Patrick Calhoun (1856 – 1943), grandson of the Vice-President, was born in South Carolina. Going into the law, he became interested in railroads and, by the 1890’s, in street railways. A business trip brought him to Cleveland and he had occasion to visit the Heights. Recognizing it’s potential for development as a desirable suburb of the growing city, in 1891 he began to purchase land. Over the next few years, working with Clevelanders John Hartness Brown and William J. Rice, he acquired the land for his subdivision which he called “Euclid Heights,” north of Cedar Rd and west of Coventry Rd. To design his development, he employed Ernest W. Bowditch, the landscape architect who also was involved in creating the Cleveland park system.

As did many other developers of the era, Calhoun recognized that he would need a transportation link to attract home buyers to his development. The first electric streetcar line on the Heights had been that built in 1891 to Lakeview Cemetery, but this did not provide the transportation his development needed. Therefore, in 1896 he contracted with Cleveland Electric Ry to build an extension up Cedar Glen to serve his development. This extension, completed the following year, also provided service to the Ambler Park development discussed last week. This line continued along Euclid Heights Blvd to a loop at Edgehill. Cleveland Heights was beginning to take shape along its trolley lines.

Pictures 1) Patrick Calhoun, Cleveland Hts Historical Soc. 2) Euclid Heights development, Cleveland Memory Project, CSU Library Special Collection. 3) Cleveland Electric Ry # 120, Columbus Metropolitan Library