• All storefronts in Greenline Buildings at Memphis and Pearl are empty

    HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF OLD BROOKLYN MUSEUM AND MARIA THE BARBERETTE WERE EVICTED LAST MONTH  by Lynette Filips(Plain Press December 2025) In the article about the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation’s (OBCDC’s) Memphis Pearl project in the April 2025, issue of the Plain Press, I wrote some commentary about Ward 13 Councilman Kris Harsh’s visit to…


  • Councilman Kris Harsh urged to honor promise to delay demolition of Pearl and Memphis corner until funding for proposed project is secured

    by Lynette Filips    (Plain Press November 2025) Longtime Greater Clevelanders will no doubt remember the years shortly before and after 1970 when the lights were permanently off at Playhouse Square. The once-glorious theaters were slated for demolition because downtown Cleveland was not the entertainment epicenter of the region that it once had been. But…


  • News from Old Brooklyn and update on status of Memphis and Pearl project

    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…


  • Effort to preserve Old Brooklyn’s history continues

    by Lynette Fillips    (Plain Press September 2025) Over a year and a half ago when I started writing these articles for the Plain Press, I visited the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn’s (HSOB’s) museum, 3430 Memphis Ave., to check some historical information in their files. While there I met a thirty-something year old man…


  • Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits granted to two buildings in Old Brooklyn Historic District

    IMAGE COURTESY OF STEPHANIE RYBERG-WEBSTER Stephanie Ryberg-Webster, associate professor in the Department of Urban Studies at Cleveland State University’s Levin School of Urban Affairs, is the author of Preserving the Vanishing City:  Historic Preservation Amid Urban Decline In Cleveland, Ohio.  She was one of three persons speaking about the topic of Preservation Advocacy at a…


  • Programs offer leadership training

      PHOTO COURTESY OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM (CDCLP) Community Development leaders from the Cleveland area participate in a session on real estate. The CDCLP is looking for leaders interested in joining its 2025 cohort.    (Plain Press July 2025) If you are passionate, committed and dedicated to taking an active role in improving…


  • Fact checking corrects misinformation about history of Pearl & Memphis corner

    PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF OLD BROOKLYN German United Evangelical Church of Brighton, Ohio, built in 1853 and replaced in 1904.  This little frame church faced Columbus Rd. (today’s Pearl Rd.) at the northwest corner of Mill St. (today’s Memphis Ave.) PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF OLD BROOKLYN St. Luke’s Evangelical…


  • More information comes to light this past month concerning the Pearl Memphis project

    PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF OLD BROOKLYN One of the most prominent structures in the “South Brooklyn Commercial District” is the Pearl Broadview Building on the southeast corner of Pearl Rd. and Broadview Rd.  After it was built in 1928, Hagedorn’s Drug was in the storefront at the corner, a jewelry store was…


  • HUD cuts will make it harder for City’s CDCs to stay open

    by Bruce Checefsky      Cleveland City Council introduced measures to overhaul funding for Community Development Corporations (CDCs) in January of this year. Ordinance No. 113-2025 would change how neighborhood development corporations get money by creating a Neighborhood Development Sub-fund. The program will provide grants to expand economic opportunities for low- to moderate-income residents.      In Cleveland,…


  • A variety of concerns drive opposition to proposed development at Pearl & Memphis

    PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF OLD BROOKLYN The Independent Order of Odd Fellows building at 3409 “Short” Broadview Rd. was built in 1913 and owned by the Odd Fellows until 1958. Since then, ownership has passed to several different entrepreneurs.  At the time that the South Brooklyn Commercial District was established with the…