| Buckeye-Shaker | |
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| — Neighborhoods of Cleveland — | |
| The Moreland Courts condominiums at Shaker Square | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Ohio |
| County | Cuyahoga County |
| City | Cleveland |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 16,063 |
| 2.5% increase from 1990 Census | |
| Demographics | |
| • White | 15.3% |
| • Black | 80% |
| • Hispanic | 1% |
| • Asian | 2.1% |
| • Other | >1% |
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP Codes | 44120 |
| Area code(s) | 216 |
| Median income | $25,337 |
| Source: 2000 U.S. Census, City Planning Commission of Cleveland [1] | |
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Shaker Square Historic District
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Shops on the southeast corner of Shaker Square
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| Location: | Shaker and Moreland Blvds.. Cleveland, Ohio 44120 |
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| Built: | 1927-1929 |
| Architect: | Multiple |
| Architectural style: | Colonial Revival, Other |
| NRHP Reference#: | 83004367[2] |
| Added to NRHP: | 1983 |
Buckeye-Shaker is a neighborhood on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio.[3] It encompasses the old Buckeye neighborhood and Shaker Square neighborhood, the latter of which is centered around an historic shopping district and an eponymous rapid transit station, located at the intersection of Shaker and Moreland Boulevards, on the light rail line that connects the city of Shaker Heights to downtown Cleveland. From the early to mid-20th century, the Buckeye Road neighborhood was known as Little Hungary, serving as the historic heart of Cleveland's Hungarian community, which at one time was the largest in the world outside of Budapest.[4]
Buckeye-Shaker is bordered by the neighborhoods of Woodland Hills on its west, Mount Pleasant to the south, University Circle to the north, and the suburb of Shaker Heights to the east.
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The historic American Colonial-Georgian shopping center, which was largely was influenced by European town squares, was built between 1927 and 1929 by the Van Sweringen brothers.[5] The two brothers, who also developed much of the land to the east the neighborhood as the planned community of Shaker Heights, envisioned Shaker Square as it's gateway between the urban and suburban living spaces represented in the early 20th century.[5][4] On either side of the train tracks are two lawn areas. A short distance east of the Shaker Square stop, the track splits into the Blue (Van Aken) and Green (Shaker Boulevard) Lines.
Four large buildings around the perimeter of the grass lawns make up the second planned shopping center in the United States, after Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. They were designed in an Neo-Georgian style by Phillip Small and Charles Bacon Rowley, and together form an octagonal area similar to the Amalienborg Square in Copenhagen, Denmark. The center is currently owned by The Coral Company of University Heights.
Today, Shaker Square is the heart of the neighborhood. Near the square are more than 4,000 units of high-quality rental and condominium apartments (the largest concentration of multi-family housing in Cleveland), townhouses, and many private homes.
Under an arrangement made in the 1920s, Shaker Heights ceded roughly 1 square mile (2.6 km2) around the square to the City of Cleveland, but kept it in the Shaker Heights City School District.[6]
Little Hungary, as it was one time known, began to develop as the heart of Cleveland's Hungarian community in the late 19th century.[7] By the 1920 US Census, over 42,000 residents in the City of Cleveland listed themselves as having been born in Hungary, with a large portion of these residing in the Buckeye Road neighborhood.[8] Like many immigrant groups, the Hungarians came to the United States looking for a better life, and those who flocked to Cleveland came at a time when the city was one of the nations leading industrial cities. Working primarily in the heavy manufacturing sector, these immigrants settled their tightly-knit community due to its close proximity to the steel mills and day-labor jobs where they worked.[8] Between the end of World War II and 1970 the neighborhood represented one of the most powerful political blocs in Cleveland's Democratic party.[7] By the end of the 1970s many of the original inhabitants of Buckeye Road had migrated to the suburbs as they ascended the economic ladder, and in large part due to the White flight which had produced similar migrations out of the inner city in many US metropolitan areas.[7] by the beginning of the 21st century only a handful of the Hungarian residents remained in a neighborhood that today is predominately African-American.[8] Benedictine High School, a Catholic high school and perennial football-powerhouse that boasts Chuck Noll as an alumnus, is located just south of Buckeye on Martin Luther King Drive.
Points of interest, all of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places include the now closed St. Luke's Hospital, (built in 1927) which is slated for re-development; St. Elizabeth’s Church (built in 1892); and the Weizer Building (built in 1928) at 11801 Buckeye.
Approximately 1 square mile (2.6 km2) of the City of Cleveland adjacent Shaker Square is served by the Shaker Heights City School District. This section of the city has been part of the school district since the 1920s. The Cleveland residents in this section may vote in school board elections, use the school facilities and they pay the same school taxes that residents in suburban Shaker Heights pay.[9]
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| University Circle | Cleveland Heights, Ohio | |||
| Woodland Hills | Shaker Heights, Ohio | |||
| Buckeye-Shaker | ||||
| Mt. Pleasant |