Marian Morton’s latest chronicle of Cleveland Heights, The Overlook of Cleveland and Cleveland Heights (Arcadia Publishing), is another example of the author’s skill at uncovering heretofore unpublished vintage images, and knitting them together with sound research and a good story. Aficionados of Cleveland Heights history are the beneficiaries. 

Morton covers Patrick Calhoun’s development of the Euclid Heights Allotment generally, but focuses more specifically on the westernmost portion of the allotment known as The Overlook. Falling within both Cleveland Heights and Cleveland, The Overlook largely duplicated the grandeur of Euclid Avenue, when some of that storied avenue’s most prominent residents made the Heights their new address. 

 

My husband and I and our two small children moved to Cleveland from Chicago in January l963. We wanted to be near excellent schools and in an integrated neighborhood. At that time, the only truly integrated neighborhood was the Ludlow area of Shaker, which was out of our price range.

We rented half of a duplex in Cleveland Heights, on Hampshire Road. We were so happy in the Coventry School area that when we looked for a house to buy a year and a half later, we looked at houses only in that neighborhood, and we found one where we were very happy.

Five years later, my husband and I happened to see an extraordinary house for sale two blocks away. While we hadn't been looking to move, we bought that house the next day! We were thrilled.

Coventry P.E.A.C.E Park, the playground at the former Coventry Elementary School in Cleveland Heights, was built in 1993 by the community using funds raised and donated by area residents. Twice each year, Coventry P.E.A.C.E.–the organization that cares for it–hosts a cleanup and maintenance event. 

The spring clean-up day is Saturday, April 17, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Come for an hour or all day if you have time. Snacks and lunch will be served in the Coventry Library. Garden tools and gloves are provided. Bring your enthusiasm and the desire to keep the garden and playground beautiful.

Take a trip back in time and explore the Heights and all of Ohio using historic maps that have been georeferenced in Google Earth, a free program that manages multiple map layers so you can easily see how locations have changed over time.

A hands-on workshop exploring these maps and the Google Earth application will be offered at the Lee Road Library on Sunday, March 7. Register in advance atwww.heightslibrary.org.

Nov. 13 marks the 50th anniversary of the infamous “bust” in Cleveland Heights history: Cleveland Heights Police raided the Heights Art Theater (later the Centrum), shut down an evening showing of "Les Amants," (The Lovers) and arrested manager Nico Jacobellis - all because of a three-minute love scene that would seem tame by today’s standards.

The Cleveland Heights Historical Society announces a free screening of"Les Amants" at the Lee Road Library, along with the opportunity to hear an accompanying lecture, enjoy free popcorn and not worry about getting arrested and having your case taken all the way to the Supreme Court, which is what happened to Jacobellis.

The event takes place Nov. 13 in the Brody/Nelson meeting room at the Lee Road Library. The lecture is at 6:30 p.m.; the movie begins at 7 p.m. The event is free, though donations or membership applications to the Cleveland Heights Historical Society are welcome.

Built in 1923, the Alcazar Hotel at Surrey and Derbyshire roads was billed as “Cleveland’s most desirable residential hotel.” Designed in the Spanish-Moorish eclectic style, the Alcazar is reminiscent of Florida hotels built in the 1880s for Henry Flagler. Special guests of the hotel included George Gershwin, Jack Benny and Mary Martin. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Cleveland Heights Landmark, the Alcazar Hotel still runs as a residential hotel. 

Find out more at www.chhistory.org! The Cleveland Heights Historical Society promotes the history of our community through public programs, an informative website and fact-filled newsletters. Join today!

The East Cleveland Township Cemetery is made up of 12 acres of land in University Circle. It is an area that is hardly remembered by Clevelanders even though it has been surrounded by urban legend since its founding in 1859. Finally, the fact has been separated from the fiction and the real story of the cemetery has been uncovered.

Join Nancy Fofel West, vice president and secretary of the East Cleveland Township Cemetery Foundation, and author of "To Dwell With Fellow Clay: The Story of East Cleveland Township Cemetery", as she presents a virtual, in-depth look at Cleveland and the Heights' most interesting settlers, politicians and heroes.

No Sunday golf on these links! John D. Rockefeller allowed Patrick Calhoun to use his land for an additional nine holes in his Euclid Club golf course, but only if those nine holes were not played on Sundays. Calhoun opened this first-class recreational facility in order to attract high-end home buyers to his new development in Cleveland Heights. Well-known Meade & Garfield designed the Euclid Golf Club roughly at Cedar and Norfolk, which was completed in 1901. The course was bounded roughly by Derbyshire, S. Overlook, West St. James and Demington. Check out Euclid Golf Neighborhood by Deanna Bremer and Hugh Fisher at www.euclidgolf.com.

Find out more Cleveland Heights history at www.chhistory.org! The Cleveland Heights Historical Society promotes the history of our community through public programs, an informative website and fact-filled newsletters. Join today!

The Cleveland Heights Historical Center at Superior Schoolhouse, owned and operated by the City of Cleveland Heights, houses an archival collection of Cleveland Heights' history. Help us identify this mystery photo so that we can include it in our online photo archive at www.clevelandmemory.org/chuh. If you know the location, e-mail the address to kodonnell@clvhts.com. 

An “Indian Fort” in Cleveland Heights?!? No, that’s actually an observation tower built by Nathan Ambler on his estate (now the Baldwin Reservoir). Find out more about Ambler and other great estates in the Heights at www.chhistory.org! The Cleveland Heights Historical Society promotes the history of our community through public programs, an informative Web site and fact-filled newsletters. Join today!

May is Historic Preservation Month and the last of three free events to celebrate and recognize Cleveland Heights as a special place is this week.  

Thursday, May 21, 7:00 p.m.

“The Greenest Building is Already Built: Sustainability and Historic Preservation”

Jamie Bertram, historic preservation specialist, Cleveland Restoration Society.

Superior School House, 14391 Superior Road at Euclid Heights Boulevard.

Look familiar? The cars may have changed, but much that makes this intersection at Fairfax and Lamberton roads so beautiful remains. Developers and home-buyers in the early 20th Century were attracted to the trees, wide-open spaces and lovely architecture that helped make Cleveland Heights a great place to live (then and now!).

The Cleveland Heights Historical Center at Superior Schoolhouse, owned and operated by the City of Cleveland Heights, houses an archival collection of Cleveland Heights' history. Help us identify this mystery photo so that we can include it in our online photo archive at www.clevelandmemory.org/chuh. If you know the location, e-mail the address to kodonnell@clvhts.com. 

Genealogy is a recorded history of a person or family’s descent from an ancestor or ancestors. Soul is spiritual or emotional warmth, force or evidence. These combine well: knowing your roots and connecting with family are good for the soul.

Genealogy is also a great hobby for people of all ages, one you can stop and restart at any time. The experience can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be, and as fulfilling or frustrating.

Research choices include concentrating on one surname from a specific area, collecting old pictures, joining a local and/or national genealogy society, and collecting documents to place in a binder. You can travel to do research at a library, cemetery or birth place of an ancestor. You can use the Internet to place surname queries or create a Web site.

The Cleveland Heights Historical Center at Superior Schoolhouse, owned and operated by the City of Cleveland Heights, houses an archival collection of Cleveland Heights' history.  Help us identify this mystery photo so that we can include it in our online photo archive at www.clevelandmemory.org/chuh.  If you know the location, e-mail the address to kodonnell@clvhts.com. 

Remember Chin's Pagoda restaurant, which stood on the west side of Lee Road between Washington and Derbyshire?  The restaurant stood in the area of 2100 Lee Road from 1941 to about 1970.

The richness of Cleveland Heights history continues to be revealed in the latest book by Marion Morton, "Cleveland Heights Congregations" (Arcadia Publishing). In this new book in Arcadia’s Images of America series, Morton tells the story of the evolution of Cleveland Heights' many religious congregations.

Most Heights congregations had their origins in some of the earliest religious institutions in Cleveland.  As times changed, they made their way to the Heights, as did so many individuals during the early part of the 20th Century. Morton identifies the origin of each congregation and chronicles further changes in the rich histories of these great institutions. Central to Morton’s story is that no matter how much Cleveland Heights has evolved and changed, the city’s religious institutions have remained an important stabilizing influence.

Did you know that John D. Rockefeller’s summer estate, called The Homestead, stood in what is now Forest Hills Park (right at the top of the great sledding hill)? Find out more at www.chhistory.org. The Cleveland Heights Historical Society promotes the history of our community through public programs, an informative website and fact-filled newsletters. Join today!

The website for the historic Euclid Golf Allotment has moved. Formerly housed at the now defunct CH-UH.net website, it now has its own URL: http://www.euclidgolf.com.

The website tells the story of the Euclid Golf neighborhood, an excellent example of early twentieth century real estate planning. Located near the top of Cedar Hill, Euclid Golf comprises Fairmount Boulevard from Cedar Road to Coventry Road and the side streets on either side. The neighborhood was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

On Thursday evening Oct. 16, join the Cleveland Heights Historical Society and the Landmark Commission of Cleveland Heights for a "Return to Overlook Road: Cleveland Heights' Real Millionaires' Row."

Enjoy a two-part exploration of the history and horticulture of our local watersheds, “the bluestone brooks” on Thursday, August 21 starting at 6 p.m.

The third graders in Mr. Sustar's and Ms. Smith-Peterson's classes at Noble Elementary School have become history detectives. We found out about the history of Noble School and our neighborhood. First, we split into research groups and then we looked through books. We also looked at photographs, an old school yearbook and maps. Noble parent Mazie Adams helped us with this project. We interviewed a real-life history detective, Mrs. Kara Hamley O’Donnell, who is the preservationist for the city of Cleveland Heights. Then we went on a walk around the school and down Noble Road to visit the places we learned about.