Whatever Happened to the “Paper Rex” Man?

Excerpts from

REALLY—WHERE IS THE “NEAR WEST SIDE?”

Many people say it reaches from the “Boulevard” (W. 102nd) to the River and from the Lake to what is now Denison Avenue. But it wasn't always like that. The development of the Near West Side began a long time ago, when, in 1807, pioneer families the Lords and the Barbers came from the East Coast to the area as investors in what some say was one of the biggest real estate deals ever.

The Lords and Barbers were part of a group of early settlers who bought the right to own land in the Western Reserve, which was then owned by the state of Connecticut. The Western Reserve stretched from the Pennsylvania border 120 miles west to the area near Sandusky between Lake Erie on the north and the area just south of Akron and Youngstown.

Together, this group of investors put up over one million dollars—a huge amount of money back then. Each investor was given the chance to obtain plots of the land through a drawing in April, 1807. The Lords and Barbers pulled the largest parcel, which stretched from the Cuyahoga River to W. 117th and from Lake Erie to Brookpark Road, naming it Brooklyn Township.

These pioneers had the land surveyed, and in 1836 further incorporated an area from the Cuyahoga River to W. 58th Street, from Lake Erie to Walworth Run, near the present day Rapid tracks. They called this area the City of Ohio. The center of the City of Ohio was called Market Square, and it extended from W. 25th to W. 38th Street. The turnpike (what we now refer to as Pearl Road or W. 25th Street) was the main road in the area.

Until 1854, the City of Cleveland and the City of Ohio were totally separate. In June of 1854, the City of Ohio and some of the area surrounding it was annexed to Cleveland. It then grew to become known as the Near West Side of Cleveland.

More recently, other kinds of “labels” have been given to divisions of Cleveland's lands. The Strategic Planning Areas (SPAs) define areas one way; the police districts another; and the City Council yet another.

Many “regular” people don't use any of these categories when they say where they live or work —they just say “around such and such street” or the Near West End.

Overall, we consider the Near West Side as the part nearest the Cuyahoga River, out west to about the Boulevard, and from the Lake south to Denison.

– Patricia Ehlen Milenius