CUYAHOGA FALLS: This city of 51,000 souls bears little resemblance to the settlement established 200 years ago, when a handful of pioneers mingled with Indians still living along the banks of the Cuyahoga River.
Culture and technology have changed at a steady pace over the past two centuries, but certainly there were times when an event or decision significantly altered the course of Cuyahoga Falls’ history.
In honor of the bicentennial of Summit County’s second-largest city, we asked some local officials and historians to help identify 10 transformative moments.
Here are the first five (based on chronological order) that came to mind. (Items 6 through 10 will be published Saturday.)
1. Summer of 1812: Fight or flight.
While most Indians had left the area, some 500 Senecas still lived in teepees along Front Street on the south side of Silver Lake. Led by Chief Wagmong, they were friends to the early settlers, local historian Jeri Holland said.
“Many of the Senecas helped heal many of the sick, including my third-great grandfather, Leverett Wilcox, when he was a child. They were respected by a majority of the pioneers and seemed to garner respect in return,” she said.
A couple of days before the War of 1812 broke out, however, the Indians had an important decision to make. The British were enlisting their help to defeat the white man.
A war council Wagmong called made the decision to leave town and join the war farther west so they wouldn’t have to battle their pioneer friends.
“I do believe if things had turned out differently, many of our Falls pioneer families would have been killed and the initial start of the town would have been destroyed,” Holland said. On a personal note, “perhaps I wouldn’t be here now if they had decided not to leave during the night.”
2. 1826: Manchester no more
When Cuyahoga Falls was formed in 1812, the founders named it Manchester.
The late historian Samuel Lane suggested it was probably a nod to the great English manufacturing town “in view of the manufacturing possibilities of the locality.”
In 1826, the U.S. Post Office asked the village to reconsider. Several other Manchesters already existed in the state and it was causing quite a bit of confusion.
Local officials agreed and renamed the town after two waterfalls in the Cuyahoga River, which had proven to be so vital to the town’s development.
3. April 5, 1842: Battle for the county seat
When Summit County was created by the Ohio legislature in 1840, it opened the question of where the county seat would be located.
Initially, the newly elected county commissioners gave the distinction to Cuyahoga Falls.
Akron challenged that decision, leading to months of tense battle in the courts and in the Statehouse. Finally, the matter was submitted to voters.
In a colorful recollection, historian Karl Grismer wrote about the event in his Akron and Summit County history book.
“The sun had barely risen when citizens started going to the voting places in every township, on foot, on horseback and by horse and buggy ...” he wrote. “All doubt about the outcome was dispelled before midnight, even though returns had not yet come in from distant townships. Akron had won, hands down!”
Falls Mayor Don Robart said it’s hard to know how the city would be different today if it had retained its county seat status.
“For one thing, I would imagine our population would be larger, and I think it would have grown more quickly,” he said.
4. Sept. 8, 1915: High Level Bridge opens
The original High Level Bridge opened to great fanfare in 1915, connecting Cuyahoga Falls to Akron across the sheer cliffs of the Gorge that separated them.
The bridge, paid with a voter-approved bond issue, played a significant role in developing both cities, as it allowed the free movement of commerce and commuters between the North Hill neighborhood and State Road.
By extending North Howard Street over the Gorge, motorists were provided a direct north-south route instead of having to go miles out of their way to cross the river at a lower elevation.
Alas, the narrow bridge was not built to withstand the crush of traffic that arrived as automobiles surged in popularity. By 1950, its day was done.
Summit County officials paid to build a new bridge about 220 feet east of the old one.
5. 1920: Cityhood
Cuyahoga Falls was founded in 1812 and incorporated as a town in 1836, but it didn’t become a city until 1920.
That’s when the U.S. census determined the population had crossed the required 5,000 milestone. Indeed, the Falls jumped from 4,000 residents in 1910 to more than 10,000 in 1920.
In the decade after cityhood was granted, it was clear the Falls was no longer a village. It formed a full-time police department with the city’s first police chief, and a chamber of commerce was organized.
Still, voters did not adopt the mayor/council/charter form of government until 1959.
Visit CuyahogaFalls.Ohio.com/bicentennial to keep up with all of the Bicentennial Celebration coverage from the Beacon Journal and Ohio.com. Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.