Safe Havens for Cleveland’s Virtuous Women,1868-1928

Abstract

Cleveland’s planning history typically begins with architect Daniel Burnham’s 1903 Group Plan for public buildings. Nonprofessionals, however, also played a role in the city’s development at the turn of the twentieth century. Two faith-based women’s organizations established neighborhood facilities for women seeking to protect their reputations. Leaders of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) for whites and the Phillis Wheatley Association (PWA) for African Americans negotiated gender and racial obstacles to adapt and construct buildings for young working women, unwed mothers, and spinsters and widows. The location of these properties suggests that the YWCA and PWA created a morally safe region that transcended emerging racial boundaries. This article uses organizational archives and Sanborn Fire Insurance maps to examine how leaders of the YWCA and PWA contributed to neighborhood-level planning for communities of women.