In 1818 a man named John Stroughton Strong and his family moved from Marlboro, Vermont to newly purchased land that would one day become the city of Strongsville, Ohio. All the way up until World War II, the primary occupation in this area was farming. Strong did a great deal to improve the area, including bringing on a town doctor along with building the first gristmill and sawmill in the area.
In this map from 1852, you can see the land that is now Southpark Mall is divided into a handful of lots, many of them owned by members of the Strong family. For example, W. Strong is one of John's sons, Warner, who took over his father's store, but also served as a justice of the peace, postmaster, and an officer in the Ohio Militia. He died shortly after this map was created in 1856 of typhoid fever. Many members of the Strong family are buried in the cemetery located in the Strongsville Historical Village, not far away from Southpark Mall.
1920s-1930s
Strongsville became a village in 1923, just a few short years before these maps were created, and the land that will one day become an enclosed mall is still divided into a few privately owned lots. These lots are roughly the same size, shape, and number as they were more than fifty years ago, with just a few minor changes. One of the roads bordering the Southpark property is Howe Road, clearly named after the Howe family seen in this map and those from the 1800s.
The ownership of these lots can tell us a lot about the people living in the area. Many members of one family stay in the same area, some buying new nearby property and others inheriting it. The names of roads indicates which families settled the area first and hints at their wealth/influence.
1950s
This aerial view was taken in 1951.The "Southpark Ctr" markers are a modern overlay to outline the parameters of the future Westfield Southpark property, but you can see these boundaries do not yet exist. The property is flat, treeless, and there are not many buildings or structures of any kind in the whole area.
In 1955, the Ohio turnpike was built and real estate developers moved into the area. There was also a movement to bring more industry into the area, which had a significant impact on the area, including the land around the Southpark location.
1979
This map from 1979 shows an aerial view of the land. There are still not many significant buildings or structures of any kind on the actual property in question, but you can see the how the surrounding area has changed in less than thirty years. There is now a major highway, Royalton Road has been widened, and there are huge housing developments to the south, on land that in the 1920s-30s map was owned by members of the Howe family.
This map shows how the Turnpike and highway 71 have impacted the area along with that push for more industry and the real estate boom in the 1950s.