History

The Buckeye Neighborhood was a long self-sufficient Hungarian neighborhood from the early 1900s to the 1970s. It had the nickname Little Hungary, and it was home to the largest population of Hungarians outside of Hungary. Every storefront was occupied by the many businesses that provided goods and services for the community. In the 1970s, the Hungarians moved out and the neighborhood population shifted to an African American majority. Disinvestment on Buckeye Road was at an all time high in the 1980s. Storefronts were vacant, crime was on the rise and residents were moving out.

Buckeye Area Development Corporation began implementing its housing renovation programs in the mid 1980s and began to rehabilitate commercial buildings in the early 1990s. Private developers also began to reinvest in the neighborhood. Day care centers, a strip mall and a record store all surfaced on Buckeye Road. These developments have helped stabilize the area both socially and economically. The challenge now is to recruit the property retailers needed to produce a good retail mix.