In 1811 Jacob Russell moved his family from their home in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, into the wilderness of the Connecticut Western Reserve. Upon his arrival, Russell purchased 475 acres in Warrensville Township, founded by the Daniel Warren family from Ackworth, New Hampshire, in 1808. Ralph Russell, the ninth of twelve Russell children, first visited his parents' tracts of land in 1811. After his visit, he returned to Connecticut to lead 18 other Russell family members to the Northeast Ohio settlement in 1812. Between 1818 and 1821, Ralph Russell experienced a whirlwind of life events. In 1818 he married Laura Ellsworth, a childhood friend from Connecticut. Then in 1821, the patriarch of the Russell family, Jacob Russell passed away.

Ralph Russell was stricken with grief due to the loss of his father and traveled to Lebanon, Ohio, to seek spiritual guidance from the Union Village Shaker Community in 1822. Russell was so moved by the beliefs and teaching of the Shakers that he returned to his family's settlement and began converting family members to his newfound religion. Russell converted three of his brothers to the religion, and they dedicated their family, land, and belongings to the North Union settlement, land within modern day Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights. The first official meeting of the North Union Shaker community occurred in 1828, where 36 members signed the Covenant, officially dedicating their lives to Shakerism. Oddly enough, Ralph Russell's name does not appear on the Covenant. Russell and his family later moved away from the community to Aurora, Ohio, where he lived until his death in 1866.

Visitors to meetings of The United Society of True Believers in Christ's Second Appearing named them "Shakers" or "Shaking Quakers" due their sporadic and erratic movements during worship. Although it was not their official name, the Shakers across America adopted the nickname and used it in the marketing of their products. The Shakers were one of a number of utopian-minded sects that originated in the "Burned Over District" in western New York and were inspired by the Second Great Awakening, such as the Oneidas, Millerites, and Mormons. Founded by Mother Ann Lee, who immigrated to the United States from Manchester, England, in search of religious freedom in 1774, the Shakers were known for their communal living, pacifism, celibacy, and equality amongst all people. Within their communities, men and women were viewed as equals. Men and women leaders, called Elders and Eldresses, were viewed as having the same level of power within the community. The Shakers enjoyed a reputation as hardworking and industrious people who lived their motto of "Put your hands to work and your Hearts to God."

At their height of membership in the 19th century, the Shakers occupied a total of 24 settlements in the United States. Shaker settlements worked within certain industries not only to put their hands to work, but also to provide for community members and generate economic stability for the community. North Union was no exception. The North Union community, who named this place "The Valley of God's Pleasure," was known for bee keeping, broom making, textile production, blacksmithing, animal husbandry, and harvesting seeds and herbs used for cooking and medicinal purposes. The community made sure that all of the needs of the community members were met before selling their products and services to the "outside world." For North Union, interaction with the outside world usually consisted of doing business at markets in downtown Cleveland and at Doan's Corners (East 105th and Euclid Avenue - present day University Circle).

Shaker communities were divided into different families where familial ties were dissolved, and everyone became a Shaker brother or Shaker sister. North Union was divided into three families: Mill, Center, and East. These families were relatively autonomous as each had its own Elder, Eldress, Deacon, and Deaconess. The Mill family was closest in proximity to and worked in the community's mills, and the East family oversaw childcare and education for new converts. The Center family was the most spiritually advanced and served as the administrative center for the whole community. North Union took in orphans and runaways. After completing a "novice period" and signing a covenant to give up all their personal belongings, new members were assigned to a junior family order. Each family played a significant role in the development of North Union, which reached its peak membership of 300 Shakers by 1850.

In 1843, the North Union Shakers claimed that Jesus Christ visited their community for three months. Nonetheless, by the 1870s any residual excitement from the purported visit had surely dwindled in the North Union Shaker community. Although the North Union Shakers took in orphans and runaways, it was not enough to overcome the repopulation challenges resulting from their celibate beliefs. Along with the decrease in devout dedication to Shaker beliefs after the Civil War, the lure of industrialization pulled the younger members away from the community. The remaining members decided to move to southwestern Ohio Shaker colonies, and the North Union settlement officially closed in 1889. Also, it has been suggested that Brother Joseph Slingerland influenced the sale of North Union in order to strengthen Union Village and bolster that community, which continued until July 1920.

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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.

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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.

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Located within a small business district at 3451 Lee Road, Warrensville West Cemetery offers a reminder of the individuals and communities that inhabited the area prior to the development of Shaker Heights. The headstones and markers adorning the small graveyard speak of an unfamiliar landscape, lost to time, that was the home of brave pioneer families and their descendants, immigrant settlers, and the North Union Shakers. Listed as a landmark on August 24, 1976, these symbolic grounds are among the oldest designated landmarks in Shaker Heights, and provide a fitting place of remembrance for Warrensville Township's earliest residents.

The history of the cemetery can be traced back to the first settlers, and namesakes, of Warrensville Township. Daniel and Margaret Prentiss Warren emigrated to the Western Reserve from Acworth, New Hampshire in 1808 with their infant son. Working as a brick-maker, Daniel earned rights to a $300 parcel of land for his work in the construction of the Court House in Jefferson, Ohio. Choosing a lot based on its vicinity to Moses Cleveland's settlement, the Warrens built a log cabin in 1809 and cleared land for crops in the heavily wooded forest. The Warrens then began to raise a family in the rugged environment, and were soon joined by relatives in what was eventually named Warrensville Township.

In 1811, the couple's two year old daughter, Lovisa, died. She was buried on a ridge at the edge of their property. When this land was purchased by Asa Stiles in 1812, the grounds were transferred to the township for use as a cemetery. The burial ground would continue to be used by the Warren family, as well as other early settlers of Warrensville Township. Similar to community burial grounds formed in other inhospitable areas of Cuyahoga County, the cemetery was small, rustic, and unadorned. With roads and trails that proved to be unsuitable for travel much of the year, no nearby church, and living conditions that tended to promote their frequent usage, the centralized burial grounds soon became a repository of the township's pioneer settlers and their descendants.

As Warrensville attracted new residents, the cemetery began to reflect the changing face of the surrounding community. In 1826, three families that had recently emigrated from the Isle of Man arrived in Cleveland. Within a year, more than 200 Manx residents had settled in the Newburgh and Warrensville area. As word spread that Warrensville was a desirable location for farming, the township quickly became the center of the region's Manx population. Often characterized as deeply religious, hard-working and clannish, many of the pioneers of Warrensville's Manx settlement purchased lots in the austere graveyard. A demographic shift within the cemetery resulted from the combined influence of this growing immigrant population, changes in popular taste of burial grounds, and improved routes of transportation into and out of the township. By the early 1900s, vver half the graveyard's population were Manxmen.

The community burial grounds became host to a new group of Warrensville settlers at the turn of the 20th century. A 40-foot lot was purchased by the City of Shaker Heights to re-inter bodies from the North Union Shaker cemetery. Located on land that was to be developed as a residential neighborhood, the Van Sweringen Company received permission from the Shaker Society in Union Village, Ohio, to relocate the bodies of the 138 members of the communal society to Warrensville West Cemetery. The remains of eighty-nine Shakers were located, placed in coffins, and buried in a common grave. The site would not be marked until 1949, when the Shaker Historical Society placed a granite boulder from an old Shaker farm above the grave.

While the cemetery markers reflect the history of Warrensville's founders, Manxmen and Shakers, they also offers clues to the lives led by those interred. The many children and infants buried in the graveyard are a reminder of the harsh living conditions endured by Warrensville's earliest resident. Engravings on headstones identify the veterans of five wars. Of these veterans, four served in the American Revolution, two in the War of 1812, one in the Mexican-American War, fourteen in the Civil War, and one in World War II. Familial relationships, birthplaces, and occupations are also memorialized. Although most markers have been weathered to the point of ineligibility, the grave of Mary Brogden -who died in 1843 - even offers visitors to the burial grounds advice:

"Friends as you pass me by, As you are now, So once was I. As I am now, So all must be. Prepare for death, And follow me."

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On the north side of South Park Boulevard, just east of Lee Road, there is a solitary grave which is the final resting place of an American Revolutionary War soldier--Jacob Russell. Next to the grave is a large stone with a bronze plaque commemorating Russell's life. The plaque, placed there in 1926 by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), is the oldest historic marker in Shaker Heights.

Jacob Russell was born in Connecticut in 1746. In May 1775, just weeks after the battles of Lexington and Concord, twenty-nine year old Jacob, who was married and had two young children at the time, enlisted in the 8th Company of the Connecticut Continentals. He served in this unit for five months and was discharged in October 1775. Little else is known of his Revolutionary War military service.

But the story of Jacob Russell did not end when his military service came to an end. Sometime around 1800, Jacob, his wife Esther, and their by then ten children moved west from Windsor, Connecticut to Jefferson County, New York, located on the eastern shores of Lake Ontario. A little over a decade later, the family moved west again, settling in northeast Ohio in 1813. It was a dangerous trek in that year, as the United States was at war with Great Britain, and northeast Ohio was in the middle of the war's western front.

The Russell family survived the War of 1812, and were among the earliest permanent settlers of Warrensville Township. Among their neighbors was Daniel Warren for whom the township was later named. The 1820 federal census found the Russell family living in Warrensville Township, constituting 26 of the 133 persons counted in the census--almost 20 percent of the township population.

In 1821, at age 75, Jacob Russell died. It was said that his son Ralph was so distraught over the death of his father that he turned to religion for solace and became a member of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearance, better known as the Shakers. Following his conversion, Ralph Russell founded the Shaker North Union Colony on Russell family farmlands in what is now the City of Shaker Heights.

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In the late 1950s, the Shaker Historical Society undertook the daunting task of creating a memorial marker to tell the story of a small unmarked burial ground commonly referred to as the "Lee Road Cemetery" or the "Old Manx Cemetery." This graveyard, located at 3451 Lee Road, was the second oldest burial ground in Cuyahoga County, and the oldest designated landmark in Shaker Heights. Records for the cemetery, however, had long been lost, and only a few burials had taken place in the previous half-century. The Shaker Historical Society would need to interpret a story for the space through a study of grave inscriptions, newspaper articles, county histories, maps, and accounts provided by descendants of those buried. The narrative of the recovered history was framed to tell the tale of Shaker Heights's common heritage and be a celebration of the region's pioneer past.

The memorial marker was to inscribe new meaning into the public burial grounds. The Shaker Historical Society intended to transform the unmarked and deserted graveyard into a shrine, and a space where residents of Shaker Heights could pay tribute to the region's founders. Concise and inclusive, trustees of the historical society decided on what they hoped would be a perfect tribute:

"First Burial 1811 / Final Resting Place Of / Pioneer Families / Manx Settlers / Veterans Of Five Wars / North Union Shakers"

Dedicated on Memorial Day, 1959, the plaque captured the stories of patriotic veterans, brave pioneers, industrious immigrants and pious Shakers. Its placement among the weathered gravestones offered a point of departure for discovering and memorializing the colorful, unique history of both Warrensville Township and Shaker Heights.

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On September 21, 1948, the Shaker Historical Society commemorated its one-year anniversary with the unveiling of a bronze plaque on the southwest corner of Lee Road and Shaker Boulevard to mark the location of the Center Family of the North Union colony of Shakers. Five years later, a Shaker gate that had been added to the northeast corner was dedicated. The land adjoining this commemorative site, a 200-square-foot lot recently purchased by Shaker Historical Society, had previously been the location of the religious community's Meeting House, carpenter shop, blacksmith shop, dining room, and dormitories. A replica of the original gate that led onto the Shaker property was fashioned by members of the society, and large square cut stones that had once belonged to the Shakers were used as gate posts.

In retrospect, the Shakers seem an unlikely symbol of commemoration. The Cold War was in its infancy, and Shaker Heights was now one of America's wealthiest communities. A communal society had become an object of celebration in an era characterized by general disdain for all things that hinted of communism. Somehow, middle- and upper-class Shaker Heights residents came to identify with the values held by and projected upon this anti-materialist, apocalyptic religious society.

As the name Shaker Heights suggests, local interest in the Shaker community was partially rooted in the connection between the religious group and the history of the area. Development of the Shaker community coincided with early pioneer life in Warrensville, and spoke to the history of the region. The North Union Shaker colony was founded in 1822 and lasted until 1889. While segregated within their own communities, the lives of the Shakers were both influenced by and shaped the surrounding world. From the visits of Shaker men who consigned their garden seeds for local sale to the tale of a young Shaker women running off and marrying a local college student printed in the local paper, the lives of Shakers and Warrensville residents intersected. These interactions were most commonly a result of the commercial relationships that developed among Shakers and their neighbors. Although the religious order strived for self-sufficiency, the realities of providing for the needs of its members - reaching nearly 200 persons at the communities height - demanded the purchase and sale of goods. Products offered by the artisans, craftsmen, farmers, and millers were commonly acquired by Cleveland and Warrensville residents. While the contemporary accounts of encounters with North Union Shakers by the outside world regularly focused on the peculiarities of their social and religious customs, they were also portrayed as honest, hard working, and pious in nature. This reputation became intertwined in the popular perception of Shakers, and would remain even after the community had long since moved from the area. Tied to notions of peace, virtue, and rural life, the Shaker name would be memorialized in the region's development at the turn of the 20th century.

This fascination with Shaker life and culture was not unique to Shaker Heights. The reclusive Shaker religious community had always captured the imagination of the American public, and had increasingly been the subject of academic study since the 1920s. In addition, antique collectors had long been fixated with the many high quality products that were created for and sold by Shaker communities. Initially viewed as a fanatic religious group in both Europe and America, popular perception of the millenarian society had changed dramatically. Underlying this change was the relative extinction of the religious community, with its practitioners having been relegated to history and nostalgia. By mid-century, all but three Shaker communities in the New England area had closed their doors. The population of Shakers within these remaining colonies had greatly dwindled in numbers. To the outside world, the communities had became living museums – relics of a fascinating pioneer past.

The memory and perception of Shakers was defined greatly by both progressive interpretations of their faith and the material culture that was left behind. Shakers had long been known for their pacifist views, support of abolitionism, and the institution of gender and racial equality within their communities. Admiration for the egalitarian philosophy of the Shakers would find new resonance with historians and Shaker enthusiasts as both the civil rights and women's rights movement received increased popular support following World War II. Complementing the perception of Shakers being forward-thinking and pious, the physical artifacts left behind by the religious order spoke to a history of innovation and industriousness. The Shakers were renowned for their craftsmanship in woodwork and basket making. They had also received credit for many inventions, including the flat broom, circular saw, and revolving oven.

The commemoration of Shakers was a celebration of mainstream values. The values that the Shaker name had come to embody by the mid-twentieth century, however, were divorced from many of the teachings and beliefs of the religious community. Practices such as celibacy or removing oneself from the influence of material goods were generally dismissed as peculiar. Competing interpretations of Christianity, such as the belief in the second coming of Christ and the rejection of the Trinity, were similarly swept aside. Even though the social and religious beliefs of the Shakers diverged from mainstream thought, the near-extinct religious group offered little threat to the status quo. With attention focused on their many admirable qualities, the Shakers could be safely admired and commemorated. The society envisioned and created by Shaker communities during the 18th and 19th century had effectively been culled for representations of utopian idealism, a virtuous rural America, and pioneer ingenuity. The grounds were designated a Shaker Heights Landmark in 1976.

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The Shaker Lakes are man-made bodies of water created by the North Union Shaker Community in the mid-nineteenth century to power a series of mills. When the Shakers left and their lands became part of the suburb of Shaker Heights, the lakes remained, becoming the focal point of a series of parks. In the 1960s, however, the parks surrounding the Shaker Lakes were threatened by a proposal that sought to construct freeways through both Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights.

One of the most important developments in Cleveland (and big cities as a whole) after World War II has been the emergence of vast freeway systems, spurring the growth of suburbs and sparking an exodus of residents from within central cities themselves. The fact that Shaker and Cleveland Heights have remained free of such roads is no accident. In 1963, a plan by Cuyahoga County Engineer and Democratic Party leader Albert Porter to run the Clark, Lee, and Heights Freeways through the two suburbs sparked outrage among its residents. Porter, a powerful politician whose leadership at the County Engineer's Office from 1943 onward had contributed to the success of the postwar freeway construction boom, soon emerged as the prime villain in the affair, brashly demanding for construction to commence despite a number of protests.

Women played a large role in the successful effort to block the Heights freeways from being built. Women's organizations were fundamental in the 1966 creation of the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, which highlighted the educational and environmental significance of the threatened Doan Brook watershed. The fight against the freeways also benefited from the fact that Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights were very prosperous suburbs filled with wealthy residents, some of whose homes faced destruction. Activists in the Heights pressured state and local leaders to reroute the freeways. In February 1970, Ohio Governor James Rhodes, who was running for the U.S. Senate that fall, finally scrapped the project. Porter's career ended in disgrace when he plead guilty to several counts of theft in office in 1979. The Nature Center remains open and has since taught generations of young people about the importance of the environment.

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