On November 11, 1903, in a rented house on a brick street now called Radnor Road in the Mayfield Heights allotment of Cleveland Heights, Rev. Albert J. Alexander, pastor of Beckwith Memorial Presbyterian Church (later merged into the Church of the Covenant), led a few dozen people in worship. The "Mayfield Heights Branch" of Beckwith Memorial was born. By 1906, having outgrown the house, the congregation began using the basement of the old Superior Schoolhouse nearby. Just two years later it moved yet again, this time to a dedicated church building erected along Mayfield Road. The new church, renamed Cleveland Heights Presbyterian in 1918, boasted an organ paid for by Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller.

By 1935, in the depths of the Depression, the church had dwindled to only 65 members. Under the energetic leadership of a new pastor who added services calculated to attract young families, it began a meteoric rise over the next quarter century. After World War II, under another dynamic pastor, Rev. Yoder Leith, Forest Hill Church grew so large it had to face still another move. The Rockefeller family, whose pre-Depression plans for a first-class residential allotment foundered after only a few dozen homes were built, sold its Forest Hill land across Mayfield Road for new suburban development. The Rockefellers allocated space for a church at the corner of Monticello and Lee boulevards. Forest Hill purchased the parcel in 1946, and in 1950, using souvenir shovels issued by Leith, church members collectively broke ground for a Colonial-style building that opened the following spring as Forest Hill Church, Presbyterian.

By the early 1960s Forest Hill Church counted some 2,000 members, many drawn from the upscale Forest Hill neighborhood with its enduring restrictive deeds, but it stood on the cusp of wrenching changes. Under the leadership of Rev. Leith and associate pastor Rev. Ned Edwards, the church began to embrace progressive social justice issues, especially civil rights, a commitment that would grow over time. Edwards' nomination as senior pastor in 1970 was literally a point of departure as hundreds of families left the congregation out of dismay at its progressive turn. With associate pastor Rev. Robert H. Barnes, Edwards, a committed activist in many social justice–oriented efforts in the Heights, steered a congregation that by 1980 had shrunk to half its early 1960s size. During the 1970s, Forest Hill played a founding role in the Heights Community Congress, the Forest Hill Housing Corporation (now Heights Home Repair Resource Center), and other organizations. Now several years into its second century, Forest Hill Church has continued to be known for its inclusiveness and its many and varied faith-based commitments to social equity.

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The intersection of Taylor and Mayfield roads in Cleveland Heights is nothing like it was 100 years ago. In the early 20th century, both roads were narrow but long-established country thoroughfares. Dense, old-growth foliage bordered much of the intersection. But the properties on three of those corners were hardly vacant. Indeed, this corner was home to four large country estates owned by leading Cleveland industrialist families.

The intersection's northwest quadrant comprised the outermost reaches of an estate owned by John D. Rockefeller. On the southeast quadrant stood Longwood, a 125-acre estate built in 1911 by John L. Severance, an early partner of Rockefeller and the primary benefactor of Severance Hall, the home of the Cleveland Orchestra. The intersection's northeast corner actually included two grand properties. Ben Brae, the home of Dr. Benjamin Millikin and Julia Severance Millikin, was built in 1913. Immediately to the east of Ben Brae was Glenallen.

The Glenallen estate was constructed in 1915 by the recently widowed Elisabeth Severance Allen, John L. Severance's sister. Both Glenallen and Ben Brae had been in the family for several decades, serving as summer retreats for relatives living on Euclid Avenue. The site of these two estates later became the Jewish Community Center, followed by Lutheran East High School. More recently, the Bluestone townhouse development has taken shape on parts of the old estate.

Designed by the renowned architect Charles Schweinfurth, Glenallen evoked the English manor style. Like Longwood and Ben Brae, it was mostly brick, with stone detailing and a combination of gabled and flat roofs. An ornate metal and glass awning framed the home's entryway. Inside, the walls were hung with French tapestries, important paintings and rare prints. Extensive formal gardens surrounded much of the 45-acre property.

The house was demolished in 1945, one year after its owner's death. However, there are a surprising number of remnants, including the stone wall that runs along Mayfield Road and the stone pier at the southeast corner of the Lutheran East property. Several complete structures also survive, most notably an old farmhouse at 3555 Birch Tree Path.

Early Cleveland Heights had no shortage of great estates but, unfortunately, a great majority including Glenallen have fallen to the wrecker's ball. Thus it is only though stories, pictures and the recollections of a few seniors that we are able to enjoy the tremendous beauty and architectural brilliance of these magnificent homesteads.

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Holy Rosary Church on Mayfield Road was constructed in 1892 to fulfill the need of Cleveland's Italian population for a Catholic institution. The church, located in historic Little Italy, is a staple in the Italian community and has been so since its construction. Not only does the church provide Catholic services to its parishioners. It also sponsors a festival every year that originated back in Italy and is celebrated all over the world. The festival is known as the Feast of the Assumption and celebrates Virgin Mary's passage into Heaven. The festival takes place over three days.

During the festival, a statue of Virgin Mary is paraded down the streets while crowds of people follow the virgin and put money on it as a donation for the church and its charities. The festival is also a time when the people of Little Italy can show their wares and cooking skills to both the community and to the thousands of other people who come to partake in the festival and festivities. Some of the money raised by the festival goes to various charities in and around the neighborhood as well as the parochial school that was built to accommodate the many inhabitants of Little Italy.

The Feast of the Assumption continues to this day as people still attend for both the services and the celebration. It is a time of great celebration but still remains true to its faith and purpose - the materialization of the Assumption of Mary.

The festival is celebrated in mid-August every year.

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When it opened in 1931, the Heights Rockefeller Building became a key component of John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s new Forest Hill development. Designed to serve as the commercial center of this upscale residential community taking shape just to its north, early tenants in the building included a Kroger grocery store, a beauty shop, a pharmacy, and a grand Cleveland Trust bank branch.

After the death of his wife in 1915, John D. Rockefeller seldom returned to his hometown of Cleveland. In 1923, Rockefeller Jr. purchased Forest Hill, the family's 700-acre summer estate, from his father for $2.8 million. He hired Andrew J. Thomas, a New York architect best known for his low-income housing projects, to develop a portion of this land (bounded by Glynn and Mayfield Roads to the north and south and Lee and Taylor Roads to the west and east) into an upper-middle-class residential community. Thomas envisioned a parklike setting for Forest Hill, with long curving streets and plenty of greenery. Thomas also called for a uniformity of architecture in the neighborhood, with all houses built in the French Norman style, featuring steeply-pitched tiled roofs, exteriors consisting of a mix of Ohio sandstone and brick kilned in a color specially designed for Forest Hill, tall chimneys, and oak half-timbering reminiscent of the Tudor style. The Heights Rockefeller Building, itself built in the French Norman style, exhibits many of these features. Also, to further the neighborhood's beauty, attached garages were placed out of sight behind each house at basement level, and utility lines were buried underground. Stately lampposts and street signs all featured an image of a dove, the Forest Hill emblem.

Construction on the first batch of Thomas's homes in Forest Hill, clustered around Brewster Road, began in 1929. By 1930, 81 Norman-style homes had been constructed. The houses did not sell well at first. By 1932 some empty houses were being rented out, while others eventually sold for nearly half of the original asking price. The Great Depression certainly played a part in the struggle to sell these expensive homes. Also, the development's uniformity of design, touted in advertisements as creating "all the harmonious charm of the delightful villages of old France" while ensuring that "families may establish their homes without the likelihood of incongruous architectural development nearby," may have actually turned off potential buyers. Whatever the case, Thomas did not build any more houses in Forest Hill, and his original plans for 500 more Norman-style houses, a country club, apartment houses, an inn, and other commercial buildings never came to fruition.

In 1939, Rockefeller Jr. donated over 200 acres of his land west of Lee Road (originally intended to be the site of Forest Hill's country club) to Cleveland Heights and East Cleveland to create Forest Hill Park -- a public park. Rockefeller Jr. also sold the Heights Rockefeller Building in 1939, and in 1948 he sold all of the undeveloped lots in Forest Hill to George A. Roose.

Thanks to the post-World War II housing boom and increasing suburbanization, Roose quickly sold the empty Forest Hill lots. New developers built more modest houses on the lots in a variety of styles, largely abandoning Taylor's original plan for Forest Hill. The original 81 houses that Thomas designed, however, were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, as was the Heights Rockefeller Building. The Rockefeller Building has changed hands a number of times over the years with various tenants coming and going. Today, the building remains a vibrant anchor for the Mayfield-Lee commercial district.

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At 35 years old, Orville A. Dean first started selling milk to friends and acquaintances. In 1886, he built a large farmhouse on Mayfield Road, which served as his family home and the office for the OA Dean Dairy Company for seventy-one years. In the early years, milk was delivered by horse-drawn wagons. The delivery men dipped large ladles into the 10 gallon cans, and then poured the milk into each housewife's pitcher.

In 1920, Harry N. Dean took over the company from his father. By then, Dean's had grown to eight retail outlets and one wholesale store, with new machinery and equipment. During these years, the Dean's Dairy's many fine horses were displayed at shows and fairs throughout the area. The World War II years were difficult, with food rationing and drivers leaving for the war, but luckily for Dean's, dairy products remained in demand. Grove P. Dean, grandson of Orville, originally moved east to try his hand in other businesses, but was drawn back to home. Under his guidance, Dean's converted most of the wagons from horse drawn to automotive, although some horses were still used. Rubber tires were added to these "very modern units" to cut down on noise during early morning deliveries.

Wilburt McCarthy, who retired in 1975 after 40 years as a Dean's milkman, remembered delivering "to the home every day then, seven days a week. We'd go out and load up the wagons at two or three o'clock in the morning and we'd put in our 10 to 12-hour work day. The pay wasn't much for a milkman." "Dean's had the best chocolate milk, barring anyplace," remembered milkman McCarty. "It was really out of this world. In the summertime, we serviced a lot of house painters. And we'd sell off the truck to those fellows all the time, buttermilk and chocolate milk."

Former Cleveland Heights mayor Ed Kelley worked for Dean's Dairy in the early 1970s, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, milkman William Rapp, his uncle, father and brother. Mr. Kelley filled 500 sacks of ice for the milk trucks each day. Since the trucks were not refrigerated, the milkmen used the sacks to keep the dairy products cool during deliveries. Mr. Kelley worked during the summers and after school in the early fall, until the temperature dropped. He also worked as a weekend night watchman, listening to Casey Kasem's Top 40 on the radio. His favorite memories of working at Dean's were the wonderful stories the drivers shared with him. "The drivers were very kind to me," Kelley remembered, "and they encouraged me to stay in school and go on to college." Dean's was "a great place to work," although going from the hot summer weather outside to the cold air of the cooler could be a shock.

Two other dairy companies operated in Cleveland Heights as well. Hillside was started in 1932 and located on Center Road, near Noble and Mayfield. Many people remember the wonderful tours of Hillside Dairy and their delicious lunch counter. Hillside is also remembered for having one of the first female milk drivers. In one month, they had 18 drivers called up for service in World War II, so they hired the "first feminine milk-carrier, six feet, 170 pounds." Bruder's dairy opened in the early 1900s. One of Bruder's busiest retail stores was located in what is now Seitz-Agin Hardware on Lee Road.

Innovations in refrigeration and the proliferation of convenience stores and supermarkets in the 1970s signaled the end of small dairies that specialized in home delivery. People no longer wanted the more expensive, home-delivered milk products. Even so, many Cleveland Heights residents still hold fond memories of the milk trucks making their regular deliveries throughout the community.

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