| 1117 E. 105th St., Cleveland, OH |
Founded in 1875, Cory United Methodist Church is one of Cleveland’s oldest Black churches and became to be known as Cleveland’s largest in the 1950s and 60s. It moved to its current Glenville site after purchasing the former Cleveland Jewish Center in 1946.
The building is the masterpiece of local architect Albert F. Janowitz and was constructed in 1922 for the Anshe Emeth Beth Tefilo congregation. The Neo-classical façade incorporates Judaica symbols and names in decorative terracotta elements. The only building of its kind in Cleveland at the time, the Cleveland Jewish Center offered a synagogue with classrooms and banquet hall, alongside an entire wing constructed for recreation including an indoor pool.
Given the large membership of Cory United Methodist Church (3,000+) and its deep connection to the community through the many services it provided, the church became a key venue for grassroots organizing for civil rights and the most important platform for influential civil rights leaders to address Cleveland’s Black residents. The church was a site for numerous notable speakers, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcom X, who notably delivered his famous “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech from the Cory pulpit.
Designated as a Cleveland Landmark in 2012, the Cleveland Jewish Center/Cory United Methodist Church was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.
Learn more about the layered history of this building and the two congregations here.
The Sacred Landmarks Support Initiative produced a conditions assessment for the church in 2020 at which time serious life-safety concerns were identified with a failing terracotta cornice. Cleveland Restoration Society proceeded to partner with Cory on a project plan. CRS secured $1,029,038 from the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights grant program to restore the exterior masonry and terracotta of Cory United Methodist Church, a multi-year project that was completed in 2024. Project partners included LDA Architects, Frost Architectural Preservation, Barber-Hoffman Engineers, and Coon Restoration and Sealants.
