Have you heard of Cardarelli Corners?
Many Akron drivers pass right through without even knowing it.
A flat marble marker at Iuka and Sawyer avenues explains that the North Hill intersection’s nickname is a tribute to Nick A. Cardarelli.
The Akron City Council approved the official designation 70 years ago in honor of the Summit County sheriff’s captain and deputy. Cardarelli, who lived a few houses from the crossroads, was a big booster of North Hill and a prominent figure in the Italian American community.
An immigrant from Italy
The son of Edigio and Nellie Cardarelli was born Dec. 11, 1895, in Fontegreca in the province of Caserta in the Italian region of Campania. His father came to America in the late 19th century and found a job on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad before bringing his family to Ohio.
Nick was nearly 12 when his family emigrated in 1907. His siblings were Josephine, Marguerite, Louise, Francis and Rosemary. The Cardarellis lived on North Howard Street and later moved to Wall Street.
Edigio, the family patriarch, joined the Akron police force about 1909 as one of the city’s first Italian cops, and later ran unsuccessfully for City Council and the state legislature. Fellow cops called him “Big Jim,” a nod to the barrel-chested physique that he would later bequeath to his son Nick.
The boy followed his father’s footsteps in several ways, including working for the railroad, entering law enforcement and seeking public office.
Family home on Sawyer Avenue
Cardarelli joined the U.S. Army during World War I, serving overseas in the medical corps, quartermaster corps and as an Italian interpreter. After the war, he worked for the Northern Ohio Traction & Light Co., laying tracks in Akron, Barberton, Kenmore and Silver Lake, and then worked in a similar capacity for the Akron, Bedford and Cleveland Railroad.
Cardarelli and his wife, the former Mary Crano, raised four children — James, Irene, Geraldine and Anthony — in a three-bedroom home at 1071 Sawyer Ave., which they purchased about 1926.
The family was active at St. Martha’s Church on North Hill. Cardarelli was a founder of the Carovillese Society and also belonged to the Unione Abbruzzese, Sicilian-American Club, Knights of Columbus and other fraternal societies. He organized spaghetti dinners, bocce tournaments, Italian picnics and Feast of St. Anthony celebrations.
Deputy sheriff in Summit County
In late 1932, newly elected Sheriff Ray Potts hired Cardarelli as a deputy for about $120 a month (over $3,000 today). As an officer, he investigated shootings, robberies, assaults, thefts and car crashes, and escorted suspects to the county jail and courthouse.
He briefly worked as a bailiff in Summit County Common Pleas Court before rejoining the sheriff’s office in 1937, working another 20 years under Sheriffs Walter O’Neil, Robert L. Smith and Ray Woodard and earning the title of captain.
When the Cardarellis moved to Sawyer Avenue a century ago, the road was in poor condition. It only got worse over the ensuing decade.
In February 1938, the deputy raised a public fuss after driving over a pothole and breaking a spring on his car. He threatened to barricade Sawyer between Iuka and Cuyahoga Falls Avenue if the city refused to repair the street.
“I can get my neighbors to join me,” he told the Beacon Journal. “That section of thoroughfare is impassable. Repeated appeals to the city highway department to do something have been ignored — so now’s the time for direct action.
“Two of my neighbors have had their troubles, too. One of them had a tire blowout, and the other had to have a broken spring repaired after hitting a hole in the street.
“If we barricade the street, maybe the city will wake up and do something about it.”
The city repaired Sawyer Avenue.
Cardarelli fought for his neighborhood in other ways. When empty lots turned into illegal dumping grounds, he lobbied the city to clean up the trash and turn the properties into playgrounds.
Contractors took away the garbage so kids could play.
Cardarelli sought political office three times, all unsuccessfully. He ran for state representative in 1932 and Akron City Council in 1935 and 1957, and served as vice president of the Summit County Democratic Party.
Origin of Cardarelli Corners
In 1956, Akron City Council considered legislation to designate the intersection of Iuka and Sawyer as “Cardarelli Corners.”
“The people up there think very highly of Nick,” Councilman Joseph Denholm, co-sponsor of the ordinance, explained at a council meeting. “Why, many call that area Cardarelli Corners even now.”
Councilman Howard Walker, skeptical of the plan, countered: “Why should council bother then?”
“It would be an honor,” replied Councilman John Head, another co-sponsor. “I always go along with honoring people. Cardarelli prevailed on the city to make playgrounds up there for the children.”
Council members voted 7-5 to pass the ordinance, which recognized “the fine work of Nick A. Cardarelli” and noted that the Sawyer-Iuka intersection “hereafter shall be known as Cardarelli Corners.”
Mayor Leo Berg signed the measure June 15, 1956.
Marker at Iuka and Sawyer
Nick A. Cardarelli was 65 when he died May 13, 1961, after a long illness. Survivors included his wife, Mary, daughters Irene Spinelli and Geraldine Boykin and sons James E. Cardarelli and Anthony Cardarelli, the future city councilman and county sheriff.
In October 1965, the city dedicated a marble marker to publicly identify the Iuka-Sawyer intersection as Cardarelli Corners. It’s been there ever since.
Nick’s widow, Mary, lived at 1071 Sawyer Ave. until selling the property in 1989. She passed away in 1996 at age 92.
The North Hill house changed ownership several times in recent decades and must have fallen into disrepair because the city ordered its demolition in 2014. It was razed a year later.
Today, an empty lot marks the former site of the home.
Cardarelli Corners continues to honor the family’s name.
Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cardarelli Corners? North Hill intersection is tribute | Local history
Reporting by Mark J. Price, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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