Peninsula Library & Historical Society
PO Box 236
Peninsula, OH 44264-0236
Phone: 330.657.2665
Website: www.peninsulalibrary.org
Peninsula Valley Historic & Education Foundation
6138 Riverview Road, Suite F
Peninsula, Ohio 44264-9651
Phone: 330.657.2528
Fax: 330.657.2901
Website: http://www.peninsulahistory.org/
Sights to See in Peninsula
The Peninsula Library & Historical Society’s collection centers on the history of Boston Township, Peninsula, Boston Hts, Boston Mills, and Everett. Holdings include photographs, cemetery records, local government records, and scrapbooks.
Everett Village
Intersection of Everett and Riverview Roads
Everett was originally called Johnnycake Lock in 1828 after a strong storm washed sand into the Ohio and Erie Canal where it crossed Furnace Run. Crews and passengers on the canal were forced to eat cornmeal cakes – johnnycakes – for days until the canal was re-opened. East of the Furnace Run Bridge on Riverview Road are the remains of the aqueduct which was constructed to avoid a recurrence.
West on Everett Road is the last remaining covered bridge in Summit County. The bridge was completely reconstructed in 1986 after a flash flood destroyed the old structure eleven years before. The entire village, except the Everett Church of Christ, was purchased by the National Park Service in the early 1980’s. It currently awaits restoration.
Peninsula Village National Historic District
Route 303 at Akron-Peninsula and Riverview Roads
The Peninsula Village National Historic District encompasses 53 acres on both sides of Rt. 303. Hermon Bronson of Waterbury, CT arrived on his tract of land in 1824. The canal spawned a boat building industry and provided a way for goods to reach markets. Bronson plotted a village in 1837 and named it “Peninsula” in recognition of the large feature created by a bend in the Cuyahoga River. Peninsula incorporated in 1859 with Hiram Volney Bronson as mayor.
Peninsula’s major industry was its vast sandstone quarries which supplied stone for canal locks, foundations, and sidewalks. Both the canal and the quarries have been preserved in Deep Lock Quarry Metropolitan Park on River view road south of town. Self-guided walking tours of the village’s numerous historical buildings can be obtained free of charge at the Peninsula Library and Historical Society.
Boston Village
Boston Mills Road at Hines Hill and Stanford Roads
Boston Village boasted a sawmill, a boat yard, a grist mill, a warehouse, two stores, a saloon, a hotel and a population of 300 during the peak canal years of 1827 to 1842. Later, Boston would be the home of the conger and Jackson Brickyard, a mill that made toy marbles from stone, and the vast plants of the Cleveland-Akron Bag Company.
Boston’s most notorious citizen, Jim Brown, ran a rather extensive counterfeiting ring out of his tore near the banks of the canal. Brown’s schemes went on for years, frustrating Sheriff Sam Lane, until a fatal fall on a canal boat in Peninsula in 1865 ended his career. Today, Boston is the site of the Boston Mills Ski Resort.
Boston Heights Village
Olde Eight Road at Boston Mills Road
Boston Heights was created as a result of a special election in 1923 when the residents of Boston Township’s “east hill” voted 87 to 12 to incorporate as a separate village. In 1925 the village purchased the old school, which was built in 1904, from the Boston Township Board of Education for $500 and converted it into the present Village Hall.
Just to the east of the Village Hall lies the Fairview Cemetery donated by the Heights area’s first settler, Alfred Wolcott. The Ladies’ Cemetery Association, which was formed in 1890, meets twice a month to make quilts and sells them to raise money for the annual Memorial Day ceremonies.