Lakewood Lore

Memories of Birdtown soar through the pages of time

Editor's Note: Fifty years ago tomorrow (December 28, 1940) an article about the ethnic community of southeast Lakewood known as Birdtown appeared in the former Cleveland Press. The story was written by Dan Chabek, then a cub reporter for the newspaper and now a Sun Post correspondent.

The following piece is about Birdtown revisited—Dan Chabek's returning with pad and pencil after a half century for a historical update.

"Stastlivy Novy Rok" was the way I began a story 50 years ago about Lakewood's Birdtown.

The three Slovak words mean "Happy New Year." At the 1940 year-end they constituted the most frequent greeting along the sidewalks of the ethnic community.

Today, while the holiday spirit continues, the foreign salutation is seldom heard there anymore. Although a small core of descendants of the original Slovak, Pole and other Slavic European immigrants remain, most are gone.

"I'd estimate that less than 10 percent of the second and third generation families live with us now," said George W. Joseph Jr., a native of the area who has been practicing law there since 1962.

"Of course, other nationality groups from oppressed countries have moved in during the intervening years. For instance, there was a heavy influx of Romanians," he pointed out.

Today, in addition to later minorities and the offspring of the original migration, there is a sprinkling of Appalachians, also in search of better living conditions.

Formed around the turn of the century, Birdtown has been well maintained. Residents there are proud of their homes and though dwellings remain modest, many are freshly painted with neat lawns and flower beds.

True, there are absentee landlords, but the percentage is small, in the opinion of attorney Joseph. In some cases, first-family descendants still own the old homesteads but live elsewhere, he said.

Most visible change in the skyline came in 1983 with the building of Fedor Manor, an 11-story brick high-rise for senior citizens at Madison and Ridgewood.

"There was a desire to stabilize the neighborhood," commented George E. Fedor, who arranged for land purchases and other necessary steps prior to construction of the manor that bears his name and was dedicated in 1983.

"The community looks better than it did a few years ago." he went on. "I see a resurgence under way with no noticeable deterioration."

Fedor, born in Slovakia 81 years ago, settled in Birdtown in 1913, became a lawyer and banker, and through the years, along with Joseph, has handled much of the legal work in the community.

Fedor at one time was employed by National Carbon Co. at Madison Avenue and W. 117th Street. The plant was responsible for the birth of Birdtown, and was the big carrot that attracted the pioneer job-hungry immigrants. Today it is known as the Carbon Products Division of Union Carbide Corp.

National Carbon's local roots go back to 1891 when it bought 115 acres extending to where Bunts Road is now. The company established the Pleasant Hill Allotment to build homes for its workers. At one time, 2,600 people were employed at the plant. Work force now numbers about 250.

The neighborhood was originally referred to as the "Carbon District." It became Birdtown, or its alternatives, "Bird's Nest" and "Duck Town" because five of its streets - Lark, Plover, Quail, Robin and Thrush - were named after winged creatures purportedly indigenous hereabouts.

Although there are still numerous small places of business on Madison, the bars and the mom-and-pop stores that were in the interior, south of the main street, have been converted to living quarters for the most part.

"We used to be known as a place of bars and churches," Joseph said. "Now many of the bars have closed, but most of the churches remain, which is a good sign."

Still in existence are five long-time centers of worship, representing various faiths--SS. Cyril and Methodius and St. Hedwig, both Roman Catholic; St. Gregory, Byzantine Catholic; St. Nicholas, Ukrainian Orthodox; and SS. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox--plus St. Peter and Paul Lutheran and Pentecost Evangelical Lutheran on the perimeter.

There is no longer a Calvin United Presbyterian Church on Quail, but religious services continue there. Its building was leased to the non-denominational Community Outreach Church in March, 1989.

Gone is the Schermer Brothers Department Store, which once stood on the southwest corner of Madison and Magee. It burned down in 1962, and on its spot now are the Shamrock Apartments.

Gone, too, is the Royal Theatre, a movie house originally called the Uno, on the northeast corner of Madison and Ridgewood. It is now a branch of Home Federal Savings & Loan, which absorbed nearby Orol Savings & Loan.

Meanwhile, Orol's former building at 12511 Madison, with its stone-pillared, bank-like front is Bacho's Jewelry, Card and Gift Store.

"In 1956 I moved in and have never changed the interior," said owner George M. Bacho, who still sells hard-to-get Christmas cards with greetings in Slovak, Polish, Ukrainian, Croatian, Italian and Spanish.

Leo Cieskowski's drug store at Madison and Quail is currently "Play It Again, Sam," a stereo shop. Cieskowski and his wife were killed in an auto accident not long after he retired many years ago.

Two mainstay institutions across the street from each other on Dowd--Harrison Elementary School and Lakewood Day Care Center--are as viable as ever.

Harrison's enrollment in 1940 was 390. It dropped to 180 in the mid-'70s, but now has risen to 275, according to Alice Bognar, school secretary.

"Recently, nice families, many of them young people, have been moving into the neighborhood and refurbishing the old homes," noted Bognar, who has lived on Lark for nearly 16 years.

The day care center, opened in 1921, celebrated its 69th birthday this year. At first on Plover in a rent-free home provided by National Carbon, it relocated in 1925 to larger quarters at 2070 Dowd. Here it continues to operate as an outstanding Lakewood facility for the care of children whose mothers must work during the day.

Leader Supermarket at Madison and Robin is now Brennan & Sons Market; has been for a decade. The former Cleveland Trust Co. office on the southeast corner of Madison and Lark, one-time banking landmark, presently serves as a storage building for Home Federal Savings and Loan. No more is the Standard Drug Store that used to be next to Cleveland Trust, or the Lakewood Market House, once behind it.

Joseph B. Misencik had a funeral home on the south side of Madison 50 years ago. After he died in 1967, his son, Joseph A., moved the business across the street, where it remains today.

Grand Variety, Lakewood's last five and ten-cent store at 12409 Madison, is still alive, but barely. When its dwindling merchandise is dispensed with, in a current storewide sale, it will close. Next to it, Frank Stepka's Barbershop is now "The Bin," Lakewood's popular fruit and vegetable store.

On the north side of Madison from Coutant to W. 117th, mostly vacant lots in 1940, there are today various food outlets, including a Convenient Store, a Burger King, Joe's Delicatessen and E & G Beverages. Still doing business on Coutant, just behind Convenient, is Bob White Dry Cleaning, which actually predates 1940.

No longer in Birdtown are there to be found copies of the Slovak weekly "Hlas" (Voice), which was published locally by Jan Pankuch until 1947. Pankuch, highly regarded journalist, died in 1952 at age 83.

A half century ago, two favorite native sons who made it to the big-time were talked about in Birdtown. Today few remember them.

They were Sammy Kaye, big-band leader of "swing and sway" fame, and Johnny Risko, mauling heavyweight contender, who beat both Jack Sharkey and Max Baer before those two went on to become world champions.

My return after 50 years reminded me that houses in Birdtown, as everywhere else, live longer than people. And though often suggesting a sameness (porch-dormer nose, front-stoop mouth and two upstairs windows for eyes), each has a story of its own, spawned through the years and perhaps worthy to be gift-wrapped for posterity.

Alas, however, even were we privy to the details, they would take volumes and volumes to tell.

This article appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post December 27, 1990. Reprinted with permission.

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