Correction:
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the former Wheelock Cuyahoga Acres neighborhood was located in Cascade Valley.
INSIDE AKRON: Akron Documenters are fanning out across the city’s 24 neighborhoods to elevate places, faces, voices and vibes — as shared by the people who live there. Expect a new profile every day through October.
Cascade Valley is one of the best Akron neighborhoods to bike downtown — for work or play — via the Towpath Trail. Or stay in the neighborhood and enjoy a walking history tour on the way to grab nearby eats. Cascade Valley also offers abundant green spaces for hiking, fishing, paddling and birdwatching.
Speaking of in-town travel, Cascade Valley is surrounded by at least eight other neighborhoods, making it a natural jumping-off point for discovering the rest of Akron. Hotel Matthews once hosted a long list of famous and successful African Americans.
Despite its central location and rich history, Cascade Valley remains one of Akron’s least defined neighborhoods. Formerly known as Elizabeth Park Valley, its identity is still shaped by what once stood here, including the now-demolished Elizabeth Park Homes, once the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority’s oldest public housing complex.
Akron Documenter Ken Evans is the primary contributor for this story. He is a resident of Cuyahoga Falls and has been a Documenter since June 2024. Learn more about Documenters, including how to join.
Some residents say it’s time for more family-friendly development to match the neighborhood’s potential.
Akron Documenter Ken Evans sat down with two people familiar with Cascade Valley to hear what they think are the best things about the area and what challenges exist for the neighborhood.
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: Rev. Michael Anthony Howard
Michael is the minister of faith in action for the Living Water Association (United Church of Christ). He has lived and worked in Cascade Valley for the past six years.
What is the most interesting thing about Cascade Valley?
Some of the challenges Michael said Cascade Valley is facing are unique to the neighborhood. Others reflect broader issues across Akron. One issue he raised is a lack of neighborhood identity due to the availability of different public schools given Akron Public Schools’ open-enrollment policy. Similarly, the fact that Cascade Valley is represented by multiple Akron City Council members, rather than one, contributes to a lack of cohesion. Michael also pointed to the neighborhood’s complex history as an ongoing challenge, one that continues to leave its mark — he explains more below.
What else?
Michael brought up in this conversation that Cascade Valley took its name from the Summit Metro Parks recreational area partially located in its boundaries. Also: “We have a lot of what I call gray space,” he said, “which is under bridges, and places where there’s like nothing there, so lots of gravel.”
What is missing from your neighborhood?
What’s missing, Micahel said, is a connector across four-lane Howard Street with residents living on one side and on the other, access to assets.
“There’s no place for people to get haircuts, there’s no place for people to spend time, there’s nothing for the kids to do,” he said, adding that the lack of connection extends to where people live and recreate as well.
“You’ve got Cascade Village, then you’ve got Cascade Locks Park and the two of them don’t touch each other very well,” Michael said, adding that he values the Cascade Locks Park Association.
“I love the park. That’s one of the things that I love the most about the neighborhood.”
Where is the Cascade Valley neighborhood in Akron?
Cascade Valley is located directly north of the downtown area and is full of playgrounds, community gardens, hiking trails and museums. The neighborhood has a spirited history and was a prominent place for jazz in the early to mid-1900s.
How has Cascade Valley changed over the time you’ve lived here?
Michael said recent, multi-million dollar investments have been good for Akron, but not necessarily for Cascade Valley, a historically Black community.
“The understanding and the recognition of Black history in the neighborhood was part of the development,” he said. It was very clear to him by the way the neighborhood was developed that it does not cater to its residents, Michael said.
He added that he’s ashamed of the Hotel Matthews monument, a recent addition to Cascade Valley on Howard Street. It was created to commemorate the historic Black-owned and once-thriving hotel , as well as the area’s music community. He considers the monument performative, lacking the follow-up to establish new spaces in the neighborhood.
“So, they used their name,” he said, “but then didn’t really do anything.”
What else do you want people to know about your neighborhood?
“It’s not what people remember,” Michael said. ”I have worked with developers and housing people — who should know the city— who have told me we can’t do anything in [the neighborhood formerly known as] Elizabeth Park Valley, because that’s one of the worst places.” But Michael believes that’s in the past. He wants them to see the neighborhood again, through a refreshed lens.
City officials built the Elizabeth Park Homes in 1940 for a predominantly Black community known as “Akron’s Little Harlem.” It was also one of Akron’s worst slums, according to an Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority report. The city finally tore the housing down in 2005.
He also pointed to unsung “community partners who invest time in the neighborhood, just for its well-being,” including Akron Parks Collaborative, North Hill Community House, North Hill Community Development Corporation and the First Congregational Church in Hudson.
“There are a lot of people who come into the neighborhood, and then they have the same vision,” he said. “So I just love all of that. It’s a really beautiful place to live.”
Does Cascade Valley feel distinct and do people see it as a distinct neighborhood?
“Well, that’s the way neighborhoods always are, right? So as soon as the city puts together a map that has the names of the neighborhood, then people assume that’s like law. But that’s not how it works. So neighborhoods always have porous boundaries,” Michael said.
“And when people ask me, where, where do I live: They won’t remember Cascade Valley. So I might say ‘Under the Y bridge.’ But I often tell people I live downtown, because, I mean, we are within 10 minutes.”
NONPROFIT PERSPECTIVE
Cascade Locks Park Association 57 W. North St.
Scott Read, executive director
Tell me about the purpose of your business or nonprofit? What do you do every day?
“The Cascade Locks Park Association is here to celebrate and preserve and protect the industrial heritage of our fine city,” he said. “We have the Mustill Store, as well as the old Schumacher mill site. The park area that we represent stretches about a half a mile from Lock 16 all the way up to Lock 10 up at the Innerbelt,” Scott said.
With only two part-time employees, Scott does whatever needs to be done. The group hosts dozens of events every year, including a Free Lunch Friday with free hot dogs, veggie burgers and live music.
How does your organization fit into or support Cascade Valley?
Scott said they are working on building bonds with the neighborhood.
“We do not have as tight of a relationship as we’d like with Cascade Village,” he said about the development run by AMHA in the neighborhood. “Howard Street (which is in some places in the neighborhood a four-lane road with a turn lane) is just such a physically intimidating barrier, separation, maybe the flattest wall that you can imagine. It really prevents people from bringing their families over, from wanting to cross the street themselves.”
What’s the most important or interesting thing about your neighborhood?
“One is the history, the fact that we’re the oldest commercial building in the city. The building dates back to about 1850,” Scott said. Another, he said, is the contrast in the rural to urban transition people can find in the park. Scott said you can start walking along the Towpath in a rural setting and end up among skyscrapers.
“The Towpath draws such a variety of people, and not folks just from Northeast Ohio; but, we’ve got people from literally all over the country, sometimes all over the world,” he said. “We’re incredibly, incredibly blessed with that.”
What else do you want to say about your organization and or Cascade Valley?
“We’re in the early stages of doing something called ‘Reimagining the Civic Commons’ down in our area,” he said. This is similar to recent projects at Lock 3 downtown and Summit Lake.
Scott likes this process because it solicits input from neighbors.
“It’s allowing those folks to develop the plan. It’s getting feedback, it’s getting input. It’s getting citizen interaction,” he said. “Being able to have them tell us what they want, as opposed to them approving what we want.”
How can people learn more about the park?
“Just come on down and see what you like. And if the store is open, stop in. Tell us what you do like. Also tell us what you don’t see that you’d like to see,” Scott said.
PUBLIC SPACE SHOUTOUT: Cascade Locks Park
As part of the Cascade Valley Metro Park, Cascade Locks Park is here “to preserve, protect and promote the industrial, commercial and cultural heritage of the Park along locks 10-16 of the Ohio & Erie Canal” according to the park’s website.
Steeped in Akron’s industrial history, the park features a “splashing waterway” through a series of “staircase locks.”
The Mustill Store Museum is located in its original site at Lock 15. The restored, canal-era buildings are believed to have been built in the 1850s, although the exact date is unknown, according to the website.
