Lakewood Lore

Road named Bunts by the luck of the draw

Lakewood’s Bunts Road was named after Harry C. Bunts, an attorney and one-time first assistant solicitor of Cleveland who never lived in Lakewood.

Originally the road was not much more than a trail on Dr. Jared P. Kirtland’s farm. It was known as Kirtland Lane.

In October 1894, 17 years after the doctor’s death, lawyer Bunts and three other investors in the Kirtland estate (Charles A. Cook, Charles Goulder and W.H. Beavis) met to plan a new wide road through the property from Lorain Avenue northward.

They discussed a new name for it and finally decided to use one of their own. They cast lots, and Bunts’ name was plucked from the hat.

The name Kirtland Lane surfaced again, however. In 1961, it was chosen for a new Lakewood street -- really a northern extension of Bunts -- that picks up at Edgewater Drive and runs to the lake on part of what once was Dr. Kirtland’s farm.

This article appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post December 8, 1988. Reprinted with permission.

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