About WSCH
History
Founded in 1890 as the Methodist Deaconess Home of Cleveland by the Methodist Episcopal Church, WSCH has a rich history of caring for Cleveland’s west side and responding to the changing needs of its people.
The Deaconess Home, which housed and was operated by Methodist deaconesses, was originally located at East 79th Street, and made several moves in response to the changing community and the escalating demand for services. By 1908, the deaconesses moved to the west side near West 30th Street and Bridge Avenue.
By 1922, a new building had been built on the site which made it possible to increase services to the community and respond to the new and changing needs of the immigrant population. In addition to serving as a residence for deaconesses working in hospitals and missions throughout Cleveland, the Home also served as a well-baby clinic, kindergarten and settlement house.
The Methodist deaconesses managed and operated what was then called the Methodist Deaconess Home and West Side Community House until the early 1960’s when the last of the deaconesses retired and moved out. The United Methodist Church then turned over the ownership and management to a nonprofit board of managers with the stipulation that one-third of the board would remain United Methodist pastors and/or lay members.
In 1997, WSCH adopted its 21st Century Strategic Plan, which recognized that the near west side community was experiencing a population shift. The WSCH Board revisited the plan several years later, and learned that poverty indicators, now available from 2000 census data, showed the trend identified in 1997 had continued. In addition, internal data showed that over 70% of WSCH clients came from the Cudell, Detroit-Shoreway and West Boulevard neighborhoods.
In 2005 West Side Community House began a five-year, $2.6 million capital campaign to relocate the agency to the heart of our core service area and in October of 2005 we broke ground on the new building at the gateway to the Lorain Historic District. The following year, in September of 2006, we moved into our new home at 9300 Lorain Avenue.
