- Trustees meet the first and third Thursdays each month - 7:30 p.m. - Town Hall.
- Concord was first called "Wilson's Corners." When the township was officially organized in 1822, the name Concord was chosen as a tribute to the Revolutionary battle site in Massachusetts, an area from which many of the early families had come. Concord Township was part of Painesville Township until 1822. Many of the early Concord industries were built along Big Creek and its tributaries. Grist mills, foundries, clock, buttons, and chair factories, woolen and saw mills, tanneries were part of Concord's early history. Most of these were gone by 1908. Concord's most famous industry was the Pease Turning Shop located near the intersection of Girdled Road and Big Creek on Cascade. Their wares were exhibited in Philadelphia of the Centennial Exposition in 1876 and at the Chicago's World Fair of 1896.
Eastlake City
35150 Lake Shore Blvd
Eastlake, OH 44095
Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday
Phone: - (440) 951-1416
Fax: - (440) 951-9361
Mayor: Dan DiLiberto (440) 946-9772
- Council meets second and fourth Tuesdays each month - 8:00 p.m. - City Hall.
Fairport Harbor Village
220 Third Street
Fairport Harbor, OH 44077
Hours: 8:00 am to 4:30 p. m. Weekdays
Mayor: Frank Sarosy (440) 358-0095
Phone: - (440) 352-3620
Fax: - (440) 352-8872
- Council meets second and fourth Tuesdays each month - 6:30 p.m. - Village Hall.
- A site of a substantial Native American settlement for many,.many years prior to the European "discovery" of America. The actual date of origin is debated between some who say Governor Samuel Huntington laid out the the town in 1803, while others claim it was Abraham Skinner who did so in 1812. Originally called Grandon for its location on the Grand River, the name was later changed to Fairport because of its excellent harbor. Its development began in 1823 by the citizens. Federal funds aided the development in 1825 with an appropriation of $1,000.00 from Congress. It was in the same year that the first lighthouse was built under government contract. One of Lake County's most famous architects, Jonathan Goldsmith, designed the brick structure. Warehouses for meat, dairy products, eggs, pickles where exported from the harbor. Imports included tea, coffee, rum, cloth, and shoes. By 1885 new docks were built, the railroad was rebuilt to standard gauge and extended to Pittsburgh. This expansion led to the influx of new immigrants, primarily Finns, Slovaks, and Hungarians. Their cultural heritage remains a prominent place in Fairport Harbor today.
Grand River Village
205 Singer Avenue
P.O. Box 440
Grand River, OH 44045
Hours:
Mayor: Alan J. DiLiberto (440) 639-8437
Phone: - (440) 357-5222
Fax: - (440) 639-8008 - Council meets second and fourth Wednesdays each month - 7:30 p.m. - Village Hall.
Kirtland City
9301 Chillicothe Road
Kirtland, OH 44094
Hours: 8:00 am to 4:30 p. m. Monday thru Friday
Phone: - (440) 256-3332
Fax: - (440) 256-0528
Mayor, Safety Director, & Service Director:
Edward J. Podojil (440) 256-4131
- Council Meets first and third Mondays each month - 8:00 p.m. - Civic Center.
- Kirtland was named for Turhand Kirtland who was a stockholder and general land agent for the Connecticut Land Company in the Western Reserve. It was an "equalizing" township - one used to redress losses of those who received poor or swampy land in the Reserve. The first permanent clearing in 1811, growth through the War of 1812, and an influx of settlers in 1815 led to the organization of the township in 1818. The Kirtland flats saw the growth of many businesses - sawmills, grist mills, carding machine to dress wool, and the first general store - Newell K. Whitney's place. A pocket furnace produced the first cast iron plows made in the Western Reserve. A lathe was added to this business used for making chairs. 1831 saw the arrival of Joseph Smith and his followers, who created the Kirtland Mormon Temple finished in 1836.
Kirtland Hills Village
8026 Chillicothe Road
Kirtland Hills, OH 44060
Hours:
Mayor: John F. Turben (440) 255-3296
Phone: - (440) 974-9090
Fax: - (440) 255-7556
- Council meets third Monday each month - 5:45 p.m. - Village Hall.
Lakeline Village
33801 Lake Shore Blvd
Lakeline, OH 44095
Hours:
Phone:
Fax:
Mayor & Safety Director:
Joseph E. Dudas (440) 946-3619
- Council meets first Monday each month - 7:00 p.m. - Village Hall.
Leroy Township
5920 Paine Road
Leroy Township, OH 44077
Hours:
Clerk: - Sharon E. Rodgers
Town Hall Phone: - (440) 254-4234
Clerk Phone: - (440) 254-4333
Fax: - (440) 254-2212
- Call Clerk, Sharon Rodgers (440) 254-4333 for meeting dates, times, and location.
- Leroy Township was named for the town of Leroy, New York, where many of its settlers had immigrated. The area was first named "Chesterland" by the Connecticut Land Company. The first settlement was made by Paul and Elah Clapp in 1802. Many of the roads in the township are named for these early settlers - Balch, Blair, Brockway, Callow, Chadwick, Ford, Huntoon, Kiniffen, Paines, Proctor, Seeley, Summer, Taylor, Trask, Valentine, and Vrooman. Johnny Appleseed is believed to have travelled through the township planting seeds along the creek and river banks. Leroy was part of Painesville Township until 1820 when it became a separate community. Again, sawmills and grist mills were very important industries. The first sawmill began operations in 1811. A purely frontier industry was ASHERY, making potash, an important product in high demand in the east. Potash was used in wool manufacturing, glass making, soap making, and in preparation of medicines. Bog iron was in abundance in the whole county so foundries were built in Paines Hollow. Leroy is home of the last covered bridge in Lake County, but unfortunately it was torn down in 1952. Agriculture has been a major industry in the township since it was settled. In the 1830s and 1840s with the development of the canal system and better roads, the crops became an major export along with the cheese made from the excess milk. Leroy sent 40 men to serve in the Civil War where they served under General George McClellan.
Madison Township
2065 Hubbard Road
Madison, OH 44057
Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday
Phone: - (440) 428-5128
Fax: - (440) 428-2825
Clerk: Linda F. Blankenship (440) 428-5128
- Call Clerk Linda Blankenship (440) 428-5128 for meeting dates, times, and location.
- Madison Township was organized in 1811 and named for the incumbnet Presdient of the United States, James Madison. Iron ore was discovered in the swamps near North Ridge Road. This bog iron was easy to mine and charcoal could be produced from the local hardwoods, so iron furnaces became one of the most important early industries. The blast furnaces were powered by steam power. The local company, Arcole Furnace, was said to be the largest industry in Ohio in 1834, producing between 1,000 and 1,5000 tons of iron per year. A small port at the mouth of Cunningham Creek served as a shipping port for the goods produced at Arcole Furnace. A small community called Ellensburg flourished at the port, along with fishing and boat building businesses. Company store, a boarding house, and over 200 log cabins made this area the second largest in Lake County in 1835, ranked just behind Painesville, which was much larger than Cleveland. A private Seminary offered higher education to the eastern part of the county, opening in 1874. The tavern at the corner of South Ridge and County Line roads has been operating since 1789. This became a stop in the Underground Railroad, which saw many instances of residents helping the runaways to find their way to Canada. A famous incident involving Milton Clarke, a slave from Kentuckey, led Harriet Beecher Stowe to base one of her characters in her book Uncle Tom's Cabin on him. Except for the two decades when the iron industry was the dominant business, agriculture has always been the most important industry in Madison. Farms were large and prosperous due to the good soil, favorable climate, and tempering effects of Lake Erie.
Madison Village
126 West Main Street
P.O. Box 7
Madison, OH 44057
Hours: 8:00 am to 4:30 p. m. - Monday thru Friday
Phone: - (440) 428-7526
Fax: - (440) 428-6703
Mayor: David G. Reed - (440) 428-6666x330 or (330) 761-7727
- Council meets first and third Mondays each month - 7:00 p.m. - Village Hall.
- Madison Village becames incorporated in 1868, after having been known as Chapintown and Centerville. In 1865 the Village organized as a special school district.
Mentor City
8500 Civic Center Blvd
Mentor, OH 44060
Hours: 8:00 am to 5:00 p. m.
Phone: - (440) 255-1100 or (440) 942-8796
Fax: - (440) 255-1518
City Manager: John W. Konrad
Mayor: Ray Kirchner
- Council meets first and third Tuesdays each month - 7:30 p.m. - Council Chambers, City Hall.
- Mentor celebrated its Bicentennial in 1997. The first permanent settlement came in 1797, when Charles Parker built a cabin on the marsh land. This township was one of six "best" townships in the Western Reserve, which were set aside to be offered for sale to actual settlers. It became a township in 1815. In the early development of Mentor, four separate population areas grew. The first was the Marsh Settlement, on the lakeshore at what was then called Hopkins Point (since washed into Lake Erie.) Then came Mentor Centre at the corner of Center Street and Mentor Avenue. A settlement at the east end of Mentor near the Painesville Township line on the Ridge Road (Rt. 20). Finally, a settlement stayed on Jackson Street and the Marsh Road (now called Hopkins). In 1819 the Mentor Library Company was organized. People walked 14 miles to get a book from the library. The schools began as one room school buildings, serving small clusters of homes. Through much of the 19th century and into the early years of the 20th Mentor was a divided community. West Mentor included the Village and ran from Burridge Avenue to the Willoughby limits. East Mentor ran the opposite way - from Burridge Avenue to Painesville. This was not a legal, or even a very precise division, but it was certainly a real one. Each community had its own business district with its own meat market and grocery, pharmacy, barber and even two post offices only 1/2 mile apart. Mentor became a nursery center due to its good soil and tempering effect of Lake Erie.
Mentor-on-the-Lake City
5860 Andrews Road
Mentor-On-The-Lake, OH 44060
Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Phone: - (440) 257-7216
Fax: - (440) 257-2766
Mayor: John M. Rogers - (440) 257-4866
Secretary to the Mayor: Peggy J. Guinn, 5860 Andrews Road - (440) 257-7440
Administrative Director: Kip L. Molenaar, 5860 Andrews Road - (440) 257-7216
Law Director/Assistant Prosecutor: James M. Lyons, 204 Third Street, Fairport Harbor, 44077 - (440) 357-5000
- Council Meets second and fourth Tuesdays each month - 8:00 p.m. - City Hall
North Perry Village
4449 Lockwood Road
North Perry, OH 44081
Hours: 9:00 am to 12 Noon
Phone: - (440) 259-4994
Fax: - (440) 259-2306
Mayor: Timothy R. Brainard (440) 259-2713
- Council meets first Thursday each month - 7:00 p.m. - Village Hall.
Painesville City
7 Richmond Street
Painesville, OH 44077
Hours: 8:00 am to 5:00 p.m.
Phone: (440) 352-9301
City Manager: Rita McMahon (440) 639-4800
City Manager's Fax: (440) 639-4831
Safety Center Fax: - (440) 352-2609
- Council meets first and third Mondays each month - 7:30 p.m. - City Hall.
- New Market was the first settlement in the Painesville area, laid out by Eleazer Paine and Abraham Skinner in 1803. It was located at the junction of present Skinner Avenue and North State Street on the east bank of the Grand River. This town now within the Painesville City limits was the site of the first county seat of the original Geauga County when it was established in 1806. The second Governor of Ohio, Samuel Huntington, lived in Painesville. Mills became of major industry along the banks of the Grand River. Rider Inn was one of the original stage stops along the old Lake Shore Trail, opening in 1810. Mr. Rider created a new road from South Ridge at his own expense in order to bring more traffice to his door. This road, which was known as Rider Road, is now called Walnut Street. Jonathan Goldsmith brought an unique design to the area when he built his Greek Revival home. He became one of the most famous early builders in the Western Reserve. By 1820, the population in Painesville reached 1,257 and claimed to be the largest town in the Western Reserve. Cleveland's population at the time was 606. In 1840 when Lake County formed by breaking away from Geauga County to its south, Painesville became its capitol city. Nurseries became a staple here due to the quality and variety of its soil, natural water supply and drainage and the suitable climate. Abraham Lincoln stopped at the Painesville Depot in 1861 on his way to his inauguration. He spoke to over 4,000 people on February 16th.
Painesville Township
55 Nye Road
Painesville, OH 44077
Hours: 8:00 am to 4:30 p. m. Monday thru Friday
Administrator: - Frank Svegel (440) 352-1443
Phone: - (440) 352-1443
Fax: - (440) 352-8169
- Trustees meet first Tuesday each month - 11:00 a.m. and the third Tuesday - 7:30 p.m. - Township Hall.
Perry Township
3750 Center Road
P.O. Box 65
Perry, OH 44081
Hours: - 8:00 a.m. - Noon and 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday
Phone: - (440) 259-5140
Fax: - (440) 259-5143
Clerk: Christine J. Page (440) 259-2389
- Trustees meet first and third Tuesdays each month -[Dec - Apr at 7:00 p.m.] & [May - Nov at 8:00 p.m.]
- The first settlers arrived here before 1810 and organized the area into a township in 1815. It was named in honor of Commodore Oliver Hazzard Perry, the hero of the War of 1812. It was chosen to be divided into 100 lots, which were evenly divided among the original investors. Adolph Mason taught the first school children in the summer of 1815 in a small log cabin, where the first meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Church was held the following winter. The Parmlys were one of Perry's most important early families. They settled at the northwest corner of the township along Lake Erie. Dentistry was the profession of four of the five sons. Distilleries were an early industry until the price of grain rose sharply in 1840s. Maple sugar was a staple here with one producer tapping between 500 and 600 trees each year. Cider and vinegar joined the ranks of the agricultural industries of the area. The Perry cheese factory was established in 1865 with an average sale of $28,000.00 per year. Again the nursery industry began in 1861 with the establishment of the Western Reserve Nursery by John L. Green. Another pioneer was B.F. Merriman. These two pioneers laid the foundation for what is still one of Perry's most important industries.
Perry Village
4203 Harper Street
P.O. Box 100
Perry, OH 44081
Hours: 9:00 am to 1:00 p. m. Monday thru Friday
Phone: (440) 259-2671
Mayor: - Lee Lydic (440) 259-3364
- Council meets second and fourth Thursday each month - 7:30 p.m. - Village Hall.
Timberlake Village
11 East Shore Blvd
Timberlake, OH 44095
Phone: (440) 942-9637
Mayor: - Sam Santangelo (440) 942-0775
- Council meets third Tuesday each month - 7:30 p.m. - Municipal Building.
Waite Hill Village
7215 Eagle Road
Waite Hill, OH 44094
Phone: - (440) 942-1612
Fax: - (440) 942-7567
Clerk Treasurer: Janet M. Mulh (440) 942-1612
Mayor: Arthur D. Baldwin II (440) 946-2051
- Council meets second Monday each month - 8:00 a.m. - Village Hall.
Wickliffe City
28730 Ridge Road
Wickliffe, OH 44092
Hours: 8:00 am to 4:30 p. m.
Phone: - (440) 943-7100
Fax: - (440) 943-7107
Mayor: Julie Morales (440) 944-6715
- Council meets second and fourth Mondays each month - 8:00 p;m. - City Hall.
- William Jones, the first family to arrive in what is now Wickliffe, built a double log cabin on the Ridge Road (now Euclid Avenue). Extensive vineyards maintained by the Shakers from North Union Village (now Shaker Heights), along with apples, peaches, plums, and berries were among the profitable crops in this area. Wealthy families established summer homes here in the 1890s. Frank Rockefeller had a large estate on the site of the present hight school. Harry Coulby built a summer home in 1913 for one million dollars. This place is now the Wickliffe City Hall. Wickliffe was a precinct in the township of Willoughby with 800 inhabitants when in March of 1916 an election was held to vote on the question of incorporation. 119 affirmative votes the village of Wickliffe was created.
Willoughby City
One Public Square
Willoughby, OH 44094
Hours: 8:00 am to 4:30 p. m.
Phone: - (440) 953-4190
Fax: - (440) 953-4167
Mayor & Safety Director:
David E. Anderson (440) 951-4379
- Council meets first and third Tuesdays each month - 8:00 p.m. - City Hall.
- First known as "Charlton", the French name for their trading post at the mouth of the Chagrin River durng the French and Indian Wars, Willoughby Township was organized in 1815 under the name "Chagrin" for the river that flowed through the township. In 1798 David Abbot came from Rome, NY and established the first mill in the Western Reserve at the mouth of the Chagrin in the old trading post clearing. Christy's Tavern, at the northwest corner of today's Pelton Street bridge, was an important early inn on the Cleveland-Buffalo Road. This bridge was the pioneer crossing of the Chagrin, first by by ford and then by bridge. The area's first physician came in 1813 when Dr. John M. Henderson migrated to Chagrin. Dr. George W. Card and he estanblished a medical college, naming it after Dr. Westel Willoughby in 1834. By 1836 the Willoughby Medical College built a brick building on the square where the Willoughby-Eastlake Technical Center now stands at a cost of $13,000.00. By 1842, most of the medical staff were looking westward to Cleveland, now thriving with canal traffic. Over the next four years many of the best members of the medical faculity applied to the Western Reserve College for permission to form a medical college there. In 1847 the remaining faculity were moved by legislative authority to Columbus. Even though short-lived, the Willoughby Medical College provided the foundation on which were built both the Case-Western Reserve School of Medicine and the Ohio State University School of Medicine. The township officials renamed the town Willoughby in honor of both the Medical College and Dr. Westel Willoughby. Dr. Willoughby never visited the area that bears his name. At this site the Willoughby Female Seminary was established. A fire destroyed the building in 1856, causing the Seminary to relocate to Painesville, eventually becoming Lake Erie College.
Willoughby Hills City
35405 Chardon Road
Willoughby Hills, OH 44094
Hours: 8:30 am to 4:30 p. m. Monday thru Friday
Phone: - (440) 946-1234
Fax: - (440) 975-3540
Mayor &Safety Director:
Morton E. O'Ryan, 35400 Hanna Road - (440) 951-1826
- Council meets second and fourth Thursdays each month
Willowick City
30435 Lake Shore Blvd
Willowick, OH 44095
Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p. m. Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday
8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday and Wednesday
Phone: - (440) 585-3700
Fax: - (440) 585-3220
Willowick Web Site.
Mayor & Safety Director:
Lorriane M. Fende (440) 943-0202
- Council meets first and third Tuesdays each month - 7:30 p.m. - City Hall.
LAKE COUNTY FREE-NET
CITIES & TOWNS NEIGHBORHOOD
The Lake County Historical Society has provided brief historical information on the communities in Lake County. Please take some time to visit the History Center at 8610 King Memorial Road on Little Mountain. Call (440) 255-8979 for details of their many programs and special events.
Please inform us of any missing, incomplete, or incorrect information.
Concord Township
7229 Ravenna RoadConcord, OH 44077
Hours: 8:00 am to 4:30 p.m. - Monday thru Friday
Clerk: Peggy A. Cusick
Phone: - (440) 354-7500
Fax: - (440) 354-7511