Honoring and embodying the cultural heritages of a region through the beauty of shared outdoor spaces... From their beginnings as private farmland to their current form as monuments to cultural and ethnic diversity, the unique collection of landscaped, themed gardens that compose Cleveland’s Cultural Gardens holds a rich history. John J. Grabowski guides readers through this story, using both archival images and Lauren R. Pacini’s contemporary black and white photography to illustrate their development and importance. The effect is a comprehensive view of the factors that made the Cultural Gardens possible, from Cleveland’s geographical features to international conflicts. First erected as the Shakespeare Garden in 1916, the land bordering Doan Brook slowly began to incorporate tributes to immigrants, reflecting Cleveland’s role as a key location for eastern European immigrants. Through this chronicle of the gardens’ changing landscapes, Grabowski shapes a gripping narrative of shifting attitudes toward immigration, both locally and nationally

A photographic collage, the "firsts" include Doan Brook, central to the story of the Cultural Gardens; the St. Clair Avenue Bridge (1897), the first of four bridges designed by Charles Schweinfurth to span the Doan Valley; the entrance to the Shakespeare Garden and the bust of William Shakespeare (1916), created as a part of an international tribute to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the death of the Bard; the fountain in the Hebrew Garden (1926), the first of Cleveland’s Cultural Gardens; the statue of Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Friedrich Schiller in the German Cultural Garden (1927), the first of many European Gardens; the bust of Mark Twain in the American Garden (1935), the first North American garden; the Chinese Garden (1985) the first Asian garden guarded by two dragons at the entrance; and finally, the mural in the Ethiopian Garden (2019), the first African garden. Soon another "first" will join the others.When it is dedicated, the Colombian Garden will join the other "firsts" as the first South American garden.