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Lucy Depp Park was a 102-acre development named for Lucinda Depp (1844-1929). She had inherited the land from her father, Abraham (1791-1858), an emancipated African American man and central Ohio pioneer from Powhattan County, Virginia. Known historically as the Depp Settlement, Robert Goode (1876-1957), a nephew of Luch and her husband Thomas A. Whyte (1845-1919), purchased the land and developed it as “Lucy Depp Park” in the mid-1920s. The park became a popular vacation spot as well as home site for African American families from Columbus and elsewhere in the segregated America before the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. According to a brochure Goode used to promote the development, “Lucy Depp Park…For People Who Care; by the Beautiful Waters of O’Shaughnessy Resevoir and Twin Lakes.”
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The schooner Idaho was built in Milan during prosperous times, which started with the opening of the Milan Canal in 1839. The canal connected the village with Lake Erie by way of the Huron River and facilitated the development of the area’s shipbuilding industry and port, as Milan became one of the busiest grain ports during the 1840s. Completed at the A. J. Mowry shipyard in 1863, the Idaho sailed the Great Lakes until the economic panic of 1873. The Idaho was headed to the Milan dry dock for repair, but due to depressed economic conditions, the crew abandoned her here at the lower lock of the Milan Canal. Eventually, only “bones”, or iron pins, from the Idaho’s hull could be seen protruding through the mud of the abandoned lock. The last remnants of the schooner have since disappeared from the lock and now reside in Milan museums and in personal collections.
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Harry Coulby was born of humble farming parents on January 1, 1865 in Claypole, England. At age 17, he immigrated to Cleveland to realize his dream of sailing the Great Lakes. He did not become a sailor, but instead became the commanding figure in the ore shipping trade. In 1886, Pickands Mather Company employed him, and Coulby, with imagination and a willingness to work, made the movement of ships and cargo his career. Within 20 years, he managed 100 ships, controlling the two leading fleets. He was described as the “Czar of the Lakes,” a tribute to his leadership qualities. Adopting President Abraham Lincoln’s method of making a point with a story, he became Wickliffe Village’s first mayor in 1916. His home, known as Couallenby, became the city hall. Harry died while visiting his birthplace on January 18, 1929, and was laid to rest in the churchyard that he had restored.
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The land on which Coventry Township is situated was ceded in 1785 to the United States by the Delaware, Chippewa, Ottawa, and Wyandot tribes under the Treaty of Fort McIntosh. The area was a choice location for Native Americans, settlers, and fur traders due to the abundant bodies of water and proximity to the Portage Path, a land connection between the Tuscarawas and Cuyahoga rivers and Lake Erie. In 1788, Coventry Township was initially part of Washington County, the first county formed in the Ohio Territory. After Moses Warren finished a survey in 1797, a succession of county splits located Coventry Township in Jefferson County, Trumbull County, Portage County, and, finally, Summit County in 1840. The township originally encompassed Summit Lake and the lands south to the southern line of the Western Reserve (Green-New Franklin lines). Daniel Haines was the first resident to settle in Coventry Township in 1806.
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In 1822, Ralph Russell, a Connecticut pioneer who had settled in Warrensville Township ten years earlier, founded the North Union Shaker Community. The Shakers created Horseshoe Lake in 1852 when they built a dam across Doan Brook and harnessed its waterpower to operate a woolen mill near Lee Road and South Park Boulevard. The community disbanded in 1889; its 1,366 acres were eventually sold to a real estate syndicate from Buffalo, New York, the Shaker Heights Land Company. In 1896, this group deeded the Shaker Lakes Parklands to the City of Cleveland to preserve the green space in perpetuity. Ten years later, the Van Sweringen Company began to develop Shaker Heights Village as a Garden City suburb where William J. Van Aken served as mayor from 1915 until 1950. In the 1960s local residents successfully fought the proposed Clark Freeway, saving Horseshoe Lake and the Parklands from destruction.
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Around 1895 a park system was created connecting the corridor of Doan Brook from Shaker Lakes to Gordon Park on Lake Erie. In 1915, the Shaker Heights Land Company and Van Sweringen Company deeded property to the City of Cleveland for the park. In 1947, Cleveland leased to the cities of Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights portions of the park within their boundaries. A proposed “Clark Freeway” (I-290) linking I-271 to downtown Cleveland through the park threatened the area in the 1960s. The proposal faced strong opposition from the Park Conservation Committee, a coalition of 30 garden clubs, the City of Shaker Heights, the Cleveland Heights PTA Council, the Shaker Historical Society, and other organizations. Governor James Rhodes withdrew the plans in 1970. The Clark Freeway was defeated and the park preserved.
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Beginning in 1873, oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller purchased 700 acres of land in East Cleveland Township, now located in East Cleveland and Cleveland Heights. A failed hotel built in 1874-1875 served as the family’s summer home until it was destroyed by fire in 1917, although Rockefeller’s son, John, Jr., continued to visit the grounds. The Rockefellers spent much of their time outdoors, where they built on the land’s natural beauty and carefully designed and built carriage, foot and bridle paths, scenic views, lakes, a lily pond, stone bridges, a horse track and a gold course. John, Jr. purhcased all of his father’s Forest Hill property in 1923 and continued to buy adjacent land.
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In 1930, nine women from Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights formally organized The Village Garden Club and set as its goal the beautification of Shaker Parklands with trees. At a time when women were excluded from environmental activism, the club’s careful planning allowed members to lead civic improvements. Since its establishment, the club has planted and maintained flowering trees at Horseshoe Lake Park, pausing only during World War II. In the 1960s, The Village Garden Club and 34 other local organizations successfully fought the construction of the Clark-Lee Freeway. Club member Mary Elizabeth Croxton chaired the Park Conservation Committee that won the battle and established the Shaker Lakes Regional Nature Center. The Village Garden Club continues its stewardship over the flowering grove with “civic and environmental responsibility” as its focus.