Abstract
Donna Pratt, raised in Shaker Heights, and property manager on Hessler Rd. since 1964, relates the importance of the cultural institutions in University Circle to the students in the Shaker Heights schools in the 1950's, in particular the Music School Settlement. Pratt describes how the creation of University Circle has improved the area, and allowed for cooperation between the institutions, although there has been some tension between them at times. Pratt views periods of tension as constructive. She notes how early attempts by UCI to buy up too much land for development, left a dearth of residential areas until a study by architectural students at Case Western Reserve University promoted the idea of preserving and maintaining living space in historical areas. Pratt also worked with city planning in the early 1970's to create educational programs for youth to learn about neighborhoods as they worked in areas such as community clean up and playground work, providing opportunities for interaction between inner city and suburban youth. Pratt describes the protest movement of the early 1970's, including the Weather Underground, and the effects of the Hough and Glenville riots in the University Circle. She reiterates importance of architecture in creating community, including front porches, small yards, and community gardens, and the struggle to hold on to gardens as UCI has developed land.
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Interviewee
Pratt, Donna Lee (interviewee)
Interviewer
Ferraton, Matthew (interviewer)
Project
University Circle
Date
4-23-2008
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
52 minutes
Recommended Citation
"Donna Lee Pratt Interview, 23 April 2008" (2008). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 920013.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/308
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
