Snippets Of Bay Village History

Margaret and Joel Cahoon conceived five daughters. Mary Emma Cahoon, the tenth child, died when just a young girl at the age of 8 from rheumatic fever. Lydia, Laura, Martha and Ida grew to womanhood. They became school teachers, and at one time, worked together at Barkwell School on Broadway Avenue in Cleveland.

They purchased a house on Broadway next to the school to prevent traveling during week days. After a week of teaching, they would ride the train to their home, Rose Hill, getting off at the Cahoon Store, or trolley stop No. 24 on their property, for a quiet weekend with church and family. Outside of school, they worked every day to benefit others through their religious and community endeavors. All the sisters were active in the Commodore Perry Chapter of the Daughters of 1812 and the Dover Lake Shore Methodist Episcopal Church. None of them married. Lydia, Laura and Ida, in this order, died in the same year, 1917.

When I was a little girl, Dr. Knoll, the village dentist, purchased 250 feet of Lou Scholl’s farm land on the south side of Wolf Road near Dover Center Road. The land was between the Columbia Gas Company building on the east and the Scholl farmhouse on the west. In the middle of his new farmland, he built a red brick, one-story, colonial medical building with a center door and office space on each side. Here he set up his dental practice. Earl Ross, a medical doctor, rented the other side. It was the first medical office building in the village.

Dr. Edward Knoll was the mayor of Bay Village. At the time, the village had a population of 6,600 residents and 1,840 homes. Dr. Knoll predicted that the biggest spurt in population would be in the next 5 years and could reach 25,000 residents in 18 years.

In 1948, the only shopping area in the village was on Dover Center Road near the railroad tracks. Mayor Knoll saw a rising need for more shopping. He decided to move his medical office (today Pizza Hut) behind Ernie Olchen’s gas station and clear the farmland for a shopping center. Construction was actively underway for a $350,000 shopping center, including bowling alley, to open in July 1949.

In 1854, Grandfather Charles and Grandmother Babette Hassler lived in Dover Township, farming 35 acres of land at 28838 Lake Road on Lot No. 94. Charles (Carl in German) grew wheat and grain. Charles was from Bavaria. Not finding the soil to his liking, he moved his family to a farm in Cleveland. A son, J. Robert, and a daughter, Matilda, were born in the Lake Road house we know today as the Baker/Hassler house.

J. Robert Hassler and his wife, Anna, raised daughters Laura, Edna, Gertrude and son, Robert C., in Cleveland. The children's great-uncle, Theodore Liebrich, Babette’s brother, owned 25 acres of land at 379 Bassett Road in Dover Township, buying the property in 1875. (These acres, part of Lot No. 93, once were owned by Christopher Saddler.) Uncle Theodore had a white frame cottage on his property. The family enjoyed summering with him, picking peaches and apples from the extensive orchards behind the yellow barn.

Our house sits on a bluff above Lake Erie next to a little creek. The horse and cow barns are on a small rise south of the house. The well and smoke house sit between the house and the barn. Grandfather, Joseph Cahoon, and our Pa, Joel, built our house in 1818 using timber cut in our saw mill on the creek.

Grandfather Cahoon was a miller. He built a grist mill and mill pond behind our house near the creek. Our Pa farms the land and part of the land is planted as a grape vineyard. The year is 1853. My name is Lydia Cahoon and I, along with my Mom, Pa, brothers and sisters live here on the farm. Christmas is coming and we are all excited for the socializing and good will that will soon take place. Today is a special day because Mom is baking Christmas cookies.

And so the day begins: Lydia jumps out of the feather bed she shares with her two sisters. Her feet hit the cold floor boards. She lifts her dress off the peg hanging on the wall and quickly dresses. Pouring water into a crockery wash bowl, she wipes her face. She combs her hair. Looking out the window she can see Pa and Thomas already coming back from the barn after feeding the livestock. They have milked the cows and are carrying the morning milk in a bucket.

When John D. Rockefeller started Standard Oil he realized a need for gas stores for selling his gas and oil. All over Ohio, gas stations began popping up in townships and large cities to supply the demand.

Out in the country, in the little Village of Bay, John D. Rockefeller supplied the gas to a small station built by William Blaha at the intersection of Dover Center and West Oviatt roads. At the time, Dover Center was a dirt road and you drove your car up to the pump, literally, by the side of the road.

In 1914, William Blaha was operating an Edward Foods store in the old Cahoon Store next to the railroad tracks. It being successful, Blaha purchased land to the north of the store at the intersection of West Oviatt and Dover Center Roads with the thought of one day owning his own butcher shop and store. The first building he constructed, however, was a Standard Oil gas station. Standard Oil boasted that they had a "dot’" on their road maps for every township with a pump. When the map came out, the Blaha gas station did not appear on the map. Bill let them know about that, and the next map of Ohio printed had a dot for the Village of Bay.

In 1920, the Bay Village Board of Education was facing a real need for a larger school that offered grades one through 12. The Red Brick School on Lake Road already had two additions and was overcrowded. After eighth grade, the Bay Village students went to school in Dover (now Westlake), Rocky River and Lakewood to finish their 12-year education. The Bay Village Board of Education paid for their tuition.

A bond issue was passed, and a new two-story brick building, named Parkview School, was completed in 1922 on lands purchased from the Cahoon Park trustees just south of Cahoon Memorial Park (where Bay Middle School is now located). It served grades one through 12 and all students in Bay Village moved into the new school, closing Easterly at Columbia Road and the Red Brick School house. A third story was added in 1925.

Warm summer days and cold summer nights got the juices flowing in fruit trees and vineyards. Our early settlers usually had a few acres in orchards on their farms. One of the first things Joseph Cahoon did when he arrived in Dover Township in 1810 was to plant apple and peach orchards on the east side of Cahoon Creek.

The Wischmeyers had apple and peach trees behind Granny Wischmeyer‘s house on the south side of Lake Road, east of Dover Center. Picking fruit was a summer job at Wischmeyers for Bay High School boys who wanted to store their boats in the boat house on the beach. The Cahoons talk, with pride, in their personnel papers housed at Rose Hill Museum, about their two-acre Baldwin apple orchard on the southeast corner of Wolf and Dover Center roads.

If you look at an old map of Dover Township, you see that Abraham Tappan laid out the township in 97 lots. Bay Village consists of the lots from No. 81 to No. 97. Some Bay Village farms were narrow in width, 500 feet east to west, but many acres long going south from Lake Erie. Many built their home on the north side of Lake Road with the farm acreage spreading out in front of them.

Such was the Osborn farm. Reuben and his grandson, Reuben, who inherited the property at 29202 Lake Road, were farmers. In 1880, the U.S. Census tells us that the younger Reuben owned 61 acres of land, mostly in Lot No. 93 from the lake south, to where Osborn Road is today. He grew hay, wheat and potatoes. He kept two horses, three cows, three steers, 32 sheep, seven pigs, and 75 chickens on his farm. He had two acres in fruit trees, bearing him 325 bushels of fruit from 125 apple and peach trees, and one acre in vineyards. As you can see, every acre was accounted for on Reuben’s farm.

Regina and Henry Wischmeyer came from Germany and settled on the west side of Cleveland (Ohio City) in 1850. There they married and began raising a family. Henry Sr. had a dream of growing grapes on his own land as he had in Germany.

Regina followed Henry with his dream, and they purchased 50 acres of land along the south shore of Lake Erie in Dover Township. They planted two acres of the land in grapes, built a wine cellar and a hotel, while also farming, building a family house and raising their family.

“Garden-giddy Bay Villagers are working on the railroad these days – to beautify it,” said Randall Brown in a Cleveland News article in 1940. The abandoned old Lake Shore Electric Interurban Railway right-of-way was sprouting shrubbery, bird baths, outdoor fireplaces, vegetable gardens and recreation areas. “The suburban gardeners are planting on land they don’t own and they know it,” said the article.

The expansion started in 1938, after the railway pulled its rails. Many railway ties were torn out and used for firewood in the fireplaces in the houses along the way. Residents helped themselves to the cinders for grading their lots and building driveways.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with the correct residency of Fred Hansen.

“Many Lake Road motorists are startled to hear the sound of shotgun fire as they crest the hill opposite Cahoon Park in Bay Village, and bathers at Huntington Beach often see strange little yellow flying saucers dip over the cliff nearby and sail into the lake.” These words were used by Lois Keever in a local newspaper article in 1966.

The Dover Bay Gun Club was founded by Fred Hansen, who lived in Lakewood. Fred built the shooting range on the site of an abandoned grape arbor in Cahoon Memorial Park above Lake Erie in 1923. Shooters agreed that it was one of the finest in the country.

Most everyone in Dover Township had a berry patch. Acres of berries and fruit orchards became prevalent with the coming of our German settlers in the 1850s. Apple, peach and cherry orchards sprang up along Walker, Bassett and Bradley roads, where our German farmers settled. Most of the family homes scattered between the farms had small berry patches in their backyards. Well into the 1950s there were berry patches in the Village.

My family's house was in the David Foote apple orchard on Lake Road. We had eight different kinds of apple trees, plus peach trees and cherry trees on our acre. We had gooseberries, currants, quince, strawberries and raspberries in the yard. I remember Mom making jelly, especially currant jelly, and putting the small glass jars out in the backyard under a glass window to cook in the sun. She made many jars of strawberry and raspberry jam from our berries, pouring liquid beeswax on top to seal the jar.

Opening day March 21, 1903, found the reorganization of Dover-Bay Colony into the Dover-Bay Country Club. The Club was located on the southeast corner of Clague and Lake Roads on the old Lawrence Estate. It consisted of a nine-hole golf course and clubhouse. An early golf pro at the country club was Alex Miller and the manager was Jack Quinlan.

Membership was now open to the public. On the property north of Lake Road was a large, dark green painted clubhouse. Many members rented rooms there for the summer season of golf.

In 1951, this lakefront property where the club house sat was split into lots and sold. The green frame clubhouse was torn down. The next season saw a brand new, smaller clubhouse on the south side of Lake Road. This meant changing all the hole numbers so they again started and finished at the new clubhouse.

How many people do you know who actually moved to Bay Village for retirement? Gilbert and Vi Hagberg did just that.

When you travel down Osborn Road, glancing at the houses on the south side, you come upon a yard with a little cottage that sits so far back from the road you have to look twice to notice it. At the street near the driveway is a sign that reads “Hap’s Half Acre.” Or at least that’s what it looked like back in the late 1940s when Gilbert "Hap" Hagberg and his wife, Vi, lived at 28889 Osborn Road.

Gilbert and Vi purchased a half acre of land on the south side of Osborn Road. On the south end of the property was a small white cottage. Behind the cottage, Hap planted a berry patch and fruit trees. The area behind the lot was all woods. It was just enough land for Hap to care for in his retirement. Vi became active in the women’s organizations in the Village, and they were regular attendees of the Bay United Methodist Church.

It’s not surprising with our Dover Township farmers' ability to grow an abundance of fruits and vegetables that local farm markets would pop up along Center Ridge and Detroit roads in Dover/Westlake and Avon. These were well-traveled roads between Cleveland and Sandusky.

The names of Dusty Miller, Polly, Nagel, Westlake, Danny Boy's and Wade Farm Markets are just a few of the farm markets in our area that offered fruits and vegetables for sale in the 1940s, and '50s. Along with the fresh produce, the local farm markets also offered fresh baked breads, jellies, jams, pickles and flowers. Something to look forward to was taking a drive in the country on a Sunday in the family car and stopping at a favorite farm market.

On the morning of Oct. 10, 1810, the Joseph and Lydia Cahoon family wagon stopped at the mouth of a creek on the southern shore of Lake Erie in Ohio country. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the family thanked the Lord for their safe journey.

They were in their new home, Lot No. 95 in Dover Township No. 7, Range No. 15, in the State of Connecticut’s Western Reserve after six weeks of wilderness travel from Vergennes, Vermont. They immediately began building a cabin and within the next eight years constructed the first grist mill west of the Cuyahoga River, a sawmill and a house on the west hill. This would become the family home for the next 117 years.

Farm animals are prohibited in Bay Village today, but at one time we had a law on the books making it illegal to walk a cow down Lake Road. Evidently, at one time, our early farmers held up traffic walking their cows down the road, and this became a problem in the village!

Major Troyan leads the Memorial Day Parade east along Lake Road from the Red Brick School House (Stop #30) to Lakeside Cemetery in 1936. Once the graves were marked in the cemetery, Dr. Earl Ross began flying over the cemetery and dropping rose petals.

This Memorial Day during Bay Village’s ceremonies in Cahoon Memorial Park, the Bay Village American Legion will read the roll of those men and women from Bay Village who have given their lives to keep our country free. On that honor roll are two of Bay High School’s finest who served in the Vietnam War.

William Marcus Barschow was the valedictorian of the Class of 1955. He was president of the National Honor Society, played football and was in the class play. Bill, known as Barsh, was liked and respected. He lived with his mom, dad and sister, Anne, in a house they built on the corner of Bradley and Lake roads.

It was in 1816 that 23-year-old Aaron Aldrich III, Elizabeth (Betsy) Winsor Aldrich, age 22, and one-year-old son, Aaron IV, set out from Smithfield, Rhode Island, for a new life in Dover Township. With a wagon pulled by oxen, they made the hard journey to Ohio in six weeks.

Betsy’s brother, Henry Winsor, arrived in 1813 and was already settled on Bradley Road. Aaron and Betsy made their home with Henry. Aaron built a log cabin house on the west side of Bradley Road on 21 acres and 60 rods of land in Lot #41 (across from Lakewood Country Club). A second son, William, was born in 1817, and Julia, the third child, was born in 1820. Having been raised in factory life, Aaron became disabled from the excessive labor it took to fell the trees and clear the land. Still he persevered.

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 who lived in the old Heckerman house on the east side of Bradley Road, south of the tracks. Casper, Ernie's older brother, 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.

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.

Which came first: the settler or the church? One wonders about this considering that the birth of the United Methodist Church in Bay Village is so intertwined with the coming of the first settlers. Names such as Saddler, Osborn, Foote, Aldrich, Drake, Cahoon, Wolf, and Tuttle are on the church roll.

After the War of 1812, William Saddler traveled through Dover Township in Connecticut’s Western Reserve on his way home to Clarence Station, New York. He fell in love with the country and purchased parts of Lots #92 and #98 along the Lake Erie shoreline from the Connecticut Land Company. He arrived in Dover with his father, Christopher, in 1814, to clear the land, and built a log cabin where Saddler Road is today. In 1815, William returned with his wife, Elizabeth Troyan Saddler, and daughter, Sophia.

On the David Foote farm, west of Bradley and Lake roads, the Lake Shore Electric Railway laid tracks for the interurban service that connected cities from Cleveland to Detroit. In 1897, the trolleys were up and running. By May 1938 the interurban was bankrupt and ceased operation.

Some residents, whose properties adjoined the tracks, had the opportunity to purchase track footage. I lived on the south side of Lake Road, 500 feet west of Bradley Road. My dad purchased 500 feet of track with our 100-foot lot in the middle. My dad said it was his "buffer against the world."

Henry Wischmeyer Sr. came to Dover Township in 1872. He owned the land from the shores of Lake Erie south to just past where Wolf Road is today and from Dover Center Road east to Glen Park Drive. We remember the family best by the hotel and wine cellar they built on the lake.

In the 1940s, Henry Wischmeyer Jr., the last of the original Wischmeyer family, was the caretaker of the property and still resided in the family home on the south side of Lake Road. West of his house, next to the grape vineyard, stood a large barn with a May Company ad painted on the side.

The Cahoon family owned land from Wolf Road all the way to Lake Erie, an area that is now Cahoon Memorial Park.

Once the lake froze over, the Cahoons and other early settlers cut the ice into large squares which were packed in straw and stored underground in the back of an ice house. The ice could then be used well into the summer in ice boxes, the forerunner of refrigerators.

Rose Hill Museum, the former home of the Cahoon family, has an ice saw on display in the original 1810 basement of the musuem.