HISTORY OF THE HUNGARIAN CULTURAL GARDEN:

     The Cleveland Cultural Gardens came into existence in 1925 as a federation of nationality groups that came together “to foster the spirit of good-will and fellowship among men, to weld harmony among Clevelanders of diverse origin, and to promote good citizenship.”

    In rapid succession, new gardens were created. It was on March 30, 1934 that an ordinance authorized  establishing the Hungarian Cultural Garden, along with Polish, Czech, and Yugoslav gardens. In 1938, Rusin, Grecian, Syrian, American, Irish and American Legion Peace Gardens were added.

    For the promotion of the Hungarian Cultural Garden project, a Cultural Garden Committee of the United Hungarian Societies of Cleveland was formed. On September 24, 1934, the commission gave public notice of its initial venture. The work of creating the Hungarian Cultural Garden was now actively under way.

    The site that would become the Hungarian Cultural Garden was dedicated October 21, 1934, on the 123^rd anniversary of the birth of Ferenc Liszt, with the unveiling of the bas-relief plaque of the world famous Hungarian composer.

    The Hungarian Cultural Garden was formally dedicated on July 10, 1938. A colorful parade of some 5,000 members of Hungarian organizations, many  of them in native costumes, marched along lower East Boulevard to the speaker stand at the lower end of the Hungarian Garden. A crowd of 15,000 persons took part in the dedication.

    On September 7, 1941, a 40-foot steel flagpole and an American flag were dedicated in an impressive ceremony in the Hungarian Garden.

    On July 23, 1950, at the conclusion of the annual One World Day celebration, marking the 25^th anniversary of the founding of the Cultural Gardens, a bronze statue of Imre Madách, the philosophical dramatist and author of "The Tragedy of Man," was dedicated.

    Dedication of a memorial to another outstanding figure in Hungary's great literary history took place on May 23, 1954, with the presentation to the Hungarian Cultural Garden of a bronze bust of the extraordinary poet, Endre Ady.