Berea, Ohio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Berea is a city in Cuyahoga County in the U.S. state of Ohio, and is a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. It is pronounced "Behr-EE-ah." The population was 18,970 at the 2000 census.
[edit] Geography
Berea is located at (41.369950, -81.862591)GR1. It is located west of Brook Park and Middleburg Heights, Ohio.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.4 km² (5.6 mi²). 14.1 km² (5.5 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (1.97%) is water. The Rocky River runs through Berea, providing its water supply for most of the year.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 18,970 people, 7,173 households, and 4,468 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,341.5/km² (3,475.9/mi²). There were 7,449 housing units at an average density of 526.8/km² (1,364.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 91.48% White, 5.13% African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.90% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.61% from other races, and 1.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.59% of the population.
There were 7,173 households out of which 27.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.1% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.7% were non-families. 32.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city the population was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 16.2% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 90.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $45,699, and the median income for a family was $59,194. Males had a median income of $39,769 versus $29,078 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,647. About 2.6% of families and 5.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.1% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] In Berea
Berea is home to Baldwin-Wallace College as well as the training facility for the Cleveland Browns. Berea High School was founded in 1882 and was the first high school in the area.
The town's symbol is a grindstone, a tribute to the many sandstone grindstones that came out of its quarries. Before concrete came into wide use, sandstone was a very important construction material, and huge amounts of it came from Berea, earning it the title of "The Grindstone Capital of the World." Several lakes in the area are quarry pits that have been allowed to fill with water.
Toby Radloff, "The Genuine Nerd From Cleveland, Ohio" currently resides in Berea.
| North: Brook Park |
||
| West: Olmsted Falls, Olmsted Township |
Berea | East: Middleburg Heights |
| South: Strongsville, Columbia Township |
History
The first European settlers to the area that became Berea, Ohio, were originally from Connecticut. Berea fell within Connecticut's Western Reserve and was surveyed and divided into Townships and Ranges by one Gideon Granger. A Revolutionary War veteran, Abram Hickox, bought the first plot (in what is actually today Middleburg Heights) and in 1808 set out west from CT. Dissuaded by the swampy and heavily forested land he decided to settle in Cleveland. He became quite successful as Cleveland's first full time blacksmith. His plot of land was sold to his nephew, Jared Hickox who came to the area with his wife Sarah and family in 1809. They followed an ancient Indian highway down through the forest from Cleveland and then, at what is currently the corner of Bagley and Pearl roads began to hack their way directly west. About two miles in they found Granger's plot markers and set up their homestead. Today this area is a strip mall on Bagley Road, just down the road from Berea. The area was a swampy lowland and the Hickox's two grown up sons died shortly after arrival from typhoid fever.
Jared, himself died his first winter in the area. His death was a particularly ghastly one and runs like this[citation needed]:
Jared had walked up to Cleveland to purchase a pair of oxen for his farm. On the way back he met a neighbor who turned out to be the last person to see him living. The neighbor reported that Jared was carrying the oxen's yoke on his own neck and explained the oxen were not used to being in the yoke. This was in December of 1810. Jared never made it home that night, and the next day his frantic family went up the trail to see what had come of him. There, leaning upright, ramrod straight against a tree and covered with frost was Jared, stone cold dead. The only explanation they could come up with was that he got a crick in his back which prevented him from walking and leaned up against the tree and died from exposure during the night. Local legend has it that Jared's ghost sometimes haunts the strip mall's movie theater, scaring late night theater goers and railing against the desecration of his family's homestead.
The family farm was in dire straits having been so severely depleted of male laborers. Love came to the rescue however and the area's spirits were lifted by its first marriage, that of Jared's daughter Amy Hickox to a recent arrival, Abijah Bagley. Bagley ended up taking over the farm and managing it into a successful concern. Today, Berea's largest street bears his name.
