My Hometown

I've written a lot of posts about Mexico and Europe.  For a change I thought that I would write about my hometown.

I live in Olmsted Falls, Ohio, a suburb to the southwest of Cleveland.  Olmsted Falls was founded in 1814 in a part of Ohio known as the Western Reserve.  After the American Revolution, this tract of land was reserved for veterans from the state of Connecticut.  Because of this, many of the smaller towns in northeast Ohio have a New England feel to them.  Olmsted Falls has a population of around 9,000 people.

(image from the web)

 

The Community Church has a "New England" appearance.

 

 

The old downtown of Olmsted Falls has been restored and is now a picturesque area of specialty shops and restaurants.  It is called "Grand Pacific Junction" after the former Grand Pacific Hotel, shown above.

 

 

The gazebo at "Grand Pacific Junction"

 

 

A couple blocks from downtown is a covered bridge.  Although it is of recent construction, it is typical of the covered bridges that were built in the 19th century.

 

 

Next door to Olmsted Falls, is another suburb called Berea.  (I can walk from my house and cross the border into Berea in a couple minutes.)  Since I graduated from Berea High School and attended Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, I consider it to also be my hometown.

 

Berea has a very interesting history.  It was founded in 1836 by John Baldwin.  Baldwin dreamed of founding a Utopian village.  That venture failed, but he discovered that Berea sat on a deposit of high quality sandstone.  In the late 1800's and early 1900's the town became the "Sandstone Capital of the World".  The stone was used to make grindstones and also for building construction.  Berea sandstone was shipped all over the world, and numerous important buildings, including the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, are built of Berea sandstone.  Many immigrants came from Europe to work in the quarries, including my great-great grandfather, Johannes Marti from Switzerland.  In the 20th century as concrete became a preferred building material, the sandstone industry declined, and by the 1930's the last of the quarries in Berea closed.

 

 

 

Coe Lake was once one of the largest quarries in Berea.  Now it is an attractive park.

 

The museum of the Berea Historical Society is housed in a sandstone house built in 1854.  Local residents have donated family antiques to furnish the home as it might have appeared in the 19th century.

 

 

Berea is the home of Baldwin Wallace University.  It was founded in 1845 by John Baldwin as Baldwin Institute, later Baldwin University.  It was one of the first colleges in Ohio to admit students regardless of gender or race.  In 1913 it merged with neighboring German Wallace College to create Baldwin Wallace College.  Because it now offers graduate courses in education and business administration, it is now called a university.

 

 

Marting Hall is the oldest building on the campus.  It, like the other older buildings, is built of Berea sandstone.

 

Wheeler Hall is another one of the older sandstone buildings.  I spent many hours here as a student because it was the home of the foreign language department.  It now houses the education department.

 

The Cleveland area is very fortunate is have the Metropolitan Parks, a string of parks, nicknamed the Emerald Necklace, which encircle greater Cleveland.  The Rocky River Reservation passes through Berea.