Abstract

Hope and Stanley Adelstein, lifelong residents of Cleveland Heights, discuss their experiences as supporters of the Shaker Lakes Nature Center. The couple describe their role in the grassroots battle to stop highway construction through the Shaker Lakes during the 1960s, which laid the groundwork for the creation of the Center. The Adelsteins were also involved with the founding of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which is discussed in some detail. Stanley Adelstein, an active member of the City Club of Cleveland, discusses that organization and its recent environmental programming. Additional topics include renewable energy and green building, the Cleveland Foundation, the Earth Day Coalition, and Cain Park in Cleveland Heights.

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Interviewee

Adelstein, Hope (interviewee); Adelstein, Stanley (interviewee)

Interviewer

Smith, Nancy King (interviewer)

Project

Shaker Lakes Nature Center

Date

2008

Document Type

Oral History

Duration

56 minutes

Transcript

James Calder [00:00:00] So I will start recording.

Nancy King Smith [00:00:03] This is Stanley and Hope Adelstein. I’m Nancy King Smith, and it is April 15, 2008. And we’ll start off with sort of learning a little bit about your early history. How long have you lived in Cleveland? Tell us about something, some of your growing up experiences. Stanley, go ahead.

Stanley Adelstein [00:00:30] I’m 89 years old, so I’ve lived in Cleveland all my life, with the exception of during service of World War II in the US Coast Guard for about three and a half years. I grew up in Cleveland Heights and went to the three schools in the Cleveland Heights School District and Heights High School. And then I went to college, also in Cleveland, at what was called Western Reserve University, Adelbert College, and then I went to the School of Law in Cleveland, also part of Western Reserve University. So Cleveland’s always been my home and I feel very strongly about our city and its past and also its present and its future.

Hope Adelstein [00:01:21] I, too, was born in Cleveland and lived here all my life. I’m 86 years old and I went to school in Cleveland Heights, lived in Cleveland Heights and enjoyed Cleveland very much. It’s been a rich community in the arts, education. I was a registered nurse during World War II, graduated Mount Sinai Hospital and became active in civic work soon on, especially with children.

Nancy King Smith [00:01:58] That’s how I first met you.

Hope Adelstein [00:01:59] That’s right.

Nancy King Smith [00:02:01] You both describe a memory of an early outdoor experience that comes to mind.

Stanley Adelstein [00:02:11] Well, my outdoor experiences are many. One that’s most vivid, though, is during World War II, actually, when I was about 21 years old and being stationed out on the west coast on the Olympic Peninsula near what is now Seattle, Washington and Port Angeles, and seeing some of the forests that were being trees that were being cut down, oddly enough, for paper that were being shipped over to Japan and coming back as paper. What impressed me was there were no real rules then about chopping down trees. And the devastation of it was absolutely overwhelming. That’s probably when I first became interested in outdoor organizations such as the Sierra Club, which I joined when I was living stationed out in Port Angeles in Neah Bay, Washington. And that created a lifelong experience. I’m now 89 years old. I remember it vividly, and I’ve carried forward that impression for many years.

Hope Adelstein [00:03:28] I think I’ve always been interested in the outdoors. As a child, I couldn’t wait to go out and play. I never liked being in home, at home and sedentary. I actually became very interested when Stanley and I were married almost 50 years ago and our travel started very, very simply. With going to the national parks and going hiking. We even bought fine hiking boots and just recently we gave them away. It’s sad, but I have tennis shoes now. The parks were always a great lure. Wonderful travels and the simplicity and the isolation of walking on a trail has been memorable to this very day. You can go through the parks, but I’m sure all of you know the many parks in this great country of ours.

Nancy King Smith [00:04:28] Can you say a little more, Stanley? You’ve been so active in environmental circles for a long time. How you mentioned the experience with Olympic Peninsula. What are some of the other environmental education ways over the years that you might share with us?

Stanley Adelstein [00:04:49] Well, there have been many, actually. One of the first in Cleveland was probably the Nature center at Shaker Lakes which came about. We never lived in Shaker Heights, but we knew the director. Hope knew the director who at the time met her was the director of the Children’s Museum. And then she, Nancy King Smith, moved to the Nature Center of Shaker Lakes. So it was quite a lovely, nice transition, one that we were very familiar with. And because of the director, we became quite involved with the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes.

Nancy King Smith [00:05:31] Do you want to share anything of either more recent, like Stanley, or earlier times?

Hope Adelstein [00:05:37] Well, you speak of earlier times. I learned from you about early childhood development in children and that became a mantra for me. Start young, very young, and have them exposed to nature, to everything. There was a lot out here and you were the one that, remember we had Michael Spock, Dr. Spock’s son. And that was many, many, many such happenings that instilled in me the love for early childhood development in children.

Stanley Adelstein [00:06:14] Well, Hope mentioned the national parks and of course the Cleveland area has its metropolitan park system which for many years I used to enjoy walking on some of the trails. And it’s a very wonderful park system which called the Emerald Necklace, which encompasses the entire greater Cleveland area. But then in turn, when Hope mentioned the national parks, we now have a national park that’s very close to Cleveland. Thirty miles from here is located the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Most people know it as the site for Blossom Music center where the Cleveland Orchestra performs in the summertime. But even more important is the year round recreational facilities of this national park of something like 35,000 acres of land which each year there are more than 3 million visitors who utilize its facilities, including a bed and breakfast which is located within the park. The Inn at Brandywine Falls. It’s a magnificent park system. And here it is within a 30-minute drive from most of our homes in Greater Cleveland, a national park in our own midst. So that is something we’ve been involved with for many, many years. And it’s something we tell our friends of that they don’t have to go to California and Yosemite and Yellowstone. They have a park right here. It doesn’t have the high mountains, but it does have a lot of other features that are very wonderful.

Nancy King Smith [00:07:51] You say you’ve been involved. I know you’ve used the park. Have you been involved in any of having it come about or any parts of that?

Stanley Adelstein [00:08:02] Well, there was a unique situation there because it was not a national park until Gerald Ford was president of the United States. He was rather reluctant to endorse it because there were other priorities he had in mind. So I wrote a letter to our United States Senator, Howard Metzenbaum - just died this year - whom I knew personally. He and I were lawyers. And we- I wrote to Howard one day and I told him, Howard, there’s a wonderful opportunity to have a national park right here within a few miles of where you live in Shaker Heights. But we need your support in the Senate to get it passed. I was working in the office one night around 5:30 and I got a phone call. And the call came from Washington, from Senator Metzenbaum. He said, Stanley, I got your letter and you don’t have to urge me to support. I’m all in favor of the park, but unfortunately the president is not much in favor of it. Gerald Ford, and I need your help. I said, well, Howard, I know you, but I don’t know the president and I’m sure he doesn’t know me. I know. He said. He said, but you have someone in your office, the head of your office, who’s a very active Republican, a member of the Cuyahoga County Republican Executive Committee and the treasurer of the Republican Party locally. And he could help out. His name was Fillmore J. Haber, and that was the name of our law firm, Hardy, Haber, Berick and McDonald. He said, why don’t you talk to your head of the law office? I said, I’ll do that, Howard. So the following morning I spoke to Mr. Haber. I didn’t call him Phil Haber in those days, Mr. Haber. And I told him about the phone call. And he just sat back and he listened. And he smoked a big cigar, which he puffed out at me a few times, said, I’ll see what I can do to help you. So I don’t know what happened, but I don’t know whom he called or what buttons he pushed. But the long and the short of it is that the president ultimately did support the concept of having a national park here. And we now are very fortunate to have this wonderful park so close by to Cleveland, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. And Hope and I are still active this day on the helping the Cuyahoga Valley Park Association, which is a group of civilian supporters of the park, to raise awareness about the park, to raise funds periodically to have various events that bring people in to utilize the wonderful facilities that are so close by.

Hope Adelstein [00:10:38] May I just add something? Stanley started Legacy Society for the national park. And it became very productive and a great asset. And also we’ve been interested in again, early childhood development. And what better place than this park? Who has the most unique setting that I’ve ever seen? They have a camp that’s in existence for all the school systems and four days and nights. And they learn about the environmental issues that are plaguing our country today. And it’s wonderful books and wonderful food and it’s a very creative place. In the summertime, we provided to have inner city children come out to the park and they see grass and the sky and animals, a pond perhaps for the first time. And it’s been very productive.

Stanley Adelstein [00:11:46] The park also has a canal. It was called the Towpath originally, which connected the Ohio River and Lake Erie. This is before the invention of the steam engine, so that when the items had to be shipped from what is now Cincinnati to Cleveland, they came along this towpath, which is basically a man built waterway which connects Lake Erie with the Ohio River. And there would be animals, I think mules would that would haul the cargo that was floating on the towpath. And there’s an area where the elevation changes. And as a result there has to be the equivalent of locks that raise or lower these rafts to the appropriate altitude or lower to the appropriate altitude. It’s not the Panama Canal, but it’s the same principle that applies Panama Canal, which they dropped down a certain wall which blocks the water, which then contains the water and either raises or lowers the craft level. And they have volunteers who dress in the clothing that was appropriate of the early 18th century when the towpath was being used. And they demonstrate exactly how the vessels were raised or lowered. If you can’t get the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal, you can see it right in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, A replica of how this happened.

Nancy King Smith [00:13:25] That’s great. Well, I had figured you probably were involved in some way, but I hadn’t heard that story before, and I’m glad to know that you also had something to do and were certainly aware of way back at the beginnings of the Nature center with the Clark Freeway. Can you share how you knew about that and how you might have been involved?

Stanley Adelstein [00:13:49] Well, you’re referring to 42 years ago, when a man named Albert Porter, who was the Cuyahoga county engineer, had the concept of building a superhighway that would go from where we happen to live now in Pepper Pike beyond Brainard Road, and would connect a fast highway of vehicular transportation going down to the Inner Belt and the other roads that are around Cleveland probably would have saved 10 or 15 minutes, maybe in driving time from Pepper pike to downtown Cleveland, but at the same time would have destroyed the beauty of Shaker Lakes, which is a rare, rare beauty in a metropolitan area, and also would have destroyed the beauty of the very elegant homes located on South Park Boulevard, on Shaker Boulevard, on South Woodland, on all the cross streets, Drummond and Eaton and Torrington and the others in Shaker Heights. And I was involved, actually, on two different levels at the time. I was the lawyer. I’m a retired lawyer for the weekly newspaper called the Sun Press. And its publisher was a man named Harry Volk. And president was a man named Milton Friedlander. I was their attorney. And Harry Volk was a very, very active publisher and editor. And he felt that this proposed highway would be a real harm to the Shaker Heights community. So he decided to run article after article in the Sun Press, which had a circulation of most of the eastern suburbs and some of the other papers that he headed opposing it, both news stories and editorials. We talked about it from time to time, and we talked also about getting the governor to try to resist this. Jim Rhodes was the governor at the time. He was a very active Republican, and he was involved in some contest to be reelected where there could have been a close vote. And I think there was sort of a quid pro quo. A tit for tat, whereby the newspaper would support. The newspaper would continue to resist the Clark Freeway, and in return for that, it would support the governor when he ran for re election if, in fact, the governor would use his influence to stop the highway. Well, Mr. Porter, Albert Porter had a very strong ally. His brother was Philip Porter, and Philip Porter was the editor at the time of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a very, very important periodical and much more important to the Sun Press. However, Henry Volk had the ear of the governor and to make a long story short, the efforts, I think, of Mr. Volk and his newspaper played a very important role in stopping the highway which made possible this wonderful treasure, the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, to be established where the Clark Freeway would have gone. And the other involvement I had was Mr. Haber. Again, our office represented a number of clients who lived in this area. One, Mrs. Reitman, lived right at the very corner of Shaker Boulevard and Eaton and her property, as others would have been terribly impaired by the Clark Freeway. So again, Mr. Haber used his political influence to try to stop the freeway. And they were successful. That’s the end of the story. They were successful. And the nature center was formed almost 41 years ago. And it’s really a jewel for everybody to see to have these wonderful trails and facilities and classrooms right within a 10 minute ride from the inner city of Cleveland. That’s a rare thing to have and it’s a real treasure. And I was proud to play a very small part in the starting of the, I should say the ending of the highway. I wasn’t in on the starting of the nature center, except indirectly.

Nancy King Smith [00:18:32] Well, go ahead.

Hope Adelstein [00:18:34] I just have a thought. The Euclid Corridor is extending from downtown Cleveland in the inner-city areas where a lot of people live, unfortunately, in poor areas. And it goes to University Circle. It doesn’t go up the hill to the Heights. However, the problem has always been to get bus transportation anywhere in this city today, because buses have been curtailed due to finances. No federal funding, no state funding. And how do you get children, early education children, if they don’t have parents that aren’t working or trying to find a job to get to a quality institution that can help them. This is a big problem. Maybe there can be a shuttle bus at the end. I don’t know. It just came to mind. It’s a good thought, isn’t it?

Stanley Adelstein [00:19:32] Absolutely.

Nancy King Smith [00:19:36] We try to encourage people to take the Shaker Rapid, but that doesn’t happen enough either. So let’s jump from the beginnings, your involvement with stopping the highway, which made possible a nature center. I remember well the first time you came to my office, which was way back up there, and shared what my new job was and what we were doing here. Do you have impressions of either that or early of your coming back to the center within the last 15 years or so?

Stanley Adelstein [00:20:15] Well, yes. Seeing you, Nancy King Smith, here at the Nature Center was like deja vu because we knew you very well at the Children’s Museum, of which you were the director for many years. And Hope was a founding trustee of the Children’s Museum. So we had a strong attachment to you. We know what you had done at the Children’s Museum. And when we heard that you were at the Nature center, it sort of tied in with the feeling we had about the environment and about nature and you. So sort of a natural reintroduction to you again. And then when we learned that there was going to be a major fundraising campaign to retrofit and to expand and to incorporate some very fine environmental features into this Nature center at Shaker Lakes, we were very happy to participate. And that’s when we really spent some intensive time with you and with the man at the time was the development director, Steve Cadwell, who’s now the director of the Nature center at Shaker Lake. So we spent a lot of time right here in this very room, as a matter of fact, planning strategy and carrying it out. And we can tell you more about that if you like. But that’s how we really got really involved in the Nature Center.

Nancy King Smith [00:21:43] Thank you.

Hope Adelstein [00:21:47] Exciting times. Just a real happening.

Stanley Adelstein [00:21:52] I think when we first knew you were here, we wanted to do something to financially help the Nature Center. So you gave us some ideas of areas where funds were needed to provide for children whose school districts could not afford to send them here to come to take some of the classes and learn about nature firsthand. So we created a modest fund which is still in existence today, which helps to fill that void and to make possible for, as Hope mentioned, some children from the inner city to come here and really enjoy the wonderful opportunity to learn about nature firsthand right here in the Nature Center.

Nancy King Smith [00:22:38] It’s been so wonderful to see how you’ve combined your environmental love and your love of children to support what’s happening here. Obviously, I know a lot about the capital campaign, but let’s pretend you’re sharing with others. Tell about your significant involvement in making that happen.

Stanley Adelstein [00:22:59] Well, it was a challenge. I’ve forgotten now what the goal was. Was it $2 million, something like that? 2.1, which is still a lot of money, even these days of billionaires you read about. But it’s still a lot of money to get on a volunteer basis, because the Nature center has never, as I understand, had any funding directly from any government agency. It’s all come through the hard work of some very dedicated women and men who care deeply about nature and about having a facility to preserve it. So they’ve gone out and rang a lot of doorbells and knocked on windows, whatever, to try to raise money for it that’s why we have this structure here. On the campaign was developed for the… We were on the planning stage. I think a man named Bill Lipscomb came a couple times to our home and planned surveys as to how to go about fundraising. I had some experience with fundraising. I’m very involved with the City Club. Had raised money for the City Club over the years. Cleveland School of Music and Cuyahoga National Park. So I was very happy to pitch in because here it is right in our own neighborhood. And we think for highly of the center and of its director. I practiced law for, as I say, almost 50 years in Cleveland. Had a wide acquaintanceship among some of the business people in Cleveland. And I, one by one, went to see those I thought might be amenable to making contributions. And I found that you. In order to raise money, a letter is not sufficient. Frequently goes right in the wastebasket. Even a telephone is often inadequate. But inviting somebody to have lunch or meet at their home or their office or business can be productive. Not every time, not by any means, and there are many disappointments. But by sheer numbers, I was able to raise, I think, almost 10% of the total goal just personally, by going back, as I say, to clients, to people whom I knew who lived in the Shaker Heights area, or people who didn’t live in the Shaker Heights area but were friendly to the whole entire concept of a nature center. And as a result, I played a role. Hope gave me suggestions of people to see, and we tried those. And the ultimate result was that the goal was raised. Other people raised even more money than I did with some very major grants. But we did raise that money. The building was completed. I was particularly impressed by the environmental features to be incorporated in the building. I can tell you about that if you’re interested. One of them was the whole concept of geothermal energy, which means instead of getting energy from burning coal and gain electricity from that and all the pollution that goes along with it by drilling into the ground 200 or 300 or 400ft, there’s a certain temperature which is constant year round. And that temperature can be used to heat in the wintertime and to cool the summertime. And that’s exactly what was done right here in Shaker Heights. Most people associate geothermal with Iceland. It was Reykjavik, but not so it’s true. There’s a great amount of it there. And Hope and I have been there and we’ve seen it. But it’s also right here at the nature center at Shaker Lakes. And in 10 other destinations in Greater Cleveland, including Trinity Cathedral, which is in Downtown Cleveland, about 21st Street, right near Cleveland State University, which is sponsoring this history series, there is geothermal energy, which does exactly that to the Trinity Cathedral. We’re very proud of that. The Nature Center, even when time came to have the plans drawn as to where the additional building would be, there had to be one big tree taken down. Most of the trees were saved, we’re happy to say, and they had to go around the trees, but one big tree had to be saved. I’m not sure if the tree cried. The volunteers cried because they hated to see it come down, but come down it did. But in the true spirit of conservation, which the Nature Center has always stood for, the tree was recycled. And this very table we’re looking at now as we’re doing this recording at the Nature Center, Shaker Lakes, is composed of. What was that beautiful tree right outside? Excess pieces of the tree. What do you tell what they were used for?

Hope Adelstein [00:27:55] Well, I think we had artisans that were part of the group, and they made beautiful bowls out of the tree, woodworking and canes, chairs.

Stanley Adelstein [00:28:11] It was an example of really conservation, everything conservation. And it was very appropriate because the Nature Center, Shaker Lakes, that’s sort of its moniker, conservation. And it certainly was a real evidence of it.

Nancy King Smith [00:28:27] So you were really instrumental in getting the wonderful addition. And as you’ve been involved these now number of years, what are some of the programs and things that you are.

Stanley Adelstein [00:28:40] Especially pleased about from the Nature Center throughout Cleveland?

Nancy King Smith [00:28:47] Let’s do the Nature Center and then we’ll move to other parts of Cleveland.

Stanley Adelstein [00:28:51] Well, throughout the Nature center, certainly we have no children, but we have taken our nephew and niece along the trails here when they were 4 years old and 5 years old. And just to see them enjoying the streams and the bridges and the trees and some of the wildflowers that were here when we were here was very rewarding. How about you Hope? Telling them when we took them out to see the marsh, which is on the other side of the park.

Hope Adelstein [00:29:24] The marsh has always been one of my favorites. In fact, the sun is shining. I hope to take a walk before we leave. It’s a little lovely, lovely area. What else do we know? The program here has been unique. We’ve been to a lot of wonderful programs here on nature.

Stanley Adelstein [00:29:42] Well, we had a wonderful program this past year, 2007, when the physician and his wife, who have a home in Cleveland Heights on Cedar, decided to utilize straw in place of asbestos, you might say, or in place of other insulation material on their beautiful home. It’s a very expensive home on Cedar Road right near Fairmount Boulevard in Cleveland Heights. And the two of them were here. The doctor, I can’t think of his last name right now, Keith, he’s at the Cleveland Clinic, in charge of Huron Road Hospital, actually. And he’s from South Africa, I believe. But he wanted to demonstrate that there is a way of conserving energy by utilizing a crop which is available in abundance, straw, which is a residue when wheat and oats and other things are harvested. They have the straw which he used just for bedding for cattle. And he brought in lots and lots of. He demonstrated this at the Nature center on a very lovely evening. There were about 50 people here. Slides and the very technique that he used is now being used for the building under construction. Now, as we sit here In April of 2008, there’s a building which is named after Nancy King Smith, which is on the property of the Nature center, which is utilizing the same straw to conserve energy. So that was a very. That is a very positive thing that we see here all the time. Another thing that I liked very much was upstairs on the second floor, there is a playroom for children, little children, and they have special chairs and tables. In fact, the bathrooms are specially raised or lowered for their height or lack of height. And. And the books that are there are very appropriate for children. And every day, practically during the school year, every school day, there are busloads of children who come here from schools not only in the Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, University Heights, but also from the inner city. Because children in the regular school year school system don’t have the teaching facilities and the trained people who are here at the Nature center to teach them about nature. And to us, that’s very important because things that they learn as children, they’ll continue for the rest of their lives. And when they get to be older, they won’t have to be taught to recycle and to conserve. They’ll know about them because they learn these things at the Nature Center. And that impresses us a great deal.

Nancy King Smith [00:32:30] On that same thing. I know you were helpful in bringing Richard Louvre here with the No Child Left Inside and the Last Child in the Woods to the City Club. Yes, I think that was. And so you can talk about that or maybe some of the other environmental forums and so on that you’ve helped make possible at the City Club.

Stanley Adelstein [00:32:52] Well, the City Club has a program every Friday of a world class speaker and a radio network that takes out over 200 radio stations throughout the country and through the marvels of computers and high tech information. Now anybody can pick up the City Club who has a computer and has the equipment live on his or her screen and see it and hear it live. I’ve been very involved with City Club for I’m one of the oldest members in terms of membership and past, present.

Hope Adelstein [00:33:24] And memory and memory.

Stanley Adelstein [00:33:27] And in any event, we have a forum every year that we sponsor on the environment. We’ve had some very distinguished people come to speak, including Amr Lovins, who’s the head of the Rocky Mountain Institute, Colorado, which does wonderful research work on the environment. Carl Pope, who’s the national head of the Sierra Club, graduate of Harvard College and a very articulate, articulate and bright leader. And Richard Lovins, who wrote this wonderful book of the no Child Left Inside. And Steve Cadwell, the director of the Nature center told me that it would be very nice if we could work out something in connection with the Nature center and the City Club. So we planned it about a year in advance. And Richard Lovin spoke at the City Club. We had a sold out crowd and he’s a very inspirational speaker. I just noticed today at the Nature Center book, Nature Center gift store there are copies of his book here for sale. And it’s a wonderful book which espouses the whole concept of children spending less time in front of the television set, more time outside doing and the computer or their computers spend less time inside. More time for a computer. That’s right. So that was a very positive thing which was sponsored jointly by the Nature Center and the City Club. And I think there’s still tapes of that talk available for people who like to hear it. He’s a very, very inspirational and speaker. And Carl Pope is coming this year 2008 to City Club on June 22, I think to be our annual speaker at the City Club. It will be broadcast locally and also on television on Sunday Morning on channel 25 WVIZ as are all the City Club speeches televised and also in the afternoon on Tuesdays, evening rather on Tuesdays and Thursdays over Time Warner. So that’s the City Club which gives a great avenue to all kinds of speakers and we’re happy to play a small part in making possible the environmental speaker each year.

Nancy King Smith [00:35:44] Well, that’s one example of the many ways in which you’ve helped the environmental community in Cleveland strengthen. Tell us about. I know you’ve worked closely with the Earth Day Coalition and contests for students and how you take tell some of the things you’ve done that way. Hope, you may want to talk about that.

Hope Adelstein [00:36:05] I’m laughing because I think for the last 10 years, on Earth Day, which is usually a rainy, cold day in April, we drive to the Cleveland Zoo, and it’s fine after we get there because it’s very rewarding. It really is. Stanley sponsored, and I, a contest for the best article, poem, artwork, artwork, ink, whatever. And they’re selected. And you just had a phone call today. And how many?

Stanley Adelstein [00:36:45] Well, these are all the environment. And as Hope mentioned, we’ve done it for the last decade, and we just had a call today that. But this year we have the largest number of applicants. Over 500 boys and girls running all the way from the first grade to high school, submitted either poems or art or essays or whatever on the environment. And they had a lot of difficulty selecting the 35 winners who get cash prizes for their efforts. And also, the winning essays and artwork are displayed throughout the Cuyahoga County Public Library system, of which Hope was the first woman to be a trustee of that in the days when it was run only by men. Of course, I’m old enough not to remember personally, but remember hearing about a time when women couldn’t even vote in this country, let alone be on the board of the county library. But in any event, Hope broke ground on that and was the first woman to be on that board. And since then, women have served. Of course, the City Club for many years was only for men, by the way, and Larry Robinson was the president of it in 1978 when we decided to change the bylaws and some of the old members thought the city would come crashing down when women would be elected, but they were admitted, and now we even have women members of the board and women presidents of City Club board. Who knows, maybe have women president of the United States for us through.

Nancy King Smith [00:38:24] I know there are probably some others that I don’t even know about of other ways in which either you’ve been involved with children or with the environment over the years in Cleveland.

Stanley Adelstein [00:38:37] Well, the Cleveland Institute of Music is one that Hope has been involved with initially. Why don’t you talk about that? The women’s committee and some of the programs you have.

Hope Adelstein [00:38:48] Over 400 students from all over the world come to the Institute of Music. We think it’s similar to Juilliard or Peabody, but it’s a great place. Music is therapeutic, and we even do jazz and operations, opera, and it’s very exciting. We have many, many programs, many benefits. We work very hard to provide funds for students to go to workshops, to travel overseas. And it’s very beneficial and very satisfying. We have a beautiful beautiful new Mixon Hall and that is on the corridor line and, and we hope it will bring many, many people for many free concerts at Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Stanley Adelstein [00:39:44] The latest thing that we’ve both been involved in involves the effort to help the Cleveland economy by creating jobs in the Cleveland area involving the environment. And that relates to the whole concept of renewable energy. Currently our energy comes almost 100% from burning of coal. But it is possible to make energy through what are called renewable sources. And those mainly are wind power called wind turbines, solar collectors which are visible collectors, fusion cell and use of hydro. Cleveland now has one wind turbine which is located on the shore of Lake Erie right in front of the Great Lakes Science and Environmental Center. Next door, the Browns play football. That wind turbine was created by the efforts of the Cleveland foundation led by Ron Richard as president and Richard Steubi its BP fellow in energy. It turns out that that wind turbine, while some of the parts were made here in Cleveland by some of our manufacturers, Eaton and Faro and Lubrizol, had to be assembled overseas because nobody had the know how and the skill to assemble a wind turbine. The Cleveland Foundation has sent staff members to Europe where windmills are very common and windmills parts are manufactured and assembled mainly in Spain and in Germany. And those manufacturers have indicated an interest of doing the same in the United States as have some solar manufacturers. So we’re hopeful that Cleveland will be the site for some of these European manufacturers to come and create jobs and manufacture these products here. And we’re playing a role in that hope. And I. We’ve worked with the Cleveland Foundation and some of the officials in Columbus to try to make this possible. And as we sit here, the legislature is considering, our Ohio legislature is considering mandating that the utility companies know Ohio buy a certain percentage of their energy from renewable sources. If they adopt that, then the European manufacturers say, yes, we will come into Cleveland, we will establish factories here to manufacture these parts, which will create jobs. And we certainly know that Cleveland does need jobs.

Nancy King Smith [00:42:54] Now, having lived in Cleveland for just under 90 years, you’ve seen a lot of changes in terms of all kinds of things with the economy and the environment. Reflect a little bit on that change in Cleveland, including the burning of the river or whatever in terms of paying attention to the environment and the economy.

Stanley Adelstein [00:43:25] Well, it’s been sort of a. A negative and a positive on the changes that we have seen in Cleveland on the negative side. It’s been very discouraging to see how the city’s population has shrunk. And the opposite of that is how the suburbs have grown. How many people who live in the suburbs, unfortunately, are reluctant to come to the city because they are fearful or whatever. And that’s unfortunate. So that’s been the negative side of it, and we notice that very much so. On the positive side, we’ve seen the cultural area of Cleveland grow immensely on University Circle with its many wonderful institutions. We’re very proud of that. When I was growing up, there was no such thing as Cleveland State University or Tri-C. Those all developed. The last 30, 40 years, they’ve grown into major educational institutions. Cleveland State is known throughout the country for its law school. This last year, its graduates had a better record of passing the bar exam than my law school did. Case Western Reserve. And Tri-C is a wonderful opportunity for people who can’t afford to go to college full time to learn skills that can help them get important jobs. So these are new things that are very much of a plus. I think that you could have a new corridor which is going to join together the central part of the city, Terminal Tower, with the University of Circle with our wonderful medical facilities which we always had good hospitals in Cleveland. But now we have two major hospitals that are world renowned and there are various departments, Cardiology and Cleveland Clinic and Pediatrics at the University Hospitals, Babies and Children’s Hospital. These are developments that have been on the very positive side that make us very encouraged for the future. The Medical Mart, which, when it comes with a convention center, hopefully will be a positive thing for the future of Cleveland so that the outlook looks promising. It’s tied in a lot of factors, jobs being shipped outside of our country. But I think that as we spend more of our energy and our time on solving our own problems in this country, Cleveland will somehow maybe not get as large as it was before, but it will help to restore itself to where it was before. So the pluses which I mentioned will more than offset the negatives.

Nancy King Smith [00:46:16] Let’s turn just in closing, back to the Nature Center. What you could dream a little bit. What would you like to see? What’s something that you would hope for, for the center, in the years to come?

Stanley Adelstein [00:46:37] Well, I would hope to see a nature center with a source of funding established from its own foundation, which would mean that it would have ways of augmenting its state staff with more qualified people. There are wonderful people who work here now, but there always are some people who could be added who, if the budget permitted, would be added to augment the program and to make it more diversified than it is. It’s fine now, but it certainly could be improved. But this requires funding. And actually we are playing a small role in trying to develop a foundation for the Nature Center. We now have a legacy society, which means that people are indicating that when they’re gone, they provided in their wills and their trusts and their insurance agreements for money to go to the Nature Center so that there will be some continuity. So I would hope for the future that it would evolve around a more secure, a larger foundation. There is a foundation now, but even larger, the stronger foundation. Do you want to add something on programming?

Hope Adelstein [00:47:53] I certainly agree heartily, and it’s well put, dear, very.

Nancy King Smith [00:47:59] Anything that we haven’t covered in terms of either the Nature Center or some of your involvements and reflections on Cleveland.

Stanley Adelstein [00:48:14] I’m so impressed by the quality of the people who have been volunteers for the Nature Center over all these years. The joke is told about how some ladies in tennis shoes made it all possible. Well, there may have been some ladies in tennis shoes, but they also put on their more dressy attire and they did a lot of heavy, strong lifting. I don’t mean physically, but I mean in making possible the Nature Center. And I think to them and those who preceded us, we really owe a tremendous vote of thanks for their foresight, for their fortitude, for their efforts in making it possible. And it’s very refreshing to see at the various events that are held, the benefits. Last one we went to, the street was closed off and there must have been four or five hundred people came, came to help to raise money for the Nature Center. See, a lot of the young people are now getting involved. They are enthusiastic. And they’re also, in their own way, doing the same kind of thing these ladies did 42 years ago when they made it possible. [ So there’s a continuity, and that makes us feel very good.

Hope Adelstein [00:49:24] They’re just not wearing tennis shoes anymore. They’re wearing spike heels.

Nancy King Smith [00:49:30] Do either of you have questions that have come to mind?

James Calder [00:49:36] I don’t know. I don’t have- I don’t actually know that much about the- I’m gonna take this off. That sounds weird to me, but I don’t know that much about sort of the conservation in this area. So I don’t almost know what to ask. I guess I’ll just throw it out there. One thing I’ve always been curious if any anyone here knows about the formation of places like Cain Park, Rockefeller Park, or anything like that.

Stanley Adelstein [00:50:01] Well, I know something about Cain Park because I grew up in Cleveland Heights and Frank Cain was the mayor of Cleveland Heights at the time. This is in the early ’30s. And Cain Park was a big gully when I used to- A creek that ran through it initially, that’s all it was. Ran from Taylor Road on the eastern boundary to Lee Road on the west boundary and Superior Park Drive on the southern boundary and one of the other streets on the northern boundary. But it was nothing. It was just a big gully. And during the Depression, the big depression started 1931–32, when thousands of people were out of work. Employment rate today is 5.1%. It was 25% then. Franklin Roosevelt was President and he established what was called the CCC, called the Civilian Conservation Corps. And there was funding available during the Depression for those young people to go out and make parks and build parks. Some of our National Parks we’ve been to, we see plaques were there. They were actually constructed by the Tri-C. But in Cleveland Heights they were able to take that gully and transform it into a recreational area with tennis courts, with a path that goes through it, with a theater, a large theater.

Hope Adelstein [00:51:37] Place to slide down on a sled. That’s where I lived along that creek as a child.

Stanley Adelstein [00:51:46] People still go there on sleds in the wintertime on the eastern part of the park. But actually the theater named after Dinah Reese Evans, who was one of my teachers at Heights High School, theater teacher is still a wonderful mecca for all kinds of productions in the summertime. But that was nothing. When were growing up, it was just the gully. And now there are two theaters there. As a matter of fact, the art show is there July 4th. But the history of it is a testimonial to the Mayor Frank Cain and President Roosevelt and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Rockefeller Park represents a generous gift by the Rockefeller family. John D. The original John D. was John D Jr., John D. the third. The original John D. grew up in Cleveland. And one of the parks in East Cleveland is Rockefeller Park, right to where Hope went to nursing school at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Hope Adelstein [00:52:53] All the way to the lake.

Stanley Adelstein [00:52:55] And also there’s a park named after in East Cleveland. What is that called? Forest Hills.

Hope Adelstein [00:53:00] Forest Hills.

Stanley Adelstein [00:53:00] That was where his home was and still I think, one structure standing there where John D. Rockefeller at his home. He had some unfortunate experiences with the bankers of Cleveland who didn’t want to help him out with his enterprises. He went to New York and he lived there the rest of his life. And he made his fortune there in petroleum and whatnot.

Hope Adelstein [00:53:23] And Rockefeller Center is still growing and thriving.

Stanley Adelstein [00:53:29] Well, his legacy is the Rockefeller Foundation. It’s one of the largest foundations in the country. And his family still has. His descendants, still have some involvement with it. We met one out in Arkansas, Winthrop. Winthrop. In fact, we met him about 10 years ago. I told him about the. The gardens in Cleveland, which were very run down, needed some help, and he wanted to contribute like his great grandfather did, to make it all possible.

Hope Adelstein [00:54:01] You wrote him a letter.

Stanley Adelstein [00:54:02] He said, well, write me a letter. So I wrote him a letter, and then he wrote back saying, well, he has to take it up with his cousins, and he has cousins all over. One of his cousins is the United States Senator from West Virginia, Jay Rockefeller. And- And they never did anything about it, though. So I write a lot of letters. This is one that did not make it, but that’s the history of the Rockefeller family and their beneficiary and the things they’ve left here in Cleveland.

Hope Adelstein [00:54:32] Do you live in Cleveland Heights?

James Calder [00:54:34] I do. Or I did. I actually just moved to Little Italy.

Hope Adelstein [00:54:37] Little Italy? Oh, that’s great.

James Calder [00:54:39] But I lived up there. My grandmother lived there. My great grandmother was born.

Hope Adelstein [00:54:44] Born on the Rockefeller estate, really.

James Calder [00:54:46] But she’s like a, I think her father was like his gardener or something.

Hope Adelstein [00:54:51] How about that.

Stanley Adelstein [00:54:53] So that’s.

Hope Adelstein [00:54:54] I want you. You seem very interested in hearing about it.

James Calder [00:54:58] Yeah, yeah. That’s why it’s interesting.

Hope Adelstein [00:54:59] Thank you.

Nancy King Smith [00:55:00] Another connection with here in Rockefeller park is the Doan Brook.

Hope Adelstein [00:55:04] There you go.

Nancy King Smith [00:55:06] That runs through from here down under University Circle and then out through Rockefeller Park.

Hope Adelstein [00:55:14] That’s exactly right.

Nancy King Smith [00:55:15] Parklands was actually a part of the Rockefeller donation, as well as some other families, the Ambler family and Gordon, to make possible this. And the city of Cleveland still owns the Shaker parklands. It was part of their early park system, before the inner-ring choker. Now we have the Emerald Necklace.

Hope Adelstein [00:55:39] That’s a good history.

Nancy King Smith [00:55:41] Well, thank you. You’ve been wonderful.

Hope Adelstein [00:55:43] Stanley, you ought to go on the road.

Stanley Adelstein [00:55:47] The questions were great. All I had to do is sit back and wait for the next question.

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