To the editor:

(Plain Press, June 2022)                            Thank you to the Plain Press for publishing Lynette Filips’ excellent letter in favor of saving the Farnsworth house and St. Nicholas Church.

     I am a long-time resident and volunteer on a MetroHealth Patient Family Advisory committee. I echo the despair of my fellow Old Brooklyn neighbors regarding the proposed demolition of St. Nicholas and Farnsworth house. There are also mature trees on the site that should be preserved.

LETTER

     It is not too late for MetroHealth to restore community faith in the Transformation Plan and the EcoVillage District process. Community services through the Institute of H.O.P.E. and parenting support through the Nurse Family Partnership and Ronald McDonald House would be an ideal use for this historic complex. 

     Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s School of Science and Health classrooms are another possible use that could facilitate the hospital’s park design connection to the Lincoln West High School campus, Applewood Jones Home, and the  newly renovated City of Cleveland Meyer Pool.

     Finally, MetroHealth has a long history. In 1837, the City Hospital was located near the present Erie Street Cemetery, then moved to the current location in the “old” Brooklyn Twp in 1855, becoming the County Hospital in 1958. MetroHealth’s Main Campus is in the Brooklyn Centre Statistical Planning Area (SPA) and the Deaconess campus is in the Old Brooklyn SPA connected via West 25th-Pearl in the Cuyahoga Valley National Heritage Area designation. The opportunity to showcase MetroHealth’s history will be lost if these buildings are destroyed.

Laura McShane

Brooklyn Centre