Abandoned Hillandale Bridge: Debunking the Myths & Uncovering the History

Huhnke, Christopher

Many people have had conversations about the "abandoned Hillandale bridge to nowhere" or the "abandoned Euclid bridge" and lots of people have made the short trek down there, either with or without spray paint in hand.

It's got many things going for it that make it a unique area. The bridge itself is large in scale and smacks of the era in which it was built. It is traversable without special equipment and is fairly safe if you're being careful. It's attained centenarian status.

The glacial cut ground doesn't look much different today than it did before the first white man went exploring. Money was poured into a bridge that was built to allow car traffic to a development that promised "high grade homes" that never, ever came into existence.





Those things pertaining to the land and the bridge that sits on the land remain true. There are many untruths, however. I haven't found conclusive evidence that the stock market crash and following depression was the only reason this area was never developed as planned. Never was there an insane asylum down there that performed grizzly lobotomies named Ridgecliff (the real Ridgecliff was in Wickliffe, and they at least performed shock therapy). I dismiss this and other "ghost stories" featured on numerous websites not because I don't fancy a good scare, but rather because history deserves to be told and preserved, and the real stories of where we live are fascinating because they are true, because the people were real, the hearths in those homes that sometimes still stand alone and silent today were once warm and occupied, and those brick and stone foundations that remain don't need to be sensationalized to something supernatural to be special.

If you want to see where Hillandale, the abandoned sub-division and bridge are today, check out this google map. Now, onto the people that owned and developed this area starting in the early 1850's:

1852 - M. Stewart, L. Phillips own about half of the area ill-destined to become a subdivision. D.P. Nickerson owns a small western corner that today touches Euclid avenue.

1858 - I. E. (Isaac Elbert) Brush owns some of the area, with more land connecting to the west. Brush is the father of Charles F. Brush, who is known for his work in the American electricity industry, and designing and developing an electric arc lamp and generator as well as engineering an efficient method for manufacturing lead acid batteries.

An October 25, 1897 deeds shows Eliza Phillips transfer to Annette Boyce Outhwaite.

Annette Boyce Outhwaite was married 6 years earlier in 1891 to Joseph Husband Outhwaite.

Annette Outhwaite, maiden name Boyce with first husband Joseph Husband "J.H." Outhwaite

Before 1911, a tulip-log cabin was built. The address would later be 1715 Terry Ct. This cabin is still standing today.

Along with the log cabin, a grand mansion was built. This house was designed by Jarvis Hunt in 1896 and would stand for many years.

On November 15 1902, J.H. Outhwaite died at the age of 51. He was one of the wealthiest people in Cleveland, and died as the result of surgical operation in New York. He had been ill for some time and made his money in Iron Ore holdings in Michigan and Minnesota. Joseph Outhwaite is buried in Lake View Cemetery.

Annette remarried in New York and became Annette Jennings on June 1, 1904. On April 27, 1906 while residing in New York, she and her second husband Phillip sold the property to Arthur W. Brown. Annette is buried in Vermont.

Arthur W. Brown sold the property to Burton Gad Tremaine on October 21, 1909.

Burton "B. G." Tremaine was married to his second wife, Maude Tremaine, nee Draper, when this property was purchased. Burt Tremaine may not be a name that jumps out at you, but he co-founded the National Electric Lamp Assocation with Franklin Terry. Long story short, NELA became part of General Electric, and NELA park bares this name.

Burton Gad “Burt” Tremaine

At this point, you must realize this area was home to wealth and a lot of entrepreneurship and ingenuity. It's no wonder that wealthy people made this area home for even a short time, as it is visually stunning, and I would imagine even more so without a major highway off to one side.

The Mansion is constructed from the front in a semi-circular play with gables and cupolas, circa 1911

The Tremaine estate again, circa 1917

Pictured above is the house built in the late 1890's for Outhwaite, which eventually became known as the Tremaine Estate. Burton Tremaine purchased additional property in the area in May and November 1911. He and his family remained here until they sold the properties to a developer by the name of O'Donnell in 1925. Tremaine lived until the ripe old age of 84, died in 1948, and is buried at Lake View Cemetery.

What remains today, what attracts urbex'ers and the like, is the abandoned Hillandale bridge, of course. Hillandale bridge was mentioned in the following article, and that article was written in Winter, 1911. This means the combination foot/traffic bridge was not simply built to provide a means of travel to a subdivision. That also makes the bridge older than the guesses of "somewhere between 1920 and 1930". This bridge is already over 100 years old.

The house remained, and was featured in the December, 1911 edition of Suburban Life, the Countryside Magazine. The article, and accompanying photos, are nothing short of breathtaking. If you're a history buff, a house lover, or any of the above, get ready.

Click for text version of article

Let me take a moment here to fully appreciate this house and the cabin, and the grounds. This place was a showpiece, folks. Truly. Euclid history both in residents and in architecture and design. A natural spring!  Surely, something catastrophic must have happened between 1911 and now, right? Not really.

Almost immediately after the sale the planned sub-division was announced. This April 26, 1925 clipping tells all about the fine homes that are to be built.

Nearly a month later, the log cabin was put up for sale. May 23, 1925.

"The greatest log cabin in Cuyahoga county"

A formal advertisement ran in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on July 4 and 5, 1925, announcing this new development at Stop 19 on Euclid Avenue... Touting it as Nature's Wonder Park. Built by Patrick John "P.J" O'Donnell's Hillandale Land Co.

The abandoned Hillandale bridge would have been on your way home

Another property for sale near the Tremaine estate and the log cabin.

In 1927 the Hillandale Land Company was looking for at least a couple nice guys to help sell lots.They also warned prospective buyers not to rest on their laurels, as prices were going to skyrocket soon.

In April 1928, Ream Sanitarium (sometimes written as Reams Sanitarium) moved from it's location in East Cleveland (16160 Euclid Ave.) to the Tremaine mansion at Hillandale.

1928

Now the Tremaine estate is a home for nervous, aged, and convalescents. Wild how a home can go from a luxurious sprawl for a select few to a place where many go to relax and hopefully stop their brain spasms or live out what's left of their life in a little peace and quiet.

May 31 1929: An ad for the type of home ready to be built! Come on out and see how amazing the prices and everything is! Get in the car and look! 4 years and still building.


Here's one of the homes that was built in the Hillandale estates area, that matches the model home quite closely.

Meanwhile, up the hill Ream Sanitarium offers everything from cancer treatments to Nauheim baths.

August 14, 1935

Hello, summer 1935! Now the Forkapa Realty Corp. is going to be developing over 100 sites in the Hillandale "subdivision". Low-cost homes were also to be built:

A new development of 10 houses for Hillandale, the former Tremaine estate on Euclid Avenue at the Wickliffe line was announced yesterday by M. R. Forkapa, 135 Schofield Building, who also has plans in preparation for building low cost houses such as the Federal Housing Administration has been urging, the latter to be built for lot owners.

The Forkapa Realty Corp. holds title to the Hillandale development. Forkapa and associates have formed the Public Housing Corp. to do the building In both instances.

In the Hillandale development fifteen of the houses to be started by Sept. 1, which will range in price, with lot, $6,50 to $6,750, already have been sold. The building company already has purchased the lots from the realty company and will acquire and improve others as the market demands.

These houses will be of seven and eight rooms, with one bath and first floor lavatory, full insulation, oil burning boiler and automatic heating system with individual room control, copper concealed radiation and copper feed pipes as well as copper water pipes and the new lightweight plumbing fixtures, in color. They will have attached two-car garages, also insulated. Roofs will be heavy asphalt tapered shingles.

A General Electric kitchen including the waste disposal unit will be installed in each house.

George M. Kaufman, architect, has made a number of different designs and plans and each house has been placed on the lot where it is to be constructed, insuring Forkapa says, a controlled and symmetrical development.

The Public Housing Corp. of which Forkapa is general manager and Kaufman the architect, also is being fitted up to construct six room insulated houses for lot owners in all locations possible, in about the $4,000 price range with warm air heat, one-car garages and approximately the same equipment otherwise as those in Hillandale. Contracts taken on these before Sept. 1 will be completed before Christmas holidays. Forty jobs already ready are under negotiation.

In the Hillandale development either FHA or insurance company funds will provide the financing. The smaller houses have been presented to the FHA in Washington For approval.

6 types of "low cost" houses, 1936

Sometime between 1939 and 1941 the name of the former Tremaine estate was changed from Ream Sanitarium to Maple Ridge Hall Nursing Home, where it was noted that the building consisted of 20 rooms, glass-enclosed solarium, and featured a number of brick cottages nearby. It was owned by Mary Russell, nee Ream, and managed by her husband, George Russell, who passed away in 1939. In 1942 the facility was leased to a Helen J. Coss for a term of 5 years.

Miss Coss's lease would expire sooner than that, however, because she ran into a bit of a situation in July 1946:

Soon after the home became known as the Cuy-La Home. Eventually the son of George and Mary Russell owned the home. It remained Cuy-La through the mid 1990's at least, and when it closed in the mid-2000's, stop 19's actual address was 1691 Hillandale, and it was called Hillandale Manor.

In 1979, the majestic log cabin was up for sale. Someone thought it was special enough to have a piece run about it, and I agree. The asking price was $109,900 and was offered for sale by the owner at the time William Vencl.

The log cabin ended up selling Valentine's Day 1979, for $90,000. It remained the possession of John Aten until September 2014. At that time it sold for half of what Aten paid 35 years earlier, a meager $45,000.

Auditor's sketch of the tulip-log cabin. It totals 2,494 sq. ft. with a basement and porch.

So back to the bridge for a minute. Popular rumor says that the bridge was built ca. 1920 for the purpose of a subdivision that never happened. What if it never was for a subdivision? Yes, the land was parceled out, and still is, but some development did happen in that area, and the bridge was present in 1911, long before even the first advertisement for development of individual lots. I think the bridge was built just because the area could have used one (mansion to the farm), and the money was there.

So now we have a space that shows off the fineries of nature. Placed tastefully within this area is a mansion and a stunning log house. Early electric light fixtures in an antique style lined the split-stone walks.

Hillandale is a wonderful place of contrasts. From the beautiful residence on the ridge, far above Lake Erie, to the log-cabin is virtually only a step: the estate is a natural mixture of little hills and valleys; the ravine is distinctive and bizarre; and travelers who know claim that Hillandale is one of the most beautiful country estates in the entire Middle West--and perhaps in the whole land.

So surely something was done. Henn mansion was saved as was the Shore building.

In 2018 the parcel of the log cabin, and 5 adjacent properties, are owned by the same person.

The parcel that sat the stately Tremaine mansion is owned by Hillandale Realty, Inc.

The undeveloped area totals about 23 parcels. Additional parcels that were once the home of the Brush farm are still owned by the Providence Baptist Church.

Parcels. Color represents owner. Orange parcels are city owned.
The 2 large, uncolored parcels to the left are owned by the Providence Baptist Church.

Plat maps from 1898 and 1927, aerial view from 2005. East 276th, part of Hillandale, All of Tremaine and Coolidge drive were developed as planned in 1927.

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Begin quick sidebar: There was quite an uproar starting in 2002 with the neighboring area just west of Hillandale. The church mentioned above wanted to build a house of worship on the old Brush land with over 100 houses that ideally would sell for well over the typical Euclid house asking price of the time. In November 2002 Euclid P&Z blocked the build.

Legal representation for the church threatened to sue the city of Euclid for stalling. The church went ahead and purchased in Spring, 2003. In January of 2004 Euclid council voted 5-4 in favor to consider rezoning the land from industrial. The church proposed a $6.5 million church build and 110 new homes. Opponents were concerned about a church taking up so much space zoned for industry, and the use of reverse mortgages worried others.

Council voted to have the issue go to a ballot, while supporters believed the resistance was racially motivated, as the church was predominantly black.

The voters defeated the issue, and the church sued. Long story short, the city and mayor Cervenik turned around and gave the OK in November 2004, citing money, primarily. Attorneys were getting pricey. Voters were outraged and Rev. Rodney Maiden, pastor of the church, was quoted through his lawyer as looking "forward to becoming a meaningful member of the Euclid community." The church agreed to build homes priced between $191,000 to $264,000.

This whole thing led to the attempted recall of Mayor Bill Cervenik. Cervenik defeated the recall and remained mayor, but all in all, it was a rather ugly time in Euclid.

While the church still owns the enormous parcels 15 years later, they haven't done anything with them, but have held services regularly at the Manor Euclid. End quick sidebar.

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All the while Hillandale, it's bridge, and other remains bask in the filtered sun with the gentle trickle of the creek in the distance.

Sadly, the bridge and cabin are all that remains, as something semi-whole.

The Tremaine estate was demolished in 2008.

I wonder where the conservation was for this area was. I wonder why it was overlooked and completely forgotten about. Out of sight, out of mind, perhaps?

1715 Terry Court, the historic log cabin, looked quite good to me when it was for sale in 2014.

The heart, the very same still standing alone, today

Hillandale's abandoned bridge was truly once a part of a much larger existence. The idea that it was never used is just silly. Hillandale's bridge wasn't abandoned in the 1920's because the global economy crashed. Hillandale's bridge was fully abandoned just these last ten years.

The loss of places like these are heartbreaking and painfully permanent.