Category: Immigration and Ethnicity

ST. JOHN BYZANTINE CATHOLIC CHURCH was the first Byzantine (or Greek) Catholic parish established in Cleveland. It was founded in 1892 by a group of Byzantine Catholic families with the approval of the Roman Catholic bishop. The first pastor was Rev. John Csurgovich, who served for about 4 years. The parish was originally known as St. John the Baptist's Church.

The congregation of ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH on Rocky River Dr. in Cleveland was organized in 1848 (when the area was known as Rockport), one year after the Diocese of Cleveland was established. Masses were said in homes until a frame church was built in 1854. Cathedral priests ministered in the early years, including Bp. AMADEUS RAPPE.

ST. VITUS CHURCH, at E. 61st St. and Glass Ave., was the first Catholic church in Cleveland for SLOVENES. Later one of the largest Slovenian churches in America, St. Vitus's first service was on 6 Aug. 1893. The first priest was the newly ordained Vitus Hribar. The first services were held at ST. PETER CHURCH in Cleveland.

STONE, IRVING I. (5 Apr. 1909-17 Jan. 2000) was the founding chairman of AMERICAN GREETINGS CORP. who transformed a family business into a Fortune 300 company. Stone was born in Cleveland to Jennie (Kantor) and JACOB J. SAPIRSTEIN, who started the Sapirstein Greeting Card Company.

SULLIVAN, THOMAS C. (July 8, 1937-November 30, 2020) was a philanthropist and businessman who led his family’s coatings company, RPM Inc. through more than 50 years of growth and development. He was the youngest of six children born to Frank C. Sullivan and Margaret Mary Wilhelmy.

SVET-AMERICAN represented a merger of 2 newspapers that dominated Cleveland's CZECH-language press for the first half of the 20th century. The senior partner was the American, established as a daily in 1899 by FRANK J.

SWEENEY, ROBERT E. (November 4, 1924 - June 30, 2007) was a Democratic Party politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Congressman and Cuyahoga County Commissioner.

SYRIANS. See ARAB AMERICANS.

SZABADSAG (Liberty) became in time the largest as well as oldest HUNGARIAN-language newspaper published in the U.S. It was founded in Cleveland by TIHAMER KOHANYI with the financial backing of local Hungarian citizens in 1891.

TALTY, HON.

TANAKA, HENRY T. (1922 - 2006) was a Japanese American psychiatric social worker. His achievements include being the founding director of Hill House – known today as MAGNOLIA CLUB HOUSE – and leading the successful movement for Japanese internment reparations.

THIRD FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSN. OF CLEVELAND, one of the largest savings and loans in Cleveland, has been a stable lending institution with headquarters in the Broadway area since 1938. Founded by BEN S. STEFANSKI with $50,000 in capital, Third Federal opened on 7 May 1938 at 6875 Broadway in Cleveland's Polish community.

The TIEDEMANN HOUSE, 4308 Franklin Ave., is the most noted and one of the most architecturally distinguished residences on Franklin Ave., the west side equivalent of famous EUCLID AVE.

The TRENTINA CLUB was one of many "hometown" societies formed by Italian immigrants in Cleveland to provide financial assistance to needy members and to offer a friendly refuge in a new and different world.

TURKS immigrated to Cleveland in two distinct periods. The first Turkish immigrants were part of a movement of various ethnic groups from the former Ottoman Empire to the United States which began in earnest in the 1890s and ceased in the early 1920s with the advent of new, restrictive immigration laws and the almost simultaneous rise of the modern Turkish Republic from the remains of the Ottoman state.

The UKRAINIAN MUSEUM-ARCHIVES, INC., located at 1202 Kenilworth Ave. in TREMONT houses an important collection of material related to Ukrainian history, culture, and immigration. The collection began in 1952 when Leonid Bachynsky, a Ukrainian native living in Cleveland, began collecting almost anything related to the Ukrainian immigrant experience.

UKRAINIANS. The first large groups of Ukrainians arrived in America in the 1870s from the Lemko, Carpatho-Ruthenia, and Galitsian (Halycchyna) regions.

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.