Overview

Project Background

In June of 2004, Ohio City Near West received a small grant from the City of Cleveland's Neighborhood Beautification Fund for landscape/irrigation improvements to Market Square Park. After preliminary study, however, it was determined that adding to the existing plantings was unlikely to achieve the level of positive visual and community impact that OCNW initially hoped for. While the park functions adequately as a community gathering space for events such as Open Air in Market Square and Cleveland Public Art's City Xpressionz Festival, after over twenty years the current design does not maximize its connection with some of the amenities and resources around the park on a day-to-day basis or reflect the neighborhood as it has evolved over time.

Market Square History

Market Square Park is located across the street from Cleveland's West Side Market. The Park site was at one time the home of Cleveland's oldest publicly owned market. "Market Square," as it came to be known, was founded in 1859 and the city built a wooden market house there in 1868. The current Westside Market space across the street was established in 1912 to meet the growing demands of the City.

For over twenty years, Market Square Park has been a gathering place, a destination, and a resting place for residents and visitors to the Ohio City neighborhood in the city of Cleveland. With the historic Westside Market, Great Lakes Brewery, Market Avenue and West 25th Street's restaurant/shopping/cafe district, and the GCRTA bus and rapid stations encircling it, the park is an important gateway into the historic neighborhood as well as a neighborhood and tourist destination. Market Square Park is a truly urban space located on two major vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle thorough fares: West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue.

At this major crossroads, according to the GCRTA over 5,000,000 people in 2004 traveled through the Market Square Park bus station routes at the intersection at West 25th and Lorain Avenue. This usage represents 12.7% of the GCRTA's entire ridership. Numerous times throughout the year there are also special events in the park. Ohio City Near West coordinates an event series every Saturday in the summer called Open Air at Market Square; which invites vendors and musical and performing artists that draw people to the park. For the last three years its finale event has been Cleveland Public Art's City Xpressionz Festival. The event draws more than 3,000 people to the park to celebrate the many urban art forms.