Why Was Elderwood Abandoned?

Elderwood. To wander here with a camera would be ridiculous, so I had to.

Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio

During the 1990s, one of many larger fires in Cleveland’s history broke out in the center of a once lively neighborhood, destroying buildings and claiming lives. It was said that because of this fire, local community began to collapse, eventually leading to the abandonment of almost everything.

Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio

In its lively years, Elderwood sat beneath a hill in East Cleveland, maintaining the life of a normal, functioning urban block. Children played in the heat of a summer sun, running through sprinklers, laughing while life around them continued as normal as it always had. So what was it that turned this particular disaster into something that people would want to push from their memories? The story of Elderwood is one of a sad history – one of very dark days. This large fire brought the death of family members, while most notably and quite sadly, taking the lives of some very young children. I am not 100 percent positive why the entire neighborhood was abandoned so quickly the way it was instead of initially attempting to rebuild, but I believe it may be a strong possibility that people wanted to completely abandon and bury these terrifying memories, leaving everything behind.

Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio

During early July of 2013, firefighters were called to the scene of a building billowing smoke on the neighborhood street, burning for over 2 hours until finally being taken out by the team. A very short amount of time passed until one more incident had come to the attention of police, when three bodies were found in surrounding buildings, one of them on the second story of an apartment on Elderwood. Since that discovery in July, a bright spotlight has been heavily focused in and around the area where Elderwood Avenue runs through.

Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio

I first explored this quiet block during January of 2014, giving me the chance to capture its emptiness within a cold winter scene. Most of the streets were covered in snow so deep that it was difficult to navigate by walking, let alone drive through. The winter, cold temperatures and lack of active people in the area were what allowed me to venture inside, capturing the bleak abandonment through some of the most beautifully austere scenery left behind by wild destruction. I returned during the warmer months of summer, to see just how much had changed, finding myself lost between a world of green life and orange-bricked death. Facing Elderwood, I felt as though I was staring down the center of an urban jungle. Trees pushed wildly from foundations, while overgrowth and foliage sprang freely from walls and sidewalks. I walked these lonely, cracking and cluttered streets, imagining this eerie laughter, like children playing. The air is mostly quiet, with the exception of sporadic clangs and crunches echoing through broken windows. Open doors pour trash into the yards and street as floors just inside some units have collapsed, forcefully pushing destruction outward.

Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio

With Cleveland’s population declining, down 20 percent in the last ten years, places like this will simply need to be torn down. We will not gain anything by saying that the area needs to be brought back to life when most of it is beyond the point of restoration and would ultimately do no good, or be of much help to the community, considering not much of the community even remains. It’s a wonderful thought for thriving areas, such as parts of New York or Chicago, both of whom are making great restoration efforts, but places like this need to be removed as they only continue to encourage acts of crime to take place, providing criminals with a dumping ground of sorts.

Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio
Elderwood Avenue Abandoned East Cleveland Ohio

Bombardment by fires and vandalism over the years in connection with the high crime rate, from rape to murder, has eventually led to the recent beginning demolition of the area. Very soon we will say our final goodbyes to Elderwood as a whole, and only an empty, flat land will remain where these structures once stood tall. In areas like this, you need to be careful. It’s not simply a “walk in the park, let’s see cool stuff” kind of thing. By putting yourself in a situation like this, you could be severely hurt, robbed, or even killed. More people need to know this, and stop thinking of exploring these areas as some kind of simple game or general activity. There are plenty of cool things to explore that are much safer, be aware of your surroundings and stay safe. It’s ultimately your choice, but I have given you my thoughts.

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My Camera (Sony a7riii)https://amzn.to/2AFtzQv

Alternative Camera https://amzn.to/2VHjR9h

Theta 360 Camera https://amzn.to/2CaRwzm

Sandisk Memory Cardshttps://amzn.to/2SN5sX6

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Zeiss 55 1.8https://amzn.to/2SK4Dys

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0 comments on “Why Was Elderwood Abandoned?

    1. It was not. Elderwood was the hood before it burned down. That’s why there was never any attempts to rebuild.

  1. Interesting and nostalgic this comment but as it happens in life everything is passable and good past. So let’s restore or rebuild these abandoned houses for the good of those who come. Man, and more America, has unpredictable resources and creative imagination being able to bring the new to new valences. Enough with these lamentations that the nun is inspiring sin u opens the horizon of what we should do. Letting go of the plague. Let’s look in the future. The following comes the 7 billion pound. What do we say? Uncover these locations and give those who dream of a new life the opportunity to go on the road. A reader from Romania. translated with Google.

    1. Costy, Get State of Cleveland Permission as well as the city of Elderwood, these buildings are located in. Can you find a land developer and builder to do this work in Romania? If an Architectural Firm can re-design or re-imagine or show restoration and fax this to the approving State and City governmental offices why not? Any architectural firm and contractors who wants to do the work can seek approval.

  2. Elderwood was so beautiful place with its massive apartments and condos it was very nice it’s a shame it was torn down confusing why some still have power but still sad

  3. Wow! Beautiful images, and it looks like this was once a really nice place! I am fascinated by abandoned places like this…especially the things that are left behind, so that you can see traces of the people and lives that once inhabited the spaces. It’s eerie and so compelling…you always want to know more. Thank you for sharing your work. I love it!

    1. …in actuality, Elderwood should be a natural. Located close to Cleveland Clinic, it is also a short drive from downtown, and two large universities. But has others have noted, exploration there is a death defying exercise. I was there taking pictures last fall but be forewarned. The local dope boys use the abandoned apartments as stash houses. And one explorer found human remains, the aftermath of a local serial killer…

  4. wow, as I was surfing through my reader to discover more blogs, I came across yours. Very interesting. This town was once a beautiful place, beautiful homes, and “Elderwood Avenue” is such a name that tells something of a neighbourhood that once was good turned down by bad habits. You know what, America has many ghosts towns. People should have never left their town to give chances to criminals. They should all have stayed put and be strong and don’t give in. And that is what happened, They “gave in” and they walked away. The more they became weak, crime will climbed above them. And America will never be the same again. too many ghosts towns now, people have left. And from government to government, no one does a thing about it. Thousands and Thousands Americans are leaving for new horizons. And what will happens if American becomes a “Ghost Country?” See, a big continent like this, they should have set themselves up as a “Church country” where the Diocese sits at the top of the government, just like the United Kingdom. No one can tell the US Government what to do, this is where they went wrong. Such a sad country.

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