The City Sights Network


Cudell and Edgewater

Since 1871, the Edgewater neighborhood was part of the Village of West Cleveland until it was annexed to Cleveland in 1894. This area remained used as farmed land until it benefited from the growth of Cleveland as an industrial city and started to become a suburban neighborhood. Similarly to other areas along the lakeshore, the Edgewater community is a testimony of Cleveland ’s glorious past. Erected during the Gilded Age by the Cleveland millionaires who helped define and shape Cleveland as an industrial city, this neighborhood had grandiose century homes. Marcus Hanna for instance had his estate built in this area, overlooking the lake.

     In the 1920’s, these estates ranging from a size of 5 to 10 acres were subdivided into smaller parcels where houses and apartments would be developed close to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern rail lines. The old estates have lost their original charm and configuration but have been advantageously replaced by newly built houses to form the greatest concentration of higher-priced housing in the city.

     Close by, the Cudell neighborhood was started in the glorious 1890’s around the Lorain Station Historic District. Public transportation was insured at first by horse-drawn trolleys and later by electric streetcars, causing the development of commercial and industrial business along the major arteries emerging from downtown. Following the building of the Woodland Avenue & West Side Railway Streetcar Station at the angle of Lorain avenue and West 98th Street on the West Side of town, the area grew even more quickly. This transportation company was the first in Cleveland to insure a cross-town service between the East and West Sides, and it provided privileged access to transit lines toward all parts of Northeast Ohio . Thus, an array of shops and restaurants changed the physiognomy of the area as residential development ensued. With the growing need for local markets, the area bloomed until the late 1950’s. The Woodland Avenue & West Side Railway facility was unfortunately level a few years after service stopped and the neighborhood continued loosing its population and resources after the building of interstate I90.

     In 1994, the Lorain Station Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The city of Cleveland also recognized the historic character of the District in 1998 and declared it a local landmark. The area was elected also to be a participant in other locally funded programs: the revitalization of the Lorain Station Historic District has become a public as well as a private matter with considerable funding attributed to its development and preservation. Since, seventeen historic buildings have been restored to their original state: the Lorain Station Historic District gives way for rapid positive changes in the Cudell neighborhood.