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The UNION OF JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS (1906) was the first attempt by East European immigrant Jews to organize a central authority in the community. In 1903 the Fed. of Jewish Charities had been established by the old-line German, largely Reform Cleveland Jewish community. Cultural differences between those of the federation and the East European Jews were great.

The UNION OF POLES IN AMERICA is a fraternal insurance organization created in 1939 by the merger of 2 local Polish Roman Catholic unions.

UNION-MILES NEIGHBORHOOD. Union-Miles is a Cleveland neighborhood and Statistical Planning Area (SPA). Roughly 5 mi. southeast of downtown, Union-Miles is bounded by Miles Ave. on the south, Union Ave. on the north, Broadway Ave. and the Norfolk Southern rail tracks on the west, and an irregular line that stretches as far as E. 154th St. on the east.

UNIONS. See LABOR.

The UNITARIAN SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND was formed as a result of the decision by a majority of the members of the First Unitarian Church of Cleveland to move to SHAKER HTS. in 1951. The remaining 317 members voted to stay at E. 82nd St. and Euclid in the inner city. The new group was chartered within 2 months and bought the building from First Church.

UNITARIAN-UNIVERSALISM. The Unitarian and Universalist movements started in England and came to the Cleveland area separately early in the 19th century. Founded as protests against strict Calvinism, the unorthodox Protestant sects advocated freedom of thought and conscience. The American churches began in the East: Unitarianism in New England with the Transcendentalists, and Universalism in Pennsylvania with John Murray.

UNITED APPEAL. See UNITED WAY SERVICES.

The UNITED AUTO WORKERS, officially the United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Workers, represented over 60,000 workers in Cleveland by 1986. The UAW was organized nationally in 1934 as a federal union by the craft-oriented AFL, which half-heartedly incorporated the diverse auto industry into its ranks, but did little to organize the workers.

UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS LOCAL 45 at General Motors FISHER BODY plant on Coit Rd. launched the UAW strike in 1937 which culminated in GM's acceptance of the union as the bargaining agent for its workers. Local 45 began as United Automobile Workers Federal Local 18614 affiliated with the AFL, which was dominated by the craft unions.

UNITED BLACK FUND OF GREATER CLEVELAND was founded in 1981 by George W. White to raise and distribute funds to social organizations that served the AFRICAN AMERICAN community of Greater Cleveland.

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST. See CONGREGATIONALISTS.

The UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS was formed nationally by the 5 June 1979 merger of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen of America and the Retail Clerks Intl. Assn. The national merger was followed locally by the 5 Sept.

The UNITED FREEDOM MOVEMENT (UFM), established 3 June 1963 in Cleveland, was a coalition of more than 50 civic, fraternal, social, and civil-rights organizations inspired by the southern civil-rights movement.

The UNITED GERMAN SINGERS. Over the years local German singing groups have come together to make collective appearances at special events such as the national SAENGERFESTS held in Cleveland in 1855, 1859, 1874, 1893, 1927, and 1986. They have been referred to in English-language publications as The United German Singers.

The UNITED HUNGARIAN SOCIETIES was formed in 1902, bringing together 12 Hungarian organizations to "coordinate the cultural, charitable and welfare activities of the member societies" and the local Hungarian community. The organization grew out of the Kossuth Statue Committee, formed in 1901 to erect a statue in the patriot's honor (1902).

The UNITED LABOR AGENCY, the direct outgrowth of the Cleveland AFL-CIO community-service department in Cleveland, has operated since 1970 as a labor-based multiservice agency. The agency began in 1968 when contacts between representatives of the community-service department of the Cleveland AFL-CIO and the UNITED WAY revealed the need for kidney dialysis among union members.

UNITED SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR VETERANS. See JOINT VETERANS COMMISSION.

The UNITED STEEL WORKERS OF AMERICA in Cleveland has its roots in the 1870s with the formation of local branches of the Amalgamated Assn. of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers beginning ca. 1877. The amalgamated was involved in the CLEVELAND ROLLING MILL STRIKES of 1882 and 1885 and remained active locally until 1892.

UNITED TORCH. See UNITED WAY SERVICES.

The UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION was formed in 1969 from 4 railroad unions, the most prominent of which was the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, headquartered in Cleveland for most of its history since its founding in 1883 by 8 brakemen of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad in Oneonta, NY.

UNITED UKRAINIAN ORGANIZATIONS, 5566 Pearl Rd., was formed in 1928 to coordinate the social, cultural, and charitable work of the various Ukrainian-American organizations in Cleveland. By 1935 40 local groups were members of the UUO, then located at the Ukrainian Natl. Home on W. 14th St.

UNITED WAY SERVICES of Greater Cleveland, a centralized campaign established with that name in 1977 to raise money for health and human services, evolved from the city's first coordinated fund drives sponsored by the Federation for Charity and Philanthropy (later called the Welfare Federation, see FEDERATION FOR COMMUNITY PLANNING).

The UNITING SYNOD, the first general synod of the United Church of Christ, was held in Cleveland on 25 June 1957. It was at this synod that 2 separate churches, the Evangelical and Reformed Church and Congregational Christian Church, representing some 2.1 million members in 8,311 churches nationwide, formally agreed to union as the United Church of Christ.

The UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSN.

UNIVERSAL OIL INC., originally “Union Oil Company,” was founded by William H. Compton in 1877. First located at West 3rd and Canal Street, Universal Oil manufactured premium fuels and industrial lubricants.

The UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (UAA) is an Athletic Conference that hosts 20 sports, 10 men's and 10 women's, and competes in the NCAA’s Division III. The men compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, wrestling, and indoor and outdoor track and field. The women compete in all of the same sports, excluding wrestling and baseball but adding volleyball and softball.

UNIVERSITY CIRCLE is a Cleveland neighborhood whose formal and colloquial boundaries are quite different. As a Statistical Planning Area (SPA) identified by the Cleveland Planning Commission, “University” (not University Circle) is bounded by Wade Park and Ashbury Aves. on the north, E. 105th St. on the west, Overlook Rd. and E. 123rd St. on the east, and Quincy and Mt. Overlook Aves. on the south.

UNIVERSITY CIRCLE, INC. (UCI) is the outgrowth of its predecessor, the Univ. Circle Development Foundation. The UCDF was created in 1957 as the result of a planning study funded by Mrs. Wm. G. Mather (ELIZABETH RING IRELAND MATHER), who was concerned about the need for future collective planning by the Circle's institutions.

The UNIVERSITY CLUB, 3813 Euclid Ave., located in a restored historic Cleveland mansion on "Millionaires Row," is a social club for business and professional men and women. In 1896-97, Drs. Chas. Harris, Samuel Ball Platner, and Abraham Lincoln Fuller, professors at Adelbert College, organized the original Univ. Club as an invitational social club, with membership limited to men having a college degree.

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS was originally part of the farming community of WARRENSVILLE TOWNSHIP, established in 1816.

UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS: see UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS CASE MEDICAL CENTER

UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS CASE MEDICAL CENTER, based in UNIVERSITY CIRCLE, is a nonprofit academic medical center comprised of a group of health care facilities with historic ties to CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY. The region's first multi-hospital system, University Hospitals of Cleveland was formally established in 1925 under the leadership of Dr. Robert H.

UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS HEALTH SYSTEM BEDFORD MEDICAL CENTER (also known as the Community Hospital of Bedford and Bedford Municipal Hospital), is a subsidiary of the UNIV. HOSPITALS OF CLEVELAND Health System, located at 44 Blaine St., in BEDFORD. It was established in 1908 in the home of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Lesher on North St.

The UNIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT CO., established in 1918, began as a subcommittee of the influential CHAMBER OF COMMERCE'S CITY PLAN COMMISSION, a planning organization. The City Plan Commission had, for several years prior to 1918, been promoting the UNIV.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL, a private college preparatory school for boys, was founded in 1890. Founder Newton M. Anderson, dissatisfied with the prevailing classical education, believed that young men who would become leaders of industry needed firsthand experience with machines. In addition to traditional classrooms, Univ. School contained a machine shop, forge shop, carpenter shop, swimming pool, and gymnasium.

The UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT, organized in 1926 as Univ. Neighborhood Centers, was one of the last major SETTLEMENT HOUSES founded in Cleveland. The School of Applied Social Sciences (SASS) of WRU created the centers as an experimental program to provide training for graduate students and to serve the community.

UNIVERSITY SOCIAL SETTLEMENT. See UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT.

The URBAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL, located on the near west side of Cleveland, educates inner city students in grades K to 8. The students are primarily from economically disadvantaged families, and there is racial and ethnic diversity among the students.

The URBAN LEAGUE OF GREATER CLEVELAND, an interracial organization incorporated on 17 Dec. 1917 as the Negro Welfare Association of Cleveland, confronts racial barriers to economic opportunities. It has supplemented its early focus on employment with an emphasis on housing, education, and research.

URBAN TRANSPORTATION. During the last 150 years, transit in Greater Cleveland has gone from the horse and buggy to modern, diesel-powered buses and electric-rail coaches.

URS CONSULTANTS, formerly Dalton-Dalton-Newport, was acquired by the URS Corp. in 1984 and adopted its present (1993) name in 1987. Located locally at 23355 Mercantile Rd. in BEACHWOOD, it is a firm of architects, engineers, environmental scientists, and planners.

URSULINE COLLEGE is a Catholic liberal-arts college for women located at 2550 Lander Rd., PEPPER PIKE. The school was founded on 17 Nov. 1871 when Mother Mary of the Annunciation Beaumont applied for and received a charter to confer college degrees (see URSULINE SISTERS).

The URSULINE SISTERS OF CLEVELAND are members of an international Roman Catholic religious community dedicated to Christian education, founded by St. Angela Merici. Bp. AMADEUS RAPPE, who had served as chaplain of the Ursuline nuns of France, invited the sisters to staff Cleveland's parish schools.

UZBEKS. Uzbeks form a prominent and growing part of Greater Cleveland’s larger community of immigrants from the former USSR. They also comprise the largest Central Asian community in the metropolitan area. Before the 1990s, there was no Uzbek or Central Asian community in Cleveland.

VALLEY VIEW, originally part of Independence Twp., is a small village formed in 1919, located 7 mi. south of downtown Cleveland along the OHIO & ERIE CANAL in the Cuyahoga River Valley. It is 7 mi. long and 1.5 mi. wide and is bounded by GARFIELD HTS.