Category: Suburbs

ALGER, HENRY (30 Oct. 1789-2 April 1862) and his family were the first permanent settlers in the part of Rockport Township which became LAKEWOOD and were the earliest settlers to travel over the Indian path that became Detroit Avenue.

BAY VILLAGE. Before European-Americans arrived in northeast Ohio, Erie Indians lived in the area comprising Bay Village and surrounding lands. Present-day Lake Rd. was the indigenous people’s most important trail Covering 4.5 sq. mi.

BEACHWOOD, incorporated as Beachwood Village on 26 June 1915 and as a city in 1960, is 10 miles east of Cleveland and bounded by SOUTH EUCLID and 

BEDFORD, incorporated as a town in 1837 and as a city in 1930, is about 12 miles southeast of downtown Cleveland, bounded by MAPLE HTS. on the northwest,

BEDFORD HEIGHTS formed as a village in 1951, when it withdrew from Bedford Twp. In 1958, voters approved a municipal charter creating a mayor-council form of government, and the village incorporated as a city on 4 January 1961. Bedford Hts. is a 7-sq.-mi. residential-industrial community approx.

BELLAIRE-PURITAS is a southwest-Cleveland neighborhood and Statistical Planning Area (SPA). It is bordered by I-480 on the south, I-71 on the west, Memphis Ave. and Giles Rd. on the east, and Bellaire Rd. and Puritas Ave. on the north (Bellaire becomes Puritas roughly at W. 139th St.).

BENEDICT, DANIEL (20 Mar. 1776-16 Nov. 1840) was a pioneer settler and the first permanent resident of BEDFORD. At the time the Township was organized in 1823, it was Benedict who proposed the name Bedford in honor of his home town.

BENTLEY, REVEREND ADAMSON (4 July 1785-2 Nov. 1864) was a minister of the DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, a banker and merchant, and the first settler in BENTLEYVILLE which he founded in 1831.

BENTLEYVILLE, originally part of CHAGRIN FALLS TWP., is a 2.75 sq. mi. village approx. 20 miles southeast of Cleveland.

BEREA is a 5.72-sq.-mi. residential suburb approximately 10 miles southwest of downtown Cleveland.

BRATENAHL, incorporated as a village in 1903, is a residential community on Lake Erie about 6 miles east of downtown Cleveland. Approx. 4 mi. long and less than 1/2 mi. wide, it occupies 552 acres (less than 1 sq. mi.), surrounded by the city of Cleveland.

BRECKSVILLE, 14 miles south of Cleveland on the southern border of Cuyahoga County, borders INDEPENDENCE on the north,

BROADVIEW HEIGHTS is located 15 mi. south of Cleveland. It comprises 13 sq.

BROOK PARK, originally part of MIDDLEBURG TWP., was founded in 1914 and incorporated as a city in 1961. It occupies 11 sq. mi., located 14 mi.

BROOKLYN, a Cleveland suburb, is located 6 miles southwest of downtown. Its borders are Cleveland to the north, east and west, and PARMA to the south.

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, incorporated as a village on 28 Feb. 1903, is a 1.73 sq. mi. residential-industrial suburb southeast of Cleveland.

BROOKLYN TOWNSHIP, created in 1818, marked the beginning of an organized governmental structure on the west side of the CUYAHOGA RIVER.

BURROWS GEORGE HOWARD (25 Aug. 1893-11 Aug. 1970) was an architect who designed nearly 1,000 homes in SHAKER HEIGHTS, CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, and other eastern suburbs in various sizes and styles, and also designed numerous commercial structures.

CAHOON, JOSEPH (28 Aug. 1762-16 Mar. 1839), the first settler of Dover Twp. (BAY VILLAGE), was the son of Reynolds and Rebecca Cahoon. He was born in Rhode Island and settled in Vergennes, Vt. before emigrating to the Western Reserve.

CAIN, FRANK C. (6 May 1877-7 Nov. 1967) placed his stamp upon the suburb of CLEVELAND HTS. during a record 32-year tenure as mayor. Born in Springfield, O., he came to Cleveland in 1895 and went into business as a grain broker. He moved to Cleveland Hts. on 1 Aug. 1900, the day of his marriage to Alma Lambert.

CELESTE, FRANK PALM (24 March 1907-9 Nov. 1988) was a real estate developer, housing expert and mayor of Lakewood from 1956-1964.

CHAGRIN FALLS, incorporated as a village on 12 Mar. 1844, is a residential community located in Cuyahoga County at the "High Falls" of the Chagrin River; it occupies approx. 2.2 sq. mi., of which 57.5 acres are taken up by the river.

CHAGRIN FALLS TOWNSHIP was created by the Board of Commissioners of Cuyahoga County in March 1845, a year after CHAGRIN FALLS VILLAGE was incorporated, on receipt of a petition from the inhabitants of the area. It is not one of the original townships of the WESTERN RESERVE.

CHAMBERLAIN, SELAH (4 May 1812-27 Dec. 1890), a railroad developer involved in the iron industry and banking, was born in Brattleboro, Vt., to Selah and Abigail (Burnett) Chamberlain. He moved to Boston at 21 where he obtained business training as an apprentice in a grocery store.

CHURCH, HENRY JR. (20 May 1836-17 April 1908), a CHAGRIN FALLS VILLAGE blacksmith, achieved a posthumous reputation as an American primitive for his avocation of painting and sculpting. He learned the blacksmithing trade from his father, one of the founders of Chagrin Falls. The younger Church was born in Chagrin Falls and educated largely by his mother.