Lakewood Lore

Stuff of romance novel found to be true story

A once-upon-a-time romance involving Thomas Hird, a young settler of humble background, was spawned back in the antebellum days when our town was known as Rockport Township.

Hird, who had come from Stanton, England, in 1818, was hired to manage 320 acres of farmland that bordered on West 117th Street and extended about a half-mile west on Detroit, south to Madison and north to the lake.

The tract was owned by Richard Lord, a wealthy, cultured land owner and one-time mayor of Ohio City.

Lord and his wife, Anne, lived in a beautiful home on Franklin Avenue, then an exclusive, carriage-trade boulevard on Cleveland's West side. The couple had no children of their own but cherished their four nieces. Three of the girls married well -- that is, to men of similar station. But then along came young swain Tom Hird to court the youngest niece, Hope Randal Lord.

Lacking education, Hird was regarded with considerable disfavor by the Lords. However, like a stalwart character in a Horatio Alger plot, he studied diligently at night so that he might be deserving of his fiancee.

In time, his stick-to-itiveness paid off. And, as a wedding gift, Richard Lord gave Tom the 320 acres he had been managing.

Tom and his bride lived happily ever after on the farm property in their home called "Wheatland Cottage," where they reared five children.

In 1852, our hero received a silver medal from the State Board of Agriculture for raising the best wheat in Ohio, and eventually Lakewood's Hird Avenue was named after Tom.

This article appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post June 1, 1989. Reprinted with permission.

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