Euclid Shore High School - Shore Log Yearbook (Euclid, OH)

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Porthole History of Euclid ( Continued) natives of Euclid. Dille lived the remainder of his long life in Euclid and died there, a soldier, pioneer and parent. Shortly afterward, five young m en came from Washington County, Pennsylvania, to look for land. Four made selections along the main road; namely: Shaw. Mcllrath, Ruple, and William Coleman. In the fall of 1804 these men began work, cleared the land, built log cabins, and brought their families to their new homes. Jacob Coleman, an uncle of William, settled along Nine Mile Creek in 1805. The forest of gigantic trees was well supplied with deer and bears, while an occasional panther added a flavor of danger to the chase. Coon hunting occupied a great deal of time because it provided not only food but because coonskins brought a good price at Cleveland and Newburg and could be traded for things of necessity. The particular pet of Euclid seems to have been the rattlesnake. John Ruple at one time killed thirty- eight and Luther Dille killed forty-three. It was a great sport for boys to go out and kill these reptiles. The people of Euclid brought with them their reverence for religion and the first church in Cuyahoga County was organized in Euclid in 1 807. In 1808 John Adams settled on the main road on Euclid Creek where he remained 10 years and then sold out to John Wilcox. In 1809 Abraham Bishop of New York settled on the ridge. He was wealthy, and brought with him a large assortment of plow-irons, chains, etc., all of which found ready sale among the settlers. The next year he built a saw mill on the East branch of Euclid Creek. This was the first mill of any type in the township. In the forepart of 1810 the civil township of Euclid was organized, which also included unoccupied territory along the Chagrin River. The first town meeting was held on the 22nd day of April, 1810, at the dwell- ing of Walter Strong. The offices were: trustees, overseers of the poor, fence viewers, appraisers, a lister, a treasurer, constable, and a supervisor of highways. When the War of 1812 broke out the people of Euclid felt them- selves to be in a particularly dangerous position, exposed to assaults from British armed vessels on the lakes, and facing possible raids from Indians by land. When they heard the report that the British and Indians were making murderous progress down the lake they hitched up their oxen and whoie families moved east where they were stopped by the swollen con- dition of the Chagrin River. William Coleman rode to Cleveland for news and found out that the British had surrendered. The Euclidites moved back to their homes and stationed troops at the mouth of Euclid reek. Perry's battle then ended all the alarms of the people. (Continued on page 86) Page six

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1930 N the spring of 1796 surveyors and laborers were sent out by The Connecticut Land Company to survey the Western Reserve. By an agreement between General Cleaveland, the agent of the company, and the surveyors, township eight in the eleventh range was assigned to the employees at one dollar per acre. As the education of the principal sur- veyors had been chiefly mathematical, they agreed to call their township by the name of the great mathematics teacher, Euclid. The name has ever since been retained, first being applied to the survey township, and then to the civil township covering the same territory. The Western and Southwestern parts have since been taken off to form part of East Cleveland; leaving Euclid an irregular tract with an eastern boundary nearly nine miles long, a southern one less than three miles long, and a northwestern one — on the lake shore — about six miles long. By the contract between General Cleaveland and the surveyors the latter were to settle eleven families in this township in 179 7, eighteen more in 1798 and twelve more in 1799; all with houses and with clear- ings of specified amounts, otherwise the land was to revert to the com- pany. One of this number was named Nathaniel Doan, who became a resident of Doan's Corners now included in Cleveland. The northern portion was divided into small sections and the south- ern part was divided into larger tracts so that each man could have a large tract and also a small one along the lake. The first permanent settler in Euclid was Joseph Burke, a native of Vermont and a drummer in the Revolutionary War. He was not one of the 40 employees who made the contract with General Cleaveland. He settled in 1 798 on the east line, north of a tract built up by Morse. Burke's cabin was on the main road which had been opened from Cleveland to the Pennsylvania line at the foot of the ridge. Mr. Burke soon obtained a little whisky and opened a sort of tavern — not only the first in the township but the first between Conneaut and Cleveland. He remained here about ten years when he removed to Columbia in the pres- ent county of Lorain. He afterwards volunteered in the War of 1812 and died in the service. The next settler in the present township of Euclid of whom we have any account was David Dille, a native of New Jersey, who came from western Pennsylvania in 1798 and located on the main road half a mile southwest of Euclid Creek. Mr. Dille had been actively engaged in the border wars with the Indians during the revolution, and was in the ex- pedition of Colonel Crawford, who was defeated, captured, and burned at the stake near Upper Sandusky. He had five sons who were grown when he came to Euclid. He had also fourteen younger children, mostly (Continued on page b) Page five

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1930 Lord, thou'st made the world too beautiful this year. — Edna St. Vincent Millay. OVERNIGHT the world has be- come enchanted. Some impish fay who calls the Aurora Borealis home has thrust us into a maze of beauty. This morning when I insin uated my head out of the window, I realized that I had been transported. On my trek to school, I watched the sun rise red out of a blue dusk and turn all the world into a spark- ling wilderness of rubies. What fun to live in a world of glass! All the fields are dancing with sparks of light. Every grass blade and weed is sheathed in ice. The trees look like table-decoration crystal trees, and the forest is a vast center-piece. In the east, where the dawn light brightens, there are deep purple shadows in the snow, and the red light streaming through the branches stains the drifts like light through ca- thedral windows. When the wind stirs the boughs, they ring like Chinese wind chimes, with a fragile tinkle, until I hold my breath lest the whole glass world shatter into a glittering heap. At night, the ground looks like a jeweler's window display of cold blue diamonds. The trees are great webs of silver against the moon, and in the frozen stillness nothing is heard but the elfin tune the wind plays. The world is sprinkled for a few magic hours with shining star dust. E. A. '31. A PETITION Lord, give me two wide-open, childlike eyes j That I may see The wonders of the world in glad surprise And thankful be That I should be allowed to share Thy earth. Roam on it free Have all its beauteous, mystic folds unfurled By Thee, for me. May Pyle '30. Pag e seven