Joan Brilla

Her desire to create a lasting tribute to her parents and family motivated Joan Brilla to donate her childhood home and its land in 1999 to the Slavic Village Development Corporation.  Her gift has created a neighborhood history center and a new home for the archives and offices of the Slavic Village Historical Society.

At the time of her decision, the Brilla house had stood vacant for about 10 years, it was badly in need of repair, and maintaining its double lot proved burdensome.  The nonprofit Slavic Village Development Corporation was initially interested in leveling the house to provide parking to accommodate expected visitors to the waterfall after a boardwalk, two-level observation deck, and other improvements were made as part of a $2 million project funded with federal and foundation grants.

Joan Brilla wanted to persuade officials to keep the house and use it for educational purposes in keeping with the wishes of her parents and grandmother.  The Mill Creek Falls History Center is open weekends as a visitor center for people touring the waterfall.  The Slavic Village Historical Society, Slavic Village Development Corporation, and numerous community volunteers  operate the center which  features a working model of the original grist mill located at the falls, an archive of photographs and documents, and exhibits about the immigration and industrial history of the area.  A timeline of Newburgh's history from its beginnings with the Connecticut Land Company in 1799 until the present day serves as the exhibit foundation.

Joan and her 6 siblings grew up in the house which was located on an isolated , winding, dirt road with three other houses and some small industries.  The Brilla's "piece of heaven" featured a waterfall, plenty of play room, and many chances to sneak peeks at the cars that drove into the neighborhood's lover's lane.

Brilla House

The Brilla House is near the center of old Newburgh Township, founded in 1814, which once dwarfed Cleveland as a rival community.  The waterfall at Mill Creek provided power for the area's first industry, while settlers farmed the surrounding countryside.  With the opening of the Ohio and Erie Canal in 1825, immigration increased.  In the late 1860's, one of the country's first Bessemer steel furnaces opened here.  In the early 1880's, workers began striking the mills over wage and job security issues.  The mill owners' response to the strikes forever changed the neighborhood.  They hired cheaper, newly arrived Eastern European immigrants, mostly Czech and Polish laborers, displacing native English, Welsh, and Scottish families living in the area.

Permanent exhibits chronicle those events and more recent ones such as the increasing cultural and racial diversity of the area.  A state-of-the-art large-screen flat panel computer display shows continuous programs on aspects of the region's history.  Additionally, a digital microfilm reader is available for researching microfilmed records, and the entire photograph collection of the Slavic Village Historical Society will be available through a networked computer system installed in the center.

The Brilla House, home of the Slavic Village Historical Society, is staffed by volunteers from the Mill Creek Falls History Center and is open Sundays from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, April through October.