|
Collectors of Ohio lore should love getting to know Willoughby’s history. It’s the only town in America that has belonged, at one time or other, to six counties (Washington, Jefferson, Trumbull, Geauga, Cuyahoga, and Lake). The City bore four names before Dr. Willoughby gave it his: Charlton when it was a French settlement in the 1750’s; Chagrin River under the British who followed; Chagrin Mills when the first industries sprang up; and the shorter Chagrin by 1815. Besides its public schools, Willoughby has given birth to five educational institutions.
Willoughby’s early history parallels that of many northern Ohio towns. The area about twenty miles east of the Chagrin River, first inhabited by Erie Indians, was settled in 1750’s by French pioneers. In 1787, Yale graduate David Abbott made a trip west from Rome, New York. Eleven years later, Abbott acquired 200 acres including what is now Willoughby and assembled a group of pioneers to settle near a waterfall in the Chagrin River, building a sawmill and gristmill.
In 1834 John Henderson and the famous Dr. Willoughby established the Willoughby Medical College as a way of bringing doctors to the area. The college was considered one of the best facilities outside a large city.
In the last decade of the nineteenth century, Willoughby founded its municipal water and light plant, organized a fire department, and was crossed by the Cleveland-Painesville Eastern electric railway. The CPE opened Willoughby to the residents of Cleveland, who were enchanted with the scenic lakeshore area. The CPE, which ran until 1927, also brought electricity to Euclid Avenue residents.
The traditions of industriousness and integrity instilled in Willoughby in the 19th century continue today. The citizens of Willoughby have strong roots and a lot of pride in the connections to the past. Listing Willoughby’s downtown on the National Register of Historic Places ensures its architecture and history will be preserved and not fall prey to any fads, such as the urban renewal phase in the 1970’s.
|
