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The changing use of this land, now Lakewood Park, reflects the development of Lakewood, Ohio from a small agricultural community to a thriving modern suburb. Early settler John Honam’s property stretched north from Detroit Avenue to Lake Erie, between Belle and Cook Avenues. His 1834 home was restored by the Lakewood Historical Society and now serves as the Oldest Stone House Museum. Later, the property was the site of the lavish Robert Russell Rhodes estate, “The Hickories.” As the population grew, so did the need for civic amenities. In 1919, the City of Lakewood purchased the estate, using the land for Lakewood Park and the mansion as a hospital annex during the Flu Epidemic and then as City Hall until 1959. Only one piece of “The Hickories” remains; the original stone wall engraved with the estate name.
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Hanford Village was founded in the early 1900s just east of Columbus proper with its own mayor, police force, fire department, businesses, and park. After World War II, a subdivision of Hanford became a segregated community for returning African American veterans to settle using the G.I. Bill. Hanford then became one of the few places involved in an all African American post-war housing development program in the United States. During the 1960s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Federal Interstate Highway System Act resulted in construction of Interstate 70 which split Hanford Village into two sections and tore apart the community. However, since the division, the residents of the village have worked to maintain its sense of community and unity.
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Built in 1894, the original eight-room Southwood Elementary School cost $16,000 to construct on this site purchased from a local family for $3,000. The school originally had five teachers and a teacher-pupil ratio of 50-1. Mary Esper was the school’s first principal and German language instructor, staying until her retirement in 1923. Children attended grades one through eight and special biweekly classes in carpentry and cooking. The school had its first graduation ceremony in 1896, with six boys and seven girls being promoted to high school. By 1912, the school had grown to 17 rooms with 16 teachers and 735 students. A Parent Teacher Association (PTA) was formed in 1917, raising money for school supplies and equipment, food and clothing for needy Great Depression families, trees for the school grounds, cookies and candies for service men in World War II, scholarships, a new library, and much more. [continued on other side]
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The origin of Beulah Park Race Track began in 1889 when local businessman A. G. Grant petitioned the village of Grove City to create the Beulah Addition housing development on farmland once owned by town founder William Foster Breck. Grant named the new addition, located west of Harrisburg Pike, in honor of his daughter, Beulah. Grant, whose grandparents, Hugh and Catherine Grant, were Jackson Township’s first settlers in 1803, added a recreational park to the development to attract potential buyers. The beautifully wooded park attracted visitors who enjoyed picnics, concerts, speeches, and baseball games there. Soon the park was expanded to include a small racetrack on the grounds.
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By 1922, the Ambler Realty Company of Cleveland owned this site along with 68 acres of land between Euclid Avenue and the Nickel Plate rail line. Upon learning of the company’s plans for industrial development, the Euclid Village Council enacted a zoning code based on New York City’ building restrictions. Represented by Newton D. Baker, former Cleveland mayor and U.S. Secretary of War under Woodrow Wilson, Ambler sued the village claiming a loss of property value. In 1926, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Euclid and upheld the constitutionality of zoning and land-use regulations by local governments. The federal government eventually acquired the Ambler site during World War II to build a factory to make aircraft engines and landing gear. From 1948 to 1992, the site was used as a production facility by the Fisher Body Division of General Motors.
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The community of Olmsted commemorated its bicentennial in 2014. In 1795, the Connecticut Land Company auctioned a tract of land called Township 6, Range 15. Almost half the northern side was purchased by Aaron Olmsted, though he would die before seeing the land. In 1814, James Geer cleared a plot in the southeastern corner of the township to grow corn. He built a log house and moved his family there. Originally called Kingston, the township was renamed Lenox in 1823. In 1829, the settlement became Olmsted; in return, Aaron Olmsted’s son Charles donated 500 books for the creation of a community library.
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On this site, Alexander Winton (1860-1932), an American automobile pioneer, built and lived in a lakefront estate named Roseneath. Winton was born in Scotland and immigrated to the United States as a young man, settling in Cleveland. In the early 1890s, Winton founded the Winton Bicycle Company; six years later, he incorporated the Winton Motor Carriage Company. In 1903, Winton’s auto plant on Berea Road was one of the largest in the world, and he produced the first car to cross America from coast to coast. These business successes enabled him to build the 25-room Roseneath. In 1912, Winton founded the Winton Gas Engine & Manufacturing Company, which would eventually become part of General Motors Corporation. Winton is buried in Lakeview Cemetery. A fire in 1962 destroyed Roseneath.
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Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson (1940-2015) and her son Sydney moved into this home in 1974. The artist, a visual historian, lived and worked here in the Shepard community until her passing. Raised in Columbus’s Poindexter Village and educated in the local public schools, Robinson also studied at Columbus College of Art and Design and The Ohio State University. Her art reflected stories handed down from her elders, experienced within her community, and the local history she researched while working at the Columbus Metropolitan Library. She received a 2004 MacArthur Award for her celebration of “family, ancestry, and the grandeur of simple objects in drawings, paintings, and large-scale, mixed-media assemblages.” (Continued on the other side)
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