Early Rusin Garden History

This is the original drawing of the Rusin Garden.  

Unfortunately, not all of this grand plan came to fruition. 

Our garden was designed to be reminiscent of the area where the Rusins resided in and near the Carpathian Mountains.  To accomplish this, our garden includes a stone feature in the upper garden, which overlooks the hillside to the stone feature and sidewalks in the lower garden, that border Doan Brook.  A sweeping stairway connects the two gardens. 

Our garden is located between the Czech Garden to the north and the Slovak Garden to the south - much as our ancestors lived in Europe. 

A bridge across Doan Brook, that would connect to another stone feature with interconnecting sidewalks and green space along Lower East Blvd (Martin Luther King Blvd), is seen at the bottom of the drawing.  This and the stairs to the north of the connecting stairway were never constructed. 

By the 1930's, Cleveland experienced a large increase in its population as a result of the many immigrants (late 1880's and early1900's) coming from central and eastern Europe.  This did not sit well with those who settled in the area much earlier, became assimilated and now felt they were "natives". The new immigrants were hungry for jobs and education for their children.  For many, city life was not the norm and adjustments needed to be made to "fit into" their new surroundings, while trying to hold onto their language and traditions.

 From research, we have learned that expansion of the gardens in the 1930's was inspired by the hope of bridging that gap and bringing ethnicities together with a sense of pride for themselves and to help them gain respect for their neighbors.

  It was because of this that the city reached out to various community leaders to encourage their people to create cultural organizations to help the children of those immigrants remain in school and encourage higher education.  The goal --- create more productive citizens with a better social standing than their immigrant parents. For the Rusyn community this organization was the Rusin Elite Society

 The expansion of the gardens gave these organizations an opportunity to share their language, dress, culture, traditions and food while learning about those around them.  It was hoped that this would foster "Peace through mutual understanding", the motto of the Cultural Gardens Federation.