The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 4/The Czechs in Cleveland

by Eleanor Ledbetter

The Czechs in Cleveland

By ELEANOR E. LEDBETTER.

CLEVELAND is one of the largest Czech cities in the world. The national capital, Prague, of course comes first in importance, the Austrian capital Vienna is second, the American Chicago is third, and Cleveland is fourth. For some years the relative positions of Cleveland and New York were uncertain, but since 1910 Cleveland has had unquestionably the larger number. Its important position in this respect was humorously indicated by a squib in the “Camp Sherman Gazette” last year, which stated, “There is no truth in the rumor that the capital of the Czechoslovak Republic will be removed from Prague to the neighborhood of Broadway and E. 55th streets, Cleveland.”

The Czechs have always been known in this country by the English designation Bohemian, and it is only with the rise of their own state that the native name has become generally known in the English speaking world. Unfortunately this has to be transliterated, as the Bohemian language contains several characters not existing in English, among them the letter č. This is pronounced like the English ch and is now being generally written cz, which unfortunately offers no suggestion as to pronunciation to the English reader. The native name of Bohemia is Čechy, the people are Čechs, and the descriptive adjective in Český,—all pronounced as if beginning with ch.

The racial term Czech includes not only the inhabitants of Bohemia, but also those of the sister states Moravia and Silesia, which now form part of the Czechoslovak Republic. Cleveland Czechs have come from all three of these states.

There have been some Czechs in America from the very earliest time. The presidency of Harvard College was offered by Governor Winthrop to the great Czech educator, Jan Amos Komensky, better known by the Latinized name Comenius; but Cotton Mather tells us that “the solicitations of the Swedish ambassador diverting him another way, that incomparable Moravian became not an American.”

In the 14th and 15th centuries, Bohemia was in point of culture one of the most advanced nations in Europe. Her university of Prague was thronged by students from all over Europe, its professors were known to the world. But even then the struggle against Teutonic domination was an intense one, and by the end of the Thirty Years’ War, culture had succumbed to force, and the Bohemian people were crushed under the heel of the Hapsburg dynasty. The national leaders were all either executed or exiled, their rich and abundant literature was utterly destroyed, and the remnant of the people who were left for long years had not force enough to offer effective resistance to encroachment and suppression. The Bohemian soul, however, was never touched, and by the beginning of the 19th century sufficient force had accumulated to wring many concessions from the Austrian government, among them the acknowledgement of the Bohemian language and permission for the establishment of schools and the extension of educational opportunity. As a result of this fight for education, and of the opportunities thus wrested from a hostile government, the Bohemians have been for years one of the two or three best educated races in Europe; and among those coming to America the percentage of illiteracy is only one and a half,—less than that among the native born of any state in the Union, even those with compulsory education laws.

First Immigration.

After the failure of the Revolutionary movement of 1848, some Czech leaders were compelled to flee the country, and others, despairing of the future under the House of Hapsburg, were disposed to give up the seemingly hopeless struggle. These were the pioneers of the Czech emigration to America. From 1850 to 1870, most of them came with the idea of taking up land and developing homesteads in Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The journey in those days was a long and tiresome one, and Cleveland was a convenient resting place on the way. Some who stopped only to rest, found it good to stay; in 1850 there were three families here, in 1860 there were fifteen, and in 1869 the number had grown to 696 families, including 3252 persons. Thus the Czech immigration was from the first an immigration by families. Its industrial value may be judged by a selection from some statistics regarding the 3252 Czechs here in 1869. This number included 1949 men and their occupations were as follows: masons, 76; carpenters, 72, tailors, 56; shoemakers, 44; coopers, 39; locksmiths, 25; blacksmiths, 19; merchants, 15; professional musicians, 13, besides many others who had music as a side-line; harness makers, 9; weavers, 9; stonecutters, 8; wheelrights, 7; tanners, 6; tinsmiths, 6; bakers, 5; painters, 5; booksellers, 2; printers, 1; clockmaker, 1; while 90 men and 50 women were employed on nearby farms.

Location in Cleveland.

It is hard now to imagine what Cleveland was like in the 60’s and early 70’s, when everything east to East 30th street was farm land. A history of the location and growth of the Czech settlements in Cleveland is actually a history of the growth of the city. In the first years of the Czechs in Cleveland, they lived in the old district of Hill, Cross, and Commercial streets, but as soon as they had become assured of the means of subsistence, they began to reach toward their natural rural environment. The Czechs love the country. It is a saying among them here that when out early in the morning for a walk, for mushrooms, for a swim in the lake, or for fishing, you can speak in Bohemian to whomever you meet and he will answer.

It follows that the Czechs never live in congested districts if they can help it. On the contrary they are always to be found on the edge of the city, where town and country meet; when the city follows, they move on. The older Czech still loves his own fenced-in yard, here he can have a vegetable garden, some bright colored flowers, and a few ducks or geese. In settlements on the outskirts of the city, flocks of geese still roam vacant allotments and hiss viciously at the timid American.

As early as 1853, J. Capek and J. Doubrava bought farms and became the pioneer Bohemian farmers of the county. Their fellow contrymen built up two sections on what was the outskirts of the city. The first was “Brooklyn,” a term at that time applied quite loosely to the west bank of the river south of Ohio City. Land there was cheaper than in Cleveland, and from the very beginning there were some Czech families there. One of the pioneer women of that district is reported as saying that at first the Americans looked at them as if they were some strange kind of animal. They could not understand why this was so, but later learned that it was because of their strange dress, particularly the shawls on their heads. When they learned the reason, they began to dress like Americans.

On the east side of the river, many early Czech immigrants were employed as laborers on farms, and immediately began to buy from their employers plots for their own homes. Harvey Rice employed many on his farm in the neighborhood of what became Croton Street, and he sold them land on very easy terms, in some cases allowing them to work out the price. This was the beginning of the Croton street settlement, which was the Czech center of Cleveland from 1870 until the development of the Broadway district. Life here, we are told, was always gayer and brighter than in Brooklyn. The general merchandise store, steamship agency and public utility office, of Martin Krejci, at Croton and East 37th streets, was famous for the variety and multiplicity of its contents. A long flight of stairs led down the hill in front of this store, and many a new immigrant spent his first night in Cleveland sitting on those steps.

In the latter part of the 70’s the Standard Oil Company began to employ many Czechs. In those days barrels were all made by hand and the natural skill of the Czechs as hand workers found here a convenient and profitable field of employment. Almost every Czech man in the city at that period spent some time “making barrels for John D. Rockefeller.”

Convenience of access to this factory furnished the first motive for removal from Croton street across Kingsbury Run. In 1878 the farms along the south side of the Run were parceled into lots, and the district in the neighborhood of Trumbull and East 37th streets became a residence district known as “na vršku” (on the hill). Broadway, already in existence as a county road, formed the axis of the new settlement, and the development of the whole district from East 37th street to Union avenue took place very quickly and the 21th ward (now the 13th) a chronicler informs us, became “like a city of Bohemia.” Meadow and woods gave place to streets, some of which still retain typical Czech names like Svoboda and Praha. These streets were built up with small, neat cottages, each with its own yard and garden, very comfortable and homey according to the standards of the time. For almost 40 years this district has been the Czech center of Cleveland. Stores, banks, national hall, and churches have helped to concentrate interest in this neighborhood, centering at Broadway and East 55th streets. The city, crowding on Croton street, made that district undesirable to the Czechs who were left there, and many moved out and built up a new settlement on a new edge of the city, which they called the “east side.” This is in the neighborhood of Quincy avenue and East 82nd street. The west side Czechs also moved from “Brooklyn” to “Cuba,” west of the creek at West 41st street, where their principal residence district is now on West 41st and neighboring streets, between Clark avenue and Dennison avenue.

Great changes have taken place in all these districts in the last ten years. Business follows the Czech in Cleveland, and each of these centers is feeling its pressure. This is greatest in the Broadway district, which is now a wedge between two great arteries of the steel industry. Heavy smoke and noxious fumes are fast killing the trees and will soon make gardens impossible. The houses that were neat and bright have become dingy and ugly, the gullies offer no more mushrooms, the nature lover has nothing left to enjoy, and another removal is in full tide. Similar conditions are approaching also on Quincy Avenue.

It is characteristic of the Czechs in America always to build for themselves. They have never followed in an old neighborhood, but have always built anew, and they are doing it now. The whole south-eastern part of the city is being built up by them. The additions known locally as Corlett, Newburgh City and Mt. Pleasant are very largely the homes of Czechs, as is also a considerable district out Buckeye road, and the Washington Park district, which is not yet in the city. The county highways to Bedford, to Brecksville, to Warrensville and to Chagrin Falls are lined with the homes of Czechs whose business interests are still in the city. These new houses are the equal of those in any middle class section of the city, and it is the testimony of salesmen that the Czech never scrimps in the equipment of his home. On the contrary, he usually takes his wife with him to choose fittings and furnishings, and makes the first consideration, not the price, but that “the missus” shall be suited.

At the first the building of a home must have been very difficult for these immigrants, who often worked for as little as seventy-five cents a day. But they were fortunate in having so many skilled trades represented among their numbers. The mason helped the carpenter, and the carpenter helped the mason in exchange and cooperation took place among them as among the earlier American pioneers. The ownership of a home was one of the things the Czechs had come to America for, and a home he would have.

Savings and Loan Associations.

Since 1896 the native thrift and foresight have found a helpful vehicle in savings and loan associations, which are incorporated under the laws of the state of Ohio. The very names of these organizations are suggestive: “Včela”, (the bee); “Mravenec,” (the ant); “Oul” (the hive).

Včela, the oldest of these, was incorporated in March, 1896, and in twenty years had loaned over $10,000,000 on Cleveland real estate. Its present capital is $2,000,000, and it has $1,000,000 oustanding in loans. Its office is at 5733 Broadway, and it is beginning the erection of a fine office building at the corner of Broadway and Portage avenues.

Mravenec was started a year later on the west side, and in 1918 changed its significant Czech name to the “Federal Savings and Loan association.” Its office is in the Bohemian Sokol Hall at 4310 Clark avenue, and its present capital is about $1,500,000.

The Čech Savings and Loan Association is located at 3122 West 41st street. It was organized in 1907, and has capital to the extent of $700,000.

The East End Building and Loan association, organized in 1911, with capital of half a million dollars, is at 8506 Quincy avenue.

The Atlas, at 5545 Broadway, organized in 1915 has oustripped most of the older ones and now has $1,750,000 as capital.

Other younger organizations are: The Progress Building, Savings and Loan Company, 4963 Broadway; “Oul” Building and Loan Association, 5638 Broadway; Capital Savings Building & Loan Association, 5209 Fleet avenue, with a branch on Buckeye road; Hospodář Savings and Loan Association, 12608 Miles avenue; Quincy Savings and Loan Association, Quincy avenue at East 89th Street.

All these encourage thrift and teach the value of small savings by the same methods which the government adopted for the sale of thrift stamps. Twice a year Včela places on the market a block of shares. The subscriber pays fifty cents a week per share, and at the end of six years is owner of a $200 dollar share, which he may either draw or leave on deposit at five per cent interest.

The builder of a new home can get a construction loan up to three-fourths of the value of the property under way, and these loans are paid off by monthly payments which take care of the interest and constantly reduce the principal. Thus the workingman is assisted to finance the building of his home, and it would require an extraordinary run of bad luck to keep a Czech from completing his payments.

The savings and loan associations have by no means a monopoly of Czech savings and investments. The Broadway Savings and Trust Company, one of the strongest banks in the city, is built largely upon the patronage of the Czechs. The Columbia Savings and Loan Company, also at Broadway and East 55th street, with a branch at 4828 Fleet avenue, also deals chiefly with Bohemians. On the west side the Clark avenue Savings Bank may be considered a Bohemian bank, while the Society for Savings and other down town banks carry many Czech savings accounts. The day after payday in a Czech neighborhood sees a constant procession of depositors with passbooks and hard times seldom find the Czech without an account to draw on.

Newspapers.

Among the occupations of the Czechs listed in Cleveland in 1869, there was one printer. We are not informed whether he had opportunity to work at his trade at that time, but he undoubtedly did in 1871, when the newspaper “Pokrok” (Progress) was brought here from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and established at 104 Croton street. Its successive editors in Cleveland were men of the widest reputation, F. J. Zdrubek, J. V. Capek, and Vaclav Snajdr. In 1878 Mr. Snajdr merged “Pokrok” and “Dennice Novoveku” (Star of the New Era) under the name of the latter, and continud to edit it until 1915. In 1911 “Svet” (The World) was started as a daily paper under the same management in an excellent new building at 4514 Broadway. “Dennice Novověku” was continued as a weekly until 1915, when it was entirely absorbed in “Svet.” This chain of newspapers has always represented the free-thinking Czechs.

Since the founding of the first paper “Pokrok,” forty other periodical publications in the Bohemian language have seen the light in Cleveland. Some of these have been the organs of various societies or institutions, some have been parish papers, and some excellent newspapers of general appeal. Their careers have varied in length from a few issues to nearly twenty years. The first attempt at a daily paper was made in 1888 by J. V. Lunak, with “České Noviny” (Czech News), but the time was not yet ripe for a daily, and Mr. Lunak suffered considerable loss in his venture. Later “Volnost” (Freedom), which had been founded in 1880 by Edward Veverka and Charles and Edward Vopalecky, developed from a tri-weekly into a daily. This paper was published without a break from 1880 to 1908.

At the present time there are three Bohemian newspapers of importance published in this city, besides several smaller publications of limited interest. There are two dailies, “Svet,” already mentioned, and the “American”, which is published at 5377-79 Broadway by F. J. Svoboda, who founded it in 1899. Both are good papers, well edited and illustrated, and are widely read, the “American” being favored by the adherents of the Catholic faith.

“Americké Dělnické Listy” (American Workman’s News), published at 4032 Broadway, was founded in 1909, and is the organ of the Bohemian branch of the Socialist party in America. It was in a considerable degree due to the influence of the editor, Joseph Martinek, that this branch of the party rejected the St. Louis platform. Mr. Martinek, who in 1917 spent some months in Russia as a representative of the Bohemian National Alliance, came back decidedly of the opinion that the Bolsheviki are not true socialists, and that the Socialist party in America should not identify its cause with theirs.

A distinctive custom of the Czech people in America is that of expressing congratulations or condolences through the medium of paid advertisements in the newspapers. A very popular couple will be congratulated on their marriage perhaps to the extent of a page of congratulatory notices. The usual form is two columns wide and about four inches deep, enclosed in a “box”, but special fervor or social standing may be expressed by inscreasing the size of type and box, and including a verse of poetry.

Other advertisements are those of the entertainments of societies and lodges. During the summer picnics to country farms and groves are the principal thing, but from October to June musical and dramatic entertainments hold the field. A single issue of a paper has contained announcements of fifteen different dramatic performances to be staged within a space of two weeks in the various Czech centers of the city.

The general character of the Bohemian newspapers of Cleveland is excellent. They co-operate in all public movements and their devotion to the cause of freedom is a passionate one. During the war, they gave whole pages of advertising free to the government,—as the English papers did not—and their support of every good cause is always wholehearted. They specialize, of course, in news from the home land, and through underground channels were often able to reveal Austrian conditions which were never officially acknowledged. In the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, their influence has been incalculable.

Important as is the present position of these papers, there can be no doubt that their future as Bohemian publications is distinctly limited. They are read by the old people and the newcomers. Of the young people who have grown up in this country, there are comparatively few who read Bohemian at all, and, without immigration, the clientele of these papers must necessarily decrease. Even among the older people, there are few who do not have a workable knowledge of English, but they cling to the news in Czech, because thus only are they sure of complete and perfect understanding. They can get the gist of a news in English, but to read it in their own tongue, gives them assurance as to details and significance.

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Reprintld by permission from pamphlet, published by Cleveland Americanization Committee.