The year was 1912. The sidewalks were crowded with ladies wearing skirts and dresses and gentlemen wearing button-down shirts and dress pants. Back then, women and men would often wear fancy clothes. You would rarely ever see an automobile and if you did, it would most likely be a Model T. Amongst the crowded streets and sidewalks there was one young gentleman with a potential career in art and he decided that he would create a pottery company...

Lakewood is wonderfully old and full of ghosts. So when I moved back after decades away, it was an easy decision to write a nostalgic piece about being young there, long ago. But it was hard to choose from so many ghosts and harder still to know what to do when an unexpected one appeared. Most difficult of all was figuring out the meaning of these memories - and what they might bring...

If someone mentioned “the house inside the wrought iron fence at the corner of Lake and Nicholson,” it would be a rare Lakewoodite who couldn’t immediately picture the house—a one-of-a-kind Lakewood landmark.

It is not necessarily a phenomenon in Lakewood to have people stay close to home. Folks choose to be near family or stay within the familiar neighborhood where they themselves once played. Two years ago, we relocated within Lakewood and ended up being significantly closer to where my mother grew up on Ethel Avenue. My mother’s family left Lakewood when she was only fifteen years old so that her father could fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming a “gentleman farmer out in the country”–Westlake. To me, that’s where my roots were. Mom and Dad raised five kids, four boys and a girl, held down jobs, and participated in PTA, music boosters, and their local church.

A big boy named Jack lived in the house next door. In our house, I was a littler boy and my brother, Sid, was the even littler one who liked to tag along with me. Although the houses stood side by side in Lakewood, Ohio, only a driveway between them, Jack never played with us. Occasionally when we passed on the sidewalk, Sid and I dawdling our way home from Taft Elementary and Jack from the parochial school a few blocks away, he would shout, "Chrith Killerth!" with a spray of saliva flying from his mouth.
I asked Mother what he was saying.

Governed by a board of volunteer trustees, The Lakewood Historical Society is a private, non-profit organization with a small annual budget. We are charged with collecting, preserving and sharing the history of our community. We preserve a wide variety of artifacts in the Oldest Stone House museum, including an extensive photo-file collection, archives, research library, Lakewood memorabilia and decorative arts. The Society shares the history of Lakewood with the community through guided tours, school programs, special events, slide shows, newsletter articles and lectures.

Cleveland began as a tale of two cities, as Lakewood author George Condon explains in his new book, West of the Cuyahoga. When Moses Cleaveland founded the city in 1796 for the Connecticut Land Company, it only included the area east of the Cuyahoga River. The territory west of the river involved Native American “title claims” until 1805, when a treaty enabled settlers to establish Brooklyn Township (later called the City of Ohio, or Ohio City) right next to Cleveland. The two did not become one until 1854, and there has been much water under the bridges ever since.

If you have not ordered your wreath or calendar, it is not too late! You can still pick up a wreath for yourself or a friend. If you would like to mail one to a relative, we have boxes. Pick them up on November 30th and December 1st at the Skate House behind the Oldest Stone House. We will be there from 2 to 7 on Thursday and 11 to 5 on Friday. The wreath and calendar sale is one of the largest and most important fundraisers for the Lakewood Historical Society. Wreaths are $30 each, calendars are $6.

The Lakewood Historical Society's Sale on the Grounds, held the first Saturday in May at the Nicholson House, has long been an eagerly-awaited Lakewood event. In 2005, donations to the Sale produced an abundance of Christmas items. Although much of the inventory was beautiful and new or barely used, very little of it sold at the Sale. This led to the conclusion that people just don't buy holiday merchandise in May. Sale chairman Paula Reed proposed a separate sale in December, which turned out to be a huge success. Many happy shoppers left with everything from gifts for the antique collector in the family to decorations for your home. You’ll also find gift wrap, greeting cards, ribbons and more, all at bargain prices!

Bob and Gary Rice have demonstrated to Lakewood their belief in freedom by donating a plaque marking a station of the Underground Railroad in Lakewood.

Celebrate the holiday season and show your support of our outstanding Lakewood Historical Society by displaying a beautiful wreath. Trimmed with red and white poinsettias, pine cones, berries and a red bow, each wreath is handcrafted by members of the Society.

I believe I will go to my grave without seeing any significant change to my old neighborhood in Lakewood. I don’t live in Lakewood anymore. I don’t even live in Ohio. But I remember Lakewood so fondly and I visit as often as I can.

Over 1500 people toured the nine sites offered at the bi-annual Historical Society House Tour on Sunday, September 10. The homes included a brick house on Halstead, a Victorian estate on Clarence, a brick townhouse at Rockport Square, a charming frame home on Lewis, a lake front home on Lake Road, a brick home on Lake Road, and a Clarence Mack home on Lake Avenue. Refreshments were served at the Nicholson House, the oldest frame home in Lakewood, owned by the Historical Society. The business site this year was the Masonic Temple where a lodge room designed in 1916 was open. Pam Ehren and a committee of 13 women planned the successful event.

It was the turn of the 19th century when Herman J. Lensner, a young foreign language teacher from rural Saxonburg, Pennsylvania ventured to Cleveland. Born in 1872, the first-generation German/American was in his late twenties at the time, and had recently returned from Europe where he studied at the University of Berlin.

Time is running out. Purchase your tickets today for the Come Home to Lakewood House Tour. The tour is on Sunday, September 10 from 1 – 6 p.m. Advance tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the Beck Center for the Arts, Borders at Promenade of Westlake, First Federal of Lakewood, Geiger’s Clothing & Sports, Geiger’s Store for Women, Local girl Gallery, Oldest Stone House Museum, Rozi’s Wine House and V Regalo/The Desk Set. Day-of tickets can be purchased for $20 starting at 12noon at the Nicholson House, 13335 Detroit Avenue.

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.” These oft quoted words from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address summarize a key theme from the young senator’s presidential campaign. Within a few months of taking the oath of office, President Kennedy worked with the Congress to establish a large corps of American volunteers to provide assistance throughout the world. The Peace Corps Act of 1961 established this new initiative and set forth three primary goals: promote world peace and friendship; help countries meet their needs for manpower, particularly in meeting the basic needs of those living in the poorest areas; and promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served and a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

An older home is filled with stories. I often wonder about the people who lived in our Lakewood house so many years ago. If these walls could talk... They can’t, but Luella Platten McNamee can. She’s one of the original occupants who moved in when the big oak by our garage was just a twig and the mahogany woodwork inside was fresh and gleaming. I sometimes wish I had a time machine so I could go back and see what our house looked like when it was new and meet the people who lived there. Luella has given us a taste of that. Her memories and stories, and those of her descendants, have made our house feel more special than it already is. More on this special lady just ahead, but first some history.

The Nicholson House, built in 1835, is the oldest house in Lakewood—beating out the Oldest Stone House by three years. Unlike the Oldest Stone House, the Nicholson House is not a museum but an event facility. James and Betsey Nicholson were Lakewood’s first permanent settlers and played an important role in the development of the community, including building the first church and first school. The house itself evolved over time, undergoing a “modernizing face-lift” around 1870 and acquiring an addition at the turn of the century. It served four generations of Nicholsons, remaining in the family until 1947.

We are all influenced by how we perceive our built environment. We are attracted to places we find beautiful, inviting, and safe. What allure do Central Park in New York and the monuments in Washington, DC hold in our minds? Locally, why are University Circle and the Cleveland Art Museum considered special places? The perceived quality of the built environment gives us signals indicating the importance of places within our city, reflecting what we value as a community.

The recent controversy over the potential loss of significant architectural elements at the Faerber/Morse House, the grand Beaux Arts-style mansion at 13405 Lake Avenue, has members of the Lakewood City Council, as well as many residents, debating the merits of enacting some type of local preservation ordinance in Lakewood. Among Lakewood’s irreplaceable assets are its historic properties, which give the city its distinctive sense of place and community character. Maintaining a unique sense of place has proven to be an important part of many communities’ economic development plans.

Do you have any architectural curiosities in your Lakewood house or apartment? Perhaps a closet with a window or a stairway too narrow for most adults? If so, it may be time to conduct a “house history.” At a recent presentation at Lakewood Public Library, Mary Gagen of the Lakewood Historical Society provided a wealth of information on how to become a historical detective of your own home. She explained that the process usually begins with a thorough examination of the home’s physical aspects, followed perhaps by contact with any previous owners or longtime neighbors. Next, it is wise to retrace the “genealogy” of the house. In essence, this consists of a full list of the home’s previous owners, complete with the dates of property transfer.

Visitors to Lakewood Park on Sunday, July 10th stepped back in time and enjoyed an exciting game of 1860s base ball. The Lakewood Historical Society sponsored the game between the Lorain County Buckeyes and the Amherst Sandstone Masons. Enthusiastic volunteers donned old-style uniform and recreated the game based on rules and research of the early years of base ball (yes, it was two words originally).

Have you ever wondered where the expression "sleep tight" originated? The answer lies in a bed not far from your own at the Oldest Stone House Museum in Lakewood Park. On a recent tour of the pioneer home, it was pleasantly surprising to see a group of young girls so interested in life long ago, especially on a warm Sunday afternoon.