The Euclid Heights Allotment was the first major real estate subdivision up on Cleveland's "Heights" above University Circle and Euclid Avenue. Early on, Euclid Heights’ developers sought to attract wealthy Millionaires’ Row residents who, in the late 19th century, had begun migrating eastward away from the city's pollution and commercial bustle. The development benefited from the advent of electrified streetcars, which could conquer the steep grades leading up to the Heights. Tucked in the corner of a green space framed by Doan Brook and Lake View Cemetery, Euclid Heights offered a stylish retreat where those able to handle longer commutes could enjoy spacious lots, curving streets, handsome architecture, spectacular views, fresh air, privacy and a chance to put distance between themselves and the increasingly dirty, problem-plagued city below.

The story goes that Atlanta and New York railroad lawyer Patrick Calhoun, grandson of U.S. Vice President and Senator John C. Calhoun, traveled to Cleveland on business in 1890. Having time to spare, Calhoun rode out to Lake View Cemetery to see the recently dedicated memorial to the slain President James A. Garfield, a structure Calhoun’s family had supported. On the way he noticed the building boom going on in the East End (Hough area), and wondered where that was heading. Calhoun had been involved earlier in the Richmond Terminal railroad project in Virginia and was familiar with the groundbreaking work that Frank Sprague, the "Father of Electric Traction," had done there in using electric railroads to promote urban development. Knowing that the East Cleveland Railway Company had recently done some innovative work electrifying streetcars locally, Calhoun saw an opportunity to develop an important streetcar suburb at the top of Cedar Glen.

Working with local partners, including John D. Rockefeller's real estate man, J.G.W. Cowles, attorney William Lowe Rice and merchant John Hartness Brown, Calhoun had development plans drawn up by 1892. The Panic of 1893 put their plans on hold but by 1896 an amended site plan was recorded—more or less identical to today's layout of the area with Euclid Heights Boulevard bisecting the site from the southwest corner at the crest of Cedar Hill. In the northeast corner of the development would be the commercial district, what we now know as Coventry Village. Other prominent features included The Overlook—Overlook Road southwest of Edgehill Road and featuring large mansions featuring splendid north- and west-facing views—and the Euclid Club, a country club that sported a golf course spanning both sides of Cedar Road and a grand quarter-mile entry path beginning at what is now the corner of Derbyshire and Surrey Roads.

The development gradually attracted fine homes and also spurred other beautiful subdivisions, such as Barton Deming’s Euclid Golf Allotment on the south portion of the former golf course (which closed in 1912). Moreover, the Van Sweringen brothers, are believed to have been paperboys in the Euclid Heights area and later went on to adopt themes from the Euclid Heights Allotment in their famous Shaker Heights and Shaker Farm communities (the latter comprises streets such as Stratford, Marlboro, Fairfax and Guilford, west of Lee Road and immediately north of Fairmount Boulevard) . Calhoun, however, was distracted by legal problems running the San Francisco streetcar franchise after the Great Earthquake and saw his Euclid Heights development company forced into bankruptcy in 1914. By then William Rice had been murdered while walking home to the Overlook from the Euclid Club, a sensational case that featured John Hartness Brown as a suspect. Although it still maintains its picturesque “Garden City” look, Euclid Heights soon evolved from a private hilltop retreat to a busy gateway to the rapidly developing Heights. A large portion of Calhoun-owned land in the area’s eastern sector was sold off and subdivided, thus explaining why Cleveland Heights homes east of Coventry Road tend to be somewhat more modest than those near the top of the hill. Today Euclid Heights is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It remains full of architecturally significant homes (including Calhoun's at 2460 Edgehill), but its main significance is the role it played in opening the Heights as a streetcar suburb for wealthy Clevelanders.

For more (including 9 images) view the original article

Until the late 1800s, looking down from atop Cedar Hill you would have seen little more than a countryside landscape divided by an unkempt dirt road. The hillside known as Cedar Glen hosted few travellers aside from farm wagons and, later, visitors to the springs resort at the foot of the hill. In less than a century, this scene would be replaced by one of a busy, six-lane road as Cedar Glen became the biggest gateway to the Heights from the city of Cleveland.

One of Cedar Glen's most salient characteristics is its gradual rise in elevation. The western edge of the Portage Escarpment causes this natural formation. The Portage Escarpment not only divides the Allegheny Plateau and the Great Lakes Basin, but also acts as a boundary between Cleveland and its suburban "Heights" to the east. Originally the eastern part of Cedar Glen and the high ground to which it leads belonged to East Cleveland Township. When Cleveland Heights incorporated as a village in 1903, it engulfed the southern part of East Cleveland Township, which included farmland and Cedar Glen.

Another natural feature that, for a time, made Cedar Glen a well-known area was Doan Brook, which was piped and buried underground in 1929. In the early 1800s, bluish grey sandstone called Euclid bluestone was quarried along the brook. The hard sandstone was used for everything from laundry tubs to sidewalks. Later in the century Doan Brook again brought attention to Cedar Glen. Dr. Nathan Hardy Ambler was a former dentist and the owner of the Cedar Glen property through which Doan Brook passes on its way from Shaker Lakes to Lake Erie. Although the blue-green water tasted like sulfur, Ambler began bottling and selling it to local restaurants. Because patrons believed the water offered health benefits and hydrotherapy was becoming a popular treatment method, Ambler and his partner Daniel O. Caswell opened the Blue Rock Spring House in Cedar Glen. The water resort and sanitarium operated from 1880 until 1908 when popularity began to fade.

Cedar Glen began its transition to one of Cleveland's most important transportation gateways from the suburbs in 1896 when entrepreneur and suburban developer Patrick Calhoun donated a large tract of land to the city's park system. One of the conditions of the gift was that Calhoun would be permitted to run a double-line street railway through Cedar Glen. Construction began that fall on the street railway that was intended to bring passengers to and from Euclid Heights and Ambler Heights, prestigious residential allotments on the "Overlook." The increase in suburban residents and visitors made possible the construction of the Cedar Fairmount retail district at the top of the hill.

By the 1920s Cedar Glen was bustling with heavy streetcar and automobile traffic. At the end of that decade a tunnel and platform were built on the western end of Cedar Glen in conjunction with the construction of the Cleveland Union Terminal, further connecting Cleveland Heights to its urban neighbor. In the mid 1950s Cleveland Transit Service (CTS), the predecessor of today's RTA, built the University Circle Rapid Transit Station at the same location on the bottom of Cedar Glen where the tunnel was constructed twenty-five years earlier. Completely transformed from its onetime status as a barren, dirt road, Cedar Glen now remains a well-traveled gateway to and from Cleveland.

For more (including 13 images & 1 audio file) view the original article

On a July night in 1921, a group of "Cleveland hoodlums" fought with members of the Shaker Heights Police Department after being ordered out of Lower Shaker Lake. The young men were not happy about being told that they could not swim in the lake at night. In the ensuing scuffle, the police beat a number of bathers and an officer fired his gun in the air. A few of the bathers made a run for it -- in the nude. One was eventually picked up by a Cleveland police officer on the alert for "a naked boy seen lurking in shrubbery on Kinsman Road." The North Union Shakers would have certainly been shocked to witness such a riotous scene.

During its 190 years of existence, Lower Shaker Lake has gone from being an example of industriousness and self-sufficiency to being a place where people go to have fun and enjoy nature. The North Union Shakers first dammed the Doan Brook in the 1820s to power a saw mill located just west of the newly-created Lower Shaker Lake. In 1829, a portion of the original Shaker settlement at Lee Road and North Park Boulevard moved to a location nearer to the sawmill and Lower Shaker Lake. The "Mill Family," as it became known, worked and lived communally, sharing the large "Family House" near the northwest shore of Lower Shaker Lake. The "Family" (actually a group of thirty or so mainly unrelated Shakers) operated the saw mill and, eventually, a five-story high grist (corn and flour) mill located in Doan Brook Gorge. As the 19th century came to a close, the North Union Shaker community steadily grew smaller. Older Shakers died, while new members proved hard to recruit, probably due to the strict practice of celibacy in the Shaker Church. In 1889, the North Union Shaker community disbanded, and the 20 or so remaining members moved to other Shaker communities. Their dams on the Doan Brook, however, remained.

In 1896, the Buffalo real estate company that now owned the old Shaker lands donated 279 acres of it, including Lower and Upper Shaker Lake, to the City of Cleveland. The new parkland followed the path of Doan Brook, connecting with Ambler Park, Wade Park, Rockefeller Park, and Gordon Park to create a nearly continuous stretch of parks from Shaker Heights to Lake Erie. Lower Shaker Lake quickly attracted swimmers, canoeists, and picnickers. In the 1910s and 1920s, when the Shaker Lakes Canoe Club was at its peak, its two-story clubhouse on the lake's southeast shore was the site of annual regattas that attracted thousands of spectators. The regattas featured traditional canoe races as well as competitions in the less well-known sports of "canoe tilting" and "canoe polo."

In the 1960s, however, the future of Lower Shaker Lake was threatened by a proposal to construct a freeway interchange just east of the lake. The Clark Freeway would have run parallel to the lake's south side before intersecting with the Lee Freeway near the spot where the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes now sits. Founded in 1966, the creation of the Nature Center was a key part of the dedicated effort by local residents to prevent the freeways from being built. Thankfully, the protests worked and the freeways did not get built. While the young men who dashed naked from the lake in 1921 did not win their fight against the police, the men and women fighting against the Clark and Lee Freeways several decades later won the right to continue enjoying the Shaker Lakes. It is safe to say that victory was deserved in both cases.

For more (including 9 images & 2 audio files) view the original article

In 1852, the North Union Shakers dammed Doan Brook for the second time, generating power for a new woolen mill and creating what would later become known as Horseshoe Lake. The new dam symbolized the continued growth of the North Union community, which was founded in 1822. The Shakers had previously dammed the Doan Brook at a spot further west to power a saw mill, creating Lower Shaker Lake in the process. In addition to operating these mills, the Shakers farmed, raised cattle, and manufactured small items such as brooms, barrels, and clothespins. They sold their wares and foodstuffs to Cleveland residents and neighboring farmers. By the early 1850s, the North Union Shakers were at their peak, with over 300 members spread across three different settlements. The next thirty years would witness the decline of the community, however.

The numbers of North Union Shakers steadily dwindled in the years following the Civil War, as elderly members passed away and new converts proved hard to find. Strict Shaker religious practices (including a strict vow of celibacy) and the communal nature of Shaker living did not appeal to the generation coming of age after the Civil War. Nor could the hand-made items the Shakers crafted compete with the cheaper mass produced goods flooding American markets at this time. Not only was the North Union community losing members, it was also losing money.

The North Union Shakers disbanded in 1889. The 20 or so remaining members, most of whom were elderly, moved to other Shaker communities. Although the Shakers eventually left northeast Ohio, the lakes they created to power their mills remained. In 1896, Horseshoe Lake was part of the 279 acres of parkland donated to the City of Cleveland by the Buffalo real estate company that had purchased the old Shaker lands. The new parkland followed the path of Doan Brook, connecting with Ambler Park, Wade Park, Rockefeller Park, and Gordon Park to create a nearly continuous stretch of parks from Shaker Heights to Lake Erie.

In the 1930s, workers with the New Deal's Works Progress Administration (WPA) landscaped the area, turning it from "a pile of mud and rocks" into Horseshoe Lake Park. The City of Shaker Heights spent nearly a million dollars to renovate the park in 2004, adding new playground equipment and an elevated boardwalk that winds its way through wetlands. The renovations were completed in 2007.

More recently, the dam has been the subject of controversy. In 2018 the Ohio Department of Natural Resources discovered a sinkhole along the dam, leading to the decision to drain Horseshoe Lake and conduct an assessment of the dam's condition the following year. In 2021 the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District informed the cities of Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights that in light of minimal flood-control benefits, the risk of dam failure, and the high cost of rebuilding the dam, removal of the Horseshoe Lake Dam should be given close consideration. Preservation-minded citizens, however, have urged that the lake's historical value needs to be considered before abandoning the 170-year-old lake. For now, the lake's fate hangs in the balance.

For more (including 10 images) view the original article