Lakewood Lore

Kirtland's prescription was good for growth

Most celebrated citizen of Lakewood during the l9th Century was Jared Potter Kirtland, naturalist, botanist, doctor, legislator, teacher and writer.

Our city’s Kirtland Lane and the Kirtland House condominium at 1480 Warren Road were named in his honor.

Dr. Kirtland came here in 1837 when he was 44, bought 200 acres from Madison Avenue to the lake in the vicinity of Bunts Road, and built a stone house at 14013 Detroit, where a Rego’s Stop-N-Shop is today.

His farm and gardens attracted many visitors. He is credited with originating 26 varieties of cherries and six of pears. Here, also, he discovered a migrating song bird, which was named the Kirtland warbler. Some still nest in the jack pines of Northern Michigan, but they are on the endangered list.

Dr. Kirtland was tall, robust, forceful, yet had a kindly face. In 1853, when he was 60, a bust of him was made by a cherished friend. Dr. Theodatus Garlick, most prominent plastic surgeon in the Western Reserve at the time and a noteworthy sculptor.

After Dr. Kirtland died in 1877, the bust was given to his family. In 1955, more than a century after the bust was made, Lakewood historian Margaret Manor Butler rescued it from a barn that was being torn down on the Kirtland property.

Afterwards the bust was restored by Cleveland sculptor Frank Jirouch and is now displayed by the Lakewood Historical Society at 14710 Lake Ave. together with other Kirtland artifacts.

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post November 3, 1988. Reprinted with permission.

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