Building upon the success of their Shaker Village development, which became the City of Shaker Heights, O. P. and M. J. Van Sweringen acquired an extensive swath of land in eastern Cuyahoga County and planned to open "Shaker Country Estates" to homebuyers. This 1926 plat map shows how Gates Mills Boulevard was intended to serve as an eastward extension of Shaker Boulevard, including the dedicated rapid transit line in its center median. After the Vans went bankrupt during the Great Depression, their lands were developed less densely. The black dot near the center of the map shows the future site of Brith Emeth Temple. The temple's location there in 1967 demonstrated that the Van Sweringen Company, which had effectively prohibited Jewish buyers where its restrictions remained in effect east of Warrensville Center Road into the 1960s, no longer held sway in Pepper Pike. | Source: F. A. Pease Engineering Co., Van Sweringen Co., Cleveland Public Library Map CollectionDownload Original File
Source
F. A. Pease Engineering Co., Van Sweringen Co., Cleveland Public Library Map Collection
