Kingsbury Run is the name that refers to an area on the southeast side of
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
, located near the
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
of
Shaker Heights
Shaker or Shakers may refer to:
Religious groups
* Shakers, a historically significant Christian sect
* Indian Shakers, a smaller Christian denomination
Objects and instruments
* Shaker (musical instrument), an indirect struck idiophone
* Cockta ...
. The area stretches westward through
Kinsman Road.
It contained a natural watershed that ran through East 79th Street and carried storm waters into the
Cuyahoga River
The Cuyahoga River (see ) is a river located in Northeast Ohio that bisects the City of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie.
As Cleveland emerged as a major manufacturing center, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so mu ...
, draining them from the areas now known as
Maple Heights and
Warrensville Heights. Kingsbury Run was named after James Kingsbury (1767–1847), one of the earliest settlers in the
Western Reserve
The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. Warren, Ohio was the Historic Capital in Trumbull County. T ...
, who became the first inhabitant of Newburgh in 1797. It is also the route through which the
RTA Rapid Transit travels on its way to Public Square in downtown Cleveland.
Kingsbury Run became notorious in the mid-1930s when an unidentified
serial killer
A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone:
*
*
*
*
* (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...
, the
Cleveland Torso Murderer, used the area as a dumping ground for the dismembered remains of some of their first victims. In 1938,
Eliot Ness
Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 – May 16, 1957) was an American Bureau of Prohibition, Prohibition agent known for his efforts to bring down Al Capone while enforcing Prohibition in the United States, Prohibition in Chicago. He was leader of a team ...
directed police to raid the area. They evicted 300 individuals from the area and burned down approximately 100 shanty homes in a desperate attempt to weed out the killer.
Sidaway Bridge
Between Sidaway Avenue and East 65th Street the Kingsbury Run ravine is spanned by the
Sidaway Bridge, Cleveland's first and only suspension span, a footbridge which connects the
Jackowo and Kinsman Road neighborhoods. Due to damage caused during the
Hough riots, the bridge was closed in 1966 and remains inaccessible.
Continued closure of the bridge influenced
Frank J. Battisti's ruling in the case ''
Robert Anthony Reed III v. Rhodes'' regarding
desegregation
Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws ...
in the
Cleveland schools.
See also
*
List of rivers of Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. The state takes its name from the Ohio River, whose name in turn originated from the Seneca word '' ohiːyo, meaning "good river", "great river" or "large creek". The Ohi ...
References
External links
Kingsbury Run Reserve
Geography of Cleveland
Bodies of water of Ohio
{{CuyahogaCountyOH-geo-stub