Description. Mt. Pleasant was first settled in 1826 as a farming community and remained rural until the 1920?s when residential subdivisions were developed. The African-American community has a history of homeownership in Mt. Pleasant dating back to 1893, making Mt. Pleasant one of the earliest locations for large-scale homeownership by African Americans in greater Cleveland. Today, Mt. Pleasant is a solid residential neighborhood characterized by single- and two-family houses on tree-lined streets.
Assets. Among the neighborhood’s most significant assets are:
- the historic Martin Luther King Blvd. residential district along the neighborhood’s western edge,
- the Kinsman Road neighborhood retail district,
- Luke Easter Park , the City’s largest neighborhood park, and the contemporary Zelma George Recreation Center, both located immediately west of Mt. Pleasant
- the new A.J. Rickoff Elementary School, opened in 2005 at East 147 th & Kinsman
- the Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Family Service Center at East 139 th & Kinsman
Challenges. Among the challenges faced by the Mt Pleasant neighborhood today are:
- deteriorated, vacant and underutilized commercial buildings along portions of Kinsman Road
- housing maintenanceneeds fordeteriorating housing on side streets including both single and multi-family structures
- vacant housesthroughout the neighborhood
- absentee landlordsthat don’t maintain single and two-family rental properties
- scattered vacant lots throughout the neighborhood that are not maintained
- a two-family housing strategy addressing the competitiveness and challenges of this housing type
Vision. A vibrant Kinsman Road retail district can be the centerpiece for a revitalized Mt. Pleasant neighborhood and create a seamless boarder between Cleveland and Shaker Heights. Among the development opportunities and initiatives proposed for Mt. Pleasant are the following:
- infill retail development on vacant land within the Kinsman Road retail district
- target housing programs south of Lambert between East 131 st and East 140th
- renovation of storefronts along the Kinsman and Union retail corridor
- demolition of commercial buildings and construction of townhouses along Kinsman between East 117 th and East 126 th
- relocation of the Mt. Pleasant Library from East 140 th and Kinsman to vacant land next to Alexander Hamilton Rec. Center to continue development of an intergenerational campus
- trail/bikeway connection along MLK Blvd. that would tie into a citywide bikeway system
Printable version: can be downloaded here.
Maps (current as of May 2007): Assets, Development Opportunities, Land Use (existing and proposed), and Retail Strategies are available here. (PDF)
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