Peninsula Library & Historical Society
PO Box
236
Peninsula,
OH 44264-0236
Phone: 330.657.2665
Website:
www.peninsulalibrary.org
Sights to See in Peninsula
The Peninsula Library & Historical Society’s collection
centers on the history of
Boston Township, Peninsula, Boston Hts, Boston Mills, and
Everett.
Holdings include photographs, cemetery
records, local government records, and scrapbooks.
Everett
Village
Intersection of
Everett
and Riverview Roads
Everett was originally called
Johnnycake Lock in 1828 after a strong storm washed sand into the
Ohio and
Erie Canal
where it crossed Furnace Run.
Crews and
passengers on the canal were forced to eat cornmeal cakes – johnnycakes – for
days until the canal was re-opened.
East
of the
Furnace Run Bridge
on
Riverview Road
are the remains of the aqueduct which was constructed to avoid a recurrence.
West on
Everett
Road is the last remaining covered bridge in
Summit County.
The bridge was completely reconstructed in
1986 after a flash flood destroyed the old structure eleven years before.
The entire village, except the Everett Church
of Christ, was purchased by the National Park Service in the early 1980’s.
It currently awaits restoration.
Peninsula
Village National Historic
District
Route 303 at Akron-Peninsula and Riverview Roads
The Peninsula Village National Historic District encompasses
53 acres on both sides of Rt. 303.
Hermon Bronson of
Waterbury,
CT arrived on his tract of land
in 1824.
The canal spawned a boat
building industry and provided a way for goods to reach markets.
Bronson plotted a village in 1837 and named
it “Peninsula” in recognition of the large feature created by a bend in the
Cuyahoga River.
Peninsula incorporated in 1859 with Hiram Volney Bronson as mayor.
Peninsula’s major industry was its vast sandstone quarries
which supplied stone for canal locks, foundations, and sidewalks.
Both the canal and the quarries have been
preserved in
Deep
Lock Quarry
Metropolitan Park
on River view road south of town.
Self-guided walking tours of the village’s numerous historical buildings
can be obtained free of charge at the Peninsula Library and Historical Society.
Boston
Village
Boston Mills
Road at Hines Hill and Stanford Roads
Boston Village boasted a sawmill, a boat yard, a grist mill,
a warehouse, two stores, a saloon, a hotel and a population of 300 during the
peak canal years of 1827 to 1842.
Later,
Boston would be
the home of the conger and Jackson Brickyard, a mill that made toy marbles from
stone, and the vast plants of the Cleveland-Akron Bag Company.
Boston’s
most notorious citizen, Jim Brown, ran a rather extensive counterfeiting ring
out of his tore near the banks of the canal.
Brown’s schemes went on for years, frustrating
Sheriff Sam Lane, until a fatal fall on a
canal boat in
Peninsula in 1865 ended his
career.
Today,
Boston is the site of the Boston Mills Ski
Resort.
Boston
Heights Village
Olde
Eight Road
at
Boston Mills Road
Boston Heights was created as a result of a special election
in 1923 when the residents of
Boston
Township’s “east hill”
voted 87 to 12 to incorporate as a separate village.
In 1925 the village purchased the old school,
which was built in 1904, from the Boston Township Board of Education for $500
and converted it into the present Village Hall.
Just to the east of the Village Hall lies the
Fairview Cemetery donated by the Heights area’s
first settler, Alfred Wolcott.
The
Ladies’ Cemetery Association, which was formed in 1890, meets twice a month to
make quilts and sells them to raise money for the annual Memorial Day ceremonies.