Code,999064
Subject,Robert Wheeler
Date,7/18/2008
Interviewer,Emily Miller
Abstract,"Robert Wheeler, professor of history at Cleveland State University, discusses the history and importance of Euclid Avenue. He describes the local impact of immigration, the development of Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood, and moments of conflict between ethnic groups. Wheeler also deliberates on the impact of the Cleveland's medical and cultural institutions in the growth of Cleveland's economy and recent revitalization efforts. "
Special Notes,"Mather Mansion, Millionaire's Row, Euclid Avenue, Central Market, Little Italy, Karamu House, Midtown Businesses"
minutes:,
0,interviewee's background
1,interest in area history
2,interviewee's published local history works
3,significance/history of Euclid Ave.
4,cont.
5,cont.
6,cont./self-made men
7,Mather family/mansion
8,cont.
9,cont.
10,CSU's uses of Mather Mansion
11,cont.
12,description of interior
13,cont.
14,cont.
15,mansions swallowed up by car lots
16,"cont. (correction, Junior League, not LWV)"
17,"League of Women Voters - East Cleveland, women's voting rights"
18,East Cleveland cont.
19,cont.
20,"neutrality of LWV, Italian migration"
21,"Big Italy - sicilian, Little Italy - mainland"
22,Little Italy's cultural roots in Italy
23,Little Italy cont./Murray Hill school - limited school integration
24,"cont./Little Italy as artist center, Alta House"
25,Rockefeller's charitable giving habits
26,"Little Italy's staying power, 1970s revival of ethnic identity"
27,cont./continuation of Italian immigration to Little Italy
28,"tightness of Little Italy community, southern/eastern European immigration into Cleveland"
29,clash of ethnicities in Catholic Church
30,revolving door of immigrant streams
31,geographical distribution of immigrant groups
32,"Germans and Irish - reasons for immigration, new immigrant groups - Industrial Revolution"
33,inter-ethnic crime
34,cont.
35,fistfights between Czechs and Slovaks at CSU display
36,ethnic rivalries
37,Midtown Corridor/MCI
38,MCI emphasis on innovative companies - Clinic's creeping growth
39,"impact of Clinic cont., Botanical Gardens - bad location"
40,Aquarium plans - failed 1970s
41,Botanical Garden location (earlier comments contain errors)
42,talking about cultural gardens?
43,"botanical gardens rebuild, over-optimism of funding hype, low attendance relative to other cities"
44,old Zoo on site of Botanical Gardens
45,Cleveland-Marshall - little information
46,Central Market
47,CM as distribution point
48,Central Market cont. (logger's note: CM last location closed due to Gateway)
49,cont./liquor by glass
50,Karamu House
51,white funding/black clientele tension
52,Karamu House cont.
53,cont.
54,tension cont.
55,thoughts on Euclid Corridor project - Feagler column*
56,uncertainty about purpose
57,skepticism re: economic impact - how much non-Clinic?
58,concluding comments
,"*Logger's note:  us west-siders have gotten used to being overlooked, it's basically a twin cities situation (Cleveland - East, Ohio City - west) with a shared downtown"