1650 East 65th Street
Grace Reformed Church of Cleveland, Hough Avenue Church of Christ, Bethel Church of Christ Bible Way
In my extraordinarily small window of experience researching buildings in Cleveland, I’ve found it extraordinarily more difficult than in Detroit. Don’t get me wrong, the more prominent structures I’ve looked into are well documented; that makes sense, as their existence touched more people’s lives.
If thousands of people worked in a single factory, a larger number of people would be interested in that place due to a common ancestor. However, for smaller buildings like this one, there’s a much lesser population of people with a link to it.
Most of the time, people look into the history of a place because they have a connection to it. I have no connection to this church, but I thought it was gorgeous, so here we are. Here’s what I’ve been able to find;
Grace Reformed Church of Cleveland, Ohio, filled out its paperwork at the state level on May 9, 1890. Its first home was at “Hough opposite Dorchester.” There’s a Dorchester Drive on the water on the east side, but this is a much newer development, so I assume it’s a different Dorchester.
The congregation had moved to its present location at Hough and East 65th by 1908. The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from 1913 show the structure pictured here, so I’d guess it was built at the end of the 1910s. The map also states that it has a gas furnace and both electric and gas lights.
At the time, the church was in a neighborhood comprised mostly of terraced housing. This creates a densely populated area with no space between the homes, which is popular in European countries with less real estate to work with. In the states, developers often saw it as a way to pack more people or homes into a small area.
An image from the Cleveland Board of Zoning Appeals from 1964 lists the address as 1650 East 65th Street (which it uses today) and 6411 Hough Avenue. It’s not certain why it had two addresses—especially one on Hough Avenue, considering only the parking lot is on Hough. Perhaps, at one time, they had a structure on the corner that was eventually turned into their parking lot.
By 1966, the church had changed its name to the Hough Avenue Church of Christ. It remained there until at least 1986 and had disbanded at the state level by 1991.
Bethel Apostolic Church of Christ was incorporated in 2002 and, I believe, immediately began occupying 1650 East 65th Street. Eventually, its name was changed to Bethel Church of Christ Bible Way, and its sign still hangs on the exterior. However, I’m not sure that they’re utilizing the structure anymore. Documents in 2009 list their address at the church, but by 2011, they had changed to a residential apartment building.
Regardless of its current status, the building is absolutely stunning. I imagine the interior is intimate but unique. Hopefully, the next time I return to Cleveland, it will be utilized again.
