History

The Burton & Moses allotment, a 62-lot development, was entered at the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s Office in October 1871. Dr. Erasmus Burton and Charles Moses developed the area. Burton graduated in the mid-1840s with a medical degree from the newly formed Cleveland Medical College, a Western Reserve College department in Hudson, Ohio. He was one of three generations of Burtons practicing medicine for ninety-two years.

In 1885, German-born Christian and Louisa Gottschalt bought the first of 12 lots they would eventually own in the Burton & Moses Allotment.

The Adams & Burton Subdivision, a 45-lot development on Foster Avenue, was entered at the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s Office in 1889. Darius Adams, an early settler who was a successful contractor and real estate investment partner with Dr. Erasmus Burton, developed the area.

Dr. Levi Haldeman purchased 30 acres north of Lakeshore Boulevard from Mary Bratenahl.

A 22-lot Haldeman re-subdivision was entered at the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s Office in 1891. Haldeman owned practically all of the lakefront property east of Burton Avenue to Clark Avenue (East 105tth Street). The allotment was platted for Clevelanders to build summer retreats on small lots on either Haldeman Roadside.

The Adams Foster allotment was developed in 1896 with 43 lots on both sides of Foster Avenue parallel to the Burton Moses allotment.

A 17-lot development known as the Haldeman & Patton Allotment on the south side of Lake Shore Boulevard west of Doan Street was entered at the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s Office 1903. Dwight D. Haldeman, Frank M. Haldeman, and James Patton developed this area. To maximize sales of land in his allotment, Patton laid out Birchton Road (Brighton Avenue).

Glenville continued to grow into a middle and upper-middle-class residential community abutting Cleveland to the east and running from Superior Avenue north to the lake. It was crossed from west to east by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, which served as a commuting line for the northern Glenville residents, especially those living in the fourth ward, known as "Glenville on the Lake." Those living in the southern part of Glenville, most of whom lived there year-round, were already served by the Lake View & Collamer Dummy railroad's interurban cars.

The Lake Shore Railway merged with the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad in 1869 to form the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, giving one company the whole route from Buffalo to Chicago. The first locomotive traveled the entire length of 1,013 miles. The main track passed through Glenville.

The wealthy started to plan to build elegant summer residences among the glens on the lake's shore. Private railway cars were used by the very rich to bring their needs for their summer homes.

Glenville on the Lake included about three square miles of territory, but only a part was built up. The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad built the Coit Station in 1871 with a siding for passengers east of Eddy Road north of the tracks. The railroad also built the Glenville station west of Doan Street (East 105th Street) on the tracks' north side. The line made it possible for those residents already living out on the lakeshore year-round to continue to maintain employment in the city.

By 1900, the population of Glenville was over 5,000. The next year, Glenville witnessed scandals in both its municipal government related to gambling and its school board regarding the misappropriation of coal. Many of its citizens were upset, and the idea of a merger with prestigious Cleveland, with the increased services available, began to seem very attractive to many.

Glenville's annexation to the City of Cleveland was defeated in 1902 by a vote of 716 to 467. Though Glenville voted against annexation, the second ward at the south end of the village voted for annexation. The ordinance authorizing annexation of Ward 2 to the City of Cleveland was passed in March, with the County Commissioners granting annexation in November 1902.

Glenville’s anti-gambling forces had found a powerful ally in Frederick Goff. He was awakened late one night by a crowd of earnest citizens who demanded that he consent to become a mayoral candidate on a platform of suppressing racetrack gambling.

Goff rejected the plea, perhaps from a lack of experience or friendship with the track’s members. Despite his reluctance, the leaders of the crowd told him it was his duty. He consented just in time to become a nominee.

Goff ran for mayor on the Republican ticket and won in a special election in April 1903 despite his protests. Acting as mayor, he succeeded in abolishing gambling at the Glenville Race Track, much to influential friends' dismay. This was Goff's introduction into public affairs of a community that soon came to know and appreciate his inflexible adherence to the law, order, and duty.

In his first run for office, Abram Garfield became a councilman by a vote of 413 for and 281 opposed. Garfield introduced an ordinance that provided for the Village of Glenville to be classified as a city. At the same time, Clifford Neff ran for the Republican nomination for the solicitor of Glenville.

As described in greater detail in the Founding of Bratenahl, by 1903, Mayor Goff, and C. A. Judson, president of the school board, were presented with petitions from all of the community’s wards south of the railroad tracks requesting a merger with Cleveland.

Both Goff and Judson were attorneys, and neither was associated with the scandals. They became the principal implementers of the merger negotiations. The one difficulty was Glenville on the Lake’s disaffection with a merger.

On August 1, 1904, a petition signed by nearly 700 residents of Glenville was presented asking that the City Council submit to voters the question whether Glenville should be annexed to Cleveland.

Two weeks later, the fourth ward (Glenville on the Lake) filed its petition to separate from Glenville, circulated by Howard M. Hanna Jr., Robert L. Ireland, L. Dean Holden, Albert S. Ingalls, and Liberty E. Holden.

Those wanting to annex to Cleveland organized a new offensive. In July 1904, a petition was presented to the council requested Glenville’s annexation be placed on the ballot at the next regular election on November 8, 1904.

There was strong objection in Glenville to the separation of the fourth ward since this ward's tax dollars accounted for most of Glenville’s operating revenue.

At a September 19, 1904 council meeting, one of the yea voters supporting the secession, Councilman Sprengel, failed to attend the council meeting. The vice mayor broke a 3-to-3 tie vote by voting no. The missing council member explained away his absence by saying it had been because of his mother’s sudden illness.

On October 3, 1904, Councilman Sprengel asked for a reconsideration of the vote against secession. The motion to reconsider was put forward, and four of the seven council members voted in favor of secession. The vote occurred shortly before midnight. Three hours of angry debate followed until the crowd silently filed out.

Next, the anti-secessionists took the fight to court, seeking an injunction prohibiting the secession. The court ultimately ruled in favor of the withdrawal.

Liberty Holden and the other organizers in the fourth ward did not delay.  They immediately filed a petition with the Cuyahoga County Commissioners to detach the fourth ward from Glenville and to declare the territory to be a new township known as Bratenahl Township.  The commissioners approved the petition on October 26, 1904. On November 8, 1904, Bratenahl Township voters elected trustees to manage the township and soon after voted to establish the City of Bratenahl.

On the same day, November 8, 1904, the voters of Glenville approved annexation to Cleveland by a vote of 850 to 435, which occurred soon after.