Newburgh St.

From Brooklyn Centre Wiki

Current revision

1903 newspaper notice for construction of the street railway on Denison Ave.
Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer of Sep 23, 1903
NOTE: Click on the thumbnail and then click on the intermediate image to get a clear view.

Post-1906 name:

Denison Avenue

Location:

The full length of the road stretched from Jennings Avenue on the east to its intersection with Lorain Avenue on the west.

Development:

This road was first laid out about 1811 and divided the Moses and Ebenezer Fish property in half.

Named for:

Prior to 1884, this street was spelled Dennison Avenue and only the portion from about Fulton Avenue to Lorain Avenue had this name. Later, Denison was also applied to the eastern part of this road which was originally named Newburgh Street as its eastern boundary bordered on Newburgh Township. It was also known as the Newburgh and Rocky River County Road. An 1882 deed transfering property from Joseph C. Poe to Caroline Stratton in original Lot 56 mentions that Newburgh Street was formerly called Ridge Road.

Which of the many Denisons the street was actually named for, is uncertain. The most likely possibility is for one or all of the sons of Daniel Denison (1771-1857). John Bushnell Denison owned property at the western end of what is now Denison Ave. where it meets Lorain Ave. Daniel Jr. and Jabez owned property near Fulton Avenue.

John Bushnell Denison (1798-1857), Daniel Denison (1804-1864), and Jabez Denison (1811-1854) are all buried in Denison Cemetery on Garden Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio.

NOTES

An interesting question one might ask oneself, is why the east end of Denison Ave. doesn't run in a straight line? Once it reaches West 19th St., Denison veers off slightly to the left when it seems like it should have just continued due east. Something in the past must have made it more beneficial to go in the direction it did. Was it easier access for horsedrawn wagons? Was the slope just shallow enough to make it possible to come up out of the valley? Or was it that springs in the hills made the ground too unstable where the road would have descended? Whatever the reason, it still is amazing that a horse, or perhaps oxen, could pull something up that steep hill. It wasn't really even easy for cars to come up from Jennings Avenue.

ADDRESSES NEW vs OLD

MISCELLANEOUS HISTORY

The following appeared in a copy of Ohio Architect and Builder:

ALTERATION. Plans filed with building inspector. Location, 2017 Denison Ave. Private Plans. Estimated cost, W.A. Galet [sic. Should read W.A. Geist], 2017 Denison Ave. Brick, shingle roof, two stories.

CHANGE BARN TO TENEMENT, 2017 Denison Ave. Owner W.A. Geist, two stories, frame, $2,000, 24x30, 24x32.^[1]

REFERENCES

1. ↑ Ohio Architect and Builder, July 3, 1917; pg.4