Calhoun was undoubtedly aware that Rockefeller's
agents were busy acquiring these properties: Cowles was Rockefeller's
assistant as well as Calhoun's Euclid Heights agent. In addition, because
Cowles was president of the Cleveland Trust Company, he had many connections
in the community that might have expedited land acquisition.
At the same time that Rockefeller was accumulating park land, Calhoun
had charged Cowles, along with John Hartness Brown and perhaps William
L. Rice, with the responsibility of acquiring park land from thirty to
forty different property owners. Exactly two weeks after Rockefeller announced
his gift to the city, Calhoun's agent, William L. Rice, announced Calhoun's
gift of land worth between $160,000 and $170,000 along Euclid Avenue and
Cedar Glen. Like Rockefeller's people, Calhoun's agents had spent months
acquiring the various parcels of land.
Calhoun envisioned implementation of Bowditch's park plan which provided
for the extension of Rockefeller Boulevard across Euclid Avenue, southward
to Cedar Road and up Cedar Glen to Euclid Heights. After Calhoun's gift
was received, Euclid Avenue was widened and partially relocated to form
University Circle. Calhoun donated the land with the understanding that
park roads would be constructed from Euclid Avenue to Cedar Road. He also
reserved the right "to operate upon a small portion of the land which
he gives a street railway to and through Cedar Glen, as a means of affording
street railway facilities to·Euclid Heights." Calhoun's gift was indeed
generous, but some accused him of having an ulterior motive: the allowance
of a street railway to his subdivision.
While Patrick Calhoun had grand visions, he did not have an unlimited
amount of money to spend on this "hamlet." He undoubtedly took bank loans,
and is said to have borrowed one million dollars from Cleveland millionaire
John D. Rockefeller. Calhoun corresponded with Rockefeller between 1897
and 1918 regarding the Euclid Heights Realty Company and might have requested
a loan in 1897, as indicated by the subsequent years' correspondence.
In 1898 Calhoun was refused an additional $40,000 loan requested of Rockefeller.
Little documentation exists of this or any other Rockefeller-Calhoun loan;
however, a correspondence index at the Rockefeller Family Archives indicates
that the mortgage for Euclid Heights Realty Company was held by Rockefeller
and covered by bonds "given to Rockefeller Foundation, March 1914. Final
settlement made Feb. 1918."
While Calhoun had acquired the majority of the land necessary to complete
his subdivision, it was not until 1896 and 1897 that Calhoun was able
to purchase the remainder of the land in the J.J. Low subdivision at the
top of Cedar Glen. Through his agents, land was acquired under several
different names: The Erie Company, The Euclid Heights Realty Company,
The Land & Fund Co., and Cleveland Trust Co., as well as in the names
of W.L. Rice and Calhoun. On May 3, 1897, all of the lots of the additional
land were empty, and Calhoun went ahead with his scheme in its entirety.
With the upcoming improvement to the Park System and the acquisition
of all necessary land, it seemed now that residents might be more tempted
to relocate from Cleveland's lowlands to the scenic suburb of Euclid Heights.
The original plan of Euclid Heights was never realized, but a revision
of this plan was completed prior to 1898, most probably just after Calhoun
had acquired Low's land. The design of this later plan remains today,
as do most of the street names. Today, however, minimal changes have been
made to the locations of Surrey Road and the western portion of Kenilworth
Road.
The eastern portion of Calhoun's subdivision, which contained smaller
lots, was initially intended for more modest occupants. This portion of
the subdivision is laid out on an east-west, north-south grid, much like
traditional subdivision. This allowed Calhoun to sell more lots, resulting
in more income. Bowditch, however, distorts the grid ever so slightly
to create the illusion of curved streets. The northeastern-most corner
of the site is also laid out on a grid, however, this grid is shifted
at approximately thirty degrees to align with Mayfield Road.
Road and Railway Transportation
Although the landscape of Euclid Heights was beautiful, it was not easily
accessible. Located on the top of a steep hill, the dirt roads often became
muddy and impassable. One early resident remembered an eight hour round-trip
travel time to get to the downtown market. Additionally, early residents
were forced to travel to the foot of the muddy Cedar Glen to board the
street car at Murray Hill. Even after the first Euclid Heights residents
constructed their houses, the roads were not improved. Cedar Glen was
a winding narrow red clay road, unsuitable for wagon travel. An early
resident remembers only two farm wagons and a milk wagon traveling the
road daily. Coventry and Cedar roads were both narrow dirt paths as well,
each having only approximately two or three homes. Many early residents
approached the subdivision by way of Cornell Road, which was less steep
and muddy than Cedar Glen. Mayfield Plank Road was generally not used
for local travel due to the tolls.
In 1890 the first rail line to the Heights was established to service
Charles A. Post and James Haycox's development along Mayfield Road. This
small strip of residences was located near the town center of Fairmount.
The streetcar line also provided access to Lake View Cemetery and would
eventually become an interurban rail line. While the East Cleveland Railway
Company was adjacent to northern Euclid Heights, this was a considerable
distance to travel for Euclid Heights' early residents, most of whom lived
nearer to Cedar Road and Euclid Boulevard. Additionally, many residents
weren't fond of the fact that this line traveled along the foot of Mayfield
Hill with its encampment of Italian immigrants. As with this first rail
line, all railways in the near future would be provided by individual
developers, many involving land trades. These men used access to transportation
as a marketing tool to persuade home builders to move to their developments.
Suburbs without transportation were difficult to market, and as a result
developers went to great lengths to arrange rail lines.
Calhoun saw the need for greater accessibility to his site through roadways
and streetcar lines. He had obtained a railway franchise on October 5,
1896, and an agreement was made June 12, 1896, between the Cleveland Railway
Company and the Euclid Heights Realty Company. Calhoun's operation granted
a twenty foot right-of-way through the center of Euclid Boulevard to Coventry
Road. In 1897 Calhoun built a trolley from Cleveland to Euclid Heights
along Cedar Road and through the center of Euclid Boulevard to lure Clevelanders
to his development. He paid the Cleveland Railway Company thousands of
dollars to run the trolley line through Euclid Heights Boulevard in Euclid
Heights hamlet. Calhoun arranged for the streetcar, or "Dinky," to continue
from Cedar Avenue and Murray Hill and run along Euclid Boulevard, circling
back near Edgehill Road. Calhoun was optimistic about his transportation
plan, and anticipated growth from the few houses and improved roads in
the Euclid Heights district. In 1904, the village of Cleveland Heights
granted permission to extend the Cedar rail line northward onto Coventry,
to tie into the Mayfield line. The tracks west of Coventry on Mayfield
were then torn up, creating a single train route along this circuitous
path. This new line operated every twelve minutes and streetcars bore
the placard "Euclid Heights" until about 1906.
After transportation was established, Calhoun went on to provide gas,
sewers, and electricity to the few Euclid Heights residents. Sewers were
installed in conformance with Bowditch's engineers' methods, by workers
traveling up from "Little Italy" at the base of the Mayfield Road bluff.
Calhoun went to extremes to make Euclid Heights the most desirable Cleveland
suburb. He planted as many as 50,000 poplar, maple, and oak trees in order
to reforest the land that W.L. Streator had stripped of its timber.
The Early Residents and their Homes
The first known residents of the Heights were gypsies. Various stories
have been told of gypsies who would camp at the top of the Cedar Hill,
often attracting visitors. These early "residents" account for the area's
early nickname as "Heathens' Ridge." The additional presence of wildlife,
particularly wild turkeys, led to the Heights' second nickname: Turkey
Ridge.
Those who came to the Heights to reside in Patrick Calhoun's subdivision
would spend from $300 to $2,000 to purchase a site, the average price
being approximately $800. Calhoun may have encouraged Cleveland's elite
to come to the Heights by financing, at least partially, the construction
of their new homes, in addition to taking ownership of their old homes
downtown.
To ensure the long-term desirability of Euclid Heights, guidelines and
restrictions were placed on building construction: homes could not exceed
three stories and had to be constructed for single-family occupancy. Additionally,
houses were to be set back twenty-five to forty feet from the street,
depending on their location within the subdivision. In 1892 homes built
on Mayfield, Hampshire, and Lancashire were to cost a minimum of $2,000.
Franklin Boulevard homes were to cost $3,000. Homes on Berkshire and Derbyshire
were to cost at least $4,000, while those residences constructed on Columbia
Boulevard were to be worth $5,000. Advertisements for the allotment stressed
the importance of these deed restrictions. At the same time, the expansion
of Cleveland's downtown commercial center was driving residents from Euclid
Avenue. Calhoun assured newcomers that a similar change would not happen
in Euclid Heights. Six years later, in 1898, minimum costs for homes had
dramatically increased, ranging from $5,000 to $20,000.
One of the first "homes" in Euclid Heights was a house of worship, Saint
Alban's Church. Calhoun donated the centrally located lot to the parish
located at the base of the bluff in Little Italy. The church structure
was then relocated to the site atop the bluff, quite an accomplishment
for the horses responsible for the move. The structure has since burned,
although the congregation rebuilt on the same site.
In 1893, Alfred Hoyt Granger became the first person to make his home
in Euclid Heights. An architect who worked on his own, as well as with
the prominent Cleveland firm of Meade & Granger (1896-1897), he constructed
his residence, "Uplands," at the western edge of the subdivision on Overlook
Road, often referred to as "The Overlook." Granger's firm designed many
of the residences on Cleveland's Euclid Avenue, and he would take part
in the design of many early Euclid Heights homes, including Patrick Calhoun's
own residence. Granger moved to Euclid Heights from nearby adelbert Road,
in what is today Cleveland's University Circle, but would only reside
in the Heights through 1897. Granger left Cleveland that year to become
the architect for Northwestern Railroad in Chicago. His home was purchased
by Homer H. Johnson, a Cleveland lawyer who represented automobile manufacturers
when the industry was in its infancy. |
Patrick Calhoun's attention to the site
of Euclid Heights, as well as those who acted as his local agents. Rice,
a partner in the law firm of Blandin, Rice & Ginn, acted as Calhoun's
attorney during his residence in Cleveland, and Brown dealt in real estate
and investments. As Calhoun's agents, they too would profit by luring
families to the area; thus it would be a selling point that they made
their homes in Euclid Heights. Previous to moving to Euclid Heights, both
men made their homes on Euclid Avenue.
John Hartness Brown's stone home was designed by Alfred Hoyt Granger
and pairs the Romanesque tradition with elements of the Gothic, most notably
the flattened arch windows. Nearby Brown's Gothic-inspired mansion, William
L. Rice's brick colonial revival home on Overlook Road offered a stark
contrast. This massive Neoclassical residence had a two-story ionic colonnaded
porch, and each end of the porch was punctuated by a protruding temple
front. The mansion has since been demolished to construct the eight-story
Waldorf Tower apartment building.
In 1897, approximately a dozen new residents moved to Euclid Heights.
Most located their homes along Overlook, Edgehill, and Kenilworth roads.
The new residents came from many different occupations: insurers, merchants,
brokers, bankers, doctors, lawyers, and real estate agents. Many relocated
here from the prominent streets of Euclid and Prospect Avenues. However,
those with smaller budgets could also find their place in Euclid Heights:
in 1897 a stenographer and a clerk built their homes on the allotment's
smaller lots.
The following year, 1898, brought nearly as many new residents as the
previous year, most of whom clustered on Berkshire, Kenilworth, and Derbyshire
roads. As in earlier years, many wealthy professionals relocated to Euclid
Heights: merchants, real estate agents, engineers, and lawyers. They relocated
from the foot of the bluff, as well as from Cleveland's near west side.
Howell Hinds constructed his residence on Overlook Road in 1898. This
Romanesque residence boasted an interior of the Art Nouveau style with
much of the glass work done by the Tiffany Studios. It was demolished
in the 1930s to make way for the Neoclassical Christian Science Church.
1898 was also the year that Patrick Calhoun completed his first Euclid
Heights house at 2460 Edgehill Road. Designed in the Tudor style by this
neighbors, Frank B. Meade and Alfred Hoyt Granger, the two and one-half
story residence is boxy in massing, but exhibits a complex, multi-gabled
roof, complete with jerkin head gables and half timbered gable ends. For
the owner of the elite subdivision, this was a modest residence, executed
in wood and relatively small compared to its neighbors. However, Calhoun
obviously built this as his vacation home, living in Euclid Heights only
during the summer in the early years. Today, the veranda and two bay windows
have been removed.
Later, Calhoun would construct a three-story brick palazzo at 2620 Derbyshire,
but it has since been destroyed. Designed by Frank B. Meade just after
the turn of the century, it was one of the largest residences, if not
the largest, in the subdivision. It included twelve bedrooms, a ballroom,
six servant bedrooms, and an interior courtyard. This sizable house was
ideal for Calhoun, his wife, eight children, and hired help. Later, in
about 1917, the house was inhabited by Dr. George Crile, one of the founders
of the Cleveland Clinic, and his family. Crile operated a biophysical
laboratory in the basement of what he called "House on the Hill." Demolished
in the 1940s to make way for the Cedar Avenue Baptist Church, all that
remains is the coach house on Overlook Lane.
Early residents of the southwest corner of the subdivision, Myron T.
Herrick, Edward O. Gordon, Melvin B. Johnson, and Howard Eells, purchased
four small lots near one another on which to group their carriage houses.
This way the necessary, but not particularly desirable structures, could
be distanced from the residences. Today, while many of the residences
these carriage houses serviced have been demolished, the cluster of four
outbuildings has been preserved and is known as the Herrick-Mews district.
By 1898 thirty families resided in the community. Additional structures
included St. Alban's Episcopal Church and the Euclid Heights Office. The
church had been moved on rollers from the bottom of Murray Hill to the
site Calhoun donated. After the move, its name was changed from St. Andrews-in-the-East
to St. Alban's. At this time, not all streets in the subdivision were
completed. Kenilworth, most of Overlook, and parts of Derbyshire, Berkshire,
and Edgehill roads, as well as a small portion of Euclid Boulevard had
been "improved." Scheduled work for the upcoming year included the near-completion
of Berkshire, Edgehill, Kent, and Overlook, as well as portions of Hampshire,
Norfolk, and Overlook Lane.
Only a few new residents came to the area in 1899 and 1900, but again
in 1901, construction increased. At least fifteen more families made their
homes in Euclid Heights, ranging from a cashier and a gardener to several
attorneys. It was this same year that the hamlet of Cleveland Heights
was formed. This included Euclid Heights as well as some adjacent subdivisions
and outlying areas.
In 1906 Dr. Charles Briggs constructed what would be one of the largest
estates in Euclid Heights. Designed by renowned Cleveland architect Charles
Schweinfurth, its thirty rooms included a ballroom wing for local children's
dance classes. The grounds around the castellate Tudor mansion included
a swimming pool, stable, gardener's cottage, a playhouse, and formal plantings.
The residence was demolished in 1965 for four condominiums, and only the
ballroom, stable, playhouse, and stone perimeter wall remain today.
In 1909 Howard Eells moved his family to the Heights, locating his home
at the top of Cedar Hill, in an English Tudor stone house designed by
Frank Meade. Eells was involved in banking, oil, and manufacturing. This
residence was demolished in 1951 to make way for an apartment building.
Euclid Heights represented one of many suburban developments available
in the greater Cleveland area. The period of 1900 until 1910 brought dramatic
growth to the once rural areas of Cuyahoga County. In this decade, Cuyahoga
County saw an increase of over fifty percent in its agrarian areas. People
were slowly moving from the congested inner cities and creating rural
enclaves which, in only twenty years, would become dense suburban areas,
no longer eligible for the title "rural."
As the population of the subdivision grew, more improvements were financed.
In September, 1911, the Euclid Heights Committee reported that the pavement
on Edgehill between Cornell Hill and Kenilworth was near completion, and
noted the unchanged poor condition of Cedar Glen. In 1912 it appeared
that Euclid Heights was caught between an urban and rural character. The
Report of the Euclid Heights Committee makes note of the problem of automobile
companies using Cornell Hill to test their vehicles. Testers would speed
up the hill and then across the subdivision. At the same time the residents
had to deal with horses from the "Italian settlement" grazing on their
properties.
Euclid Heights Governmental Legislation
On April 9, 1901, the first meeting of the Trustees of the Hamlet of
Cleveland Heights was held. One month later, the first ordinance was passed,
prohibiting ale, beer, and porter houses, as well as other places which
sold intoxicating liquors. On June 8, 1901, the Trustees of the Hamlet
began their quest for modern conveniences and passed an ordinance to grant
the Cuyahoga Telephone Company permission to erect, construct, and operate
telephone lines within the hamlet of Euclid Heights. It was about this
same time that door-to-door mail delivery was established in Euclid Heights.
The autumn of 1901 brought the adoption of appropriations for the purpose
of opening Euclid Heights Boulevard as a public roadway. April 6, 1903,
marked the first election in the Village of Cleveland Heights, and not
entirely surprising, the first trustees included John G.W. Cowles, John
Spence, and William T. Quilliams, all residents of the Heights prior to
the development of Euclid Heights.
Early in 1903 the forty-six families of Euclid Heights united to form
the Euclid Heights Improvement Association. Led by Charles E. Adams, Thomas
Hogsett, and S.M. Bond, the group sought to secure modern conveniences.
Each family was assessed $5 per month to help pay for a day and night
watchman, street cleaning, street lighting, and basic costs.
While the residents had established a local government, the population
was still not large enough to merit the construction of a City Hall. It
was not until 1909 that the first permanent governmental structure was
constructed. Appropriately, it was constructed near the community's first
village center known as Fairmount.
By 1907, Euclid Heights was a haven for socialites in the Cleveland area.
Sixty-nine families who resided in the subdivision were listed in The
Blue Bookover 75 percent of the entire number of families in the subdivision.
Recreation in Euclid Heights
In keeping with the needs of the bourgeois that moved to this new subdivision,
a golf course was planned as the chief recreation facility. As early as
1897, links were available to Euclid Heights residents. This early course
was abandoned when the Euclid Golf Club was later constructed. Cleveland's
society newspaper, Cleveland Town Topics, reported on December
1, 1900, that the construction of the Euclid Heights club house was underway,
and that a golf pro from Detroit, W.H. "Bertie" Way was busy perfecting
the links.
Euclid Golf was only the second course in greater Cleveland, the sport
only recently having gained recognition in the United States. Many were
unfamiliar with the game. In fact, a lengthy article in The Plain Dealer
of 1897 explained the concept and history of the game.
The brainchild of Calhoun and architect Frank Meade, the Euclid Golf
links opened on July 4, 1901, while the $50,000 club house opened in August
of that same year. The structure was near the center of the golf links
with a view of the lower nine holes, the fairway, and the tennis courts,
as well as the Cleveland skyline and Lake Erie.
The Euclid Club had a Tudor style club house with verandas and was the
center of social and recreational activity in the Heights. Frank Meade
designed the structure. The interior was designed by Mr. E.W. Currie and
included Roman style frescoes, richly colored rugs, toilet rooms, a dining
room, a banquet and ball room, and sleeping apartments.
Prior to the opening of the clubhouse, a newspaper article boasts of
an experienced staff led by Mr. Nelson of New York City. It notes that
he brought help with him, most of whom were Japanese. An early member
of the club remembered that the "club started out with a force of Japanese
servants and waiters but for some unremembered reason they Îran out on
us about the end of the first month,' and other men and boys took their
places." A club with membership of such high social standing undoubtedly
required a large staff.
Early membership was made up of approximately one hundred men. The club
had a membership limit of four hundred, but there was a long waiting list
as the club gained notoriety. Euclid Golf owned the property north of
Cedar Road on which three of the golf holes and Tudor style club house
were located. Property southwest of the club combined with these three
holes to comprise the "upper nine."
Directly across from the club house to the east and south the club leased
an additional nine holes from John D. Rockefeller, an honorary club member.
Rockefeller's only stipulation for the lease was that the club members
not golf on his property on Sundays. Consequently, on the Sabbath, golfing
members were forced to play the lower nine holes twice.
The club had also been recognized outside the Cleveland area. In July,
1907, the National Amateur Championship golf meeting was held at the Euclid
Club and Jerry Travers won the tournament, thus becoming the American
amateur champion. When Euclid Heights resident Myron T. Herrick was running
against Mayor Tom L. Johnson for the position of Governor, the two men
challenged one another to a round of golf prior to the election. Herrick
was the winner in both instances.
About 1910, many members left the Euclid Club to join the new Mayfield
Club and Shaker Club. A newspaper report stated that the Euclid Club would
to go out of business on October 1, 1910. "Thereafter the famous course
will be idle unless some arrangement is made for its continued use pending
the opening of the Mayfield course next summer." However, on October 1,
1910, after a stockholders' meeting, it was announced that the club would
remain open.
In 1913, the course remained open. It appears that perhaps the club was
closed for the 1914 season, most probably due to Calhoun's bankruptcy
and auction proceedings in the allotment. However, on July 3, 1915, golf
enthusiasts were "taking advantage of the reopening of the historic Euclid
Club Course." This season may have been the last for Euclid Golf. Soon
after, the beautiful Club House was razed. The Alcazar Hotel was later
built near the site. After the course had closed, B.R. Deming bought 141
acres, which included nine golf holes, from John D. Rockefeller. He then
developed the Euclid Golf Development, a residential subdivision, which
would offer yet more competition to Calhoun's subdivision.
Calhoun's Misfortunes
By 1912 there were about eighty-six residences, one church, and the Euclid
Golf Club in Euclid Heights. The most densely developed areas were along
Overlook and East Overlook, while secondary areas of construction were
along Berkshire Road and Kenilworth. Although the population was increasing,
it was doing so at a slow pace. It had been almost nine years since the
first resident moved to Euclid Heights, yet only 10% of the lots were
occupied. By 1914, 102 residences were constructed on the 841 sites in
Euclid Heights, approximately 12% of the available area. Construction
in nearby developments proceeded at a similar pace.
To lure homeowners, Calhoun had arranged for a street car to provide
subdivision access, improved streets with paving, installed streetlights,
paid a night watchman, constructed a golf course and club, and provided
water, gas, sewerage, telephone, and electricity. However as he created
this subdivision, other developers saw the potential of this land atop
the bluff, which was not readily accessible due to Calhoun's contract
with the streetcar line. Other developers also knew he had taken the first
steps to obtain city utilities by constructing main lines to tie into
Cleveland's services.
Similar subdivisions began to spring up adjacent to Euclid Heights: Mayfield
Heights to the east, Cedar Heights, Ambler Heights, the Wade Allotment,
and Bellfield and Grandview Avenues to the south. These subdivisions were,
for the most part, developed contemporaneously with Euclid Heights, although
it is difficult to say whether the Heights' Grandview and Bellfield Avenues,
and Mayfield Heights predated Calhoun's subdivision. None of the other
developers invested as much in improvements as Calhoun. Often they could
sell their lots for less because they had been spared the initial development
expenses that Calhoun had incurred. In fact, Calhoun forbade M.M. Brown,
developer of Mayfield Heights, from constructing houses in his subdivision,
angry over the competition. Brown supposedly emptied his sewers into the
brook and constructed substandard water and sewer lines; yet he outsold
Calhoun's properties because he paid little in improvement costs. Additionally,
Brown used his adjacency to Euclid Heights to promote his subdivision:
"To all clear sighted people it is evident that
Euclid Heights will in the near future be the finest residence portion
of Cleveland, containing as it now does, the finest pavements and best
improvements in the city. Mayfield Heights is separated from this unusual
tract of land only by a street and its improvements will undoubtedly
be extended to our land."
The developer boasted of all improvements being made at Euclid Heights,
implying that purchasers could derive these benefits by purchasing the
less expensive land in his allotment.
In about 1905, Patrick Calhoun moved his family to San Francisco, California,
and once again went about consolidating street railways. At that time,
city officials were divided about the type of transit system they would
prefer: trolley or underground. Calhoun advocated the trolley system which
the city officials decided upon just prior to the 1906 earthquake. Soon
after the quake, Calhoun became president of the United Railroads of San
Francisco. A transit union strike in 1907 brought Calhoun into a desperate
fight with the unions, a conflict which would again divide the city. In
that same year he was charged with bribing city officials to ensure their
choice of trolley car transportation over underground lines. A year later,
in 1908, Calhoun was indicted on further charges. Very little evidence
existed against Calhoun, but the case was tied up in court and later postponements
until August 15, 1911, when it was dismissed due to an alleged conspiracy,
as well as the discovery that the prosecution planted a juror. Much of
Calhoun's fortune, as well that of the United Railroads, had been drained
during the trial.
Because Calhoun had no business associates, during the trial he was unable
to deal with his many investments: oil fields in Texas, utilities in Pittsburgh
and Philadelphia, and various interests in New York, as well as his suburban
development of Euclid Heights. In the end, Calhoun was found innocent,
but his inability to deal with his investments during this time resulted
in the loss of his fortune.
Calhoun and the United Railroads Board of Directors approved the withdrawal
of money from their treasury in 1912. By July of the following year, Calhoun
had withdrawn $1,096,000 and invested it in the Saloon Irrigated Farms
Company, hoping to receive a large return. Unfortunately, the investment
failed and Calhoun was ousted as president of United Railroads, accused
of using the funds for personal use. He subsequently denied the charges
to a New York Times reporter from his home in Euclid Heights.
When Calhoun's fortune began to wane during his trial, he lost much of
his property to foreclosure, including Euclid Heights. Calhoun declared
bankruptcy in 1916 but still owned several properties: a coal mine in
Beattyville, Kentucky; fifty thousand acres in Calhoun Falls, South Carolina;
a seaport in Port Royal, South Carolina; choice residential property at
Hilton Head and Beaufort, South Carolina; and his wife's parents' home
on Meeting Street in Charleston. After his bankruptcy, various Cleveland
firms offered the entrepreneur positions; however, he declined, certain
that he would regain his fortune.
After losing his subdivision in Cleveland, Calhoun moved to a boarding
house in Beattyville, South Carolina. He later moved to Louisville, Kentucky,
and then, in 1918, to Calhoun Falls, South Carolina. He eventually lost
this land to creditors, and finally relocated to Pasadena, California,
where he is said to have negotiated a lease on an oil field in the lower
San Joaquin valley. There, at the age of 87, he died after being hit by
a speeding car.
It has been said that Calhoun was ahead of his time. His development
of Euclid Heights opened the gateway for similar subdivisions in the Heights.
Small developers profited from their adjacency, while others would learn
from his mistakes. The Van Sweringen brothers had undoubtedly followed
the progress of Euclid Heights and used their knowledge to develop Shaker
Heights, a community approximately one mile south of Euclid Heights. This
community would become a nationally-known model suburb of the 1920s and
1930s.
The bankruptcy of Patrick Calhoun dramatically changed the vision of
what Euclid Heights was to be. Once foreseen as a suburban rebirth of
the glory of Euclid Avenue, the subdivision completely changed direction.
The construction of grandiose homes for Cleveland's elite was supplanted
by a boom of developer-built homes, most targeted at the growing middle
class of Clevelanders. This development would take advantage of the convenience
of regular streetcar service by constructing apartment buildings for those
who could not afford to purchase a suburban home.
This shift of direction resulted in a new face for Euclid Heights, one
that today creates the primary character of the subdivision. The earlier
homes, several of which still exist, act as accents in this largely twentieth
century streetcar suburb. |