Strongsville Historical Society and Historical Village

In the fall of 1962, a group of concerned citizens gathered at the home of Velda and Howard Chapman to discuss how to preserve the history of Strongsville. By the end of the meeting, the group decided to start the Strongsville Historical Society. Over fifty years later, the Strongsville Historical Society still exists in the center of town on land that once belonged to the Chapmans. The Society maintains eight historical buildings and an extensive collection of archival photos, works of art, yearbooks, and other objects related to Strongsville’s history. The Society is also home to the Strongsville Society of Model Railroad Engineers. Housed in the basement of the Baldwin House, the group displays a model railroad that spans the length of the building. The Strongsville Historical Society is open for tours on Wednesdays at 1:00pm June through August and during select events throughout the year.

In 1816, Henry Ellsworth hired John Stoughton Strong to travel to the Connecticut Western Reserve to survey and sell parcels of land in the new state of Ohio. Strong was the first white settler in what soon became the town of his namesake: Strongsville, OH. 146 years later, residents of Strongsville feared their fellow townspeople were quickly forgetting this early town history; therefore, in the fall of 1962 Howard and Velda Chapman held a meeting in their home to discuss how to preserve Strongsville’s past. The Chapmans were ardent lovers of history and Howard was a long time school teacher in the district. 

The first order of business at the Chapman’s meeting was how to save the Pomeroy House. At that time, the 1848 Pomeroy House had been unoccupied and deteriorating for years and the Chapmans feared the former Underground Railroad Station would soon be demolished. Out of this discussion, the group made a plan for how to raise funds to save the building -- a plan that not only restored the structure, but also added it to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. In this meeting, the Chapmans and about 20 other attendees also decided to formally start the Strongsville Historical Society. The first members imagined the Society as a repository for Strongsville’s history and a way to ensure residents appreciated their past. 

After its formation, the Chapman’s donated their land, home, and barn as the site for the historical society. However, until the Chapman’s left their home or more buildings were added to the property, the young historical society had to hold monthly meetings in town hall. Early meetings of the Strongsville Historical Society consisted of speakers and small exhibits of artifacts the group had collected. Eventually, the group had enough funding and identified key buildings to add to the Chapman property.

One of the first structures added behind the Chapman House was an 1840 log cabin. Although not original to Strongsville, the 1840 cabin from Coshocton, OH, represents life on the Western Reserve from 1816-1825. While most of the structure is original, some logs were rotted upon reconstruction in 1976. Ever inventive, the Strongsville Historical Society members replaced these rotted logs with telephone polls that can still be seen on campus tours today. 

The next structure in the Historical Village chronology is the 1823 Baldwin House. The Baldwin House was one of the first frame houses in the center of Strongsville and is notable for being the home of Dr. Baldwin, the second doctor to move to Strongsville in 1821. In the basement of the Baldwin home is the Strongsville Society of Model Railroad Engineers. During special occasions, the basement is open for the public to watch the many model trains traverse the track that spans the length of the basement. 

The other three nineteenth century buildings on the campus are the Ebenezer Pomeroy House (1832), Miss Gilbert’s Academy (1842), and the Lathrop House (1871). The Ebenezer Pomeroy and Lathrop houses were the last two buildings added to the Society’s campus in 1988 from Albion, a small community now part of the northern border of Strongsville. Memorably, these houses were moved the day before Howard Chapman passed away in the hospital. Historical Society members like to think that he passed away once he was sure the structures had safely made it to the property. The Ebenezer Pomeroy House now displays the Velda Chapman Doll Museum while the Lathrop House represents Victorian Era style and houses the Society’s archives in the basement.

Miss Gilbert’s Academy was one of the first institutions of higher education in Strongsville, however after its prime, the owners of the building transformed it into a three car garage. When the Historical Society acquired the building and moved it to their campus, they had to restore the structure so that it now represents what a one-room school house would have been like from 1822 to about 1923. The other half of the building is dedicated to the Roe Millinery collection of hats. 

For twentieth century buildings, the Society has the Roe-Chapman House (1904), Roe-Chapman Barn (1909), and Olds General Store (1917). Howard and Velda Chapman bought the Roe-Chapman House and Barn in 1957 and donated the structures and their two acres of land to the historical society during that first meeting in 1962 held in their home. Olds General Store once stood in Beebetown, a small community on the corner of Boston and Marks Road that existed within what is now four different cities and three counties. Mortimer Olds operated the store from 1927 to 1964. It was one of the last businesses in Beebetown. Today it houses the Historical Society’s gift shop. 

The Strongsville Historical Society continues to operate as an all-volunteer nonprofit organization in the center of Strongsville. Information about tour times and prices can be found on the organization's website.

Brlas, Terry. “Strongsville Historical Society Turns 50.” The Post. March 14, 2012. https://www.thepostnewspapers.com/strongsville/local_news/strongsville-historical-society-turns/article_d7ceca76-8d9b-5cba-9d04-a74739c86d7c.html 

Hamm, Marissa. “The Future of the Past is in Your Hands”: Local Historical Societies in Northeast Ohio. YouTube. March 11, 2019. https://youtu.be/zFSzbCm6-Uw

Strongsville Historical Society. Strongsville Pictorial History 1900-1967. 1967