When Arabs from western Asia and northern Africa began arriving in Cleveland in the late 19th century, many of them Christians from Lebanon who had heard about the U.S. from Protestant missionaries, they settled primarily in the south side of Tremont, and the Haymarket district (South of what is now Tower City Center). In 1911, a number of Orthodox immigrants established a congregation that eventually became St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church. Shortly after its inception, St. George’s only priest was transferred to another city and the congregation worshipped at St. Elias Byzantine Catholic Church. In 1927, the congregation received a new pastor who held services at a variety of locations, including the billiards room at Gray’s Armory. The next year, they purchased the former Lincoln Park Methodist Episcopal Church on Starkweather and West 14th Street. Soon after the purchase, a fire nearly destroyed the entire building, and church members raised almost $40,000 to rebuild it. Dedicated in 1935, the reborn church was constructed in the Byzantine style with onion-shaped finials at the top of the bell tower, honoring the congregation’s unique cultural heritage.