Former Solon Mayor Bob Paulson wrote in cleveland.com that it was “unfair” to beat up on Chagrin Falls for its “white mindset” and “merchant hysteria.” He defended businesses for taking precautions after a protest in downtown Cleveland turned violent the previous Saturday after escalations by the police. Others noted on social media that Chagrin Falls, which is 97 percent white, has a unique history with race. Many pointed out that a separate, predominantly black, community called Chagrin Falls Park exists just down the road on the other side of the Cuyahoga County border, in Bainbridge Township.
Some wish that Chagrin Falls Park didn’t exist. Others see it as a blight on picturesque Chagrin Falls. But most don’t know the stories of opportunity and pride that came from that community in the early 1900s. Those stories are worth revisiting in light of nationwide protests for racial justice.
Early residents began arriving in Chagrin Falls Park during the Great Migration in the 1910s and 1920s. Many came from the South and were looking for a quiet piece of land away from the hustle and bustle of Cleveland’s industrialized urban core. For African-Americans coming from the South that were used to being spread out and having the ability to grow their own crops and keep livestock, Chagrin Falls Park was ideal.
Initially, the 81 acres of land that comprised the Park were advertised by the owner of Jewish World, a Yiddish-language magazine, to be sold in 20 by 100 foot lots, with no building restrictions. The land had no sewers, electricity or paved roads, which made the lots a hard sell for the magazine’s readers. Needless to say, many of the lots went unsold. Real estate agents Grover and Florence Brow eventually bought the remaining lots and began selling them to the skilled-labor African-American workers in Cleveland.
The duo ran ads in Black newspapers during the 1910s and 1920. Ads played up the idea of an all-Black suburb using pro-Black language uplifting the names of Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass in attempts to lure people out of the city.
Initially, plots were sold for $25, which was obtainable on a Black laborer’s wage. During the Great Depression, plots could be purchased for as low as $2 each. Many of the white residents of the Park fell delinquent on their taxes, leaving homes vacant and available for rent or purchase by Blacks. There was also trolley service that ran from Cleveland to Chagrin Falls until 1924, which made it easy for men to get to the city for work.
Early residents of Chagrin Falls Park supplemented their incomes in various ways. Rent parties, running numbers, and rum-running were all prevalent. Residents would rent rooms in their homes and sell the food, livestock, and poultry grown on their land to get them through the tough economic times and job losses of the Great Depression. The lure of owning a newly built home also appealed to Blacks, although they often had to use cheaper lumber and materials due to making less money than their white counterparts.
Chagrin Falls Park continued to grow. According to the 1930 census, there were 57 African American residents; in 1940, there were 200; and by 1950, 650 Black people called Chagrin Falls Park home. The Park peaked in 1960 with 900 residents before the population dwindled.
Chagrin Falls Park was a community of what we would now call Black Excellence. Black men and women were active in their community. In a time where many women had not entered the workforce, Black women worked as domestics in the home of the white Chagrin Falls residents to supplement their husbands’ pay in factories and service departments in the City of Cleveland. They opened bars, shops, and provided child care for other residents to help make ends meet. Park women were active in their community, serving in the Geauga County Negro Republican Party, fundraising, and driving voters to the polls. Residents worked with the Cleveland’s NAACP to advocate for desegregation of Park Elementary School, and they sponsored the local baseball club and served as volunteer firefighters for their community.
The residents of Chagrin Falls Park were self-sufficient. They relied on their own resources and grit to support their community and neighbors. When the trolley stopped going out to Chagrin Falls, the men would carpool into Cleveland for work. They established churches and a Park baseball team to play other Black teams in Northeast Ohio. They hosted an annual Fish Fry as a community fundraiser that brought Black Clevelanders out to their dirt roads where they “walked in that dust like it was gold dust.”
Unfortunately, the residents of Chagrin Falls Park were not exempt from racism. Pay disparities combined with fear of unaffordable taxes left residents to advocate for services like garbage pick-up and water into the 1980s. Many homes often caught fire due to cheap materials and reliance on lanterns and fires instead of utilities.
After World War II, social security and Blacks’ acceptance into labor unions opened up more options for homeownership for both Blacks and whites. As the Civil Rights movement continued, Blacks began to pursue a more affluent lifestyle and began to settle in Cleveland’s first-ring suburbs and away from rural suburbs like Chagrin Falls Park. The Federal Housing Administration’s insistence on racial segregation, redlining, and a series of zoning laws also pushed Blacks to settle in certain parts of Cleveland and made living in the Park undesirable for some and no longer an option for others.
The Park neighborhood still exists today. Nestled off of South Franklin Street near Chagrin Falls Cemetery in Bainbridge, older residents of the community make sure to tell their younger neighbors about the history of the houses and where the Juke Joints used to be. And despite being a neighborhood adjacent to the Village of Chagrin Falls, the children that live in the Park do not attend Chagrin Falls Schools. Instead, they attend neighboring Kenston schools. Chase Tuller, the 16-year-old who organized the Black Lives Matter protest last week, is Kenston’s sophomore class president.
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This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2020.
I see all the idiot trolls are out again. Do they create new accounts every day?
Thanks for the informative article on Chagrin Falls Park.
Hey #Takeout
” what were you watching.”
Go back and read my post.
My comment was directed at the author. I believe you and I saw the same thing.
I still think the Chagrin Falls business owners acted reasonably.
There was no way for them to know who was going to show up and how they were going to act.
After all, the protests in the City of Cleveland were supposed to be peaceful.
However, the protests ended up being both very violent and very destructive.
They should have been protesting in Bainbridge.
The Bainbridge police are the ones always coming here and harassing us
Well, it looks like it got deleted so here we go again,
Great article with the exception of the first two paragraphs where you try to justify your existence.
” ….Cleveland turned violent the previous Saturday after escalations by the police.”
Shana stop it. The police did not escalate this and there is video evidence to back it up. Just ask that ‘protester’ swinging the bat at the windows of thew justice center while the cops looked on with folded arms.
The video is on the fox 8 website if you missed it.
Don’t lie when there are videos to prove you wrong-you look really bad.
Ah, the mindset of the media and the liberals (but I am redundant): If you try to protect your livelihood, you are a hysterical racist.
They mention it at the end, but the proximity to CFHS is stunning. The entire Park is less than a mile from the middle and high schools but are bused to Kenston. Meanwhile some posh neighborhoods more than 4 miles away from the schools (and only 2 miles from the Kenston schools) are fine for inclusion. It’s a very loud statement.
Black Lives Matter! So why is Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen killing people with high fat and sodium content in their food targeting neighborhoods of color? Why are cigarette manufacturers targeting inner city populations with menthol cigarettes that are more addictive than other cigarettes? Smoking and poor diet kill more people of color than poorly trained or malevolent police officers. When did it become fashionable to call people racist for stating facts? Solving problems requires more than chanting slogans.
Solutions will begin to appear when more people follow NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson and fewer who follow flat-earthers like Kyrie Irving.
The author implies that the mostly black Chagrin Falls Park area was singularly carved out of the Chagrin Falls school district and put in the Kenston district – when there are actually numerous closer-to-Chagrin neighborhoods (of likely white residents, nice houses) that go to Kenston schools, including one that actually backs onto/overlooks Chagrin Falls High School. Can’t get much closer than that – and don’t hear any whining from those residents. (KALICORN, from above, your argument is invalid)
Also, the inference is that Kenston schools must be vastly inferior – when, in fact, out of hundreds of Ohio districts, they rank in the top 25 in the state, vs top 10 Chagrin. Poor, education-deprived Kenston/Park kids…
Author: get real
See the outline of Chagrin Falls Park at the top of this page. Move your eyes up from “P” in the word “Park” and you will see Chagrin Falls High/Middle School easily identified wirh sports fields/buildings.
Move your eyes down just below the school and you will see a wh*te, well-off neighborhood that actually overlooks the back of the Chagrin schools but which is also, like the Park, in the Kenston school district – and is significantly closer than the 2 mile drive from the Park to the schools.
Those residents don’t complain or cry “redlining”… they already go to a top 25 school district in Ohio – Kenston – just like the Park kids. If Chagrin is top 10, oh, well.. out of hundreds of Ohio districts, they are making out quite well by any measure.
Thank you so much for this informative and inspiring piece of history. Some of my family history is rooted in Chagrin Falls Park. Although I never lived there, I spent a lot of time visiting relatives there during the 1960’s. It was always welcoming, peaceful, and fun. It was a quiet yet lively place, where one could escape the big city (Cleveland) pressures for a few hours. I also enjoyed the social activities at Dick’s Inn.
It was a great place to enjoy the company of those who appreciated fun and good people.
All I know is that I have a choice where I spend my money. We used to drive out to Chagrin Falls for the day. We would walk around, buy stuff, stop by the Popcorn Shop, have dinner at the Paris Room, etc.
Sorry, but no more. From now on it’s Rocket Fizz instead of the Popcorn Shop, it’s Visible Voice instead of Fireside Books, and it’s Le Petit Triangle instead of the Paris Room.
“Sorry, but no more”
I’m certain you will be sorely missed
Don’t you see, these millennial protesters will not stop destroying our cities and neighborhoods until the entire area resembles that of the entire city of East Cleveland!!!
Memo to Shiwaku Seven……………..
U will never be White no matter how much white azz u try to kiss………..
If u DM i will tell u to ur Face !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Question ??? Would Black Folks be in their rights to Arm themselves against Rouge White Racist Cop
who wish to terrorize and kill them for sport and play
Social media has shown how Vile, and Racist these folks r……………..
There can be no compromise or retreat in the war against Racist White Supremancy
This article is further proof that White Folks want to keep their neighborhood LILLY WHITE
and there is nothing wrong with that, I want to keep my community ALL BLACK
I want to Live in an Black House, drive an Black Car, parked in a Black Driveway !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The told Black Folks to take the worst part of Chagrin Fall negro…………
Booker T. Washington told White Racist back in 1895 “We can be as separate as fingers on ones hand. in all things ……………………………………………
White Liberals r complicit in the mass murdering and violence against Black Folks encouraging
them to go into White Racist communities where they r not wanted. ……………… #imho…..
George Floyd’s golden casket is clearly empty while they are dancing with it and throwing it up in the air.
Eyehrtfood2, Kenston is a great SD. Now. It certainly wasn’t near the quality of CFSD back when the far areas were added in and I’m sure a Realtor will tell you which SD increases your home value more even to this day.
I know the CFSD boundaries have expanded over time. I’m not sure of where they started, but I’m thinking it may have been the Geauga/Cuyahoga county line. When it was extended, though, it was extended to the posh neighborhoods near and beyond Rt 306 rather than stuff much closer geographically. Those nice houses just south of the school were build 4+ decades after those in the park.
Now these people say its racist to defend ourselves. Who cares? These people call everybody a naxi and white supremesauce too. Theyre hysterical and tactical. Fuck them.
Did ya’s hear about the armed antifa communists that took 6 blocks in downtown Seattle two days ago and turned it into a commune. After the police abandoned their station from incessant riots, the militants took over the police station then Seattle city hall. The city brought in porta potties for the militants. The commune has already been taken over by a warlord named Raz who rules with violence. No msm coverage. No military response.
I was born and raised in Bainbridge not far from Chagrin Falls Park and lived in Bainbridge until my late 20s. I was wondering if you could confirm the following history:
I had always heard that Chagrin Falls was originally in Geauga County. The border certainly makes it look that way.
And also that Chagrin Falls Park was originally in the Village of Chagrin Falls. But when later, the Village became part of Cuyahoga County and the new border between the counties was drawn to separate the Park from Chagrin Falls.
Today parts of Bainbridge TWP North of the Park ARE in the Chagrin Falls School district, despite still being in Geauga County. The County and Village border runs down South Street so that the south side of South Street, and Oak, Pine, and Cedar Street are in Geauga County and Bainbridge TWP, yet are in the Chagrin Falls School District.
I love that everyones bringing up the elephant in the room. I too went to Kenston and have heard my entire life joe Chagrin Falls park was drawn into Kenston SD so the park would not go to affluent Chagrin. Chagrin needs a reckoning with this bullshit. Call out theyre racist roots and then we can move forward once they own up to theyre racist past.
I walk my dog through Chagrin Falls Park every day. Have lived in Chagrin Falls for 12 years and I’m surprised the author didn’t research how the county lines were drawn between CF and CF Park to purposely keep the children of CF Park from going to CF schools. As others have stated, Kenston Schools are good schools, but even the CF Historical Society “white-washes” that part of CF Park history.
They should have marched in Bainbridge and/or Chardon. Thats where the real systemic racism and corruption is. Leave Chagrin Falls out of it.CFP is not even in Chagrin Falls. Get real.