Neighbors on the North Coast: Cleveland's Connection to the Mentor Shoreline

Lying less than an hour to the east of the city, the Mentor shoreline has long beckoned Clevelanders to it with promises of nature, recreation, and expanding industrial opportunities. Through photographs, maps, blueprints, video clips and documents this site highlights the development of the Lake Erie shoreline along Mentor for both public and private uses. The material on this site resides in CSU Special Collections, The Lake County Historical Society and the Mentor Harbor Yachting Club archives. Read more about Mentor.

Site Features:

  • Photographs: Nearly 400 photographs from the Cleveland Press and other Cleveland State Special Collections show many of the landscapes and recreational activities along the Mentor shoreline including images of Mentor-on-the-Lake, Mentor Headlands Beach Park, the Mentor Harbor Yachting Club, and Mentor Marsh.
  • Maps and Blueprints: Maps and blueprints from the CSU Special Collections and Mentor Harbor Yachting Club archives highlight ownership of the Mentor Marsh by railroad companies in the early 20th century and proposed plans for the development of the area into an exclusive housing development by the Mentor Harbor Company in the 1920s.
  • Videos: Includes "snippets" of home movies taken by William J. and Phrone Barrow of the Mentor Harbor Yachting Club in the late 1950s and footage shot in 1937 by John W. Dixon, then Mentor Headlands Yachting Club Treasurer, provided courtesy of Jane McCullam, his daughter.
  • Documents:
  • For Further Reading & Study: External links to additional Web sites of interest.
  • Credits & Appreciation