Highland Heights Park History

Thank you to Brian Gilbert for providing the following text as a handout at our recent dusty golden meadow walk. Thank you also to Suneeti Jog for allowing the use of the material.   A BRIEF HISTORY OF HIGHLAND HEIGHTS COMMUNITY PARK (from “Vascular Plant Flora of Highland Heights Community Park : A Floristic Survey and Trend Analysis of a Suburban Wetland”, Suneeti Jog, PhD Dissertation, May 2003) A BRIEF HISTORY OF LAND USE The City of Highland Heights was originally part of Mayfield Township and was formed in 1819, together with other adjoining cities (History of Highland Heights 1976).  Settlement in the area began in 1805, when several families migrated from New York .  The first settler was Rufus Mapes who owned part of the property under study. The first plank road was built in 1877 from East Cleveland through Euclid and Mayfield Townships , along the road that is presently called Mayfield Road and located about one mile south of the study site.  This led to increased development in the area.  The construction of a railway service connecting Chardon to Cleveland further propelled growth of the town.  By the 1920s, the automobile made the township even more accessible.  Highland Heights became a village in 1921 with a population of 200 people.  Mayfield Township was then divided into the 4 villages and Highland Heights was one of them.  The city of Highland Heights occupies approximately 12.76 square km.  In the 1930s the population grew to 281 and in the forties and fifties it grew at a slow pace.  It became a city in 1969, operating under the mayor council form of government.  The present population of Highland Heights is 8082 based on the year 2000 census. A map of the territory from 1874 shows that the land under study was divided into various lots owned by the early settlers.  Large parcels of land were owned by Brainard, Leuty, Mapes, Riddle and Wilcox.  Smaller pieces of property were owned by other settlers.  Public land base maps from the early part of the last century show the presence of a road called Spiro Avenue in place of a dirt road that now exists between parcels that belong to the city and the parcel of land owned by the school board.  A land use map from 1938 reveals that the site was divided into areas termed as ‘vacant sub-divided land’ and ‘woodland’.  Aerial photos from the 1940s confirm this.  An ice skating rink abutted the southern border of the site.  This was converted to a pet cemetery in the 1920s.  Highland Heights Community Park was officially formed in the mid 1960’s when 14.16 hectares of land was set aside as park land to be used only for recreational purposes.  From then on, the city has acquired more land and the park now occupies about 21.04 hectares. Beginning in 1938, gas wells were drilled all over Highland Heights , (Oil and Gas Pipelines in Ohio 1989).  Forty five wells were dug in different locations and these wells delivered 17 million cubic feet of gas per day.  They produced a mixture of natural gas and gasoline along with sulphur compounds.  The sulphur compounds were noxious and had to be removed before the gas was distributed from the pipelines.  A wash station was built in the 1940s to deodorize the gas.  This wash station was located in the park at the spot where the old pool is now located (Highland Heights Fire Chief Benson, personal communication).  A pond, approximately 0.4 hectares in area was located where the new swimming pool is now.  These oil wells were first drilled by Benedum-Trees Oil Company and later owned by East Ohio Oil Company.   The study area has two gas wells in it.  One is located in the southern woods and is a dry hole and the other is located at the south eastern edge of the property.  The dry hole has been capped and shows presence of debris in the woods.  Underground pipelines were cut at both ends and pipes were washed and filled with water.  All wells were firmly plugged.  Spiro Road was used as an access road to get to the wash station from Bishop Road (Highland Height Fire Chief Benson, pers. comm.).