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Doan Brook in Cleveland was dammed to create the four Shaker Lakes in Shaker Heights

Tracing Doan Brook from the heights of Cleveland
Posted at 6:57 AM, Oct 01, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-01 06:57:51-04

I grew up almost within sight of Doan Brook as it babbled through my old neighborhood on its way to Lake Erie. I lived so close to it, my family, my friends, and I often saw it several times a week. We knew the brook crooked its way to Lake Erie because we lived near where the two waters met.

But I did not know where the brook, named for the earliest white settler who established a home in what was the little community of Cleveland. Beginning in 1796, The man who brought his family from points east of Cleveland probably dropped his bucket into the brook for the water to meet his needs.

By the 1830s, a religious sect called the Shakers moved into what would later become Shaker Heights. They dammed Doan Brook and made four lakes from the water. Further downstream, they built a gristmill for the grinding of grain. At the time, it was the largest such construction in the eastern part of what would become Cuyahoga County, Ohio. 

The Doan has many stories to tell. This is one of them.

I wanted to know more about the Doan Brook, so I went to experts on the waterway. Click on the video with the story and see what I learned.