Cleveland, Ohio – 1930 [1]

By far, Cleveland and its suburbs was the primary destination for the graduates of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907. Why Cleveland? Today – although it is experiencing a renaissance – the city is a shadow of the metropolis that lured young people from around the world to work in its factories. In 1907, Cleveland was already an industrial powerhouse, by 1920, it became the fifth largest city in the nation. And it was not only jobs that made it a destination of choice for many in the early twentieth century. Philanthropy by titans of industry like John D. Rockefeller and Louis Severance brought culture to the city. [1]

Nine of the twenty-seven graduates of the Class of 1907 spent most of their lives in Cleveland or its suburbs, but only three lived in the city limits of Cleveland, and none of them ever married.

Fred Osborne came from a working class family, his father was a housepainter and paperhanger, and he became a working class man. After graduating from Norwalk High School, he went into farming, and became a beekeeper. Around 1920, he moved to Cleveland, and for over twenty years lived in an apartment at 1482 East 84th Street with his sisters, while working as a mail carrier out of the University Post Office at 1950 E 101st Street, Cleveland. After retirement, he moved to Pinellas, Florida, where he died in 1972.

University Post Office 2017 [3]

How important is it to check source documents and not rely on transcriptions? Very important. But sometimes we goof, as I did in my post on education when I reported that Myrtle Woodruff had not pursued an education after high school. That despite finding her obituary, which reported that she had graduated from Ohio University. While drafting this post, I checked her obituary and realized my mistake. I went to the original 1940 Census record for confirmation, and there it was: Myrtle Woodruff had completed five years of college. How stupid of me! Oh, well! Lesson learned (I hope), and now I have the chance to set the record straight.

What did Myrtle do with her education? She taught at West Technical High School in Cleveland. [4] In 1928, she lived on Prospect Avenue in Cleveland. Later she moved to the suburb of Lakewood. After retiring in 1946, she returned to live with a sister in their hometown of Fairfield Township, where she died in 1951.

West Technical High School, Cleveland, Ohio [5]

Edna West spent most of her short life (she died in 1936) living in boarding houses. After graduation, she moved to Trenton, Michigan, where she taught school, living in a home with fourteen other boarders, most who were teachers. By 1920, she had returned to Ohio and was working as a clerk in Cleveland, boarding at 3848 Prospect Avenue (now a parking lot). But in the end she returned to teaching. According to the 1930 Census, she was a governess at the Cleveland Christian Home for Children located at 11401 Lorain Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio. [6] She was the first of the class of 1907 to die, passing away on April 6, 1936 in Toledo, Ohio.

That’s it for the tales of those graduates of the class who lived in Cleveland, Ohio. Next up, the suburbs, beginning with Cleveland Heights.

Footnotes:

[1] Image from Pinterest, downloaded August 6, 2017

[2] From the Cleveland Wikipedia article. An excellent source of information about Cleveland is the Case Western Reserve Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.

[3] Google Maps Image downloaded August 6, 2017.

[4] West Technical School was a highly rated high school in Cleveland. Established in 1912, it closed in 1995 and was converted to apartments. For more information, visit the West Tech Alumni Association website.

[5] Image from West Technical High School Class of 1967 Reunion Website. on Classmates.com.

[6] The Cleveland Christian Home for Children is an orphanage founded in 1900, and is still operates today. A history of this institution is at the Cleveland Christian Home Website.

Note: For timelines and sources, click on these links: Fred Osborne, Myrtle Woodruff, and Edna West. I will fill in the gaps with individual biographies for these three in later posts.

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