KINSMAN (NEIGHBORHOOD)

KINSMAN is a Cleveland neighborhood and Statistical Planning Area (SPA). It is bordered by Woodland Ave. on the north, E. 93rd St. and Woodhill Ave. on the east, Aetna Rd. on the south and an irregular line on the west that includes E. 55th St. and the Norfolk Southern tracks.

Like its surrounding neighborhoods (FAIRFAX, NORTH BROADWAY, CENTRAL and Buckeye-Woodhill), Kinsman originally was part of NEWBURGH TWP. (org. 1814). The area’s fertile soil attracted settlers who, in turn, established and/or patronized grist, carding, saw and flour mills along MILL CREEK, just south of what is now the Kinsman neighborhood. The first distillery in Cleveland opened nearby. Inns and small retailers followed and by the 1850s a railroad (the Cleveland & Pittsburgh) and a coach road (first called Pittsburgh St., then the Newburgh Rd. and, finally, Broadway) served the area. These arteries, combined with waterpower generated by Mill Creek’s 40’ drop attracted heavy industry, as well as workers.

By the 1850s horse-drawn omnibus lines operated by the Kinsman Street Railroad Co. were running along Kinsman Rd., connecting points east to downtown. At the close of the Civil War there were more than 30 oil refineries operating in the Newburgh area, along with 14 steel mills producing machinery, casting, bar iron, nails, spikes, stoves and other necessities. Also after the war, what had been known as Kinsman Rd. (named after early settler John Kinsman) became Woodland Rd., currently the northern border of the Kinsman neighborhood. In 1868 the CLEVELAND & NEWBURGH RAILROAD began operating a steam line beginning at Willson St. (now E. 55th St.). The line took a southeasterly direction, crossing Kingsbury Run to Broadway Ave. near Newburgh in what is now the Central neighborhood. This is the path that became the current Kinsman Rd. (St. Rt. 422).

Annexation to Cleveland had been chipping off pieces of Newburgh Twp. as early as the 1820s. By 1874, sections south and east had been absorbed by Cleveland and most remaining portions (including Kinsman) were incorporated as the Village of Newburgh. However, annexation continued piecemeal and, by 1894, all of the area now referred to as Kinsman was part of Cleveland. The Village of Newburgh (see NEWBURGH HEIGHTS. )—west of Slavic Village and less than 3 sq. mi.—was incorporated in 1904.

The NICKEL PLATE (est. 1881) skirted the Kinsman neighborhood’s northern border. From the west, its tracks ran southeast through Kingsbury Run, crossing Willson St. and Kinsman before angling northeast toward