DOAN'S CORNERS - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

DOAN'S CORNERS "definitely and accurately were the corners of Euclid Ave. and what are now 105th and 107th Streets." So wrote Cleveland historian CHAS. ASA POST†, a product of the neighborhood, in 1930. Doan's Corners takes its name from NATHANIEL DOAN†, an early settler in Cleveland who in 1799 built a log hotel and tavern on the northwest corner of Euclid Ave. and Fairmount (E. 107th) St. Doan also built a store on the southwest corner and later operated both a blacksmith shop and saleratus (baking soda) factory. By the 1870s, Doan's initial settlement was a flourishing crossroads town of stores, churches, small industries, a hotel, and a post office. The area became part of E. Cleveland Twp. in 1866 and 6 years later was annexed to Cleveland. By the early 20th century, the expanding city had largely engulfed Doan's Corners. In 1930 on the site where Doan had erected his log tavern, now stood a hotel and business block, surrounded by other hotels, theaters, banks, commercial buildings, and apartment houses. In the 1920s, vaudeville, and later motion pictures, brought thousands to the Park, KEITH'S EAST 105TH ST. THEATER, the Circle, the Univ., and the Alhambra theaters, all located in what had become Cleveland's "second downtown." Through the 1950s, Doan's Corners--as it was still called--was a weekend haven for a generation of Clevelanders for shopping and entertainment. By 1970 Doan's Corners was overcome by the epidemic urban blight that claimed the surrounding neighborhoods of the east side. Virtually no remnant of Doan's Corners remains today (1994), the area having been cleared for expansion of the CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION west of E. 105th St. and for the W. O. Walker Industrial Rehabilitation Ctr. on the south side of Euclid Ave. between E. 105th and E. 107th streets.

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