Avoid my house

Yes. Avoid my house. I'm not sure why the Plain Dealer is so certain that my house should be avoided, but that's clearly what they are saying.

Oh. They mean that whole area, not just my house, as they seem to indicate. Even worse.

Cleveland ward boundaries in 1858

View Cleveland Wards in 1858 in a larger map

To provide better local history to my kids, I've been researching the locations of residences of important 19th century Clevelanders. The problem is that the historic census records only provide the ward of the city that the person lived in. The ward boundaries are totally different today. Further, many of the street and road names have changed, as well as their routes.

The Cleveland Public Library has a wonderful map of Cleveland, showing the ward boundaries and Cuyahoga County, but it's hard to read, and there are also the problems mentioned above. I said to myself, "I wish that there was a nice, clean map, showing the historic ward boundaries." Now, to make my research easier, there is.

All boundaries are drawn to the best of my ability. I haven't been too fussy about the historic river shape nor the historic lake shore. The only area that I'm not completely sure about is the southern boundary of ward 6.

Mapping Shaker Heights

I've always been interested in maps. The recent digitization of a collection of historic Shaker Heights maps started me thinking again about what I could do with Google Maps that might be interesting or useful.

I used data from the City of Shaker Heights Landmark Commission's Summary and Map and Designation Report for the Winslow Road Historic District to make a more readily accessible map illustrating the district.


View Winslow Road Historic District in a larger map

There are two National Register of Historic Places Historic Districts in the immediate proximity - Shaker Square, in Cleveland, and Shaker Village, which encompasses most of the city of Shaker Heights. I used the maps of Shaker Square and Shaker Village to create the following two maps, which may hopefully better illustrate the exact boundaries of the districts. My maps are based on the boundaries shown on the official maps, with the exact details based upon my best guesses and knowledge of the area. I'd love to have more detailed original material. It'd be especially interesting to be able to illustrate which structures are contributing resources and which are not. Thanks to Kelly Beck at the Shaker Heights Plannin Department for locating the source maps.


View Shaker Square Historic District in a larger map


View Shaker Village National Register Historic District in a larger map

Finally, right now I'm working on a map of Shaker Heights City Landmarks. This map includes all local landmarks, as of the end of 2008. I've begun to include photographs of some structures already. I hope to include photographs of them as well in the not too distant future. I may create specific icons for the various types of structures illustrated. I'm not terribly happy with the house icon right now - there's something less than pleasing about using a blob to represent a distinct spot.


View Shaker Heights Landmark Properties in a larger map

Historic Maps of Shaker Heights

I just learned that a collection of thirty historic maps of Shaker Heights has been made available through the Cleveland Memory Project at Cleveland State University. The maps were digitized by Walter Lesch, as part of his practicum for his graduate degree in Library and Information Science at Kent State University.

These maps provide many insights into the history of Shaker Heights in the early 20th century. A few were previously available elsewhere, but involved the use of inconvenient plugins. I congratulate Mr. Lesch on his effort.