entertainment. Designed by architect Robert R. Royce, the theatre was built in 1937 in a combination of Art Deco and Art Moderne styles. The P.F. Yoerger Sign Company designed the iconic marquee. The Drexel opened on Christmas Day 1937, showing the movie One Mile from Heaven, and has been in continuous operation ever since. In 2009, with the theatre falling on hard times, Friends of the Drexel and the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts came together to save and restore this artistic jewel for future generations to cherish. The Drexel Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
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Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson (1940-2015) and her son Sydney moved into this home in 1974. The artist, a visual historian, lived and worked here in the Shepard community until her passing. Raised in Columbus’s Poindexter Village and educated in the local public schools, Robinson also studied at Columbus College of Art and Design and The Ohio State University. Her art reflected stories handed down from her elders, experienced within her community, and the local history she researched while working at the Columbus Metropolitan Library. She received a 2004 MacArthur Award for her celebration of “family, ancestry, and the grandeur of simple objects in drawings, paintings, and large-scale, mixed-media assemblages.” (Continued on the other side)
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City architect Frederic H. Betz designed the St. Clair Avenue Public Bath House and it was constructed in 1919-1920 at a cost of $320,000. The facility included a large gymnasium, swimming pool, and laundry, in addition to showers. City Council dedicated the newly completed building to the late, beloved Cleveland Indians shortstop Raymond Chapman in 1920. The St. Clair Recreation Center, as it was later known, was in the impact zone and survived the East Ohio Gas Company disaster on October 20, 1944. The facility was remodeled in 1949 and subsequent renovations demonstrate the utility of the building. Edward J. Kovacic (1910-1974) was the superintendent of the bathhouse from 1933-1934 and served on the City Council from 1940-1953. In 1977, the facility was renamed to honor Kovacic’s contributions to the citizens of the St. Clair neighborhood and to the city. (Continued on other side)
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Cory United Methodist Church is an icon of Cleveland’s civil rights movement. As one of the city’s largest Black-owned churches during the 1960s, Cory hosted events for national, local, and grassroots organizations such as the Fair Employment Practices Committee, NAACP Cleveland Branch, Cleveland Chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and United Freedom Movement. Over 75 years later, Cory UMC continues its long tradition of community programming that promotes equity and education. Originally designed by architect Albert F. Janowitz to house the Anshe Emeth Beth Tefilo congregation, the building served as the Cleveland Jewish Center from 1922 to 1945. The Methodist congregation purchased it in 1946. Since 1961, the building has also been home to the Glenville Recreation Center. Cory UMC was designated as a local landmark by the Cleveland Landmarks Commission in 2012.
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