Alcoholics Anonymous History In Your Area
Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio A.A. History
by Bob McK.
member of the Borton Group
The first Cleveland Group had not just one name but several: The Cleveland Group, the Stillman Road Group and the “G” group. This group continued to meet after Borton branched off but it didn’t meet for long in Abby’s home. Sometime in 1940, or thereabouts, it moved and became Lee Road Thursday.
The April 1947 “Central Bulletin” had the item: “THURSDAY LEE ROAD MOVES Seven years ago the group established temporary quarters for their Thursday meetings at 1637 Lee Road and now have finally decided on their permanent location in Fairmount Presbyterian Church Chapel on Scarborough Road just east of Coventry. The first meeting in their new location will be on April 24 at 8:30.”
The group promptly changed its name to the Coventry Group. It resided there until the mid-1980’s when some disruptive members [read young and immature] prompted the church to evict them. They then moved to the Euclid Avenue Congregational Church at 3663 Mayfield Road. Yes, they were the Coventry Road Group in the Euclid Avenue Church on Mayfield Road. They struggled on until the early 1990s when they disbanded.
Some many months after the group eviction another Thursday group, Thursday Night Adults, was allowed to organize and meet in Fairmount Presby and does to this day.
The Borton Group refers to itself as “the oldest, continuously-meeting group in Alcoholics Anonymous.” I think this has to do with suspended operations and just what was an AA Group vs. an Oxford Group. But it’s unimportant. I’ve heard that historians sometimes refer to “first” as the f-word. And I’m beginning to understand why.
Bob McK
member of the Borton Group