19-year-old arraigned in arson that destroyed Cleveland's historic Friendship Baptist Church

According to the arrest warrant, on August 20, at around 11:58 p.m., cameras caught a car driven by McManamon traveling to 5600 Central Avenue, the location of the abandoned Friendship Baptist Church.

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Now, the church has been reduced to rubble in an arson, according to the fire department.

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Wednesday, Councilor Richard A. Starr who represents Ward 5 on the Cleveland City Council was angry that someone came into the city and destroyed history.

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The city of Cleveland issued a statement on the incident and urban exploring.

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The city also said the Division of Fire Arson Unit is handling the investigation.

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The Cleveland Division of Police has proactively communicated to the community about the dangers of urban exploring, including social media videos and graphics.

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According to Architectural Afterlife, the church was the center of religion and culture in the neighborhood. At its height in the 50s and 60s, there were a thousand members. That number dwindled to about 40 in 2014.

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Photos from the scene after the fire was put out show a few walls left standing.

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Over the weekend, a social media post raised questions about the fire. That picture, which shows flames and names the church, is now evidence related to the fire, according to Cleveland Fire. On Monday, people stopped by to take pictures of the rubble.

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Genevieve Mitchell placed flowers and a handwritten message at the site.

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Over the weekend, a social media post raised questions about the fire. That picture, which shows flames and names the church, is now evidence related to the fire, according to Cleveland Fire. On Monday, people stopped by to take pictures of the rubble.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio - A 19-year-old Lakewood man has been arrested and accused of setting fire to a historic Cleveland church, a blaze that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.

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According to an arrest warrant, McManamon and two other people entered the vacant church and “utilized available combustibles” to start a fire inside the building. Authorities did not indicate whether the other two suspects have been arrested.

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According to an arrest warrant, McManamon and two other people entered the vacant church and “utilized available combustibles” to start a fire inside the building. Authorities did not indicate whether the other two suspects have been arrested.

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The warrant says investigators learned the three suspects were engaged in urban exploring, a practice commonly referred to as “urbex” that involves entering abandoned or vacant buildings to explore them. The activity has gained popularity on social media, including TikTok, where participants sometimes document their explorations for online audiences.

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The blaze broke out shortly before 2 a.m. Friday and brought about 67 firefighters and 14 companies to the scene. Flames damaged much of the historic structure, blowing out windows and causing the roof to collapse, officials said.

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The church also has a place in Cleveland’s civil rights history, having served as a gathering place for those in the movement.

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In 1953, the church hosted performances by Bobby Womack and the Soul Stirrers, the gospel group that at one point featured Sam Cooke.

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The building on the corner of E. 55th Street and Central Avenue formerly housed The Wilson Avenue Temple, which was later renamed The Temple Tifereth-Israel and eventually merged with Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple to become Congregation Mishkan Or.

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At about 2 a.m. Aug. 21, the church, which most recently was Friendship Baptist Church but has been vacant for years, became fully engulfed in flames, according to Fox 8. The flames and heat were so intense that pieces of wood and roofing shot off the building and firefighters were forced to move their trucks back, Fox 8 reported.

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Sean Martin, associate curator for Jewish history at the Western Reserve Historical Society, was at a meeting in downtown Cleveland when he heard someone mention that the church had burned down. He swung by and checked out the scene, taking pictures, and said it was under control by the time he got there.

“Firefighters were still active and still pouring water on the fire,” he told the Cleveland Jewish News. “There was still smoke coming out of different places, and the full center area of the building with the square tower was completely gone. You could see through the stained glass windows in the front. Really, the building is just completely gone.”

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“Moses Gries, named rabbi of Tifereth Israel in 1892, officiated here,” according to Arnie Berger, credited by CJH. “Only 10 years after the move to this building, he told the congregation that it was time to move to a new building (due to the congregation growing so rapidly and once again needing a bigger space). Gries resigned in 1917 and was followed by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver. In 1924, The Temple moved to Ansel Road, near University Circle, and sold the old building to Mount Zion Congregational Church, now located on Magnolia Drive in University Circle. In 1940, the Friendship Baptist Church bought the building.”

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According to ClevelandJewishHistory.net, the building was dedicated in September 1894 and was in use as The Wilson Avenue Temple from 1894 to 1924. In 1850, Tifereth Israel built a synagogue on Huron Road and Miami Street – now East 6th – in downtown Cleveland. It was known as the Huron Road Temple and in 1861, the building was expanded. The congregation grew to over 100 families and, with most of them moving east of downtown, the temple decided to build a bigger building on Central Avenue and East 55th, before the street was named Wilson Avenue in 1907.

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“Moses Gries, named rabbi of Tifereth Israel in 1892, officiated here,” according to Arnie Berger, credited by CJH. “Only 10 years after the move to this building, he told the congregation that it was time to move to a new building (due to the congregation growing so rapidly and once again needing a bigger space). Gries resigned in 1917 and was followed by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver. In 1924, The Temple moved to Ansel Road, near University Circle, and sold the old building to Mount Zion Congregational Church, now located on Magnolia Drive in University Circle. In 1940, the Friendship Baptist Church bought the building.”

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According to ClevelandJewishHistory.net, the building was dedicated in September 1894 and was in use as The Wilson Avenue Temple from 1894 to 1924. In 1850, Tifereth Israel built a synagogue on Huron Road and Miami Street – now East 6th – in downtown Cleveland. It was known as the Huron Road Temple and in 1861, the building was expanded. The congregation grew to over 100 families and, with most of them moving east of downtown, the temple decided to build a bigger building on Central Avenue and East 55th, before the street was named Wilson Avenue in 1907.

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Cleveland Fire Lt. Mike Norman told WORLD that the fire was intentionally set and investigators were close to making an arrest. The blaze was not believed to be financially motivated, insurance related, or meant to target the church’s land, he added. Crews tore down the old stone structure, because after the roof collapsed, the 50-foot stone walls were unsupported and posed a serious collapse hazard, he explained. The height of the walls made the fire-ravaged building extremely dangerous to the surrounding area, and posed a serious risk to the crews who helped put out the fires and tear down the building, he said. A video posted online showed the church fully engulfed in flames before the great domed roof collapsed inward.

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The fire department said that around 60 firefighters responded to the incident on Friday, and the cost of the damage was estimated to be around $500,000. The crews were able to protect a separate building near the south side of the church, and no injuries were reported, Cleveland Fire shared. The church, built in the 1890s, was vacant when the fire started, the department added, though it characterized the landmark as irreplaceable.

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Architectural Afterlife, a historical preservation society, said the majestic church started out as a Jewish synagogue in 1896, before becoming a Baptist church. During the church’s golden era in the mid-20th century, it supposedly saw up to 1,000 congregants each Sunday, the society said. At the time, the church was led by Rev. James Stallworth, a charismatic voice in the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., the article stated. By 2014, the church had gone from a strong pillar of the local community to a body of just 40 members, it continued. The church had sat empty for several years, and the city had shut off the building’s gas in early 2025, Norman told WORLD.

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