Cahoon Barn/Community House, 303 Cahoon Road c. 1881
The Cahoon barn was converted to a community house by the WPA and the village in 1933. Photo by Will Krause
The 21st in a series of articles to be published as a walking tour of Lake Road by the Bay Village Historical Society in 2026.
The tax value of the 128-acre Joel Cahoon property jumped in 1881, a year before his death and then remained the same when it passed to five of his unmarried children in 1884. This indicates 1881 as the most likely year of its construction.
Joel accompanied his parents and siblings in 1810 as the first settlers of Bay Village. He served in the War of 1812, and worked as a contractor building canals and railroads out of state.
He married Margaret Van Allen in 1831 and they moved back to Dover in 1842 with their six children into the vacant family homestead. They had five additional children here. He died in 1882 after a series of strokes. Margaret died in 1894. Their sons were local farmers and businessmen and their daughters, teachers.
In 1917, the last remaining daughter died and this barn along with the rest of the property was willed to Bay Village. It was remodeled in 1933 into a Community House by the WPA. The cupola was restored to its original design in 2010 as part of the village’s bicentennial.
William Krause
William R. Krause, retired as the Assistant Planning Director of the City of Westlake in 2020 after over 30 years with the city. He also served on the Bay Village Planning Commission for 9 years. He was a trustee for the Bay Village Historical Society from 2020 to 2021 and a former board member of the Westlake Historical Society. He was chair of their Lilly Weston Committee and was a member of the Reuben Osborn Learning Center Steering Committee. He is currently a Trustee of the Western Reserve Architectural Historians and the Gates Mills Historical Society. He has been married to Debra for 42 years and is the father of three grown children, grandfather of six and co-owner of a Yellow Lab named Sadie.