History of Slovenes in Cleveland

[8] The Slovene community continued to push east into Lake County through the 1980s, with a peak population over 50,000 Slovene-Americans in the greater Cleveland area by 1990.

[10] The Slovene community at the time was predominantly young men who did not intend to stay in America, but rather to send money to their families in Slovenia.

Turk, now an established presence in Cleveland with a number of businesses, paid for Podrzaj's funeral, and convinced 7 other men to form the Marijin Spolek as an insurance group again sickness, death, and burial costs.

[12] Due to internal dissent, some members of Marijin Spolek splintered off to form the Slovenian Benefit Society Slovenija (Slovensko Podporno Drustvo Slovenija), while the remaining members became a part of the large American Slovenian Catholic Union (Kranjsko Slovenska Katoliška Jednota).

The Catholic, more conservative Ameriska Domovina was frequently at odds with the more liberal Enakopravnost which was emblematic of the growing divide between the more and less religious sides of the Slovene community.

[15][16] Immigration from Slovenia slowed considerably during World War I, but Slovenes from other parts of the United States migrated to Cleveland and the community was bolstered by a high birth rate.