page_title: Union–Miles Park
section_title: Great Depression: Collapse of the steel industry and growth of churches and schools
hierarchical_section_title: Union–Miles Park / 20th century / Great Depression: Collapse of the steel industry and growth of churches and schools
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking east past the baseball diamond and the meadow at Carol McClendon Park, located at the eastern end of Beacon Avenue in the Union-Miles Park neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. The park, originally just two acres, was created in July 1939 as Bisbee Park through the efforts of a neighborhood businessmen's club, the city, and the federal Works Progress Administration. The park received a complete overhaul in the late 1990s.It was renamed for Cleveland City Councilwoman Carol McClendon after her death in 2004.
context_page_description: Union–Miles Park is a city planning area on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. The neighborhood draws its name from Union Avenue, and Miles Park in its far southwest corner.
  Union–Miles Park was originally part of Newburgh Township, which was organized in 1814. Settled by whites as an area of farms and orchards, Union–Miles Park became one of two centers in the Cleveland steelmaking industry beginning in 1856. The steel mills drew Irish, Scottish, and Welsh immigrants to the area, with the intersection of E. 93rd Street and Union Avenue becoming known as "Irishtown". After an 1882 strike at the steel mill was broken using Polish and Slovak strikebreakers, the large Irish and Welsh communities were displaced by these two new immigrant groups. Railroads cut through many areas of Union–Miles Park, defining the area. The steel industry in Union–Miles Park collapsed during the Great Depression. White flight from the area in the 1960s, and a strong influx of African Americans eager to take advantage of inexpensive housing, radically changed the demographic nature of the neighborhood.
context_section_description: Although U.S. Steel had continued to expand in the area west of Union–Miles Park from 1900 to 1925, the Great Depression led to the collapse of the steel industry in the neighborhood. U.S. Steel had been created from a wide range of companies. Rather than an integrated plant, the company found that gross inefficiencies emerged as the pieces of the company attempted to work together to make steel. The company had to move molten iron 6.5 miles (10.5 km) from the Central Furnaces to the Newburgh Works using congested railroads. Once converted into steel, the steel had to be shipped to other Cleveland area plants for conversion into beams, plate, rods, and wire. U.S. Steel announced on December 1, 1932, that it would close the Newburgh Works in four months. The mill's furnaces and Bessemer converters went cold on April 30, 1933, and its demolition began in September 1935. Superior Screw moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio, in 1933 as well.
  Although the closure of the Newburgh Works meant the loss of 2,000 jobs, the Union–Miles Park neighborhood continued to see new schools and other buildings erected. John Adams High School, the first secondary school in the area, opened on the eastern border of Union–Miles Park at the intersection of Corlett Avenue and E. 116th Street in 1923. Nathan Hale Elementary School opened in 1928 at 3588 East Blvd. (now Martin Luther King Jr. Drive). The library at the old town hall moved into a new structure at 9213 Union Avenue in 1931. It was promoted to "branch" status and moved into a large new building at 9319 Union Avenue in 1939.
  In 1933, St. Joseph Byzantine built a new, much larger church home next to its existing small wood-frame structure. This Romanesque Revival structure featured two towers with copper domes and extensive interior mural paintings. Concordia Lutheran also expanded the same year, significantly enlarging its church. Miles Park School, too, added space, building an auditorium, classroom, and gymnasium.
  Union–Miles Park received its first public park when 2 acres (8,100 m²) of land at the eastern end of Beacon Avenue were converted into Bisbee Park in July 1939. The park was created through the efforts of a neighborhood businessmen's club, the city, and the federal Works Progress Administration.
caption: Looking east through Bisbee Park (now Carol McClendon Park)
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