Sidaway Bridge is Cleveland鈥檚 only suspension bridge, built nearly a century ago for pedestrians walking between the city鈥檚 Kinsman and Slavic Village neighborhoods. But since a period of racial unrest in the 1960s, the bridge has been quietly frozen in time.
A jungle forms a thick barrier between the naked eye and the steel structure, showing less rust than you鈥檇 expect for something which has been abandoned for 57 Cleveland winters. The distance to the ground below, where the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority stores railroad ties and other equipment, can induce vertigo.
One end of is in Slavic Village, near E. 65th Street and Sidaway Avenue, behind the carcass of the Dan-Dee Pretzel & Potato Chip Company. The brick-paved street is a dumping ground for old tires, broken bathroom fixtures and general food waste. This is no place for kids today, but dozens of them used to walk here daily, crossing the bridge to go to school, according to Case Western Reserve University history professor John Grabowski.
鈥淥n the one side of the bridge, which is now branded as Slavic Village, was a neighborhood known as Jackowa,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was largely Polish. It was an industrial neighborhood. Across the ravine, you had the Kinsman neighborhood, which at one point was Jewish, Hungarian, also ethnic.鈥�
How the bridge became a barrier
The demographics changed after World War II, as Cleveland鈥檚 Black population increased, de facto segregation decreased and many Black residents moved to places like Kinsman.
Regennia Williams, the Western Reserve Historical Society鈥檚 distinguished scholar of African American history and culture, grew up nearby.
鈥淚 remember when we moved to 78th Street, there were no Garden Valley housing projects,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e watched them demolish houses, and I just have these memories of white people running with furniture to trucks, just loading up everything. And the neighborhood flipped very quickly in the early 1960s.鈥�
The bridge already had a troubled history, starting just after its completion in 1930. A believed serial killer, , left some of his victims in Kingsbury Run, below the bridge. Three decades later, the bridge itself would fall victim to racial tensions.
鈥淵ou have an African American population across from the white ethnic population and the children go to鈥� Tod Public School,鈥� said Grabowski. 鈥淚t's on the Jackowa side, and they come over the bridge. So, we have Black children coming through a mostly white community at that time.鈥�
Williams went to school on the Kinsman side in the 鈥�60s, admiring the bridge from a safe distance.
鈥淲e were warned very early on in life that you don't go there,鈥� she said. 鈥溾�楤ecause of the white people who are on that end, who don't want you on that end of the bridge.鈥欌��
The issue was moot after racial tensions exploded during Cleveland鈥檚 deadly in 1966.
鈥淪omebody on the Slavic Village side decides that they want to close the bridge down,鈥� Grabowski said. 鈥淭hey begin to pull up some of the boards which form the basis of the bridge, and they try to set fire to it. And so, the bridge is impassable.鈥�
Suddenly, the bridge became a barrier. A five-minute walk turned into an hour journey. The city鈥檚 failure to repair and reopen Sidaway was cited a decade later, when a federal court ruled that Cleveland had unconstitutionally segregated its schools. A decade after the decision, the Dan-Dee chips operation had left town and Tod School had been demolished. The bridge鈥檚 metal structure became overgrown, and only in recent years is the bridge even fleetingly visible from a nearby highway.
A future for the bridge
Last fall, given its historic and architectural significance, the bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places, followed by status in February.
鈥淲e want to use the bridge as an attraction - a catalyst,鈥� said Joy Johnson, executive director of nonprofit community developer Burten, Bell, Carr.
Her firm helped get the landmark status for Sidaway. The firm鈥檚 offices are a block from the Kinsman side of the bridge, and she said residents there feel disconnected from green space based on surveys her firm has conducted over the past seven years. Johnson added that the area鈥檚 public Metroparks system is mapped out along the same lines as the redlining maps of the early 20th century. She said she hopes to change that with development around the bridge, starting with some sort of arboretum or nature center.
鈥淭here鈥檚 so many natural species right there,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou would not think we have this kind of natural habitat just blocks away from busy thoroughfares.鈥�
Johnson and her team are having discussions with the city, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority and Western Reserve Land Conservancy to come up with a plan in the next 18 months. She said she wants to then start fundraising to attract state and federal grants. Getting the bridge itself restored is estimated to cost at least $9 million.
If the bridge were reopened, Cleveland Ward 5 Council Member Richard Starr said Sidaway would serve as an economic driver, noting the nearby Orlando Bread Company as one attractive employer.
鈥淏eing able to say, 鈥業 can walk to my job, within walking distance to my home,' but also having that lifestyle that I can live in my community, he said. It鈥檚 very important for us to get that bridge back open, and I think it could really, really, really help our neighborhood.鈥�
Dan Musson has been part of the city鈥檚 historic preservation team for 17 years and is currently secretary of the Landmarks Commission.
鈥淲ith some structural analysis 鈥� I think it could be put back into use,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here's certainly a need for connecting neighborhoods. Times have changed so much since it was built.鈥�
If Sidaway Bridge does reopen, Regennia Williams will be there.
鈥淚鈥檇 walk across it 鈥� this time,鈥� she said. 鈥淧lease invite me when they restore the bridge.鈥�
