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The Village of Collinwood was originally a part of Euclid Township of the Western Reserve and named after the death of railroad chief engineer Charles Collins in 1876. Originally known as “Frogsville,” the population of Collinwood dramatically increased in the 1870s, due partly to repair roundhouses of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. By 1901, the Village has grown to 7,500, and as a result, the schoolhouse, which once housed 200 students and four classrooms, had been enlarged twice to house 350 students in eight classrooms. Constructed in 1901, the Lakeview School was the site of a tragedy that reverberated across the nation and around the world. (Continued on other side)
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Frederick Douglass, the formerly enslaved man celebrated as one of America’s most powerful abolitionist voices, delivered a historic commencement address at Western Reserve College on July 12, 1854. Invited by the graduating students of the Philozetian and Phi Delta literary societies, Douglass passionately delivered his two-hour speech, “The Claims of the Negro: Ethnologically Considered,” to a gathering of 3,000. Douglass challenged the rising tide of scientific racism and promoted the shared humanity and equality of all people. At a time when few Black Americans were granted such a platform, the moment embodied the spirit of abolition that defined the Western Reserve region. In an era of deep national division, the students’ bold invitation and Douglass’s powerful message affirmed education’s enduring role in advancing truth and justice.
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Sylvania was once the headquarters for the Toledo and Western Railway, an electric interurban line that provided service between Toledo and Pioneer with a branch line to Adrian, Michigan. Construction began here in 1900 with planning and specifications set to steam railroad standards. With completion of rails, a powerhouse, maintenance facilities, and offices, the Toledo and Western Railway Company was soon in the business of providing freight and passenger service and was especially competitive as it owned more freight engines than most interurban lines. Operating an electric interurban line also meant that the company had the ability to provide electricity to people living in Sylvania and to other communities and property owners living along the line’s right-of-way. Besides freight, passengers, and electricity, Toledo and Western also provided postal service, one of the first interurban lines to do so. [continued on other side]
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In 1866, Gaines High School (grades 7-12), one of the first high schools for African Americans in Ohio, opened just west of this site in the same building as the Western District Elementary School, completed in 1859 and enlarged in 1866 and 1868. The school was named for John I. Gaines, whose leadership was responsible for securing passage of the Ohio law authorizing public schools for African Americans. Gaines was clerk and chief administrator of the African American school board when he died in 1859 at age 38. Gaines High School’s Normal Department trained almost all of the African American teachers for southwest Ohio; schools in other states hired many of the students before they had even completed their studies. From 1866-1886, Gaines High School and its principal Peter H. Clark were nationally recognized for their excellence.
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In 1962, Asian Indian students of Case Western Reserve University started India Association of Cleveland (IAC). In 1967, IAC started a newspaper “LOTUS,” regarded as the first such Asian Indian community newspapers in the United States. In 1978, IAC started a community center to be owned and managed by a new organization: India Community Center (ICC), the first such facility established by Asian Indians in Ohio. In 1980, IAC and ICC merged and formed the Federation of India Community Associations (FICA). Other associations representing the various states and interests in India became Federation members.
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A primary architect of American air power, Curtis Emerson LeMay was born in Columbus in 1906, attended public schools, and graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in civil engineering. He received his flight training through the Reserve Officers Training Corps and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1929. Before World War II, he pioneered air routes to Africa and England; during the war he developed tactical and strategic doctrine used in bombing operations in Europe and the South Pacific, often leading his forces in combat. He was promoted to general in 1944. In 1947, following the organization of the U.S.Air Force (USAF), LeMay was appointed commander of USAF Europe, directing operations during the Berlin Airlift at the dawn of the Cold War. (continued on other side)
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Joseph Peake was born in Pennsylvania in 1792 and came to Ohio in 1809 with his parents and brother. They were the first African Americans to settle permanently in the Cleveland area. He was the son of George Peake, a runaway slave from Maryland, who fought on the British side at the Battle of Quebec in 1759 during the French and Indian War. A man with some means and talent, George Peake invented a stone hand mill for grinding corn, a labor-saving device that endeared the Peakes to their neighbors in western Cuyahoga County. Joseph Peake and his wife Eleanor, an African American from Delaware, bought land in the 1840s on the Mastick Plank Road and built a home near this marker. [Continued on other side]
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With the War of 1812 over, Benajah and Ruth Wilcox Fay and their ten children left Lewis County, New York for the state of Ohio. Like many, they were attracted to Ohio by the inexpensive, fertile land. Settling in Township 6, Range 13 of the Blake Tract of the Western Reserve, they represented the first settlers of Greenbriar, named Parma on March 7, 1826. The Fay family cleared their new land, including what later became Theota Avenue, and then built a log cabin. Located on the wagon trail connecting Cleveland and Columbus, the cabin grew into the well-known Benajah Fay Inn, Parma’s first business establishment. This historical marker is the site where the city of Parma was born.