The poignant words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” from Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus,” resonate deeply within the narrative of Fir Street Cemetery. This historic Jewish cemetery in Cleveland serves as the final resting place for an immigrant family whose story intertwines with Lazarus herself.
For James and Fannie Horwitz, immigrants who faced the devastating loss of their two-year-old son Aaron in January 1865, the newly established Jewish cemetery in Brooklyn Township offered a semblance of solace. Located on a quaint lane then known as Peach Street, later renamed Fir Street, the cemetery had just opened its gates that year. It was founded by the Hungarian Aid Society (HAS), an organization created in Cleveland in 1863 by figures like Morris Black and Herman Sampliner to support Hungarian Jewish immigrants, including providing burial services. Aaron Horwitz holds the somber distinction of being the first burial at this nascent cemetery.
Aaron’s father, James Horwitz (or Jacob in Europe), was a physician trained in Vienna, and his mother Fannie was the sister of Michael Heilprin, a renowned Hebrew scholar. Both Horwitz and Heilprin were Polish Jews hailing from Galicia, a region of historical Poland under Austrian rule since the late 18th century partitions. In 1848, both men passionately supported Lajos Kossuth and the Hungarian Revolution. Following the Hapsburgs’ victory and Kossuth’s exile, both men also sought new lives elsewhere. Horwitz immigrated to Cleveland via Sandusky, initially practicing medicine before venturing into business. Heilprin journeyed to New York, achieving acclaim as a Hebrew scholar, befriending Horace Greeley, and mentoring the young poet Emma Lazarus. Several accounts suggest that Lazarus’s iconic 1883 poem “The New Colossus” was inspired, at least in part, by her encounters with Michael Heilprin. Thus, Heilprin was not only an inspiration to Emma Lazarus but also the uncle of the young Aaron Horwitz, the first soul interred at the Jewish cemetery on Fir Street in Brooklyn Township.
Today, we recognize the cemetery where Aaron Horwitz rests as Fir Street Cemetery, also sometimes referred to as Fir Avenue Cemetery. As the second oldest Jewish cemetery in Cleveland, it comprises three distinct historic cemeteries situated on a rectangular plot of land bordered by Fir Avenue to the north, West 59th Street to the east, Bayne Court to the south, and West 61st Street to the west. The central section of Fir Street Cemetery, where Aaron and other Horwitz family members are buried, was under the stewardship of the HAS until 1963, when ownership was transferred to the Jewish Community Federation (JCF) of Cleveland. Although the first burial occurred in 1865, formal authorization to operate a cemetery on the grounds was not granted by the City of Cleveland until 1880, some years after Brooklyn Township, including Fir Street, was annexed by the city.
The western section of Fir Street Cemetery was established by Anshe Emeth, Cleveland’s oldest and largest Conservative Jewish congregation, founded by Polish Jewish immigrants in 1859. Anshe Emeth acquired its first land on Fir Street in 1877, coinciding with the City’s permission to operate a cemetery there. In the 20th century, Anshe Emeth merged with Beth Tefilo congregation to form the Park Synagogue Anshe Emeth Beth Tefilo Congregation.
The eastern cemetery’s origins are less definitively documented, although it is also believed to have been founded by Polish Jews. In 1866, Chebra Kadisha, described merely as a “religious organization” in the conveyance deed, acquired the land. Thirteen years later, in 1879, Chebra Kadisha’s trustees transferred the land to the B’nai Abraham Cemetery Association, an organization with no surviving records. Chebra Kadisha may have been an early congregation that later merged into what became the Heights Jewish Center (HJC) in the 20th century, or it might have simply been a burial society.
Fir Street Cemetery is the final resting place for several notable Cleveland figures. Among them are Herman Sampliner (1835-1899), a founder of the B’nai Jeshurun Congregation; Harry “Czar” Bernstein (1856-1920), owner of Perry Bank and the Perry Theatre, and a city councilman allied with Mark Hanna; Moses A. Adelstein (1813-1903), who organized Cleveland’s first Russian synagogue and Lansing Cemetery, the city’s first free Jewish cemetery; Isaac Goldman (1858-1919), Cleveland’s pioneering Jewish building contractor; Fanny Jacobs (1835-1928), founder of Park Synagogue’s sisterhood; Rabbi Gershon Ravinson (1848-1907), a distinguished 10th-generation rabbi and Talmudic scholar; and Reverend Elias Rothschild (1858-1914), a kosher butcher renowned for providing meals and shelter to those in need. Rothschild is also credited with rescuing the Hebrew Free Loan Society from financial collapse.
After its last burials in 1971, Fir Street Cemetery became inactive. Over the ensuing decades, the cemetery grounds suffered increasing neglect, partly due to vandalism and partly because Cleveland’s Jewish community had largely migrated eastward, geographically distancing themselves from Fir Street. The deteriorating condition of Fir Street Cemetery deeply concerned Cleveland Housing Court Judge Raymond J. Pianka, who had been intrigued by the cemetery’s history and the unusual inscriptions on its gravestones since his childhood while attending Waverly Elementary School, located just a block away. In 2007, Judge Pianka, along with dedicated neighborhood residents and Park Synagogue, spearheaded a successful coalition of funding, organizations, and volunteers. Over two years, they undertook a comprehensive renovation and restoration of Fir Street Cemetery, clearing the grounds, repairing broken headstones, planting trees and hundreds of tulip bulbs, and restoring the entrance gate and signage. Since these restoration efforts concluded in 2009, Park Synagogue Anshe Emeth Beth Tefilo Congregation, with financial support from the JCF, has maintained the cemetery. Fir Street Cemetery has once again become a source of pride for both Cleveland’s Jewish community and the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood it calls home.
