PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN

Monday, September 22, 2025, Brookmere Cemetery, 3645 Broadview Road: Entrance to the City of Cleveland’s Brookmere Cemetery.

by Lynette Filips

     (Plain Press October 2025) Another month has passed and once again there are new developments in the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation’s (OBCDC’s) Memphis Pearl project. Interestingly, I was recently able to see a copy of the November 30, 2022 adaptive reuse plan for the corner which the other potential developer submitted to OBCDC and it estimated that their “project completion goal” would be Spring of 2025. But now it is Autumn of 2025 and OBCDC is still treading water, while it hopes for $13-$15 million in TIF money to finish funding the Memphis Pearl plan they chose. 

     Friday, September 19th, was a significant date for the Community Development Corporation in two ways: 

     1.  OBCDC’s Chief-of-Staff, Director of Community Health and Interim Executive Director Amber Jones officially left her positions with the organization. Jones began her tenure with OBCDC as an intern when she was a student at Case Western Reserve University and worked her way up to the Interim Executive Director position early this year when former Executive Director Lucas Reeve took a new job with the City. At press time the OBCDC Board of Directors has not yet announced either a replacement Interim Executive Director or a new permanent Executive Director. 

     2. Also on September 19th, the three remaining tenants in the Greenline Building(s) had “Notice to Vacate” papers attached to their doors. The notices were not quite the eviction notices about which I have been worrying in the past couple of articles. While the Vacate Notices are legal documents, they do not put an official legal process in place the way that an eviction notice does. They simply inform a person or entity that a rental agreement is finished. But if the person or entity which receives one does not comply within three business days of the date on the notice, an eviction notice, which does involve the Court system and a ruling by a judge, could be forthcoming. Unfortunately, the Notices to Vacate which the Greenline Building tenants received gave them less than three days because they were dated September 17th, but they weren’t delivered until September 19th.

     In other near Pearl and Memphis news from last month, on Saturday, September 20th, a relatively new Old Brooklyn business named The Miscreant and the Muse organized a “Night Faire” in Old Brooklyn’s historic Brookmere Cemetery, located at the end of the short segment of Broadview Rd. west of Pearl Rd. The announcement of the event was met with mixed reactions based on one’s perception of how a cemetery should be used out of respect for the persons buried there. But the City of Cleveland issued a permit and the event was scheduled. It featured approximately 40 vendors of Goth type art and products, plus food, drink and entertainment and was largely set up in an area of the Cemetery where there are no gravestones.  Only the vendors were allowed to park within the Cemetery and ample security was present. 

     No admission fee was charged for the Faire, which was no doubt an incentive for people to check it out. The comments on Facebook from people who attended it were all favorable — except for the parking situation! People who couldn’t attend because they couldn’t find a parking place were disappointed to have missed it. People who did find a place parked as close as both sides of “Short” Broadview Rd. leading to the Cemetery and as far as multiple blocks away.

     I was concerned about the gravestones and monuments and was relieved when I saw a photo with portable fencing blocking off areas with large monuments.  But I also saw another photo with people standing on flat headstones with seemingly no awareness of the persons buried there.  I was also concerned about possible damage to the grass from the throngs of people walking on it.  Time will tell!  The talk is of making the Faire an annual event. Perhaps the sponsors could find a space to host it that has no people buried there and lots of room for parking. 

     Brookmere Cemetery is going to be the center of attention in a very different sort of way on Sunday, October 26th, when a special one-hour tour will take place there beginning at 11a.m.  It’s part of “Cleveland Buried History Days” and this time Brookmere’s history and inhabitants will be featured. Two sisters who grew up in Old Brooklyn and have been lovingly tending the Cemetery for the past couple of years have been asked to conduct the walking tour.  Their names are Linda Cameron and Karen Parks.  Admission of $15 per person will be charged, and advance registration is required. Hot cider, cookies, a TakeAHike drawstring bag, koozie and flashlight are included in the registration fee.  Register at: takeahikecle.com or visit canalwaypartners.com.

     Brookmere Cemetery was also a stop on a Take-A-Stroll through downtown Old Brooklyn on four of the five Tuesdays in September. A shorter version of the Take-A-Hike walks, it, too, is the brainchild of folks at the Historic Gateway Neighborhood Corporation. OBCDC Neighborhood Development Director Charles Kennick met participants at Brighton Park (on the east side of Pearl Rd. just north of Henninger Rd.) and walked with them to Brookmere Cemetery, the IOOF (Independent Order of Odd Fellows), Ariel Pearl Center, Slices Fabulous Cakes, the former St. Luke’s United Church of Christ, Pearl Road United Methodist Church and the Greenline Building. He did not speak about the Greenline Building or Brookmere Cemetery, however.  On the last two tours, Linda Cameron and Karen Parks were there for a bit of discussion about Brookmere.

     That’s all for this month. You can access past articles in this series on the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn’s website, www.oldbrooklynhistory.org, and on the Plain Press’ website, https://plainpress.blog.