Slavic Village Park Honored For Design

CLEVELAND — The Morgana Bluffs Nature Preserve, in the Slavic Village neighborhood, has received a top honor for its design.

The Ohio Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects recognized the four-acre Cleveland park and the infrastructure consulting firm, AECOM, that worked on the design. The Architects gave the project the Award of Excellence.

“This award is even more remarkable and astonishing in that this comparatively modest project was recognized for its huge community impact, with the Project of the Year award, especially in comparison to some of the other multimillion dollar projects that were recognized,” said Tom Evans, senior associate and regional green infrastructure design lead for AECOM.

The architects have only issued the Award of Excellence five times in the past decade.

The property is near the Broadway Club, the Morgana Run Trail, and the Cleveland School District's Mound STEM School.

The Morgana Bluffs project was a collaboration between the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio, the Clean Ohio Fund, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, West Creek Conservancy, Third Federal Foundation, the city of Cleveland, the Ohio & Erie Canalway, Cleveland Municipal School District and Slavic Village Development.

How Morgana Bluffs Was Created

The Worsted Mill was active from 1878 to 1956 and was once among the largest garment manufacturers in the nation. The factory was located on the upper property of what is now the Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland's headquarters.

Worsted Mill's powerhouse was located on the new Morgana Bluffs preserve.

After the mill closed, the buildings were never fully occupied, though they were used occasionally as warehouses for smaller companies. At other points, the property sat vacant. On July 4, 1993, a fire ravaged the complex, destroying it.

In 2011, Cleveland and the EPA studied the site and remediated the lower portion of the preserve. Crews cleaned up remnants of a junkyard, removed crumbling smokestacks and reviewed fuel tank locations. Remediation also saw the removal of several tons of junk tires and filled in old tunnels that led to the upper mill site.

The Boys & Girls Clubs instigated the park's creation in 2016. After years of lobbying and construction, the park was opened to the public in 2019. The park features trails, boardwalks and an amphitheater for outdoor learning.

At the opening ceremony, Boys & Girls Clubs members tossed milkweed seeds "bombs" around the site. Milkweed is the sole host plant of the endangered monarch butterfly.

“Morgana Bluffs is a true community asset and a place where our kids can truly appreciate the wonders of the natural world,” said Jeff Scott, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio.