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18-43 Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Station
On February 8, 1848, the Ohio Legislature incorporated the Cleveland, Painesville, and Ashtabula Railroad Company, which reached Painesville in 1851, with track and a depot. President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived in Painesville on February 16, 1861, on his way to his inauguration in Washington, DC. The Lake Shore Railroad Company replaced the Cleveland, Painesville, and Ashtabula […]
17-43 Mentor Lagoons
For over 200 years, the Mentor Lagoons have had a major impact on northeastern Ohio and its people. Located on the site of a large estuary where the Grand River once flowed into Lake Erie, the area evolved into a large marsh. It was here in 1797 that Charles Parker, a member of Moses Cleaveland’s […]
16-43 Henry Kelsey Devereau and “The Spirit of ’76”
Henry Kelsey Devereux was born into an aristocratic family on October 10, 1859 in Cleveland, Ohio. Ohio artist, Archibald Willard, chose Harry, as he was fondly known, to portray the drummer boy in one of America’s most famous patriotic paintings, “The Spirit of ’76”. At the time Willard approached him to pose, young Harry was […]
15-43 Daniel Carter Beard
Born in Cincinnati in 1850, Dan Beard was a nationally known illustrator and artist. Early years and summers spent here strongly influenced his career. Beard’s American Boy’s Handy-Book (1882), a manual of woodcraft and nature lore, was one of his twenty youth-oriented outdoors books. He founded the Sons of Daniel Boone circa 1906, a boys’ […]
13-43 Unionville Tavern / Unionville Tavern
First known as the Webster House, later as the New England House, and finally as the Old Tavern, this inn has served travelers on the old Cleveland-Buffalo Road (now State Route 84) since before Ohio became a state. As traffic on the old Indian trail increased and it became a post and stage road, the […]
12-43 The Casement House / General Jack and Frances Jennings Casement
Western Reserve agriculturalist Charles Clement Jennings built the Casement House, also known as the “Jennings Place,” for his daughter Frances Jennings Casement in 1870. Designed by Charles W. Heard, son-in-law and student of Western Reserve master builder Jonathan Goldsmith, it is an excellent example of the Italianate style, featuring ornate black walnut woodwork, elaborate ceiling […]
11-43 Thomas W. Harvey (1821-1892)
This Italianate-style house is the former home of noted educational leader Thomas W. Harvey. Here he wrote A Practical Grammar of the English Language, as well as a series of language texts and readers. First published in 1868, Harvey’s Grammar was a fixture in primary schools across the Midwest for more than fifty years. As […]
10-43 Mentor Avenue Historic District
Among the fifty-four buildings that comprise the Mentor Avenue District are examples of Federal, Greek Revival, Early Romanesque Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, and twentieth century eclectic styles. Renowned master builder Jonathan Goldsmith (1783-1847), whose Federal and Greek Revival designs define the so-called “Western Reserve” style, built at least two of these houses; the […]
9-43 The Griffith Disaster, 1850
Following the completion of the Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo, New York, Lake Erie became an important link in an all-water route for immigrants traveling from the eastern seaboard into the Midwest. The 600-ton lake steamer G.P. Griffith, launched in 1847, was one of dozens built to capitalize on this booming trade. On June […]
8-43 The Willoughby University of Lake Erie, Medical College, 1834-1847 / Willoughby Female Seminary, 1847-1856
The village of Chagrin, founded in 1798, changed its name in 1834 to honor Dr. Westel Willoughby, a pioneer medical educator. That same year, the Willoughby University of Lake Erie was chartered, and the Willoughby Medical College opened its doors, signaling the beginning of medical education in northern Ohio. The Medical College trained 160 doctors, […]