Investigating Howard Street’s Cosmopolitan Club, Part 2

by Maddie Smith, Greer Brightbill, Olivia Kurylo, and Rachael Herman

At the start of our ‘Round Howard Street UnClass this semester we were met with a sense of urgency of finding information to add to current understanding of Akron’s lost community on Howard Street — something that has been torn away during urban renewal. Our group interest was piqued by the Cosmopolitan Club’s stub entry on the Green Book Cleveland site that only gave us a location at 33 ½ N Howard St and active dates between 1947-1955. We were determined to begin a working profile of the Club so that, once our group research is done, even more information can be added to by future classes as they keep up the work.

Eight weeks later and we have found an abundance of various newspaper articles, archival sources, and images. This research that has been done within this short amount of time can only scratch the surface. But in the time span we have had, it seems like the world of difference because, beforehand, there was only an address and a date. We were able to find information on managers that ran the club, celebrations that were held on site, music performances, and various other events.

Above is a photo from the University of Akron Archives from the Stewart collection. It is unfortunately undated, but gives us a great insight on what the Cosmopolitan Clubs looked like during a performance.

For example, we were able to confirm that the Cosmopolitan Club had its liquor license from an article from the Akron Beacon Journal in 1945. We also found an instance of the club violating the provisions of the Liquor Control Act due to the sale of liquor to minors. That article states that during a court proceeding for an armed robbery, one of the men on trial stated in his testimony that he frequented the Cosmopolitan Club for their floor shows, and he was able to get in without a membership and was also served alcohol. Readers will be able to visit the Green Book Cleveland link for more information on this and other crime surrounded some of the musicians who performed in the Cosmopolitan. For example, Clifford Johnson, a saxophone player who often performed at the Cosmopolitan Club, was murdered in the Colonial Theatre.

There seem to be common figures present within the Cosmopolitan and other businesses on Howard Street. For example, Charles Fitzhugh owned the Cosmopolitan but also co-owned the J.C. Wade Dance Studio as well. Additionally, many musicians and performers that frequented the Cosmopolitan have been identified. We knew as a group that there were going to be so many connections within our project to other places. Due to these expanding connections, our final group project has developed into a community discussion post type of website. In the coming days, we are looking forward to putting this together to display all of the information that our group has found. 

Our last update via blog post will be published in just two short weeks; in the coming weeks we will be adding all of our information to our website and preparing it to be published. As a group, we are looking forward to all the information that we have found to be showcased to the community. It proves that within such a short time (a 16-week semester) how much information can be found and how much light can be shed on a lost community. Within a situation like this, all we need is community motivation to find as much as we can to pass the torch on to others, and we have it. 

Sources: 

“Hits Sale of Liquor to Minors.” The Akron Beacon Journal. December 9, 1945. Page 2. 

Photo. Stewart Collection from The University of Akron Archives. Undated.