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.
Who were the Sherbondys? The area now (and historically) called Sherbondy Hill southwest of downtown Akron was called the Lane-Wooster neighborhood for decades.
That all changed, at least most recently around 2017, when the city redesigned the map of Akron’s neighborhoods and went with the historical option.
The name hearkens back to 1817, when the families of John and George Sherbondy moved to 368 acres on a hill in what was then called Portage Township in Portage County (Akron wasn’t founded until 1825). They were one of the first 10 families to settle in what would become Akron, with more Sherbondys coming around 1828. (Read more about them here.)
Akron Documenter Brittany Nader is the primary contributor for this story. She is a Goodyear Heights resident and has been a Documenter since January 2024. Learn more about Documenters, including how to join.
Neighborhood has been home to immigrants and Black Akronites
The area was largely an immigrant neighborhood at the start of the rubber boom years. Wooster Avenue’s business district was described as a hub for Jewish-owned bakeries, groceries and butchers from the 1910s through the 1930s. The 1920 census records show that several Syrian, Slavic and other Eastern European families and individuals had moved into the neighborhood as well.
In more recent times, the area became a predominantly Black neighborhood that played a significant role in the civil rights protests of 1968, including during the so-called Wooster Avenue riots that followed the deaths of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy Sr.
The neighborhood’s long eastern edge was scraped, leveled and bulldozed by the construction in 1970 of the Akron Innerbelt Project, destroying and displacing Black-owned businesses and residents in the area.
In 2002, Wooster Avenue was renamed Vernon Odom Boulevard in honor of local civil rights leader Vernon Odom Sr., a college classmate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s at Morehouse College who served as the executive director of the Akron Urban League for 28 years.
Akron Documenter Brittany Nader talked with local folks invested in Sherbondy Hill about what they want from and what they experience from the neighborhood. Here’s what she found.
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: Robert DeJournett
Robert works in Sherbondy Hill as the president and CEO of the Black Chamber of Commerce – Summit County. He is also the senior pastor at St. Ashworth Temple Church of God in Christ on Vernon Odom Boulevard. His grandparents and parents lived in the neighborhood, and he grew up there. Today he lives just outside of the official neighborhood border in West Akron. However, he is very involved in Sherbondy Hill as a community leader who grew up there.
What is the most interesting thing about Sherbondy Hill?
“When you you look at the area, some of the streets are named after prominent
Black African-Americans. You got Blake Place, you got Roulhac Circle, you got V. Odom Boulevard, Lane Field Park, Miller South, all named after influential Black forefathers,” he said.
What is missing from your neighborhood?
Robert said the neighborhood could use a more robust business district.
“I mean, you do have a couple of businesses down there, but not like it used to be,” he said.
As the co-founder of the county’s Black Chamber of Commerce, he sees the present gap. As a longtime neighborhood resident, he’s aware of how it has changed.
“Back in the day, it was a thriving business district, like the Black Wall Street, pretty much on Wooster Avenue,” he said. “I don’t think we have a thriving business district like you have in Kenmore, North Hill and even Highland Square. I think that’s the part that’s missing.”
How has Sherbondy Hill changed over the time you’ve lived here?
“The neighborhood has changed because a lot of our businesses have moved out,” he said. “It’s not that sense of community like we once had.”
Where is the Sherbondy Hill neighborhood in Akron?
Sherbondy Hill is located south of Highland Square and was formerly known as the Lane-Wooster neighborhood, before returning to its original name in 2017. The area has a rich history and is one of the largest Black neighborhoods in Akron. Wooster Avenue, a main thoroughfare through the area, was renamed Vernon Odom Boulevard, after the civil rights leader who was the longtime president of the Akron Urban League. The Akron Zoo is located here.
He said people are spread out, and the sense of fellowship the neighborhood once had isn’t as present.
DeJournett thinks residents have “gotten away from what real community is, and growing up in a neighborhood where, you know, we used to leave our doors unlocked,” he said. “Now, it’s hard to do that.”
What’s the biggest challenge facing Sherbondy Hill, and how do you think it can be solved?
He said a lack of resources, such as a grocery store, makes it challenging for neighbors in Sherbondy Hill.
The neighborhood is “resource rich and coordination poor,” he added.
Residents aren’t utilizing spaces like the neighborhood parks. Additionally, there’s a lack of promotion or awareness of the spaces and places available to locals.
What else do you want people to know about your neighborhood?
DeJournett said that, although the neighborhood has a reputation for being unsafe because of a few incidents, that perception is unfair and misleading. He believes the real issue is perception.
The media, he said, tends to focus on negative events instead of the many positive things happening. Change will come when the community unites to tell its own story and take ownership of its image, he said.
If we lift up the most vulnerable part of our community, it’s gonne lift up everything else
Robert DeJournett
Can you talk more about your church and the work you do?
DeJournett said his church is rooted in local impact. Rather than focusing on overseas missions, their missions are right here in Akron.
“If we lift up the most vulnerable part of our community, it’s gonna lift up everything else,” he said.
He hopes to see more residents contributing to the neighborhood, from picking up litter to taking ownership of the area they live in.
“I wouldn’t want to live anywhere except in the heart of the community. I love neighborhoods, but we’ve taken the ‘neighbor’ out of the hoods,” he said. “We’re our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper … we have to take more ownership of being the good neighbors that I know we have in our community.”
Small business perspective
Bob’s Hamburg, 1351 East Ave.
Co-owners Charly Murphy and Alicia Kennedy
Tell me about the purpose of your business? What do you do every day?
“We bought Bob’s to preserve the historical gem that exists in the neighborhood, and what we do? We serve hamburgers. It’s as simple as that,” Charly said.
Charly and Alicia work to preserve the original look and feel of the restaurant, which has served the neighborhood for almost a century, and cook the food according to the original recipes they found in an old storage cabinet on the property.
How does your organization fit into or support Sherbondy Hill?
“There’s no other food businesses for a long distance here, so certainly providing nutrition is part of the deal,” Charly said. “But I think a lot of the stuff that we love about it is the people that come here as a routine, people that have been coming and sitting in the same seat for 45 years straight.”
He added that locals will use the Bob’s Hamburg parking lot as a place to make Facebook Marketplace sales, and he loves that the restaurant has become a safe place in the neighborhood.
What’s the most important or interesting thing about your neighborhood?
Alicia is from a multi-generational family of Sherbondy Hill residents. Her grandfather built the house that her father lives in, which will be her house someday. She said the connection that families have to the old houses and neighborhood history is special.
When people ask where Bob’s Hamburg is located, Charly said they often tell people the restaurant is between two specific neighbors’ houses because people recognize the family names.
What’s missing from Sherbondy Hill, or what’s the biggest need in the neighborhood?
Alicia and Charly agreed that the neighborhood would benefit from new housing and new businesses.
“I think new housing would be absolutely lovely,” Alicia said. “And I encourage other businesses to open up in the area. I like it when people bring their own local flair and personal experiences to their own little, tiny neighborhood. And this would be a great spot. I think a lot of people have great ideas around here.”
Charly has worked in the local food industry for years. He said the city has “stepped up” on taking care of local infrastructure. He thinks new restaurants could thrive in the neighborhood.
“We feel supported by the city, and we just think there’s opportunity to be had over here,” he said.
What else do you want to say about your organization or the neighborhood?
“Bob’s will continue to be a part of this neighborhood for as long as our neighborhood loves us,” Alica said.
She said they acquired the restaurant in 2021. And they’ve hosted garage sales and charitable events at the location to benefit local nonprofits. They also opened Stray Kitchens directly behind Bob’s Hamburg to make and supply pickle and mustard products for area restaurants.
“I think that being able to support some small businesses will really lend well to people being able to grow in the neighborhood,” Kennedy said. “Yeah, there’s more things besides food, but we know food.”
Can you talk more about how you support other small businesses?
Since the 1930s, Bob’s Hamburg has usually been closed on Sundays and Mondays. Recently, Charly and Alicia invited local chef Monica Berrios, “The Puerto Rican Queen,” to take over the kitchen and restaurant on those days each week.
After vending at events throughout Akron for years, her business, La Reina Boricua LLC, is serving food out of Bob’s Hamburg so she can save up to buy a food truck.
“We are working hard to be able to have our own infrastructure where we can support people even more,” Alicia said. “We invite people in, especially “The Puerto Rican Queen,” here” to help them grow she said.
Charly said he loves helping hardworking people in the area “get things started.”
“They’re growing their customer base, they’re making connections, people are getting to know who they are and what they can do,” Murphy said. “Then that generates other opportunities for them.”
Public space shoutout
Odom Boulevard Branch Library
The Odom Boulevard Branch Library is situated just down the street from the Akron Urban League and Helen Arnold Community Learning Center and around the corner from Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts on East Avenue.
Two Woodrow Nash murals grace the walls of the library and celebrate local and national Black leaders and pioneers such as Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, Sojourner Truth, Helen Arnold and Vernon Odom.
The library, like other Akron-Summit County Public Library branches, offers patrons use of computers, activities, community rooms and other services in addition to traditional material lending.
