In January 1925, the Van Sweringen Company conveyed 113 acres of land to the University Realty Company. The land conveyed was located in in the villages of Shaker Heights and Idlewood--in the vicinity of the intersection of Fairmount Boulevard and Warrensville Center Road. This transfer of land completed a complex real estate deal that created the Fairmount Circle neighborhood. The Van Sweringens believed that this new neighborhood would one day become the Cleveland area's second "University Circle."
The official plat of the Fairmount Circle neighborhood, prepared by Harry Gallimore of the F.A. Pease Engineering Company, featured a prominent traffic circle at the intersection of four roads--Fairmount Boulevard, Warrensville Center Road, North Park Boulevard, and Meadowbrook Boulevard. The traffic circle was designed to have a 900 foot circumference. It was to provide, according to a January 18, 1925 article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "eight imposing corner sites" for "artistic buildings."
Fairmount Circle arguably never evolved into the second University Circle that the Van Sweringens believed it would. However, its development did induce several excellent educational institutions to relocate to the Circle neighborhood during the period 1925-1927.
In 1925, John Carroll University (formerly St. Ignatius College) moved from West 30th Street on the near west side of Cleveland to the northeast quadrant of Fairmount Circle located in Idlewood Village. The Village subsequently changed its name to "University Heights" in honor of John Carroll University's new campus. In addition to John Carroll, two old and well-established Cleveland private academies moved to sites on other quadrants of Fairmount Circle that were located in the City of Shaker Heights.
University School, one of the two prestigious academies that moved to Shaker Heights, was founded in 1876 and had been located on Hough Avenue in Cleveland for 50 years. In 1926, University School moved to a new site on a southeast quadrant of Fairmount circle. One year later, in 1927, Hathaway Brown moved to a location on a southwest quadrant of the circle. Hathaway Brown, like University School, was founded in 1876. Before moving to its new Shaker Heights campus, it had been located in Cleveland on East 97th Street near Euclid Avenue.
Today, nearly 90 years later, these three educational institutions still call Fairmount Circle their home. Fairmount Circle remains a pleasant residential neighborhood on the north side of Shaker Heights.
]]>Added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on May 31, 1984, the Shaker Village Historic District was created to recognize Shaker Heights' significance as a Garden City–influenced planned suburban community. The designation of Shaker Heights as a historic district helped to redefine the community's identity and reaffirm its intrinsic values. Roughly bounded by Fairmount and Lomond Boulevards, Green, Warrensville Center, Becket, and Coventry Roads, nearly 80 percent of Shaker is currently located within the district. While shaped to incorporate a handful of early Warrensville Township sites and structures, the historical significance of the area can be attributed to the Van Sweringen Co.'s success in creating a planned community that integrated architectural standards, landscaping, and public transportation. By developing an exclusive, highly regulated community, the real estate developers made good on their promise to those who invested in property - the enduring value of a home located within Shaker Village.
Dramatic changes to both cultural norms and the physical landscape characterized postwar American society. These changes challenged the foundation from which Shaker Heights grew to prominence as an elite community. Suburbanization and new routes of transportation redefined the role of both the suburb and the city. The diverse population of Cleveland increasingly began to settle away from the city's core. This postwar suburban growth encroached upon Shaker Heights' borders. Shaker Heights remained prosperous throughout this process, but the class and racial segregation that defined its early years became untenable in the context of the social upheaval of the 1960s. A shift in popular conceptions of class and race soon after visited the cosmopolitan community. While integration was initially met with strong resistance, Shaker Heights eventually earned its reputation as a bastion of progressive and socially liberal thinking. Within this new environment, the exclusivity that had both characterized Shaker Heights and helped reinforce its perceived value needed to be redefined.
The inclusion of Shaker Heights on the National Register reflected one strain of efforts to recreate a new community identity for the changing suburb. Since the 1960s, citizen groups had designated various historic landmarks throughout the suburb to affirm and preserve a unique Shaker Heights identity. Cemeteries, colonial homes, Shaker Square, and sites previously inhabited by the religious order of Shakers had become sites of public commemoration. These displays were a reflection of a larger movement in American society to use preservation as a tool of beautification, promote the development of an American identity, and help create order within the new urban landscape. An offshoot of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs, the National Register of Historic Places aimed to identify and protect historic sites in the United States. The designation of a district regularly enhanced property values, and was meant to foster a sense of community that encouraged the preservation of housing stock. When sites such as Shaker Heights were designated historic districts, they received federal tax incentives that encouraged rehabilitation. At the time of its inclusion on the National Register, nearly 5,000 well-preserved residences, churches, schools community buildings, and commercial structures built in the style of early 20th century colonial and revival architecture were located within the historic district. The district was a means to redevelop a foundation from which the community could both reaffirm a sense of and physically maintain its exclusive character, thereby helping to ensure the value of the structures and their surrounds.
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