Lakewood Lore

Hardship, tragedy a part of life for the area's earliest pioneers

Lakewood, once the hunting and fishing grounds of the Erie Indians, grew painstakingly when pioneer families began to migrate here nearly 200 years ago.

For our earliest settlers -- many of whom took months to journey overland by oxcart from the east -- arrival meant starting from scratch. Hardships involved the clearing of patches in heavily forested land, building log cabins and protecting their crops and themselves from wild animals.

Lake Erie, itself, was a mixed blessing. It was as temperamental then as now. Calm as a mill pond one day, it could become as violent as a maelstrom the next.

While the mouth of the Rocky River offered an excellent harbor, tragedies beset the period's diminutive, unseaworthy craft, which often were driven into the precipitous cliffs along the whole of Lakewood's shoreline.

One such disaster, as described by 19th century Ohio historian Henry Howe, occurred on a weekend in the early spring of 1806, when a small boat with five persons was overtaken by a sudden squall and hurled into a perpendicular bluff just east of the Rocky River.

Howe reported that the passengers -- a Mr. Hunter, his wife and child, a fugitive slave named Ben and a young Afro-American boy -- were moving from Detroit to Cleveland when the accident happened. They were only able to climb part way up the steep cliff where, clinging precariously to rock outcroppings, they waited for the storm to subside.

Instead, it became more intense. On the following day, a Saturday, with the crashing waves beating relentlessly over them, they became hopelessly trapped.

The children were first to slip back into the lake and drown. Mrs. Hunter succumbed on Sunday, her husband on Monday.

Miraculously, Ben, still clutching some undergrowth in a crevice of the cliffside, was saved on Tuesday after three days and four nights without sleep or food, and with little clothing.

His rescuers were some French traders who were sailing from Cleveland to Detroit. They took him to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and the cabin of a compassionate Lorenzo Carter, Cleveland's first permanent settler, where he remained until fully recovered from his ordeal.

Today, Lakewood Councilman Thomas J. George, having learned about the tragic drama from a timeworn Howe volume he recently acquired, is considering proposing that the city place a commemorative plaque on the cliff; that is, if the exact location of the mishap can be pinpointed by further research. George believes the historic spot may be near where the current Webb Road ends.

At the time of the wreck, Lakewood was known merely as Township 7, Range 14 of the Connecticut Land Co.'s Western Reserve. This designation became Rockport Township in 1819, then East Rockport in 1871.

It wasn't until 1889, when our community grew to hamlet size, that the name Lakewood appeared for the first time. It was chosen by a name-search committee made up of pioneers Ezra Nicholson and A.B. Allen. The name remained as we evolved into a village in 1903 and finally a city in 1911.

Though most appropriate because it well-described an area of forests fringing a lake, the appellation actually was a second choice. The committee originally proposed the name Arlington. However, it was turned down by postal officials, who advised that there already was an Ohio hamlet by the name.

Lakewood's pioneers were hardy souls, mostly from England, Scotland and the New England states. Some were drawn by low-priced land, some because they sought freedom from religious oppression, some merely by the spirit of adventure.

There were no roads but Indian trails provided primitive means of travel. One of the largest of these was along a ridge that later became Detroit Road.

First permanent settler on Detroit was James Nicholson, who came from Chatham, Mass. He was the father of Ezra of the name-search committee.

The elder Nicholson bought 142 acres here in 1818 for $1,336. In 1835, he built a white colonial house at 13335 Detroit, which subsequently was occupied by four generations of his family. Today, it has been restored in a joint project by the city and the Lakewood Historical Society, and is used for community meetings and other activities.

Nicholson founded Lakewood's earliest church-the First New Jerusalem Church of Rockport. It was of the Swedenborgian faith and stood on the northeast corner of Detroit and Andrews for 123 years, from 1848 until it was razed in 1971. The current occupant of the historic site is the United Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church.

As Lakewood's main artery, the Detroit ridge became a plank road in the mid-1800s, stretching from West 25th Street in Cleveland to 5 miles beyond Rocky River. It was covered with parallel rows of large oak logs and it extracted toll charges -- 5 cents for one horse, 10 cents for a single team, 15 cents for a double team. It remained until 1901.

The first streetcar line through Lakewood was completed in 1890. It ran along Detroit from West 117th Street to Rocky River. It used horse cars until the line was electrified three years later. For about a dozen years, the car tracks and plank road ran side by side.

Advent of the streetcar and automobile changed Lakewood from a sleepy, rural orchard, vineyard and farming community into a bustling suburb. Between 1900-10, its population more than quadrupled, jumping to 14,181 from 3, 355.

As we progressed through the 20th century, there came more lifestyle changes wrought by advancements. Rules of the road were reshaped, too. Laws often once profound, we now look back upon them amusedly.

A case in point is the first ordinance passed in Lakewood upon our becoming a hamlet in 1889.

It decreed: No person shall ride or drive any horse or other animal at a rate of speed exceeding 8 mph. Penalty: Fine up to $25, or imprisonment not more than 30 days, or both.

Horse and buggy owners may be relieved to know that this law, according to Lakewood Clerk of Council Karen A. Schaser, is no longer on the books.

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post. Reprinted with permission.

The First New Jerusalem Church of Rockport was the first church built in Lakewood. It was constructed in 1848 at Andrews and Detroit. When the congregation outgrew it at the turn of the century, a new brick building was erected and the original church was moved behind it on Andrews Avenue. It was demolished in 1971 to make room for a new addition.

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