Category: Immigration and Ethnicity

ROMANIANS. Among the new Southern and East European immigrants coming to Cleveland in the late 1800s were an increasing number of ethnic Romanians, most from the province of Transylvania, at that time part of Austria-Hungary. Other Cleveland Romanians came from the province of Bucovina on the Polish and Russian borders, also part of Austria-Hungary before WORLD WAR I.

RUSSIANS. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian community of Greater Cleveland and Cuyahoga County has grown substantially.

RUSYNS. Cleveland's Rusyns trace their heritage to the Carpathian Mountains, a large mountain chain extending from central to eastern Europe and across modern-day Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, and Romania.

SAINT LAWRENCE PARISH was founded in 1901 in the NEWBURGH area of Cleveland by Father Francis Kerze.

SCANDINAVIANS. Scandinavian migration, relatively insignificant prior to 1850, increased rapidly after the CIVIL WAR because of successive crop failures and unemployment in the homeland and reported opportunities in the New World. Attracted by opportunities for work as longshoremen on the docks, Scandinavian immigrants began arriving in northeast Ohio ca.

SCANLON, THOMAS J. (March 25, 1938-October 30, 2022) was a lawyer and community service leader. Born to Thomas J. Scanlon and Marie Grady, he was the second of three children.

The SCHUHPLATTLER AND TRACHTENVEREIN BAVARIA was formed in 1972 from the remnants of the Schuhplattler & Costume Club, a singing and dancing club. The group specializes in the form of dancing known as Schuhplattler, or shoe slapping.

SCIRIA, PAUL ANGELO (November 3, 1928-June 23, 2017) was a pioneer of television journalism, city councilman, editor of two Italian-American community newspapers, and an outspoken supporter of Italian heritage. His trademark tag line was "Thank you for your time, this time, until next time.”

SCOTS. See BRITISH IMMIGRATION.

SCOTTISH HERITAGE ASSN. OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO, formerly known as Clan Grant No. 17 of the Order of the Scottish Clans, is a fraternal society organized on 13 Apr. 1885. Named in honor of President U. S. Grant, who was of Scottish descent, the organization in its early years met in City Hall. Thos. S. Davies, the owner of a soap-manufacturing company, was chief in 1886; Peter Miller was secretary, and Chas. R.

SERBS. Although the Serbs are not one of Cleveland's largest ethnic groups, they have made themselves widely known throughout the city. Serbian immigration to Cleveland came in 2 main periods: from the beginning of the 20th century to the beginning of WORLD WAR I, and from the end of WORLD WAR II to the mid-1980s.

The SHALHEVET INTL. FOLK ENSEMBLE was founded in 1968 by Paul and Carole Kantor to preserve and promote the folklore, dance, and music of all the lands in which the Jewish people have lived.

SIEGEL, JEROME (October 17, 1914 - January 28, 1996), was a comic book writer who co-created Superman alongside JOSEPH SHUSTER. Siegel, the youngest of six children, was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

SLOVAKS. At one time in the early 1900s, Cleveland was reputedly the city with the largest number of Slovaks in the world. As of 1970 an estimated 48,000 persons of Slovak birth or ancestry resided in Greater Cleveland, making Slovaks one of the city's major immigrant groups.

SLOVENES, a South Slav people whose homeland, Slovenia, declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, began settling in Cleveland in the 1880s, with immigration heaviest in the periods 1890-1914, 1919-24, and 1949-60. Prior to WORLD WAR II, most emigrants were peasants from the economically underdeveloped rural areas of Slovenia, looking for economic betterment.

The SLOVENIAN AMERICAN NATIONAL COUNCIL (Slovenski Ameriski Narodni Svet) attempted to unite Americans of Slovenian heritage to assist the occupied homeland during WORLD WAR II.

The SLOVENIAN NATIONAL HOME, in the 6400 block of St. Clair Ave., is the largest and most significant social and cultural center for local Slovenian Americans. Ideas for a national hall were discussed as early as 1903, when the Slovenian sokols sought to build a gymnasium and library. The opening of Knaus' Hall that year, followed by other privately owned halls, slowed the plans for a publicly held center.