Cleveland’s Forgotten Suspension Bridge and Its Place in Civil Rights History
- David Jones
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Once a vital link between the Kinsman and Slavic Village neighborhoods, the Sidaway Bridge remains closed more than half a century after an act of arson severed it in the midst of racial unrest. Constructed in 1930 and designed by Fred L. Plummer of Wilbur Watson & Associates, the 680-foot suspension footbridge connected two immigrant communities but later became emblematic of Cleveland’s deep-rooted racial divides.
“The bridge is more than a structure, it’s a symbol of a time when physical barriers were used to enforce social ones,” said Cleveland historian and community advocate Donald Freeman in a 2023 interview with The Land.
Originally replacing a wooden trestle from 1909, the Sidaway Bridge was the only pedestrian suspension bridge in Cleveland, rising up to 158 feet above Kingsbury Run. The ravine beneath it, once a makeshift encampment for the homeless during the Great Depression, later gained infamy as the dumping site for victims of the Cleveland Torso Murderer.
By the 1960s, the demographics of the Kinsman area had shifted, transitioning from predominantly Hungarian and Jewish to largely African-American. Slavic Village, directly south across the ravine, remained majority white. In 1966, during the Hough Riots, unknown vandals set fire to the bridge's wooden planks. Rather than repair the damage, the city removed the remaining planking and permanently closed the bridge, a decision later scrutinized in federal court.
In the landmark 1976 desegregation case Reed v. Rhodes, Federal Judge Frank J. Battisti cited the closure as evidence of the city’s deliberate efforts to maintain racial segregation. The decision by city officials not to reopen the bridge, Battisti argued, contributed to separating Black students in Kinsman from predominantly white schools in Slavic Village.
Despite the bridge's historical significance, it has remained shuttered. Overgrown with vegetation and rust, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in October 2022. In early 2023, Cleveland City Council granted it local landmark status, opening avenues for potential restoration funding and reuse of the Kingsbury Run ravine as community green space.
The bridge currently stands unused, with the area beneath repurposed as storage by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. Restoration efforts led by Burten Bell Carr, in partnership with architecture firm Perspectus, aim to transform the bridge and surrounding ravine into a cultural site that preserves history and revitalizes the neighborhood.
Community advocates have proposed converting the structure into a civic space that acknowledges its role in Cleveland’s civil rights history. “Reconnecting these neighborhoods could mean more than physical access,” Freeman added. “It could mean healing a divide that’s been in place for generations.”
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