Slow Roll 2025 Week 16: Sidaway Bridge

Thousands of people travel along the Opportunity Corridor in Cleveland and catch a brief glimpse of one of the most infamous pieces of abandoned architecture in the city without even realizing it.

The Sidaway Bridge was built in 1929 to connect the mostly Hungarian Kinsman Road community on the north side of Kinsgbury Run to the mostly Polish neighborhood of Jackowo on the southern side in Slavic Village. And earlier bridge dated back to 1909 and provided a convenient way for the two communities to interact with each other, as well as a way for north-siders to travel to the popular Dahler's beer garden on the south side. Eventually demographics in the area changed, with Black families largely replacing the Hungarian population on the north side.

By the mid-60s, the area found itself at the epicenter of rising racial tensions in the country. The Hough Riots of 1966 capped off…