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Bentleyville
In 1831 a minister of the Disciples of Christ, Adamson Bentley came to the
area and bought land at the junction of the Aurora Branch and Chagrin
River. He built a sawmill and a gristmill, and in 1836 a clothing store.
He had disciples meetings in a log schoolhouse. Others built a Triphammer
shop, a tannery shop, and developed a stone quarry, chair and rake
factories, and shops and stores. One of the important early settlers was
Ralph Russell,
founder of the North Union Shaker community in 1822.
In 1928, various proposals were suggested by the village of Chagrin Falls
to annex all of Chagrin Falls Township. Some residents, opposed to the
annexation, wanted to separate and join Moreland Hills. However, another
group of citizens circulated petitions for the formation of another
village, voted to secede, and created Bentleyville, a separate
incorporated village, in 1929.
The population of
Bentleyville has grown from 180 in 1950 to 301 in 1960,
338 in 1970, and 381 in 1980. Approximately 540 acres of the village are
occupied the South Chagrin Reservation of the MetroParks System.
Bentleyville was originally part of a Chagrin Falls Township. There have
been numerous proposals to annex the village to Chagrin Falls, Solon, or
Moreland Hills, but its residents have chosen to remain independent. |
