Counties

Below is a complete listing of all Ohio Historical Markers. To find a detailed marker listing including text, photographs, and locations, click on a county below. Our listing is updated by the markers program as new markers are installed and older markers are reported damaged or missing.

120-18 Dr. Jared Potter Kirtland

Side A: Dr. Jared Potter Kirtland was a prominent nineteenth century professor, physician, naturalist and horticulturist. In 1837, Kirtland purchased land in Rockport Township that stretched from Madison Avenue to Lake Erie. Kirtland used that land as a natural laboratory and filled it with gardens, greenhouses and an arboretum where he developed fruit and grape varieties best suited for the region. His success with new varieties inspired area farmers to successfully concentrate on fruit and grape growing. In 1839, he built a home at Detroit and Bunts Roads and lived there unitl his death in 1877. (Continued on other side)
Side B: (Continued from other side) Among his accomplishments, Kirtland helpted found the organizations that developed into today’s Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. He served as a state representative from 1828 to 1834 and was appointed to the Ohio geological survey in 1832. As part of that survey, Kirtland prepared a nearly complete, and scientifically important, list of Ohio’s animals. As a physician, Kirtland served as the examining surgeon of Ohio’s Civil War recruits and donated his income from that service to the Soldiers’ Aid Society.
Sponsors: Giant Eagle, Inc., The Lakewood Historical Society, The Ohio History Connection
Address: 14013 Detroit Road, 
Lakewood, 
OH, 
44107
Location: Site of the former residence of Dr. Jared Potter Kirtland
Latitude: 41.4847179
Longitude: -81.7896318