{"id":11,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-03-04 21:31:57","latitude":41.4929646563000034120705095119774341583251953125,"longitude":-81.6564738750000032041498343460261821746826171875,"title":"Outhwaite Homes ","subtitle":null,"fullsize":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/3149e3d4ac73dd9efcca00d3b91821bc.jpg","address":"2452 E 46th St, Cleveland, OH ","zoom":17,"creator":["CSU Center for Public History and Digital Humanities"],"description":"The Outhwaite Homes Estates, along with the Cedar Apartments and Lakeview Terrace, were the first three public housing projects to be completed in Cleveland. The three projects were also among the first in the nation to receive approval and funding from the federal government&#039;s newly created Public Works Administration in 1935.  <br />\r\n<br />\r\nOuthwaite&#039;s brick Art Deco buildings, grouped around grassy courtyards, originally contained 557 units. Expansion occurred only a few years after Outhwaite&#039;s 1937 opening as demand for public housing in Cleveland continued. The need for new housing was particularly great within the African American community, whose growing numbers were leading to overpopulation in the Cedar-Central neighborhood, the city&#039;s Black enclave. Initially, African Americans seeking public housing could only live at the Outhwaite Homes – in Cedar-Central – as officials sought to keep each housing project racially homogeneous.  <br />\r\n<br />\r\nIn 1938, brothers Louis and Carl Stokes, who went on to noted political careers, moved to the Outhwaite Homes with their mother, Louise. Louis Stokes was a U.S. Congressional Representative for nearly three decades and his brother Carl became the first African American mayor of Cleveland in 1967. Both brothers credited their time at Outhwaite with having a role in their success.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":null,"website":null,"related_resources":["<p>Campbell, Thomas F. \"<a href=\"https://case.edu/ech/articles/p/public-housing\">Public Housing.</a>\" <em>Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.</em> </p>","\"<a href=\"https://clevelandcivilrightstrail.org/explore-the-trail/carl-stokes/\">Carl Stokes.</a>\" <em>Cleveland Civil Rights Trail.</em>","Kerr, Daniel R. <em>Derelict Paradise: Homelessness and Urban Development in Cleveland, Ohio</em>. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2011.","Moore, Leonard N. <em>Carl B. Stokes and the Rise of Black Political Power</em>. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002."],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/3149e3d4ac73dd9efcca00d3b91821bc.jpg":{"id":11033,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Carl and Louis Stokes, ca. 1930s","description":"The future politicians moved to the Outhwaite Homes with their mother Louise in 1938. | © Western Reserve Historical Society. Used by permission","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/3149e3d4ac73dd9efcca00d3b91821bc.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/d073bf1ec686871203972a05edc344f0.jpg":{"id":11031,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Louis Stokes with Parents","description":"Charles Stokes died in 1928, leaving his wife Louise to raise sons Carl and Louis by herself.  | © Western Reserve Historical Society. Used by permission | 1925","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/d073bf1ec686871203972a05edc344f0.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/a89aca113116eb62313547ebe27e9a40.jpg":{"id":11034,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Carl and Louis Stokes with Mother","description":"Carl and Louis Stokes post with their mother, Louise Stokes, around 1970. Louise moved with her sons to the Outhwaite Homes in 1938. | Cleveland State University Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/a89aca113116eb62313547ebe27e9a40.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/7fbb7e2735a38d046d963a809ac69a52.jpg":{"id":11032,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Aerial View of Outhwaite","description":"This aerial view of the Outhwaite Homes taken around 1940 shows clearly how early public housing projects were intended to eradicate urban density and create expansive open spaces. | © Western Reserve Historical Society. Used by permission | ca. 1940","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/7fbb7e2735a38d046d963a809ac69a52.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/lakeviewterrace-press-kidsatouthwaitegardens41_56522b7cd2.jpg":{"id":719,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Gardening Program at Outhwaite","description":"&quot;Jerry Halbas, Bernard Hufford, Edward Frazier &amp; Leonard Curry at Outhwaite garden center&quot; --photo verso. | <a href=\"https://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/press/id/15197/rec/1\">Cleveland Memory</a>, Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections at Cleveland State University | April 3, 1941 | Byron Filkins","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/lakeviewterrace-press-kidsatouthwaitegardens41_56522b7cd2.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/lakeviewterrace-press-outhwaitekidsplaying_b9dead34a3.jpg":{"id":718,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Kids at Outhwaite, 1959","description":"Youngsters play on the lawn in front of an apartment building at Outhwaite Homes in 1959.   | <a href=\"https://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/press/id/15199/rec/7\">Cleveland Memory</a>, Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections at Cleveland State University | June 26, 1959 | James Thomas","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/lakeviewterrace-press-outhwaitekidsplaying_b9dead34a3.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/lakeviewterrace-press-outhwaitededication_7775fbd81f.jpg":{"id":717,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Opening Celebration, 1937","description":"The Outhwaite Homes housing project opens with a celebration in 1937. | <a href=\"https://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/press/id/7164/rec/2\">Cleveland Memory</a>, Michael Schwartz Library Special Collections at Cleveland State University | July 20, 1937 | James Meli","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/lakeviewterrace-press-outhwaitededication_7775fbd81f.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/original/stokesouthwaite-bibb-mlk-and-stokes-election-night_mixdown_755e196c25.mp3":{"id":101,"mime-type":"audio/mpeg","title":"The Night Carl Stokes Became Mayor","description":"Newscaster Leon Bibb describes the night that Carl Stokes became Mayor of Cleveland | <span>Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection</span>"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/original/stokesouthwaite-branham-outhwaite-pride_mixdown_d30b5b4a17.mp3":{"id":102,"mime-type":"audio/mpeg","title":"Outhwaite Pride","description":"Venerine Branham remembers Cleveland&#039;s Outhwaite Homes as a place of pride, support and high expectations | Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/original/stokesouthwaite-whiting-stokes-election_mixdown_ef1fa5189d.mp3":{"id":103,"mime-type":"audio/mpeg","title":"Voting For Carl Stokes","description":"Carmel Whiting describes taking advantage of her first chance to vote in Cleveland during the election of Carl Stokes in 1967 | <span>Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection</span>"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/original/0b80b4e24ced9440ae9f9bd56c98f54c.mp4":{"id":8429,"mime-type":"video/mp4","title":"The Promise of Public Housing","description":"Venerine Branham describes her memories of growing up at Outhwaite Homes. | CSU Center for Public History + Digital Humanities","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/0b80b4e24ced9440ae9f9bd56c98f54c.jpg"}}}