The City Sights Network


The first suburbs: Glenville and Bratenhal

Glenville was nicknamed the “garden spot” because of its shady glens. In the 1890’s, the “gay 90’s” that is the peak of Cleveland ’s economy as an industrial city this area was settled first by Scottish Irish and German immigrants. Wealthy families then elected it as a fashionable lakeshore resort.

     In the mid-19th century, about twenty-five families farmed the rural area which would become the village of Bratenahl , the name of which comes from Charles Bratenahl, who owned land on Lake Erie . Originally part of Glenville and Collinwood, Bratenahl became as well a summer resort where the wealthy industrialists and financiers of the city would eventually have mansions built. In 1889, there was a country club on the site of Charles Coit’s summer hotel. The residents of Bratenahl resisted its annexation to Cleveland and in 1903 the area was incorporated as an independent village.  This small village was a residential community of less than one square mile on Lake Erie and surrounded by the city of Cleveland . In 1906, when Collinwood was annexed, the area from Coit Rd. to E. 140th St. also became part of Bratenahl.

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