History of the City of Kirtland
Ten-thousand years ago, Kirtland was under a huge glacier about one mile in depth and inching its way almost to the Ohio River. Grinding slowly south, the glacier was ripping the land under it and taking along the various soils and stones. The glacier finally started to melt and when it melted in the Kirtland area, it left a mixture of soils and stones along with Gildersleeve Mountain, Pierson's Knob, the East Branch of the Chagrin River and various ravines, gullies and streams.
Grasses, shrubs and hardwood trees started to grow and formed a canopy against the sky, making a place for wild birds and animals to live. Around 6000 BC, Indians, who came from Asia over the Bering Strait during the ice age, settled in the Kirtland area. Fishing, hunting and small gardens with maize and fresh wild berries were their diet. Their clothes and teepee of shelters were made of hides from the animals they killed, skinned and cured. Kirtland has been claimed by various Indian tribes, France, England, State of Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut, along with the United States government.
The Kirtland area was also part of the Western Reserve given to the state of Connecticut, after the Revolutionary War. The state formed the Connecticut Land Company which sold the land for 50 cents per acre. In addition, soldiers were granted land in the Western Reserve in payment for their service to the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
Daniel Holbrook, II, was one of the many stockholders of the Connecticut Western Reserve Land Company who obtained land in the Northwest Territory. He turned over most of his parcels (including Kirtland) to land agent Moses Cleaveland to subdivide and sell. The lands which comprise Kirtland were purchased by Turhand Kirtland of Derby, Connecticut, who participated in the building of Chillicothe Road, the first road to connect Ohio's early state capitol of Chillicothe with Lake Erie. The community was named after Turhand Kirtland.
In 1803, the area of Ohio was granted statehood and the state divided it into townships, most of them being 25 square miles. Kirtland Township was first part of Trumbull County, then Geauga County, and then in the late 1840's became part of newly formed Lake County. Kirtland's first settler was Christopher D. Crary, a Revolutionary War soldier who had been imprisoned on a British ship in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He and his family settled in the area of the South Kirtland Cemetery. Estella Crary, a family member, is believed to have become Kirtland's first school teacher in 1814.
Times were hard and it took one year to clear an acre of land. From the beginning of Kirtland Township until the 1900's, Kirtland was a farming community. The farmers had dairies, orchards, poultry and potato farms that provided their livelihood. After World War I, the men started to travel to Willoughby, Euclid, and Cleveland to work in the machine shops, foundries, stores and businesses.
Waite Hill and Kirtland Hills broke away from Kirtland township and formed villages in the 1900-1930-1960 era. The city of Willoughby in the 1930's and 1970's also took part of Kirtland Township, reducing the 25 square miles down to about 17 square miles. Kirtland Township was governed by three elected citizens as trustees and a clerk. By state statutes, they had little governing power. They could establish and maintain township roads, cemeteries, appoint a fire department, take care of the poor, settle property line disputes, and place levies on the ballot for money to govern. Later zoning and planning commissions were established, a Justice of the Peace could be elected to handle small claims and non-felony laws and a township constable could be elected to keep peace and order.
In 1968, the City of Mentor thought about annexing the northern part of Kirtland Township where Lakeland Community College was, so in 1968 a special election was held to vote to incorporate Kirtland Township into a village, with a governing body of council and mayor. The council and mayor were elected in November 1968 and took office in December 1968. The first council members were all members of the Kiwanis Club of Kirtland. In 1969, the Kirtland income tax was voted in and in 1969-1970, the first police department was established.
In 1970, the federal census was taken and Kirtland Village exceeded 5000 citizens, so under Ohio State statutes, Kirtland automatically became a city as of February 1971. Being a city, Kirtland had to use mostly state laws to govern itself, so a charter commission was elected in 1972 to form a Kirtland City Charter. The new charter was voted on by the citizens and passed, so Kirtland City became a Charter City giving the city greater latitude and control on how it could be governed. This is the form of government Kirtland has today.
Holden Arboretum, Lake Metroparks, Lakeland Community College, the grounds and flower beds of the Kirtland Mormon Temple and Kirtland Recreation Park help form our beauty, and the 10 churches help us keep the faith.
9301 Chillicothe Rd. • Kirtland, OH 44094
p: 440.256.3332 • f: 440.256.9301
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