First new thread here, so hopefully this is the most fitting place for this post. I figured the historical aspect might make it suitable for this section instead of the transportation board.

 

I live near West Boulevard and have always admired the street. In doing some light research, I saw this excerpt on the planning commission's website: "West Boulevard is named after the north-south thoroughfare designed to connect Edgewater Park, on the north, with Brookside Park, on the south, as part of parkway system envisioned to encircle the City." (http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/cwp/districts.php?dt=dist1&dn=west)

 

My initial assumption was that much of this system was likely not realized, and it would have most likely been intended to connect with MLK or East Boulevard on the East side. However, there does appear to be a fair number of streets that fit the same design criteria as West Boulevard (houses with uniform large, anomalous setbacks and streets that don't conform to the grid in a rather noticeable fashion).

 

On the West Side I identified these streets:

 

West Boulevard, I would think, was the first segment built, both because of the relative age of the neighborhoods it serves as well as the housing stock. It would also appear that the original intention was for the street to pass through the pre-71 version of Brookside Park.

Note how the street is unlike any of the others:

 

 

Then if we jump south of 71, there is a small, disconnected segment of West Blvd that connects to Brookside Drive, which in turn experiences a sudden dead end. I think Brookside looks like it was intended to connect to Park Dr.

 

Following Park Dr, we get to Fulton Pkway which carries the same general street design south, but the setbacks and general street composition cease at Memphis.

 

At this point, I'm not really sure what the intended plan would have been for the southern connection to the East Side. Archmere Ave seems to fit the same design criteria and it even has an odd park jammed into it, breaking up the street, but it just seems too far west to have been part of this planned ring (It's almost parallel to Brookside, just farther south).

 

For the East side, it seems the string of roads is larger but equally splintered.

 

Martin Luther King Jr Dr is long and continuous, for the most part.

 

 

 

There is this segment, where it seems that a connection was never established between two sectons of MLK.

 

The road then ends unceremoniously with a cul-de-sac.

 

However, just a bit south, we get this random strip of Claremont Blvd that fits the bill.

 

After this point I find myself at a loss. I have no idea how the East and West sections would have connected and I can't really find any traces of fitting streets running in the East-West direction. If anyone can contribute information to this discussion, I'd be very interested! Below is an overview of all of the identified roads (Archmere is in yellow).

 

 

Thanks for this! I've been trying to trace out the alignments as well, and came across some maps a while back that showed the various proposed parks - some which were never realized, with parkways that never happened. Let met see if I can find it.

Cool post. I grew up just off of West Blvd, and never knew much of the history behind it. Here's a PD article from December 8, 1907 about the plans for West Blvd: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B16RJdSArUFaQzdISGhrQ3NOZUU/view?usp=sharing

 

 

"The boulevard will be 130 feet wide from Detroit av., N.W., two miles south to Big creek valley. From there on the intention is to have an upper and lower parkway, like that in Rockefeller park."

 

"Behind the West boulevard project there is the further plan to develop one mammoth parkway belting the city. The East boulevard at present extends from Gordon park, through Wade park, Rockefeller park, and Shaker Heights park, a distance of approximately eight miles, which in the end will terminate at Garfield park, adding another five or six miles of continuous driveway as picturesque and attractive as the forestry department of the city can make it."

 

 

 

Also, here's an ad from the PD in May 1909 for the West Blvd development:

 

 

 

Edit: I was looking at old maps from the late 20s/early 30s and noticed a marking for "West Boulevard Parkway" labeled on top of Big Creek, just east of Ridge Road:

 

 

Cool post. I grew up just off of West Blvd, and never knew much of the history behind it. Here's a PD article from December 8, 1907 about the plans for West Blvd: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B16RJdSArUFaQzdISGhrQ3NOZUU/view?usp=sharing

 

 

"The boulevard will be 130 feet wide from Detroit av., N.W., two miles south to Big creek valley. From there on the intention is to have an upper and lower parkway, like that in Rockefeller park."

 

"Behind the West boulevard project there is the further plan to develop one mammoth parkway belting the city. The East boulevard at present extends from Gordon park, through Wade park, Rockefeller park, and Shaker Heights park, a distance of approximately eight miles, which in the end will terminate at Garfield park, adding another five or six miles of continuous driveway as picturesque and attractive as the forestry department of the city can make it."

 

 

 

Also, here's an ad from the PD in May 1909 for the West Blvd development:

 

 

notice the address is the Schofield Building, thought that was kinda cool.

That's some great information! Thanks

 

It's a shame that more of this didn't come to fruition. It's odd that, from what I can see, this plan remained intact in some form for a while, as the housing along the road south of Brookside Park is considerably newer than that of the northern West Boulevard section.

 

If my immediate assumption is correct, large swaths of the original East Boulevard became MLK?

Great first (or one of your first posts).  And good eye, I lived in Old Brooklyn in 20 years and have looked at a lot of aerial imagery and never noticed that Archmere's planting strips and housing setbacks were so much larger relatively to other homes in the neighborhood, especially homes on adjacent blocks.

 

Fulton Road, south of Memphis also has significant setbacks as well although its housing stock is relatively newer;

 

If you look at this ages of Cleveland buildings map that I made - http://skorasaur.us/maps/clebuildings.html Homes on Fulton were in the 40s and 50s and immediately east of there are older homes.

 

TPH2, any idea where Garfield Park was planned to be?

 

 

That's some great information! Thanks

 

It's a shame that more of this didn't come to fruition. It's odd that, from what I can see, this plan remained intact in some form for a while, as the housing along the road south of Brookside Park is considerably newer than that of the northern West Boulevard section.

 

If my immediate assumption is correct, large swaths of the original East Boulevard became MLK?

 

Yes, the portion of MLK that runs south of Euclid Ave used to be "East Boulevard." Edit: Actually, I forgot that the portion north of Euclid was also known as "Lower East Blvd." and was later changed to "Liberty Blvd" in the late 1910s/early 1920s? The MLK Jr Drive name came in the early 1980s.

 

 

 

 

TPH2, any idea where Garfield Park was planned to be?

 

 

My assumption was it was referring to present day Garfield Park in Garfield Hts, which at the time was a park of the city of Cleveland

Cool stuff. FYI: the right of way of Fulton Road in the vicinity of present-day I-71 was substantially widened shortly before Great Depression, with all of the buildings on one side of the street (I believe the west side) demolished to widen the right of way. Again, this was long before I-71 was considered, so I'm curious as to why this widening was undertaken. Perhaps as part of this parkway plan? Maybe a feeder into it?

Good stuff. I know that the U.S. Lighthouse Service used to house the Cleveland-based lighthouse keepers in one or two houses on West Blvd.

Haven't really looked into it too much, but could this plan have any connection with South Blvd that runs a ways though Maple Hts?

So this part of West Blvd. that is isolated was always isolated. West Park Cemetery is just north and can be found in 1930's topographic maps.

Interesting. I've never quite understood the quirky jobs West Blvd takes from Madison to Detroit, rather then just dumping onto Madison then continuing north of Detroit Ave.

Great Post!  I was always wondering if MLK south of Miles was intended to connect with Garfield Blvd to create a loop, but was terminated when Calvary Cematary was built.

Doesn't Calvary Cemetery date to the 1800s?

Doesn't Calvary Cemetery date to the 1800s?

 

Yes, 1890s

Doesn't Calvary Cemetery date to the 1800s?

 

Yes, 1890s

 

Yes, but the cemetery originally consisted of 105 acres (the western portion) and later expanded to over 300 acres.  The first burial was in section 10 (see map at attached link) - I wonder if the original plot was only the area west of the railroad that bisects the cemetery, as the eastern sections have higher section numbers.

 

http://clecem.org/Files/CemeteryMaps/01012014_CCC.pdf

 

The original cemetery dates to 1893, and Garfield Park to 1894.  I would think a connection to Garfield Park would have been possible at the time... Topography is challenging there, there are 2 railroad lines, and I don't know if that's an old quarry site NW of Broadway/E.131 St.?

 

Nice! Thanks for posting.  :-)

So this part of West Blvd. that is isolated was always isolated. West Park Cemetery is just north and can be found in 1930's topographic maps.

 

I noticed that as well.

 

I'm wondering if the initial plan for West Blvd either pre-dated the cemetery, part of the cemetery, or was just intended to pass along the perimeter. It could have possibly been intended to pass along the southern edge of the cemetery where 71 is currently located. However, that seems unlikely as in the map posted by TPH2, there's a "West Boulevard Parkway" marked in the space north of the cemetery.

This is a small wooden cut out that is on display at CPL. Thought it was cool

 

TPH2,

 

That's a Great find on your part. Do you know what year this map was made? I notice Rockefeller Part (I assume the Land that JDR donated to East Cleveland and Cleveland Hts.)

Essentially it was never completed because development sprawled out in those directions. The Metroparks has completed a similar ring much further south that connects many of its resources.

This map is an awesome find.

 

I think it's pretty interesting how the southern stretch really defies the development trends that actually progressed. The segment between Brookside and Washington parks would basically run along the southern property line of the steel mill, wouldn't it?