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| A Brief History
of Cleveland Heights |
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| Like all cities, Cleveland Heights
has centuries of vibrant history. Long before
Patrick Calhoun (with a substantial loan from
John D. Rockefeller, Sr.) created one of Cleveland's
first "garden suburbs," our community
was home to native American tribes such as the
Erie and Seneca. In the late-18th and early-19th
centuries, pioneers established settlements in
the area of Mayfield and Superior Roads. Cyrus
and Darius Ford raised silkworms and aided runaway
slaves. Peter Rush and his son Mathias put through
Noble and Yellowstone Roads. The Shakers ran a
broom factory near Lee Road, a grist mill at Coventry
Road and Fairmount Boulevard, and stone quarries
around North Park Boulevard and Grandview Roads.
By the mid-1800s, the area that was to become
Cleveland Heights was a thriving farm community
whose lands were originally part of East Cleveland,
Euclid, Newburgh, and Warrensville townships.
Large lots |
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The old Cleveland Heights City Hall, ca.,
1935
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| were owned
and worked by families whose names are immortalized
in the streets we travel regularly: Silsby, Lee,
Taylor, Quilliams, Antisdale, and many others. After
the Civil War, Orville Dean opened his dairy. John
Peter Preyer, an early occupant of our suburb's
oldest surviving house (14299 Superior Road, ca.
1825), operated vineyards in the Superior/Mayfield
area and employed Italian immigrants from the newly
established "Little Italy." Dr. Nathan
Ambler ran a healing "spa" in what is
now the Harcourt/Chestnut Hills area. And Doctor
Jason Streator operated a horse-racing track at
the corner of what is now Euclid Heights Boulevard
and Edgehill Road. |
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The John Hartness
Brown house (Overlook and Edgehill) under
construction, ca. 1896 |
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In 1890 or 1891,
however, a New York cotton and railroad magnate,
with a few hours to spare before returning
home, visited the new Garfield Monument in
Lake View Cemetery (see the article on Lake
View Cemetery in "Historic
Places"). Ascending the hill, he was
struck by the vision of a recreated English
village to which wealthy Clevelanders could
escape from the relentless encroachment of
an expanding Cleveland. Millionaires' Row
and other wealthy neighborhoods in the central
city had already peaked, and he recognized
the demand that would exist for just such
a residential retreat. Thus Patrick Calhoun,
grandson of Vice President John C. Calhoun,
created the Euclid Heights subdivision which
was north of Cedar Road and west of Coventry
Road. This early first vestige of Cleveland
Heights featured winding bucolic streets reminiscent
of the English countryside: Derbyshire, Berkshire,
Lancashire, Hampshire, etc. Other early developments
included Mayfield Heights (east of Coventry)
and Ambler Heights (between Cedar Road and |
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North
Park Boulevard). Following slightly later were
Euclid Golf, (at the western end of Fairmount
Boulevard) and "Shaker Heights" (bounded
roughly by North Park Boulevard, Coventry Road,
Fairfax Road, and Ashton Road).
Spurred by Calhoun's vision, as well as John
D. Rockefeller's money and the migration of dozens
of "leading" Cleveland families, Cleveland
Heights was established as a village in 1903.
At that time, the village had a population of
1500. In 1921 Cleveland Heights was incorporated
as a city. Like neighboring Shaker Heights, Cleveland
Heights was initially a "streetcar suburb"
whose growth followed the major rail routes along
Cedar and Mayfied Roads, and Euclid Heights and
Fairmount Boulevards. The rails also dictated
the location of Cleveland Heights' first shopping
districts at Fairmount and Cedar, and along Coventry
Road from Euclid Heights to Mayfield. |
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Cleveland Heights
work crews (corner of Superior, Goodnor, and
East Overlook) ca. 1925 |
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Soon after incorporation,
Cleveland Heights established a volunteer
fire department and a public school system,
which began in the old East Cleveland District
School on Superior Road and Euclid Heights
Boulevard. (Built in 1882, this building is
the anticipated future home of the Cleveland
Heights Historical Society). The village's
first (four-room, brick) high school opened
in 1903 on Lee Road east of Euclid Heights
Boulevard, and the first public library (inside
Coventry School) in 1911. In 1915, a police
department was established, with Lorenzo Brockway
as chief. A Georgian Revival city hall was
built in 1923. It was demolished in 1986 when
a new facility was built at Severance Town
Center. For 32 years (from 1914-1946) Frank
Cain served as mayor. The houses in which
he lived still stand at 1769 Radnor and 1590
Compton Roads. |
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In
1916, the city passed a bond issue to purchase
parkland. Today Cleveland Heights has 135 acres
of parks, including Forest
Hill (donated by John D. Rockefeller,
Jr., in 1938), Cain Park (created by the Works
Progress Administration in the 1930s), Cumberland
Park (developed in 1916 under the supervision
of world-famous landscape architect A.D. Taylor),
and Denison Park. Cleveland Heights is also home
to part of Shaker Lakes and Caledonia Parks.
In 1914 and 1915, the unsold lots in the Euclid
Heights development (most of which were at the
eastern end) defaulted to the Cleveland Trust
Company and were sold at a sheriff sale. These
properties had been slated for additional occupation
by migrating Cleveland "gentry," but
instead, they were sold in smaller, subdivided
portions. This explains why most of the city's
largest residences (those developed in the 1890s
and early 1900s) are located near its western
border. Financial problems (a.k.a., the Depression)
are also behind the inability of John D. Rockefeller,
Jr., to realize his dream of building approximately
600 Norman-style homes in the 1-square mile area
of East Cleveland and Cleveland Heights bounded
roughly by Lee, Mayfield, North Taylor, and Brewster
Roads. Instead 81 Rockefeller homes exist in the
area, interspersed with colonials from the 1930s
and 1940s, and modern, attractive ranch-style
dwellings built primarily in the 1950s. |
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| Reference
sources for this article include "In
Our Day," published by the Cleveland Heights
Community Congress, "The Encyclopedia of
Cleveland History," published by Indiana
University Press, 1987, and the "Cleveland
Heights Landmark Register," produced by
the Department of Planning and Development, City
of Cleveland Heights. |
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