Silver Lake

How Silver Lake began

Silver Lake was originally the property of Joshua Stow, the Connecticut proprietor of Stow Township; it passed to Horace Miller (a son-in-law of Stow in Perrin's 1881 history; Doyle's 1908 history says his wife was a granddaughter of Stow), who sold it to Ralph H. Lodge on January 10, 1874. Around 1850 Zina Buel launched a small steamboat on the lake, with a wharf and buildings for excursionists, though the venture did not turn enough revenue and the boat was later removed. Lodge built the lake into the 600-acre Silver Lake Amusement Park, with animal exhibits, a roller coaster, sports facilities, a dance hall and a hotel, drawing more than 10,000 visitors a day at its peak. The park was sold in 1917 and the land subdivided for housing, and the village incorporated in 1918. The village includes Silver Lake and the smaller Crystal Lake, and had 2,516 residents in 2020.

Settled 1874 (Ralph H. Lodge acquires the lake from Horace A. Miller; Perrin 1881 gives the chain Joshua Stow, then Horace Miller, then Lodge), incorporated 1918, by Ralph H. Lodge (amusement park); incorporated by residents after the park's 1917 subdivision.

Where the name comes from

Named for Silver Lake itself, the larger of the village's two lakes (the smaller being Crystal Lake). The 1881 county history describes it as nearly a mile long, half a mile wide, and up to twelve fathoms deep, with sandy shores that made it popular for bathing even before Lodge's amusement park era.

Before the town

Perrin's 1881 county history gives the best Native record for Silver Lake: it says the Indians whose headquarters were at Boston and Northampton townships were accustomed to spend the summers near Silver and Turtle lakes, that in 1810 the carriage road at Silver Lake was a continuous line of their huts, with many more on a hill a hundred rods away, and that about five hundred of them camped there for several summers before the War of 1812. They traded with the settlers and left for the western part of the state when news of the battle of Tippecanoe arrived. The source does not name the nation.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware).

• Summer Indian camps at Silver (Stow) Lake (camp) — road along Silver Lake and a hill about a hundred rods from it, Stow Township, summers before 1812 (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1804 — Joseph Darrow surveys Joshua Stow's township in 1804, after the Virginian squatter William Walker has built the first cabin in the northeast corner; Stow Lake, as Silver Lake was first called, lies on Lots 24, 23 and 33.
2. 1810 — The carriage road at Silver Lake is a continuous line of Indian huts of round poles, and about 500 Indians, men, women and children, camp here for several summers before the War of 1812; they withdraw west when news of Tippecanoe arrives.
3. 1824 — Henry Newberry comes to Ohio and lives first for two years on a farm at Stow Lake (now Silver Lake) while making improvements at Cuyahoga Falls.
4. 1830 — In the temperance crusade of about this year, William Stow offers 160 acres just north of Silver Lake, still called the 'temperance lot', to be divided among those who take the pledge; no deed is ever made and his heirs keep the land.
5. c. 1850 — Zina Buel launches a small steamboat on Silver Lake, with a wharf and excursion buildings, charging fares for rides around the lake; the venture does not turn enough revenue and the boat is later removed.
6. 1874 — Ralph H. Lodge acquires the lake and surrounding land, beginning its development into an amusement destination; the 1881 county history confirms the lake passed from proprietor Joshua Stow to his son-in-law Horace Miller and then to Lodge.
7. 1876 — Ralph H. Lodge, who bought the lake and thirty-five acres on January 10, 1874 from Horace A. Miller (whose wife was a granddaughter of Joshua Stow), makes Silver Lake his permanent home in April; he lives there until his death on May 22, 1907.
8. 1908 — Silver Lake Park has its own electric lighting plant, water works, sewerage, bakery, laundry, police, hotel and justice of the peace, a miniature steam railroad along the shore, sixteen Shetland ponies and 1,000 maples grown from the seed of one tree.
9. 1917 — The 600-acre Silver Lake Amusement Park, by then drawing over 10,000 daily visitors at its peak, is sold and closes; the land is subdivided for housing.
10. 1918 — Silver Lake incorporates as a village.
11. 1920 — The village has 120 people; the count is 478 in 1930, 1,040 in 1950 and 2,655 in 1960.
12. 1970 — The population peaks at 3,286 and is 2,516 in 2020.

Stories

From amusement park to village

Ralph H. Lodge acquired Silver Lake in 1874 and developed it into the Silver Lake Amusement Park. By its peak the 600-acre park offered animal exhibits, a roller coaster, sports facilities, a dance hall and a hotel, and drew more than 10,000 visitors a day. The park was sold in 1917 and the grounds were subdivided for housing. The village of Silver Lake incorporated in 1918, taking the lake's name.

The lake's first pleasure boat

Silver Lake was drawing crowds a generation before Ralph Lodge built his amusement park there. Around 1850, a local named Zina Buel had a small steamboat built and launched on the lake, put up a wharf, and erected buildings for excursionists, charging a small fare for a ride around the water. It was, in effect, a first, modest attempt at exactly the kind of lakeside tourism business Lodge would later build at industrial scale. Buel's venture never earned enough to cover its costs, and the boat was eventually taken off the lake, but the underlying appeal that drove it, sandy approaches, clear water, and a scenic setting the 1881 county history called 'a fine sheet of water,' never went away. When Akron considered drawing its municipal water supply from Silver Lake, the water was found too impure for that purpose, leaving the lake free to become, first under Lodge and later as an incorporated village, a place people came to for pleasure rather than for their taps.

Five hundred Indians at Stow Lake

Silver Lake was Stow Lake to the pioneers, and before the township was settled it was a summer gathering place. Perrin's 1881 county history says the Indians whose headquarters were in Boston and Northampton townships were accustomed to spend the summers near Silver and Turtle lakes. In 1810 the carriage road at the lake was a continuous line of their huts, built of round poles about six inches thick with the chinks stopped with moss and sod, and a hundred rods away on a hill by the shore were many more. About five hundred people, men, women and children, camped here for several summers before the War of 1812, in constant and generally friendly contact with the white settlers, who nevertheless knew the Indians might 'dig up the hatchet' at any moment. When news of the battle of Tippecanoe reached them they all withdrew toward the west of the state, much to the relief of the settlers. Perrin recalls that Zina Buel's excursion steamboat of about 1850 and the lake's bathing beaches were later attractions, and that Akron once considered drawing its water supply from the lake but found it too impure.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org

Cuyahoga River water impounded behind the Lake Rockwell dam, drawn via three raw-water lines (72", 60", 48") to Akron's treatment plant, about 2.5 miles north of Kent The water here

• Stow Public Water System91% of residentsLake Rockwell (Cuyahoga River impoundment)
• Silver Lake Village6% of residentsWells in Cuyahoga River buried valley sand & gravel aquifer
• Cuyahoga Falls City3% of residentsWells in Cuyahoga River buried valley sand & gravel aquifer

Public schools (1)

Police stations (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• OP&F Examination, 2024, released 2026-05-26
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2025-05-08

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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