People
Residents
Rueben Hitchcock - Attorney and Businessman
292 Corning Drive
Rueben Hitchcock was born in Cleveland on July 21, 1874, to Peter and Sarah Hitchcock. He was educated at Brooks Military Academy in Cleveland and St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. He received a Ph.B. from Yale in 1897 and an LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1900. In the same year, he was admitted to the bar in Ohio, returning to Cleveland to practice.
In 1902 he became a member of Wood, Hitchcock & Morgan which later became Hitchcock, Morgan & Fackler.
Reuben married Edith Meacham in Cincinnati, Ohio October 9, 1912. Edith was born February 25, 1886, in Ashland, Kentucky, to Daniel and Lida Meacham. She was educated at Mt. Vernon Seminary in Washington, D.C. They had three children: Sally, born on May 1, 1918; Reuben Jr., born on July 1921; and Meacham, born on June 8, 1927.
In 1913 Mr. Hitchcock became president o the Cleveland Folding Machine Co., which sold two years later to the Dexter Folding Machine Company.
Reuben entered the U. S. Army in 1917 during World War I. He became a lieutenant colonel in charge of the spruce production division of the U. S. Army Signal Corps aviation section headquarters in Portland, Oregon. The unit was established to produce high-quality Sitka spruce timber needed to make aircraft for the United States war efforts.
He was president of the Cleveland Stoker Company, secretary of the Realty Corporation of Cleveland, a director of Cleveland Storage Co. and North Electric Manufacturing Company.
Reuben was a trustee of Babies Dispensary and Hospital and the Cleveland Institute of Music and a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. Social memberships included Kirtland, Tavern, and Union clubs.
Edith was best known for her presidency of the Cleveland Garden Club and as a founder of the Assembly Ball. She was also a board member of the Maternal Health Association, the Visiting Nurse Association, and the Recreation League president.
Reuben died from heart trouble on August 29, 1931, while playing golf at Kirtland Country Club. Edith died on April 7, 1956, after a fall at her home and was buried alongside Rueben in Lake View Cemetery.