Forest Hill Park Footbridge

Under Construction, 1939-40

For better or for worse, I am a runner. There are a number of short routes which take me from my home in Cleveland Heights and through the neighborhood or the city, though many of those will include inclines which, depending on the day, can be welcome or not.

Some time ago I realized how close I was to Forest Hill Park, which spans both the Heights and East Cleveland. It’s almost exactly a mile there (and a mile back) and once there, I can take a few different paths to create a 5K, a four or even five miler. And the entire route is mostly flat.

Once upon a time, Forest Hill was the home of John D. Rockefeller. Featuring a bluff from which you could view the city of Cleveland, the estate was a summer retreat for the family until the mid-1910s. In 1939, J.D. Rockefeller Jr. donated the property to both cities for public recreational use. It was at that time that Works Progress Administration funds were employed to create a footbridge to span a 350-foot valley, through which runs Forest Hill Boulevard.

It’s a lovely bridge, built with a steel skeleton and faced with locally quarried Euclid bluestone. More recently, a cage-like addition was added to the middle section for safety. It has also kept the bridge free from tagging.

Photo: J. Mark Souther

I will often take the bridge from East Cleveland to Cleveland Heights and back on my runs, and once even incorporated the bridge into a script I wrote, a play which is intended to be performed live via cellphone, while running through the park.

Over recent years, the bridge at either end had been damaged, the stone walls knocked over, possibly by careless motor vehicles in the park, or in some cases, probably pushed over by mischievous hands.

A couple years ago, however, repair workers replaced and repaired the damage and now they look good again. I stopped in the middle of a run in October, 2021 to thank and compliment the guys who were employed for the project, for their work.

Sources:
Cleveland Historical

Cleveland Memory Project
Daddy Runs Fast Blog
Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

Potter Village

DID YOU KNOW ..?

Potter Village is the neighborhood within the seven connected streets of Castleton, St. Albans, Boynton, Radcliffe, Haselton, Woodridge and Edison (in the area between Monticello and Taylor). The name “Potter Village” comes from the fact that this neighborhood was once the location of a large farm owned by a family named Potter.

Beginning in 1923, the area was redeveloped into a residential neighborhood. At that time, the developer described it as “one of the most beautiful sections of the Heights.” Nevertheless, the neighborhood was mostly unpopulated until the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Today, almost 90 years after the establishment of the area as a residential neighborhood, these quiet tree-lined streets remain “one of the most beautiful” places in Cleveland Heights. - Jim Goodluck, Potter Village Good Neighbor Association

Potter Village is not to be confused with Forest Hill, that expanse of land between Cleveland heights and East Cleveland which was once the domain of John D. Rockefeller -- home of Forest Hill Park and the Historic Heights Rockefeller Building ... Speaking of which, have you been to Rockefeller's for a cocktail or an intimate dinner yet? You should.

Whenever I mention where I live, someone invariably asks if its part of Forest Park, and I have to report that no, I live adjacent to Forest Hill in the less-fashionable South Of Monticello District ... or "SOMO." That was before our neighbor Jim discovered the neighborhood already has a name.

In 2009 after the collapse of the housing market and just before our eldest was about to start first grade, my wife took it upon herself to put out a call to the neighborhood to have a block party. At that time there were foreclosed or abandoned houses two yards to our left, three yards to our right, two across the street and two on the other side of our backyard fence. We wanted to know who our neighbors were, and at that time we'd been here almost sixteen years and really didn't know.

It's two years later. Last weekend we held our third annual Castleton-Potter Village block party with all of our friendly neighbors and friends. All those houses I mentioned now have people in them. Our youngest starts first grade in a week. The world spins.