Howard Street in Akron used to be a vibrant, predominantly Black neighborhood and business district. Not much is left from its heyday, due to an urban renewal project in the 1970s.
鈥淭here was a feeling of community and safety,鈥� said lifelong Akron resident GinaKaye Maddox.
Maddox鈥檚 father had a barbershop on Howard Street starting in the 1940s. Maddox spent lots of time there and at the surrounding stores, she said.
It was a close-knit community.
鈥淲e knew everyone, everyone knew us, and as I say, you couldn't fall and scrape your knee and you're not in front of somebody's house that you knew,鈥� Maddox said.
Howard Street was once bustling.
In the 1930s, legends like Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald played in its jazz clubs.
When Maddox was growing up in the sixties, there were dozens of shops, salons, pool halls and restaurants, most of them owned by African Americans.
鈥淩eally busy, a lot of pedestrian traffic and a lot of businesses,鈥� Maddox said. 鈥淓verything we needed was so close, and my mom could call my dad at the barbershop and ask him to stop at Bauer's Drugstore right there."
There were all sorts of characters, too, she said. She remembers people by their nicknames - like Doody, Horse Collar and Little Earl.
"Everyone had a nickname, so it wasn't until someone passed away and they would print their name, along with their nickname, and then you're kind of sitting there going, 'that was her name? That was his name?'" Maddox said.
Like Maddox's parents, many of the business owners and residents moved to Akron from the South during the Great Migration, she said.
"[My father] and my family, and so many other families, all came here seeking better opportunities," she said. "I would say probably the majority of his customers were men who worked at the rubber companies, and then there were a few entrepreneurs sprinkled in."
Some stores closed in the late 1960s as elders died off, she said. Then, officials decided to build a freeway through the neighborhood: The Innerbelt.
鈥淲hen an area is not as important 鈥� in the minds of decision makers, then it's easy to say, well, we'll just commandeer that area,鈥� Maddox said. 鈥淎nd by the time the businesses were starting to filter away 鈥� there wasn鈥檛 that community voice there to fight back.鈥�
The Innerbelt freeway was never finished as envisioned, and the neighborhood didn鈥檛 bounce back, Maddox said. Hundreds of Black families were displaced, including her aunt, who owned a home.
鈥淗er house was taken just for a pittance. They didn't give her enough money to go do anything, so she ended up going to move to Saferstein Towers, in public housing,鈥� Maddox said. 鈥淢y family's story is that one and thousands of other people have those same stories, and the bitterness that goes with it, because what's the American dream? To own a home.鈥�
Maddox is on the board of the Summit County Historical Society and has conducted research on the Howard Street area. It鈥檚 important to tell its history, she said.
鈥淚 think what we all learned in retrospect now is what can happen when people don't have a voice,鈥� Maddox said.
The city of Akron and community stakeholders are working on the implementation of the Innerbelt Master Plan, a beautification and restoration project for the decommissioned portion of the Innerbelt.
Maddox hopes they will honor the hundreds of Black families who were displaced.
鈥淚 would like to see a marker there to honor the people who worked hard and who lost a lot,鈥� Maddox said.
