For more than a year, Hough’s residents — young and old, planners, elders who remember, and those just learning — have circled a single, urgent question: How does a historically Black neighborhood, rich in history, grow without losing what makes it special?
That question was at the heart of the Hough Cultural Preservation Project Town Hall, held April 23 at the MidTown Collaboration Center, and echoed in conversations with Monica Rhodes, founder of Rhodes Heritage Group and principal consultant for the project, and Anthony Giambroni, vice president of community engagement at MidTown Cleveland.
According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Hough lies between Euclid and Superior Avenues, stretching from East 55th to East 105th Streets. But lines on a map only go so far. A neighborhood is also defined by use — where people gather, where they return. Over time, Hough has been a center of Black life in Cleveland, with a busy stretch of local businesses — bakeries, hotels and clubs — including Hough Bakery, the Majestic Hotel, and Leo’s Casino…