Cleveland Cultural Gardens
Encyclopedia
The Cleveland Cultural Gardens are a collection of public gardens located in Rockefeller Park
in Cleveland, Ohio
. The gardens are situated along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive within the 276 acre of wooded parkland on the city's East Side. In total, there are 31 distinct gardens, each commemorating a different ethnic group whose immigrants have contributed to the heritage of the United States
over the centuries, as well as Cleveland.
Conceived in 1916 to feature literary figures and then modified as time went on. The original purpose was to get nationality groups working with each other and learning more about each other’s culture at a time when most of the nationalities lived in self-imposed ghettos, self-developed to facilitate the transition from immigrant status, with little or no English language skills, to functional Americans.
Highly successful from the start, the project had almost universal political, media and civic support that only grew as time went on. This became critical when the original plan to have each nationality group fund its own Garden ran into the Depression’s economic wall. However, the City came to the project’s rescue by channeling Federal money and manpower (Works Progress Administration) into building thirteen of the original fifteen Gardens, after the first two were finished.
The number of Gardens continue to increase as new immigrant groups to the region fund their own Garden, a source of great pride.
Rockefeller Park
Rockefeller Park is a city park named in honor of oil magnate John D. Rockefeller Sr., located in Cleveland, Ohio. Part of the Cleveland Public Parks District, Rockefeller Park is immediately adjacent Wade Park on its the southeastern, and across Euclid Ave on its northwestern border...
in Cleveland, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. The gardens are situated along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive within the 276 acre of wooded parkland on the city's East Side. In total, there are 31 distinct gardens, each commemorating a different ethnic group whose immigrants have contributed to the heritage of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
over the centuries, as well as Cleveland.
History
Twenty-seven individual gardens, and growing. Each presents the culture of their respective nation through cultural figures and icons in a variety of materials. Each Garden's landscaping suggests the particular country or nationality for which it is named.Conceived in 1916 to feature literary figures and then modified as time went on. The original purpose was to get nationality groups working with each other and learning more about each other’s culture at a time when most of the nationalities lived in self-imposed ghettos, self-developed to facilitate the transition from immigrant status, with little or no English language skills, to functional Americans.
Highly successful from the start, the project had almost universal political, media and civic support that only grew as time went on. This became critical when the original plan to have each nationality group fund its own Garden ran into the Depression’s economic wall. However, the City came to the project’s rescue by channeling Federal money and manpower (Works Progress Administration) into building thirteen of the original fifteen Gardens, after the first two were finished.
The number of Gardens continue to increase as new immigrant groups to the region fund their own Garden, a source of great pride.
The Gardens
- British Garden (1916)
- Hebrew Garden (1926)
- German Garden (1929)
- Italian Garden (1930)
- Serbian Garden (2008)
- Slovak Garden (1932)
- Slovenian Garden (1932)
- Hungarian Garden (1934)
- Polish Garden (1934)
- American Garden (1935)
- Czech Garden (1935)
- American Legion Peace Gardens (1936)
- Lithuanian Garden (1936)
- Irish Garden (1939)
- Rusin Garden (1939)
- Greek Garden (1940)
- Ukrainian Garden (1940)
- Finnish Garden (1958)
- Estonian Garden (1966)
- Romanian Garden (1967)
- Chinese Garden (1985)
- India Garden (2005)
- Latvian Garden (2006)
- Azerbaijan Garden (2008)
- Armenian Garden (2010)
- Syrian Garden (2011)
- Croatian Garden (2009)