Residents of the Lee-Seville neighborhood in Cleveland’s Ward 1 are reaching back to the past to ensure the neighborhood’s future. It wasn’t always part of Ward 1. In fact, it wasn’t always a part of Cleveland.
In 1927, this area was known as Miles Heights, a village unto itself.
“It was like living in Mayberry,” Pastor Horace Glover Jr. from the Leviticus Sweet Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church said. “Right here, right down the street: blackberries, apples… my mother used to can blackberries, pears, apples, strawberries… she used to can them for the winter.”
In 1929, Miles Heights installed the first Black mayor in the state of Ohio, Arthur R. Johnston, who is significant still today.
“Yes,” Don McGee said. “And the sense of pride that comes with that so everybody can know, if we had a Black mayor 100 years ago right here, then all of our youth, all of our people currently here can do, whatever!”
McGee is with the Miles Heights Development Corporation. Recently, the group acquired the house where Mayor Johnston lived. The goal is to rebuild the house and make it strong again. It would be a meeting place for neighbors, a place to gather in the community.
Eventually, maybe the entire neighborhood could take a cue from the house and become strong again, too. The Miles Heights Development Corporation would like the community to use the mayor’s house as a shining example of what was once great and can be again. According to Richard Chancellor, who lives here, this could be a lesson for the younger generation.
“It’s pretty much to let them know that we came from somewhere. We’re not just nobody. We have a rich history in the community.”
Miles Heights was annexed by the city of Cleveland in 1932. But the neighborhood remains. The hard work is underway to make sure it stays that way.
You can find more information on how you can help with the restoration of the Arthur R. Johnston house on the Miles Heights Development Corporation website.
