Cascade and Elywood Park Elyria Ohio Hiking Trail Pictures

Cascade Park and Elywood Park have beautiful hiking trails near the city of Elyria Ohio.

The founder of Elyria, Heman Ely (1775-1852) was a native of West Springfield, Massachusetts, and son of Justin Ely (1739-1817) a well-to-do merchant, land developer, and a heavy investor in the northeast Ohio (Western Reserve) lands of the Connecticut Land Co. of Hartford. When the younger Ely in 1816 planned a settlement within his 12,450 acres (mostly purchased from his father) in the future Lorain County, he probably had already decided to name the town for himself; partly based on his fascination with the Austrian province of Illyria, which was acquired by Napoleon in 1809 during Heman's visit to Europe.

On July 5, 1816, Heman Ely's agent Simon Perkins built a dam, grist mill and saw mill at the "foot" of what would become Main St. (later called Broad St). In Jan. 1817, three axeman were sent by Mr. Ely to begin clearing trees for the new settlement. The men stayed at the log house near the mills, staffed by the Jacob Bacon family. Mr. Bacon was the first settler in Carlisle. The Ely party of six left West Springfield, Massachusetts, on Feb. 20, 1817. The group consisted of Heman Ely, Ebenezer Lane (who later became Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court), housekeeper Ann Snow, a servant boy named "Ned," teamster Luther Lane and Artemas Beebe, to work as a joiner.

Mr. Ely's large home was the second frame building in Elyria, built in the summer of 1817 on the northwest corner of Main St. (Broad) and East Bridge Street. By the summer of 1818 the settlement grew to fourteen people. On Feb. 2, 1822, Heman Ely dedicated the park at the center of the planned village (now Ely Park) to the inhabitants of the township. Early Government on Oct. 20, 1819, the commissioners of Huron County created the township of Elyria (originally comprising present day Elyria and Carlisle Townships).

The first election in the new township was held on April 3, 1820, with 20 votes cast. Heman Ely, Sherman Minot and Jonathan A. Sexton were elected as the first township trustees. During the winter of 1821-22, Heman Ely journeyed to Columbus on horseback to secure an act for the establishment of a new county which he desired to name for the French province of Lorraine, an area he had visited personally years before. On Dec. 22, 1822, an act was passed for the formation or establishment of Lorain County--taking in several townships each from Huron, Cuyahoga, and Medina Counties.

Elyria was chosen the county seat, and on February 14, 1823, the commissioners drove a stake marking the site of the proposed court house, on land donated by Heman Ely, just south of the village park. Ozias Long was given the contract, in 1825, to build a new brick court house on the village square. The building was finished in 1828, and featured the classic Greek architecture and a cupola for the bell.

Village government came to the residents of Elyria on February 23, 1833, when the Ohio General Assembly passed legislation to incorporate "all the part of the township of Elyria...which is included within the branches of the Black River," and that it "hereafter be known and distinguished by the name of the Town of Elyria."

Visit website hikingohioparks.com for more information about hiking Ohio park trails.

Location: 22 miles west of Public Square, Cleveland. Nearby Access Routes: I-80 (Ohio Turnpike); I-90; I-480; I-71; Rt. 10.

Population: 60,000. Population Density: 3,333 people per square mile. Shopping: Downtown Elyria; Midway Mall; Great Northern Mall; Cleveland St. business corridor; many area shopping centers.