Hough is a neighborhood situated on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio. Roughly two square miles, the neighborhood spans Superior and Euclid Avenues between East 55th and East 105th streets. Bound between Downtown Cleveland and University Circle, the neighborhood became a target for revitalization during the mid-20th century after the 1966 Hough Riots.
History
Hough is one of Cleveland’s oldest neighborhoods, named after Oliver and Eliza Hough, who first settled in the area in 1799. The neighborhood was incorporated into the city of Cleveland, OH in 1873 and soon was home to mostly affluent residents. After WWI, wealthy residents moved further out, large homes were split into apartments, and Hough became a white working class.
During Prohibition, the area between Lexington and Hough Avenues between East 73rd and East 79th Streets was known as “Little Hollywood” for many brothels and speakeasies.
Transition to an African American Community
At the start of the twentieth century, Hough was a community for primarily affluent white residents. After the First World War, this population dwindled, leaving a white working-class neighborhood. Hough then lost prominent institutions within the community, including University School and League Park, the latter being the original home of the Cleveland Indians. University School moved out to Shaker Heights, and the Indians slowly moved to Cleveland Municipal Stadium Downtown.
By 1960, multiple factors ultimately coalesced into Hough becoming a poor, majority African American community. The Second Great Migration and slum clearance in Cedar-Central created a mass influx of Black people into Hough. A lack of a properly enforced housing code made Hough extremely overcrowded, as landlords created multi-family housing out of large single-family homes. This increase in African Americans led to panic selling and white flight to the suburbs.
The massive population boom weighed on the school system, leading the city to create two half-day groups to attend schools and introduce busing to white neighborhoods like Murray Hill. The latter was a controversial practice that led to racial violence against Black students from Hough and Glenville. Bed Bug Exterminator Cleveland
Revitalization Efforts
The Hough Area Development Corporation (HADC) was founded by Reverend Deforest Brown in the wake of the 1966 uprising, using Cleveland: NOW! money from Carl Stokes’ administration to fund housing and jobs in Hough. This included Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza, a mixed-use building with housing and retail. Stokes additionally worked with the Black nationalist group Cleveland Pride in 1968 to plant sod as a symbolic means of making the neighborhood more attractive and hospitable.
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