“Somewhere between Wall Street and Main Street
is life on the ‘other’ side of the tracks.”
Follow Us
“2 Miles Unchanged” is a documentary film examining the unflattering history of a two mile stretch of road on Cleveland’s near westside called Train Avenue. The illegal garbage dumping. The violent crime. The dead dogs. The issues surrounding Train Avenue are complex, and the solutions to fix them are even more complicated. But, one thing is clear, Train Avenue – as we know it today, has existed for approximately 120 years virtually unchanged.
The Past
The birth of Train Avenue was founded by city officials on the idea to solve a growing problem in the mid-late 1800s when nearby industry – slaughterhouses, breweries and other manufacturing operations, heavily polluted a stream of water called Walworth Run by dumping their waste into it, which connected right into the Cuyahoga River.
The Present
Once Walworth Run was buried and turned into part of the city’s sewer system in the early 1900s, the two mile stretch of land was paved and named Train Avenue, where it faced new issues of pollution – becoming the place for illegal dumping and other nefarious acts against human beings, animals and the environment.
The future
Although the problems on Train Avenue persist and have been mostly unchanged since its birth 120 years ago, there have been several attempts to change the culture that regularly occurs there, sadly to no avail. The hope is this documentary project sparks an interest in reinvestment to finally solving over a century of status quo.
2 Miles Unchanged 