Brooklyn Heights

How Brooklyn Heights began

Brooklyn Heights incorporated as a village on February 28, 1903, split from Brooklyn and Independence townships after 1902 arguments over a separate school district and over high property tax valuations driven by intensive commercial greenhouse development. Martin Ruetenik, the village's first mayor, and village clerk Hamilton Richardson built the Cleveland Growers Marketing Co. to support that industry, which grew to more than 100 acres under glass at its peak, and by 1962 the village had formally adopted the title 'Greenhouse Center of America.' In 1927 the area west of Brookpark Road -- about two-thirds of the village's land and half its population -- was annexed to Cleveland, and by 1968 the remaining gardening and greenhouse acreage had shrunk to 53 acres as industry replaced glass houses.

Incorporated February 28, 1903, from Brooklyn Township and Independence Township, by Isaac Hinckley (first treasurer), Martin Ruetenik (first mayor), Hamilton Richardson (village clerk).

Where the name comes from

No source we reviewed explains the origin of the name Brooklyn Heights beyond its formation from Brooklyn Township. This is a gap, not a settled fact.

Before the town

No source we reviewed identifies a specific, named Native American village, mound, or treaty site within present Brooklyn Heights; the land was part of Brooklyn and Independence townships, on ground ceded to the United States by the 1795 Treaty of Greenville and the 1805 Treaty of Fort Industry.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware), Wyandot.

Timeline

1. 1902 — Taxpayers in School District #4 consider withdrawing from Brooklyn Township to form their own school district, while high property tax valuations from intensive greenhouse and commercial-garden development add to incorporation pressure.
2. 1903-02-28 — Brooklyn Heights incorporates as a village, with Martin Ruetenik as first mayor, Isaac Hinckley as first treasurer, and Hamilton Richardson as village clerk.
3. 1920 — Population is 605.
4. 1927 — The area west of Brookpark Road -- about two-thirds of the village's area and half its population -- is annexed to Cleveland; George Thompson serves as mayor during the village's postannexation reconstruction, and population falls to 413.
5. 1938 — Brooklyn Heights schools become part of the Cuyahoga Heights School District.
6. 1958 — Population reaches 1,600.
7. 1962 — The village formally adopts the title 'Greenhouse Center of America.'
8. 1968 — Gardening and greenhouse enterprises have shrunk to 53 acres as other industry moves in.
9. 1984 — Population peaks at 1,653.

Stories

A hundred acres under glass

The same greenhouse economy that gave Brooklyn Heights its identity also gave it its independence: it was high property tax valuations on intensive commercial gardens and greenhouses, combined with a 1902 dispute over forming a separate school district, that pushed the area to split from Brooklyn Township and incorporate in 1903. The village's first mayor, Martin Ruetenik, and its clerk, Hamilton Richardson, built the Cleveland Growers Marketing Co. to support the industry they had just helped make politically independent, and it grew to more than 100 acres under glass at its peak -- enough that Brooklyn Heights formally claimed the title 'Greenhouse Center of America' in 1962. The industry did not last at that scale: a 1927 annexation had already handed two-thirds of the village's land to Cleveland, and by 1968 only 53 acres of gardens and greenhouses remained as other industry moved into the shrunken village.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · case.edu · en.wikipedia.org

The Five Mile Crib, a small structure about 5 miles out in Lake Erie north of Cleveland's Edgewater Park The water here

• Cleveland Public Water System100% of residentsLake Erie

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Police stations (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (5)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2025-06-10

Statewide question: State Issue 3: Voter ID

Local questions for Brooklyn Heights, Cuyahoga County and its school district:

• Brooklyn Heights Village: Miscellaneous, for Charter Amendment: Article 2.
• Brooklyn Heights Village: Miscellaneous, for Charter Amendment: Article 4.
• Cuyahoga County: Miscellaneous, for Charter Amendment: Article II, Section 2.03 & Article VI, Section 6.04.
• Cuyahoga County: Miscellaneous, for Charter Amendment: Article XII, Section 12.09.
• Cuyahoga County: Miscellaneous, for Charter Amendment: Article V, Section 5.06.
• Cuyahoga County: Authorizes an additional 2.25-mill property tax levy to acquire, construct, renovate, finance, maintain & operate developmental disabilities facilities of Cuyahoga County for 10 years, beginning in 2026.
• Cuyahoga County: Renews and increases a 7.2-mill property tax levy for the general fund, health & human social services of Cuyahoga County for 10 years, beginning in 2026.

Races, candidates and every question for an address: your ballot. County offices and judges are on your county board's sample ballot.

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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