100th Anniversary of Parkview School

100th Anniversary of Parkview School

by Michele Yamamoto

2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the building of the Parkview School in Bay Village. It was located on the spot where the Bay Middle School parking lot is now.

The Bay Village Historical Society records indicate that by 1921 there was one remaining schoolhouse in Bay Village, the “Little Red Brick Schoolhouse,” built in 1869 and located between Bassett and present-day Huntington Park at 29503 Lake Road. There wasn’t enough space at the schoolhouse, even for its grades 1-8, and from the earliest days of Bay Village history, families who wanted their children to have a secondary education were forced to send them to either Rocky River, Lakewood or what is now known as Westlake.

Bay Village historian, Kay Laughlin, wrote of the beginnings of Parkview School. She noted that in 1921, the Bay Village school system had to rent a room in Bay Village City Hall in order to accommodate the fifth grade class. In a special election in April of that year, the Board of Education managed to pass a five-mill levy to support the $225,000 in bonds needed to construct a new school. Still, expenses to build were cut in every way possible, including the risk of using non-union labor, which stopped construction completely for a time.

1924/25 Parkview students grades 1-10, Bay Village Historical Society

A two story Parkview before the third floor addition, from the May 1925 school publication, The Larynx

Parkview faculty photo from the May 1925 school publication, The Larynx. 

By the fall of 1922, Bay Village had all of their students in grades 1-8 at the Parkview School. Mentions to upper grades are not made in The Larynx (May 1925), the earliest Parkview publication the Bay Village Historical Society has in its collections. Grades 9-12 were most likely added on, one grade a year, until by 1927 Parkview High School had its first graduating senior high class.

The first graduating class at Parkview consisted of ten girls and five boys. The lack of male students proved to be a challenge for dancing partners and so the class decided to forego a traditional prom and created a “Junior-Senior Banquet” instead. The second annual banquet lists a food menu and musical performances by the students and faculty.

Parkview’s 1st Graduating Class 1927, Bay Village Historical Society. Top row, L-R: William J. Hursh, Ruth Claire Myers, Sarah E. Dodd, Caryl June French, Arthur W.J. Stampfli. Second row, L-R: Vera Anna Wuebker, George Edward Mehleck, Clarence Frank Meilander, Lawrence Kenneth Hille, Marie E. Blaha. Bottom row, L-R: Blanche Gertrude Cowley, Luella Anna Meilander, Ruth Naomi Proudley, Helen Louise Bell, Helen J. Toeller

1927 Parkview Graduation Program, Bay Village Historical Society

Vera Wuebker was a member of Bay Village’s first senior graduating class. She commented in the March 29, 1968 edition of the Bay Window that the limited number of students in Bay Village’s first senior graduating class was enjoyable. She is quoted as saying, “One became better acquainted with all of the students in the school.” Vera was also the daughter of West Dover’s first rural postman, Ernest Wuebker, and we have many items that once belonged to Vera in the Bay Village Historical Society’s collection that were generously donated by her grandson Kip Fanta. Vera married Herb (Irwin) Fanta in 1936 and worked in the guidance counselor’s office at Bay High School in later decades.

It appears that from the beginning of its use the school wasn’t big enough for all of the children in Bay Village. A third story was added in 1925, only three years after the building was first constructed. Temporary portable buildings were constructed before that addition but remained and were used until a wing on the west side of the building was opened in 1952. Forestview Elementary was constructed in 1927 at the southeast corner of Wolf and Forestview Road and housed the elementary students living on the east side of Bay Village, which may have alleviated some of the crowding.

The 1927 edition of the school publication Arc-Light lists the Parkview building as containing 13 standard classrooms, an auditorium that seated more than 430, a physics laboratory, chemistry laboratory, large library and gymnasium. Four portable buildings housed domestic science, manual training (shop class), a cafeteria and a dining hall in a corridor connecting the portables with the main building. There were 10 acres developed as a playground and athletic field.

1942 Bay Bluebook photo featuring Irma Schmedt and Bill Smith on the front steps of Parkview, Bay Village Historical Society

By the 1940s, many new changes were made to the Parkview classes. In 1941, Parkview added a kindergarten class to its 1-12 grade building. In 1947, Parkview began housing grades 7-12 only. Glenview Elementary, which opened in 1947, and the existing Forestview Elementary would now house all of Bay Village’s K-6 grades. 1947 was also the year the high school class officially renamed themselves Bay High School, although they used this name as early as 1941 in the Bay Blue Book. “Rockets” became the name of the school’s athletic teams through a vote by the student body.

By 1960, Parkview held only high school students when the Bay Junior High School moved to a brand-new building located where the present-day Bay High School now stands at 29230 Wolf Rd. In 1968 the high schoolers took over the location and the junior high classes moved back to the old Parkview building to stay for more than 30 years.

1968 Bay Bluebook photo of Parkview

1968 Bay Bluebook tribute to the old Parkview building

In November 2000, residents of Bay Village approved a bond issue for the construction of a new middle school. The current Bay Middle School location at Cahoon and Wolf Road was built directly behind Parkview and was ready for middle school students in grades 5-8 to attend for the 2003/2004 school year.

Bay Middle School old and new, December 2003, Bay Village Historical Society

Before the old Parkview building was torn down there were several send-offs and chances for former students to relive their time at the school. On Saturday, December 13, 2003 Bay residents had the opportunity to attend some farewell events.  A “Wrecking Ball” dance was held in the gym. Although much of the equipment and furniture was moved throughout the district’s schools and the remainders were sent to a school in Haiti, there was also a sale where residents and school staff members could purchase a piece of the old school. A former student from the 1960s bought a handrail. One man bought a water fountain and urinal. A current eighth grader even expressed interest in buying his old locker. Marble partitions found in the 1920s restrooms could be had for $50.

George Serb, an 88-year-old former student (class of 1933) and Bay Village Citizen of the Year remembered entering Parkview as a second grader when the building first opened. He was given the honor of symbolically locking the building for the last time.

On December 22, Parkview alumni, current students, staff members and neighbors gathered across the street from the old school to spend a day-long vigil watching Parkview be demolished.

Parkview during demolition, December 2003, Bay Village Historical Society. Note the red, orange and yellow stripes above the lockers on the second floor. 

You may still relive some of Parkview’s past by visiting the Rose Hill Museum to see in person a small display of items from Bay Village’s early school days. At the Osborn Learning Center next door, we have copies of most Bay High School yearbooks. You may also browse the yearbooks online at: https://www.bayhistorical.com/bay-village-history/#Yearbooks

A presentation about the history of Bay Village Schools, including Parkview, can be viewed on the Bay Village Historical Society website at:
Bay Highs First Fifty Years

More information about Bay Village public school history can be found through the Bay Village Alumni Association and you may find their contact information on their website at: Alumni Association

If you are enjoying these glimpses of Bay Village’s past, we ask you to please consider donating to the Bay Village Historical Society or becoming one of its members by visiting Donate. We appreciate your support!

The antique sleigh at Bay Historical

Photos with Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus

Have your photo taken with Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus aboard an antique sleigh in front of historic and picturesque Rose Hill Museum in Cahoon Memorial Park in Bay Village on Sunday, Dec. 8. (In case of inclement weather, photos will be taken in the 1814 kitchen.)

Bring the kids, grandkids, even the dog!

Photos are $20, and pre-payment via PayPal is strongly recommended; see payment link on this page. However, payment can be made by check (“BVHS”) or cash at the time your photos are taken. Photos will be emailed to you in a day or so. All proceeds benefit the Bay Village Historical Society. Please select your time slot through this link, and provide your name and email address (please print clearly).

Autographs

The Bay Village Historical Society would like to send our congratulations to the recent graduates of Bay High School in 2024. One hundred years ago, in May of 1924, the two-year old Parkview School building (located where the middle school stands today) only housed grades 1-9th grade and was preparing to add a 10th grade class that fall. Any Bay Village graduating student at that time still needed to attend neighboring high schools, such as in Westlake and Rocky River, until Bay added its first senior class in the fall of 1926. You can view yearbooks for Bay’s high school all the way back to this first graduating class of 1927 at the Osborn Learning Center or by viewing a digital copy on our website here.

On the subject of yearbooks, one may think of the autographs within them. This personal addition of autographs and poems are left behind within the cover pages and margins of the book as fond remembrances from fellow schoolmates and teachers. Their messages can also be found in booklets from the late 19th century, made specifically for this purpose. We have a few such booklets in our collections, including some that contains locks of hair! The autograph books included here all contain signatures dating from the 1880s.

First is the autograph book of Miss Emily Oborn (b. 1871, d. 1955). Emily was the great-granddaughter of early Dover Township (now Bay Village) settlers Sarah and Reuben Osborn. Inside the booklet, the signatures implore Emily to not forget them and send best wishes and wonders about the future. The pages are signed by her teacher, family, and various friends and students, beginning in the early 1880s.

Pages from the autograph book of Miss Emily Osborn. Note the sticker or pasted image of flowers at top right. Such small images are often pasted in the pages of these books. 2021.07.09

The autograph book of Herbert “Bertie” Barker (b. 1871, d. 1924) contains signatures of schoolmates and friends in New York from 1882-1883 with some additional signatures collected into the 1890s. Barker later married a member of Dover Township’s Aldrich family.

Pages from the autograph book of Bertie Barker, 2021.FIC.033.

Edythe Amelia Aldrich (b. 1876 d. 1961) was the great-granddaughter of Elizabeth and Aaron Aldrich III, the first members of the Aldrich family to settle in Dover Township in 1816. Edythe Aldrich’s book contains many pieces of sage advice from Dover classmates but also some humorous poems and teases about the future love interest in her life. That person turned out to be Herbert Marcus Barker (Bertie Barker) whom she married in 1905.

Pages from the autograph book of Edythe (or Edith) Amelia Aldrich, with collected signatures from 1887-1891, 2021.FIC.034. The signature at left might be of Wirt Wallace Dodd (b. 1868, d. 1950). Dodd’s future daughter, Sarah, was a member of the first graduating class in Bay in 1927.
This page of Edythe Aldrich’s autograph book contains the signature of Arthur H. Wolf. This is probably Arthur H. J. Wolf (b. 1874, d. 1900), the grandson of early Dover settlers Ann and John Wolf, who came to the area in 1818 from Virginia. According to Bay Village: A Way of Life, Arthur’s father, Alfred, was born in 1828 in his parent’s log cabin, built 300 feet south of what is now Wolf Road, near Walmar Drive.

In May of 2023, we took a look back at a few pictures and papers from some early graduates of Bay Village on our Glimpse of the Past page. It’s worth a look!

Also worth a look is the historic Sarah and Reuben Osborn house, on Lake Road, next to Rose Hill Museum. It is believed to be the oldest surviving framed house between Cleveland and Lorain County. It was saved from destruction and moved to its current location in 1995. It also received a bit of a facelift in 2023 with a new paint job and some exterior work. The building is officially known as the Osborn Learning Center because it houses some small exhibits and resources for research on Bay history. Come visit this house as well as Rose Hill Museum on Sundays, April – December in 2024 from 2:00 – 4:30 p.m. (excluding holiday weekends). Contact us at info@bayhistorical.com or call us at 216-319-4634 with any questions. You may also visit our website at www.bayhistorical.com, for additional information.

1813 Grist Mill at Rose Hill Museum

by Michele Yamamoto

In our records at the Bay Village Historical Society there is much historical evidence that the Joseph Cahoon family built at least two mills on Cahoon Creek, beginning in 1813. The grist and saw mills are now long gone but they used to sit just east of Rose Hill house on Cahoon Creek. In fact, the creek may have been the reason the Cahoon family chose to settle in this particular location in what was then called Dover Township.

According to a piece in the 1958 Bay Village City brochure, “The Bay Village Story,” it is claimed that Joseph Cahoon, who was the first settler in Dover in 1810, wrote to his wife, Lydia, about the land he chose. “Lydia, we need go no further. There is timber, all we can ever use, and the land is fine for grain and vegetables and this creek we will call Cahoon Creek, and we will build a grist mill right there.” The Bay Village Historical Society has not yet found the original copy of this letter and cannot verify the quote given, but it is certainly possible that Joseph would have expressed sentiments like these.

Copy of map showing the locations of the Cahoon buildings in 1852, including the mills. 1996.M.03.05

A granddaughter of Joseph Cahoon, Ida Maria Cahoon, wrote a book in 1910 about her family history titled “History of the Cahoon Family.” In this book, Ida states that her father, Joel, one of Joseph’s sons, helped his father to erect and operate both mills when he wasn’t serving for several months during 1814 in the War of 1812. Ida’s words are a much-referenced description of the building of the mill and some of the travel challenges faced by early settlers:

“While Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was fighting his famous battle upon Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, a grist mill was being raised by Grandfather Cahoon and his neighbors upon Cahoon Creek, east of our house. Prior to this time, the nearest flour mill was at Newburgh, eighteen miles away. Miles seemed longer when no streams were bridged, no hills graded, and a horse or ox bore the burden of the grain to be ground, then they do today with modern means of transportation. The stones for grinding the grain were quarried from the creek by Joseph Cahoon and his son Joel. They are placed as stepping stones at the entrance to our lawn, preserved as a part of the history of the place.”

And the mill stones remain there still. Two stones rest near the Rose Hill north side porch. There is an additional stone on the south side. Several accounts claim the stones for grinding the grist were hewn from Cahoon Creek, or at least somewhere not too far away. You can still see the furrows or channels cut into a sickle pattern on one side of the stones. From the north porch of Rose Hill, you may look down upon Cahoon Creek and see the spot where the grist mill once stood. No remains can be seen today of that mill.

Another water-powered mill, a saw mill, was built just north of and not long after the grist mill. This saw mill is credited with cutting the lumber used to build the Cahoon’s permanent framed house in 1818, known as Rose Hill. According to recollections in our archives, there may still have been remnants of the saw mill into the 20th century.

Photo from Wilfred Swanker, claiming to be taken of the “Cahoon Mill.” Based on Swanker’s location description in a newspaper interview for West Life in 1982, this could actually be the ruins of the old Oviatt saw mill, located further south on Cahoon Creek, across from Lincoln Road.

This photo was identified by an unknown person as the “Cahoon grist mill.” This is unlikely the Joseph Cahoon grist mill, in part, because writings from his granddaughter, Ida Maria, tell us Joel B. Cahoon rebuilt the original mill in the 1840s, but it was out of use by the end of the Civil War though it may be the mill of different Cahoon family member.

A short history about water power and mills in early America

In the early days of America, most settlers on the frontier were farmers. Wood, water and good farming soil were in abundance but man power was scarce and expensive. Technology helped to save time and money. Water was an energy source that could be harnessed to replace both humans and animals to power machinery, move grist mills, saw mills and power cloth mills, among other uses.

Grist mills were a top priority for settlers as baked goods like bread were a staple of many early American families. They were usually built before schools and churches in a new township. This was because grinding grist (any grain that has been separated from its chaff) into flour was quite physically demanding and time consuming. Grain farmers would travel up to 50 miles away to avoid the work and the Cahoon mill was probably filled with fellow farmers from the area, considering the nearest mill at the time was reportedly in Newburgh, some 18 miles away. These farmers likely paid for the service by offering part of their grain harvest to the Cahoons.

There are no definitively proven photos of the old Cahoon mills in the Bay Village Historical Society collections. We can surmise, from other mills constructed at the time and the topography of the Cahoon land, that the Cahoon grist mill was powered by water moving up Cahoon Creek to either a large vertical undershot or breastshot wheel. A millpond or dam, which is referenced in Cahoon letters as late as the 1840s, along with a millrace channel, helped to direct, contain and control the flow of water. The wheel would power a system of gears inside the millhouse that could power a set of mill stones and maybe even a series of pulleys. A multistoried building meant that gravity could provide help in moving the grain down through the processing. The grist is fed into a hole in the middle of the top “running” stone and as that stone moves over the one below it, the grist is ground by the flat cut sections between the two stones. The grist becomes a finer flour and the long furrows cut into the stones move the grain outward to be collected.

The inside of the model grist mill at Rose Hill shows how the Cahoon’s grist mill probably worked. The grain was stored at the top and brought down by a chute to a hole at the top of the running mill stone. The wooden peg gears, which could more easily be replaced when broken, were turned by an outside water-powered wheel. The Cahoon mill probably ground its own corn as it is listed as one of their crops in the late 1800s.

You may get some idea of technology like this used during the 1800s at the Rose Hill Museum. There are various tools and machines on display that once aided early farmers. One of these tools is the working model 1813 grist mill. This model shows how harnessing water may power the wheel to the inner workings of a building. With the help of a docent, you may even try to power this mill yourself!

Pamela Ebert paints the model grist mill.

Thanks to all of the fantastic volunteers who helped make this model grist mill possible, including:

Wood Structure – Senior Center Wood Shop at City Hall, Ed Wozniak, Jim Rowe, and Tony Pantina
Painting – Pamela Ebert and Ed Neal
Interior Structure and Mechanical Fittings – Dan Krieg
Assisted by – Michele Yamamoto, Cathy Flament, and Marie Albano

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Source for some of the early history of grist mills in American drawn from:

General history taken from Penn State University website “Building Community: Medieval Technology and American History” See: https://www.engr.psu.edu/mtah/articles/colonial_wood_water.htm

Ernest Wuebker, the first mail carrier in West Dover

The following article was written by former Bay Village Historical Society president and historian, Kay Laughlin, in 2015. Ernest Wuebker is credited as the first rural mailman in West Dover Township (part of what is now Bay Village).

The first mail carrier in West Dover

by Kay Laughlin

Ernest Wuebker was born in 1884 and grew up near Akron. In 1897, at age 13, Ernie came to Dover Township to pick grapes for his Uncle Henry [Wuebker] who lived in the old Heckerman house on the east side of Bradley Road, south of the tracks. Casper, Ernie’s [younger uncle], joined him and later purchased Uncle Henry’s property. The next year, Casper invited Ernie and his mom to move to Dover. Across the street lived Gus Fortlage.

Ernest stands in the back row, second boy from left, between his little brothers Henry and Lewis, in this cropped 1898 school photo. His little sister, Ina, is in the second row, at far right. Oldest sister, Amanda, is not in this picture. Ernest was born in New York City and came to Dover, Ohio only about a year before this photo was taken. (2018.P.03.03.78)

Ernest as a young man, 2018.P.03.03.28.

At that time, the acreage around the railroad crossing and Lear/Nagel Road was called West Dover. Shortly after Ernie arrived, the West Dover Post Office was moved from Dieterich’s store north of the tracks on the east side of Bradley Road (where Bay Commons is today) to the southwest side of the tracks in Gus Fortlage’s place.

One day Gus stopped Ernie on his way up Bradley Road and told him he, Gus, had received a contract to start the first rural mail carrier route out of West Dover and suggested Ernie be the mailman. Ernie would receive $50 a month and provide his own transportation and expenses.

So in 1904, at 20 years of age, after passing a U.S. Civil Service examination in Cleveland, Ernie started delivering mail by bicycle and on horseback. Ernie’s route encompassed not only Dover Township but also Avon and North Ridgeville townships.

Ernie bought one of those regular green RFD mail wagons that had the reins going out two holes in front, which made delivering mail much safer and warmer. Between Porter and Center Ridge roads, the Greens, who owned Green’s Garage, allowed him to leave his horse at their barn to rest while he used the Greens’ horse to finish the North Ridgeville loop of his route. It was in 1916 Ernie turned to a Model T Ford in good weather. So, in accordance with the motto, “the mail always went through.”

Ernie married Alvina Peters and raised his family on Bradley Road in the 1850 Thomas Powell house. Alvina’s grandparents were Tom and Sophia Saddler Powell. In 1923, Ernie built a colonial house south of the Powell house at 584 Bradley Road. Delivering the mail had served Ernie well.

Alvina and Ernest Wuebker relax inside their Bradley Road home in 1926, 2018.P.03.03.39. The couple had been married for 20 years by the time this photo was taken.
Ernest and wife Alvina in front of their home on Bradley in the summer of 1927, 2018.P.03.03.55. The Wuebker’s raised peaches, apples and grapes on their property.

In the early years there was not a person in western Westlake and Bay whom Ernie did not know by name and sight because of his occupation. They saw him often and he became their confidant and trusted friend.

Ernest and Alvina’s children stand behind them at their Bradley Road home. From left to right are Vera, Elaine and Carl. Vera was one of the first Bay high school graduates in 1927. Her younger brother, Carl, was on the first school football team. Tragically, he died of kidney failure at the age of 21, not long after this photo was taken. (2018.P.03.03.36)

Ernest Wuebker poses for a 1961 article photo with a miniature replica of the type of transportation he used in his early days as a mail carrier, later using a Model-T Ford. Wuebker served as a mail carrier from 1904-1935. “None of the roads was paved,” he said in the article. “When it was too muddy for the wagon, I pushed a two-wheeled cart. When there was snow I took the wheels off the wagon and put on runners. When it was too deep for that, I rode horseback.” Wuebker died in 1979, at the age of 94. (2023.P.FIC.012)

There is more to learn about the West Dover Post Office and 19th century letter writing on our website page Fun with History. Our Glimpse of the Past page has information about stamp collecting here.

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We hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the life of Ernest August Wuebker. If learning historical information such as this is important to you, please consider a donation to the Bay Village Historical Society. Find out more on our website Donate page. You may also contact us by phone at (216) 319-4634 or email info@bayhistorical.com.

Bay Village Historical Society receives OHRAB Achievement Award

The Bay Village Historical Society has recently been named as a recipient of the 2023 Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board) Achievement Award.

The Ohio Historical Advisory Board (OHRAB) is the central body for historical records planning in the state. The board is funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Board members represent Ohio’s pubic and private archives, records offices and research institutions.

In 2019, the Bay Village Historical Society began a project to conserve and increase access to the portraits and photographs in Rose Hill Museum. These portraits are vital to the Bay Village Historical Society. According to the will donating the land and home to the historical society, the portraits of the descendants of the Cahoon family, the first settlers of Bay Village, and the portraits of other early settler families must be displayed.

In the first phase of the project, historical society staff and volunteers removed the portraits from their original frames and transported them to the Cleveland Public Library’s main branch where they were scanned as high-resolution tiffs. The Cleveland Institute of Art then produced an archival copy of each portrait.

A local artist volunteered with the historical society to restore the frames, touching up the paint and using modeling clay to repair the cracks. The archival copies were placed in the repaired frames and hung on the walls of the Rose Hill Museum.

The historical society also consulted with staff from ICA-Art Conservation, Jamison Art Conservation and Cleveland State University to develop a plan to conserve the original portraits. This included some portraits consisting of chalk drawings on paper with silk backing. Custom-made archival boxes with archival foam core and all-cotton batting were built to house the original portraits to preserve them for future generations.

During the project, the Bay Village Historical Society created an index to the portrait gallery, including biographical information about the individuals. A copy of the index is available for visitors to Rose Hill Museum. The information, along with digital copies of the portraits, is available online at www.bayhistorical.com/portrait-gallery.

Easter Greetings

Easter is observed on March 31st this year. We here at the Bay Village Historical Society would like to wish you and yours a happy Easter this month. Below are a few examples of the many Easter cards and postcards we have in our collections. Enjoy!

Easter or “Ostern” postcard sent to Ohio from Frankfurt, Germany in April, 1908. 2021.FIC.018.20.1
Reading rabbits help to send good wishes to the recipient of this Easter postcard (circa early 1900s) 2021.FIC.018.19.1
A little girl leads her Easter rabbit through a field in this March 1929 postcard sent to 7-year-old Helen Yaeger, 2021.19.10.3.4
A little kitten with a bow helps to send an Easter poem to a beloved aunt on this April 1958 card, 2021.FIC.018.26

If preserving artifacts from Bay Village history is important to you, consider supporting the Bay Village Historical Society through volunteering or giving your monetary support. Information about this can be found on our website here. Thank you!

Ice-Skating in Bay Village

The feature image of this post is of a 1976 drawing by Ethel Sadler of the early days of ice-skating in Bay Village, 2023.B.23.01.

The 1976 Bay Village Historical Society coloring book tells of the first pond made for ice-skating in Bay. “The original pond, dug especially for skaters, was just north of City Hall where the tennis courts are today. A pond was needed for recreation, as Lake Erie was becoming more treacherous and creeks were too shallow. Later on, a pond was dug at the corner of Cahoon and Wolf Roads. A shelter and benches were provided for comfort.”

In our collections are several examples of ice-skates from this earlier period of Bay Village history.

Metal ice skates that clamp onto shoes, 96.13.66A
Metal and wood ice skates with leather leg braces, 2009.C.03
Metal and wood ice skates with leather straps to hold shoes, 2023.Y.33.03AB

We see much talk about skating rinks in scrapbook pages and maps from the early 1970s. Two outdoor ice-skating rinks could be found at the corner of Wolf and Cahoon Roads, just across the street from Bay Middle School. In one West Life article from 1972, professional figure skater and graduate of the Bay High Class of 1966, Karen Kresge, said she learned how to skate from the age of 8 years-old on the Cahoon Park ice pond. In 1972 she was starring in a touring ice show and Bay Village Mayor Henry Reese declared March 1st of that year, Karen Kresge Day, to celebrate her return to perform in Cleveland.

1970 Bay Village map that shows the two ice-skating rinks at Wolf and Cahoon Roads (2018.FIC.0052). Also note some buildings no longer in Bay. The site where two cottages sit across the street from the rinks is now the Bay Skate Park. The site of the Bayway Cabin at the lower right side of the image is now the Cuyahoga County Public Library, Bay Village Branch.

This same year plans were quickly taking shape to construct a large twin ice arena building in Bay Village. This privately owned arena was supported and approved by the City of Bay to be built on the very southwest corner of town, just north of Naigle Road and east of the border with Lorain County. It would have had a dedicated rink just for open skating and another for hockey games and practice. It would also have served many other sports year ‘round, including tennis courts and even a pool! There were many local winter sports enthusiasts who voiced their support for a rink in Bay, stating its profitability and the taxes it would bring to the city annually. There were also some concerns, voiced by residents living along Bradley Road, that it would bring too much traffic to the area. As we now know, this recreation center was never built. We do not have a definitive reason in our collections as to why the rink wasn’t finished and neither does the Recreation Department. Some say it came down to cost. Other rinks proposed for Avon Lake and Independence also fell through around this time.

Map showing the proposed location for indoor ice-skating rinks in Bay Village from a Cleveland Press article on November 29, 1972.

Also, in 1972 was mentioned the ice rink at Clague Road Park (Reese Park). It was a large rink that would need to be relocated due to the building of the I-90 intersection. Today, the ice-skating rink in Reese Park is the only official ice-skating rink in Bay, weather permitting. A long spell of good, cold weather is needed to open it. If the conditions are just right, it will be accessed along the pathway behind the restrooms area at the park.

We hope you enjoyed this glimpse into early ice-skating in Bay Village. If learning historical information such as this is important to you, please consider a donation to the Bay Village Historical Society. Find out more on our website Donate page. You may also contact us by phone at (216) 319-4634 or email info@bayhistorical.com.

Snow Portraits

We at the Bay Village Historical Society would like to wish you and yours a happy New Year in 2024.

Many thanks to all who have helped to make a difference in preserving and sharing the history of our town in 2023, whether through attending our events, volunteering at our historical buildings or giving us your monetary support. We thank you so much! Your support made it possible to continue cataloging and making our collections of objects, papers and photographs more accessible to the public. It helped to create a working model grist mill to demonstrate early industry and engineering of our earliest settlers. It has contributed to making our events, such as Cahoon Christmas, more entertaining every year. For this and so much more, we thank you!

The photos that accompany these good wishes are of two women wearing winter clothing which would be of the style seen in the 1880s. They appear to be braving the snowy winter weather outside in their cozy fur collars and muffs. Could such a perfect portrait be possible in such conditions? A quick search online for such photographs from this time period leads to many examples of subjects posing in fake winter scenes in photography studios. Some even have white “snow” on their clothing, hats and boots. Some have wintry backgrounds with painted trees and mountains, covered with snow. Others have “snowflakes” all around the person pictured. This effect was added to the negative after the photograph was taken. One description of the process to create this can be found here.

It does make for a beautiful portrait through which to show off one’s beautiful winter fashions!

Unidentified woman’s snow portrait (about 1886) 1996.P.04.008.

Unidentified woman poses for a winter portrait, circa the 1880s, 1999.P.04.011.

Please be aware that the Bay Village Historical Society’s Rose Hill Museum, Osborn Learning Center and Replica 1810 Cabin are all closed to the public for the winter season. They will be reopening in April 2024. Until then, please explore our updated website with new features to explore, including a variety of photos, articles and learning activities about the past at www.bayhistorical.com.

Christmas Cards of Bay Village Notables

During Cahoon Christmas 2023 events, the Bay Village Historical Society will be showcasing an exhibit of Christmas cards and imagery in our library. The pictures were created by artist Thomas William Jones, a Bay Village native. Jones recently and very generously donated examples of his work to the Society this year. Jones’s work was chosen as the feature image for President Ronald Reagan and Vice President Dick Cheney’s official Christmas cards. You may view them in person during December at the Rose Hill Museum.

Jones’s cards inspired us to look at some other holiday greetings in our collections. Enjoy this look into the past and happy holidays from the Bay Village Historical Society!

Christmas postcard from Ida Maria Cahoon to Miss Sarah Dodd, circa 1910s, 2012.05.2.

Christmas card from Ernest and Alvina Wuebker to their daughter, Vera. Ernest was the first rural postman of West Dover Township from 1903-1935 and his daughter was part of Bay’s first graduating senior class in 1927, 2018.03.70.

Telegram from Ernie Olchon to his future wife, Dorothy, circa the late 1930s. They were married in 1940. From 1940-1971, Olchon owned Ernie Olchon’s Bay Service Station, at Wolf and Dover Roads, 2018.11.14AB.

President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan’s official Christmas card, 1988. Art by Thomas William Jones, 2023.13.02.
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The final Cahoon Christmas 2023 event days will be held Sunday, December 17, from 2:00-4:30 p.m. and Wednesday, December 20, from 4:00-7:00 p.m. You may find a list of special performances and demonstrations on our website at www.bayhistorical.com. Click on Our Events on the homepage menu to access the Calendar. Contact us at (216) 319-4634 / info@bayhistorical.com, with any questions.

Moving the Osborn house

The Reuben and Sarah Osborn House was originally located at 29202 Lake Road, west of Lakeside cemetery. Reuben Osborn arrived in Dover on the afternoon of Oct. 10, 1810, the same day Joseph Cahoon and family were the first non-native American settlers to arrive in Dover Township.
Reuben brought his wife and children from New York the following May.
This was the first frame structure constructed in Dover Township and is the oldest existing frame structure between Cleveland and Lorain. It is a simple gabled structure with roofline, massing, and fenestration which hint of the Greek Revival style popular at the time.
In 1995 the land along the lake where the house was located was sold to a developer. When the developer learned of the importance of the house, he donated it to the city which moved the house to its current location near Rose Hill Museum.
Today the house features displays of events such as the Sam Sheppard murder case and other historical events. It is also used as a research repository for records of the Bay Village Historical Society.