History & Design:

Slovaks began immigrating to Cleveland in the late 1870s, settling first around E. 9th Street near the Cuyahoga River. The Slovak state existed for only a brief time during WWII and only became a modern state in 1993, so many Slovak immigrants were identified by their country, which was Austria-Hungary before WWI and Czechoslovakia after WWI. It is estimated that 35,000 Slovak immigrants were living in Cleveland by 1918. This number grew to an estimated total of 48,000 living in the Greater Cleveland area by 1970.

The Slovak Cultural Garden was built with support from the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. It covers three acres, spanning two levels, from East Boulevard to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. At its heart is a sandstone terrace that opens onto an oval-shaped lawn.

At the center of the garden is a tribute to General Milán Štefaník, a mathematician, astronomer, meteorologist and diplomat. Stefanik wrote the manifesto for the Czecho-Slovak National Council, recognized as the de-facto government of an independent Czecho-Slovakia in 1918.

Other busts in the garden reflect the complexity of Slovakian identity. Father Stefan Furdek, known as “the father of American Slovaks,” served as priest in Cleveland’s Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church for 32 years until his death in 1915. He organized the First Catholic Slovak Union and the First Slovak Ladies Union in 1889. He was also a prolific author, writing an important reader that was used widely in Slovakian schools. Another bust is of Jan Kollar, a Lutheran minister who defended the language rights of both Lutheran and Catholic Slovaks against the encroachment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His epic poem “Daughter of Glory” called for Slavic self-determination. Kollar helped organize the Pan-Slavic Conference of 1848, drawing together the Slavic populations of Eastern Europe.

The Slovak Cultural Garden has linden, larch, sycamore and birch trees, all indigenous to Slovakia.