CUDELL - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

CUDELL is a neighborhood located around the Cudell Recreation Ctr. in the West Blvd. district of the west side, named after CLEVELAND BAR ASSN. (CBA), who donated the property to the city. The area includes approx. 6 city blocks between W. 98th and W. 100th streets and Detroit and Cudell avenues. It is about half of a tract originally owned by FRANKLIN REUBEN ELLIOTT†, who built the nucleus of the Cudell house in 1845. In 1860 Elliott sold this portion of the tract to JACOB MUELLER† (1822-1905), a German immigrant and politician. In the late 1880s Mueller transferred the property to Cudell, who had married Mueller's daughter, Emma. A prominent local architect, Cudell remodeled the Mueller house, built 2 apartment terraces (the Cudell Dwellings) on W. 99th St., and deeded a portion of the property along West Blvd. to the city as a public park. He proposed a clock tower to be the centerpiece of a public garden in the parkway. When Cudell died in 1916, he bequeathed the house to the city, and his widow built the Cudell Tower as a memorial in 1917. Two years after Emma Cudell's death in 1937, the house was opened by the Dept. of Parks & Recreation as the Cudell Arts & Crafts Ctr., considered to be one of the first municipally operated arts and crafts centers in the country. It was also the home of the west side branch of the GARDEN CENTER OF GREATER CLEVELAND. In 1964 a large new brick recreation center and gymnasium was built by the city on the property. The Cudell House, 10013 Detroit Ave., was moved a short distance to the east when West Blvd. was relocated in 1977.

Related Article(s)

• NEIGHBORHOODS AND LANDMARKS

Related Link(s)

• Neighborhood Link - Cudell