Lakewood, Ohio
city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States
Lakewood is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, on the southern shore of Lake Erie. Established in 1889, it is one of Cleveland's historical streetcar suburbs and part of the Cleveland metropolitan area. The population was 50,942 at the 2020 census, making it the third largest city in Cuyahoga County, behind Cleveland and Parma.
History
Establishment
The area now called Lakewood was populated by the Ottawa, Potawatomi, Chippewa, Wyandot, Munsee, Delaware and Shawnee tribes until the Treaty of Ft. Industry pushed them west in 1805. Prior to the treaty, American settlers were prohibited from moving west of the Cuyahoga River. The treaty ceded 500,000 acres of some of the tribes' land to the United States for about $18,000 or 3.5 cents/acre. The Shawnee and Seneca, living with the Wyandot, were to get $1000 "...every year forever hereafter."
In 1806, the area was formally surveyed as Rockport Township, Township 7, Range 14, of the Connecticut Western Reserve. It was purchased from the Connecticut Land Company by a syndicate of six men headed by Judson Canfield on April 4, 1807, for $26,084. In 1818, permanent settlement began with the arrival from Connecticut of James Nicholson.
“Lakewood, Ohio” enters the record as city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Lakewood, Ohio and city can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Lakewood, Ohio” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Lakewood, Ohio and city provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q570990. VIAF identifies the subject as 156905825. The Library of Congress control number is n83232516. Authority coordinates are 41.481, -81.800. 4 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1889, 2020, 1805 and 1000.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lakewood, Ohio”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lakewood, Ohio primary sources, Lakewood, Ohio archive and Lakewood research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lakewood, Ohio”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lakewood, Ohio” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.