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1874 residence of
George North,
currently the site of the
Munroe Falls Village Park
on
North River Road.
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Early History of Munroe Falls
Adapted from "Fifty Years and Over
Of Akron and Summit County"
by Samuel A. Lane (1892)
Munroe Falls, located upon the Cuyahoga River, exists by reason of the
considerable water power afforded by the fall in the stream there. Forty
people first settled this southern portion of Stow Township in 1809.
William Stow (a cousin of Joshua's), Francis Kelsey and several Gaylords
were among them. The community was originally called Kelsey Mills, after
Mr. Kelsey's sawmill.
Later the name was changed to Florence, and it had a log dam and
several small mills. Then, in 1836, Edmund and William Munroe of Boston,
Massachusetts, arrived. They bought 200 acres and made plans for a new
manufacturing city.
They built a general store, improved existing mills and began building
larger mills and more homes. The Munroe brothers started a company in order
to grow or manufacture silk and wool, cotton, paper, flour, sugar, machinery
and tools. They even imported silkworms and mulberry trees to feed the
worms. The trees have survived, but the climate was not suitable for
silkworms.
Then came the nationwide "Great Panic" in 1837, with many bank
failures, and a depression after that. After struggling in this difficult
time for ten years, the Munroe Falls Manufacturing Company went bankrupt.
The paper industry eventually revived in 1866, using a
dam that was on the site of the present one.
The new village of Munroe Falls continued to be
a desirable and scenic place to live and farm, and in 1841 it became a stop
along the new Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal. Click here for early maps.
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