USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, (Vol. 1) > Part 28
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preacher and his family to board and, by the way, for 80 cents a week for each member, and when the domine could not pay in cash sne accepted his nag in payment. The horse was vaiky and tipped Mars' father mto the creek once with a load of watermelons. it remained for the son to discover the way to manage the ammal. He found that by getting out of the wagon and giving the Horse an awful crack win anything ne could und, the horse would run away thinking he had got rid of the driver. fie uid not know that the driver had cuived in over the packboard and was weil satisfied as long as his steed went in the right direction. One day the horse balked in front of the kirtiand house. Mars got out, and seeng noundig else available, tore a branch from a buckeye tree. just at that moment the Doctor looked over the hedge and said: 'Mars, your mother would not approve of that.' Many stories are told of the doctor's democratic ways. The old doctor one day carried some feed across the street to his pig pens and asked a young man who was passing to hand the pail to him over the tence. The young man did so and was thanked for his trouble and then asked his name. 'I am Reverend Mercer of the Sweden- borgian Church,' was the reply. 'You should wear a tan nat and a long tail coat for that calling,' said the doctor. Doctor Kirtland was the autnor of textbooks used at Yale College. One day two elegant young men stopped in front of the manse and asked an old man in nondescript clothes where Doctor Kirtland lived. The old man pointed to the house. The young men were Yale students and were making a pilgrimage to meet the great man of their university. They politely asked the old man to hold their horse which he did, without comment. Mrs. Pease, the doctor's only daughter, came to the door and to the question where Doctor kirtland could be tound, she pointed to the old man holding the horse. The young men were tremendously embarrassed while the Doctor enjoyed the joke in the same degree. In Civil war times the great savant was greatly stirred. He did not waste his patriotism in sentimentality but volunteered his services to examine men for the army at Columbus. Of his descendants, only one, Noble Pease, a great-grandson, lives in Lake- wood."
"One of the three oldest families in Lakewood, of those who have members living here and have made their mark on local history and con- tributed to our progress is the French family. In the history of Price French, adopted citizen of the United States, we can find a model of loyalty for the country in which he had made his home. He was a brother of Lord French, in the East Indian service of England in the early years of 1800. He was a younger son and what little capital he had was fur- nished him by his mother, when he sailed for Canada. He remained there a short time when he came to Vermont and was married. When his older brother died he refused to return to England and assume the title, but remained here and served in the War of 1812 as a lieutenant. He came to Rockport in 1818 and settled. He bought fifty acres north of Detroit Avenue, partly paid for it and proceeded to clear away the heavy forest. This he traded with Nicholson for fifty acres of unencumbered land on the south side of Detroit Avenue extending to what is now Bunt's Road. Mr. John French, who lives at the corner of Wyandotte Avenue and Detroit, lives on the land purchased from James Nicholson and within 200 feet from the site of the original home of his grandfather, Price French, Of the original family there were three sons and three daughters, Collins, Albert, Alonzo, and Mrs. White, Mrs. Wedge and Calipherma, who never married. Three sons of Albert French served in the Civil war for three years, the last two named being twins. Several members of the family have filled various offices in Lakewood."
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"There are today only two streets in Lakewood. All the other thoroughfares have high sounding names such as avenues, boulevards, courts, etc. These two streets are Fry Street and Hird Street, both named after early owners of the land. The former street was named after Dr. Richard Fry, who bought twenty-seven acres running from Detroit Avenue to the lake about 1,000 feet west of the west line of the City of Cleveland. Doctor Fry practiced medicine in Cuyahoga Falls, at one time a promising rival of Cleveland. For seventeen years before coming to East Rockport in 1864, he had taught school in Cleveland. He was at one time head of the grammar department of the school on St. Clair Avenue, where number one's engine house now stands. He was a contemporary and friend of Andrew Freese, the first principal of the first high school of Cleveland and the first superintendent of schools. He was a gifted educator, whose special lines were mathematics and language. A lengthy complementary notice is given to Doctor Fry in a book on Cleveland schools published by Mr. Freese more than a half century ago. But even the teacher, especially the one who gives all there is in him to that self-sacrificing calling, gets frazled nerves at last, and at the age of sixty Doctor Fry bought the Detroit Street property on the advice of Doctor Kirtland. Doctor Kirtland said that the land along the lake was bound some day to be of great value, and he was right, but when he advised the purchase in place of acreage at 105th Street and Euclid Avenue, he was in error as a prophet. There was a tumbledown log house where the basement of the present block, northeast corner of Fry and Detroit now stands. The old homestead that was erected, cost even in those cheap times more than the land and when it was sold a dozen years ago the buyers paid only $200 for the building. Doctor Fry and Martha Johnson Fry, his wife, were of Yankee descent. He was born in Hart- wich, Otsego County, New York, in 1803, near Cooperstown, and often told of meeting James Fennimore Cooper when the latter was a young man and he a small boy. The doctor's grandfather came from Providence, Rhode Island. Mrs. Fry's father, Captain Jacob Johnson, fought in the battle of Lake Champlain against the British in 1813. In his seventy-fifth year Doctor Fry delivered the Fourth of July oration at Cooperstown. The Cooperstown Freemans Journal made the address and the fact of the presence of Doctor Fry and his wife the main feature of their next edition and brought out the fact that fifty years before, at the age of twenty-five, Doctor Fry had been the Fourth of July orator at the same place. Many of the progenitors of the leading families of Cleveland were friends of Doctor Fry and not a few went to his school. Among these were Mark Hanna, the Chisholms, John D. Rockefeller, James F. Clark and the Nortons and Champneys. Doctor Fry lived in the old homestead, which stood at the rear of the present Annette block, until his death twenty years ago. Many used to make pilgrimages 'out in the country,' now Lakewood, to see their old teacher."
Doctor Fry and Doctor Kirtland belong in a larger way to the history of the county as do many of the pioneers, who are specifically identified with the original townships. The annals of the townships are of the county and form a perspective, surrounding and interwoven with the City of Cleveland, whose present growth is beyond the wildest dreams of the founders, and whose future greatness no one with accuracy can predict. In a lesser degree but in a corresponding ratio, the same can be said of Lakewood.
East Rockport came into existence in its first designation as a post- office. The little settlement in the township in about the center of the eastern part, or that between Rocky River and Brooklyn Township, was
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granted a postoffice by the postmaster general and it was opened in the store of Lucius Dean, which was near the present location of Belle Avenue. Presumably Lucius was postmaster. The store was for some time the only general store in the settlement and was later known as the Johnson store, the postoffice was named East Rockport. Later when the hamlet was formed the name was changed. It may be that the residents had witnessed the difficulties arising in some New England towns from holding to one name and attaching designations of direction. It is related that in Connecticut an old gentleman visited Haddam. He found East Haddam, West Haddam, North Haddam, South Haddam, and Haddam Haddam, and had so much difficulty in locating the home of some triend that he said he wished the devil had 'em. When the hamlet was organ- ized August 31, 1889, the selection of a name was discussed with a great deal of interest. The name "Arlington" was first adopted and application sent to the postmaster general for a postoffice in that name. The post- master general replied that there was another postoffice in the state so named and to avoid confusion suggested that some other name be chosen. Thereupon a committee was appointed to consider the question of a name and report. Ezra Nicholson and A. B. Allen were the committee and they made a canvass of the residents before reporting. The name Lake- wood was chosen as appropriate and euphonious. The hamlet of Lake- wood was organized, having a population of some 400 souls. The first trustees were I. E. Canfield, William Maile and Noble Hotchkiss. They were chosen at a special election held July 11, 1889. They were sworn in by Gen. J. J. Elwell and met at the home of Noble Hotchkiss for the first meeting. Ezra Nicholson was chosen clerk and treasurer and his bond was fixed at $5,000. Charles Townsend was chosen marshal and chief of police and his bond fixed at $50. Noble Hotchkiss, Jr., was selected road supervisor. The board got right down to business. At this first meeting four ordinances were passed. One to regulate the speed of horses or vehicles to eight miles an hour, one forbidding any person to overload, overdrive, torture or torment, or deprive of water any domestic animal, one regulating saloons or drinking places, and another fixing the amount to be assessed for taxes at $1,000. The second meeting was char- acterized by business activity. The president was authorized to swear in eleven special policemen, giving each one a badge for which he was to pay 50 cents. At the April meeting in 1890, Francis M. Wagar was appointed marshal and road supervisor in place of Charles Townsend and Noble Hotchkiss, Jr., who resigned. At this meeting also a lockup or jail was authorized to be built under the supervision of President Can- field. This action was taken because of the fact that the good fishing in Rocky River and its recreational advantages called a great many sports to its banks, who were often guilty of petty offenses as a part of "having a good time." In August, 1890, an ordinance was passed providing a penalty of from $5 to $100 for betting, gambling, or other retractions of the state law, with a proviso that the informer should receive 50 per cent of the fines. This ordinance was never signed by the president. For several years the officers of the hamlet received no compensation. In April, 1892, the trustees voted the clerk $35 for his services for the past years. Thus Ezra Nicholson became the first salaried or paid official of Lakewood. At the second election of the hamlet in 1893, C. L. Tyler was chosen president to succeed I. E. Canfield, who had served three years. A resolution of thanks was given the retiring president for his fidelity and conscientious service, unanimously. The topic of interest in the hamlet in the early days of its corporate existence was the building of a plank road from Rocky River to West Twenty-fifth Street, Cleveland,
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and the building of the Rocky River Railroad from the river to the city limits of Cleveland at Bridge Street. Another project was the building of the Woodland Avenue and West Side Street Railway from the city limits of Cleveland at Highland Avenue through the hamlet to Rocky River. A franchise was asked in the spring of 1893 on the promise that cars should run through from the public square to the river, that the line should be completed in one year and that one fare should be charged to Belle Avenue and an additional fare beyond that point. A twenty-five year franchise was granted after a great deal of discussion. The officers of the hamlet after the election in 1895 were: Trustees, C. L. Tyler, president, N. Hotchkiss and C. A. Willard; clerk, William F. Closse ; treasurer, L. Johnson; marshal, John Billington; road supervisor, C. Worthington, and engineer, N. B. Dare. William Pruuton was after- wards selected on the board to fill the vacancy caused by the death of C. A. Willard. The hamlet was functioning efficiently when agitation for electric lighting for the corporation and the residences was agitated by the citizens. The Illuminating Company was at that time unwilling to enter the field and there was a general demand for the establishment of an electric lighting plant. C. L. Tyler at once took steps to comply. He explained the needs of such action before the trustees and John French was appointed to act with him as a committee to study the situa- tion. Their report was made in favor of the project and an engineer was employed and the plant established. This did good service for several years and was finally taken over by the Illuminating Company. In 1898 free mail delivery was established within the corporate limits of the hamlet. In that year the officers of the hamlet were : Trustees, C. L. Tyler, president, Noble Hotchkiss, and J. Tegarden; clerk, N. W. Hird; assessor, Samuel McGee ; treasurer, J. Johnson ; marshal, Henry D. Howe, and road supervisor, Clark Worthington. February 14th, action was taken by the trustees looking to the building of Clifton Boulevard. The neces- sary legislation was passed the same year and the improvement made cer- tain. In the work of securing this as well as the electric lighting plant, President C. L. Tyler is by general consent given praise for having done a large share. Lakewood's sewer system was founded under his admin- istration. There was opposition and the progress of Lakewood as a hamlet may not have been as rapid as in later years under other forms of government but the corporate existence contributed. Much stress is often placed upon political forms by those who are instrumental in the adop- tion of something new. "For forms of government let fools contest, whate'er is best administered is best." In 1899 the officers of Lakewood were: Trustee, Otto C. Berchtold; president, W. A. Wilbur and J. E. Tegarden ; clerk, John French; treasurer, C. R. Maile; assessor, E. T. Schupp; marshal, Lewis R. Smith; road supervisor, Alexander McAuley. In that year N. C. Cotabish, Alexander Horn and Harry Culp were appointed a commission to assess the damages and appraise the benefits in connection with the building of Clifton Boulevard.
On May 4, 1893, Lakewood was organized into a village and the first officers were: Mayor, J. J. Rowe; solicitor, G. N. Shaver ; clerk, Harry J. Sensel; councilmen, Jay C. Andrews, R. F. Edwards, C. E. Newell, W. D. Pudney, C. C. Southern and Daniel Webb. Of these first officers of the village three, Mr. Pudney, Mr. Rowe and Mr. Edwards, have served in the Legislature, Mr. Rowe is the present senator and Mr. Edwards the present representative, resident in Lakewood. The mayor following J. J. Rowe was Bernard Miller, then came N. C. Cotabish, who was the last mayor under the village government. The growth of the village was so rapid that in 1912 after nine years as a village Lakewood
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became a city. The first officers were: Mayor, J. B. Coffinbury ; council, Clayton W. Tyler ; president, W. A. Bennett, M. J. Earle, James Gorm- sen, L. E. Kerber, B. F. Mills, Frank V. Reid and Frank L. Thurber. Two years later the city passed under a new charter and the officers were : Mayor, Clayton W. Tyler ; director of public works, N. C. Cotabish ; of law, Dobert G. Cyrren; of finance, B. B. Cook; council, W. A. Ben- nett, John H. Brown, William F. Closse, James Gormsen and H. E. Gresham, James Gormsen being chosen president; chief of police, Henry C. O'Dell; fire chief, Joseph H. Speddy. The following year Councilman John H. Brown resigned to take his place as a member of the Legislature, and James J. Hinslea was chosen to fill his place. It should be noted that while Lakewood became a city by proclamation of the secretary of state on February 17, 1911, it continued under the village government until January 1, 1912. Its growth since that time has been very rapid. Perhaps no better illustration of its material growth can be shown than by showing the growth of expenditures of the city as given in the report of the city auditor. The first year under the city government, under Mayor Coffinbury, the city expended $534,258. This does not include school expenditures. The last year under Clayton W. Tyler, the successor of Mayor Coffinbury, the city expended $1,136,832, the last year under Mayor B. M. Cook, the third mayor of the city, the expenditures were $1,475,291, and the expenditures under his successor, the present mayor, L. E. Hill, for the year 1922 were $2,355,412. The school expenditures are not included in any instance. The annual report of the building inspector for this year shows that building permits were issued for 1,074 dwellings with a total valuation of $6,526,725, nineteen apartments with a total value of $1,029,000, fifty commercial buildings with a total value of $1,058,000, one theater, four churches, ninety-three alterations, 745 minor buildings, one market house, three public garages, two ice stations, six gasoline stations and three shops. The total valuation of the building permits issued this year of 1922 was $9,503,285 or an increase over the year 1921 of $4,315,093. There are seventy-four miles of paved streets in Lakewood and the repairs for 1922 cost $43,266.63, and the cleaning $9,154. Nearly $10,000 was expended in sidewalk repairs and as much more in garbage disposal and rubbish collection. There are ninety-one miles of sewer pipe laid in the city streets. The Lakewood police recov- ered stolen property, including automobiles, to the value of $51,805.78, and the mileage of the motorcycles used by the police was 44,659 miles, showing that motorcycle men traveled a distance equal to one and four- fifths times around the earth in the year 1922. The fires of the city involv- ing property valued at $16,513,720 have called out the fire department 335 times, and the total losses by fires has been $30,702, covered by insurance to the amount of $28,312. The total bonded indebtedness of the city on December 31, 1922, was $4,463,540.70, and the balance in the sinking fund at that date was $439,299.85. The care of parks involves something less than $10,000 in expenditures. There is Lakewood, Wagar, Madison and Rocky River parks, owned by and assets of the city. The present officials of the city are: Mayor, L. E. Hill, who is also director of public safety and director of public works; director of law, R. G. Curren ; director of finance, A. O. Guild ; council, James Gormsen, H. S. Hart, L. A. Hilde, Olive B. Kirk and Maude C. Waitt; city engineer, E. A. Fisher; building inspector, George A. Durant, sewer, sidewalk and street superintendent, George Cavell; superintendent of the water department, J. G. Peltz; chief of fire, J. H. Speddy; chief of police, L. B. Miller; health officer, Dr. W. J. Benner; sanitary officer, A. J. Phelps ; milk inspector, R. S. Cooley ; trustees of sinking fund, R. E. Bar-
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tholomew, P. T. Harrold and George N. Shaver; civil service commis- sion, C. C. Bultman, J. C. Hoffman, T. M. McNiece and F. W. Maerkle. The secretary of the commission is F. R. Thrall. Elsie M. Hutchins is deputy director of finance.
From the district schools to the present efficient and comprehensive system of schools in so short a period is one of the marvels of Lakewood's development. Even up to the time when the hamlet was formed as the first breakaway from the primitive township organization, the schools were of the ordinary country type with little or no attempt at grading and instruction confined to narrow limits. It was the one room school, having its merits in that the individual pupil had no restraint upon his advancement and no restrictions as to his choice of studies, provided he found in the teacher one capable of meeting his requirements. From the first school started in Mars Wagar's log house by Jonathan Parshall, a shiftless professor of the magic of avoiding labor, to the present high- schools of Lakewood, there is an advancement so wonderful as to seem like the stories of the transforming wand. The schools of Lakewood employ 300 teachers and have an enrollment of 8,000 pupils. The high school, Senior High, alone, has an enrollment of 1,900 and employs eighty teachers. There are two Junior high school buildings and ten grade buildings. C. P. Briggs is principal of the high school, John C. Mitchell assistant principal, and Jane M. Pengally, dean of girls. A handbook of Lakewood High School just published says: "The first graduating class in 1885 required one diploma, but classes grew little by little and the high school moved into a new building, now called the Grant School, just south of the old Rockport Building, where Lakewood High made its beginning. In 1893 a high school building was erected just across from the present site of the Board of Education Building. In 1917-18 the present high school building was erected at a cost of over $1,000,000, to accommodate 2,000. It is now filled and overflowing into the new junior high schools as they are erected." The curriculum includes English, public speaking, journalism, short story writing, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, science, biology, plant production, chemistry, physics, agronomy, history, eco- nomics, French, Spanish, Latin, penmanship, spelling, business arithmetic, bookkeeping, which includes accountancy, shorthand, typewriting, com- mercial geography, business law, cabinet making, foundry work, pattern making, sheet metal work, printing, electrical construction, mechanical drawing, cooking, household chemistry, home nursing, sewing, millinery, art, designing, commercial art, costume illustration, music, and physical. education. The school has three publications, a monthly magazine, an annual, and a bi-weekly newspaper. They are called The Arrow, The Cinema and The High Times. The library has a collection of over 5,000 books. One of the school yells is called Alma Mater. It is this :
ALMA MATER Lakewood High we're proud of thee. All allied in loyalty, May thy counsel ever be Within our memory.
Chorus
Hail to thee, O, Lakewood High, Thy dear name uphold. We shall ne'er forget The purple and gold.
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Honors then to Lakewood High, May her fame reach to the sky, May we always heed her cry, To bravely do or die.
Superintendent Charles P. Lynch was principal of Warren High School for five years, was a teacher in Central High School of Cleveland in 1902, principal of West High School, Cleveland, and has been super- intendent of the Lakewood schools for a number of years.
Lakewood is called the City of Homes and it might with equal truth- fulness be called the city of churches, as is Brooklyn, New York. Some, that have their roots in the soil of pioneer days have already been men- tioned. Among the churches of the city are the New Jerusalem Church, the Lakewood Methodist Church, Church of the Ascension, Saint James Roman Catholic Church, Lakewood Congregational Church, Saint Peter's Episcopal Church, Lakewood Christian Church, Lakewood Presbyterian Church, the English Evangelical Lutheran Church, Saint Paul's Lutheran Church, the Lakewood Baptist Church, Calvary United Brethren Church, the Detroit Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Lakewood United Pres- byterian Church, the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Lakewood, and Rocky River Methodist Episcopal Church.
The Lakewood Chamber of Commerce was organized in 1911 with the following officers : President, F. L. Thurber ; vice presidents, J. B. Cof- finbury and J. C. Lowrie ; secretary, W. C. Kenaga; treasurer, J. R. Cota- bish ; directors, J. H. Ruck, A. E. Kellogg, F. S. Winch, George D. Koch, P. A. McCaskey, B. S. Blossom, G. A. Hanson, and F. V. Reid. The purpose of this organization reads on its minutes as follows: "The pur- pose of forming this organization is to promote and protect the moral, social, business and civic interests of the City of Lakewood, Olio; to acquire, hold and diffuse such information as will best serve such purposes, and to provide entertainment for its members." Judge Willis Vickery succeeded as president of the Chamber in 1915. Other associations are the Lakewood Merchants' Credit Association, organized to establish a uniform system of credits and collections, and the Retail Merchants Board, organized "to further and protect the interests of the retail deal- ers of Lakewood ; to make it hard to defraud the retailer without imposing hardship on the honest debtor; to make it easier to collect just debts without distressing those worthy of and needing careful consideration at the hands of credit men.'
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