Description: This view of the garden pond of the Yugoslav Cultural Garden in Cleveland was taken by I.T. Frary. The garden consists of a circular fountain and pool in the center of a paved court. At the lower level is a natural amphitheater formed by trees. The Yugoslav population in Cleveland is largely represented by three ethnic groups: Croatians, Slovenes, and Serbs. Croatian immigration to Cleveland was largely due to the hostile political and economic conditions under Austria-Hungary and both royal and Communist Yugoslavia. Slovenes, a southern Slavic people, immigrated to Cleveland to find work, initially in the steel industry. Yugoslav immigrants were largely poor peasants and political refugees. Serbs arrived in Cleveland mainly before World War I and after World War II. The group consistently maintained a sense of strong ethnic identity and did not quickly assimilate into American culture. The Cleveland Cultural Gardens, located along East Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, are landscaped gardens with statuary honoring Cleveland's ethnic groups. During the dedication of the Shakespeare Garden in 1916, it was decided that similar sites should be prepared for each of the city's ethnic communities. The first of these gardens, the Hebrew garden, was established in 1926. On May 9, 1927 the city set aside areas of Rockefeller Park for future gardens. The Italian, German, Lithuanian, Slovak, and Ukrainian gardens were established in 1930; the Polish, Hungarian, Czech, and Yugoslav gardens in 1934; and the American, Russian, Irish, Greek, and Syrian gardens in 1938. Romanian, Estonian, Afro-American, Chinese, Finnish, and Indian gardens have since been created. Planning and fundraising for each garden was undertaken within the ethnic communities, while the Cleveland Cultural Garden Federation (established in 1925) oversaw planning and coordinated various joint programs. The photographs were taken by Ihna Thayer Frary. The Ihna Thayer Frary Audiovisual Collection was given to the Ohio Historical Society by Mr. Frary in two sections. One was in March of 1963 and the remainder in May of 1965 by his sons, Dr. Spencer G. and Allen T. Frary following their father's death. I.T. Frary (1873-1965) was the publicity and membership secretary for the Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio. He taught for many years at the Cleveland Institute of Art and Western Reserve University's School of Architecture. He did much research of Ohio and American architecture and was the author of seven major works and numerous scholarly articles on architectural and art history. One of his major works was Early Homes of Ohio published in 1936. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3355_5837581_1
Subjects: Immigration and Ethnic Heritage; Architecture; Arts and Entertainment; Plants and Animals; Gardens; Sculptures, Yugoslav Americans
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)