Although it is hard to imagine, Cleveland Heights was once covered in towering trees, large farms, quarries and vineyards. While people moved from the City of Cleveland into other adjacent areas in the 1830s and 1840s, Cleveland Heights remained fairly undeveloped until the turn of the 20th century, partially due to its remote location at the top of a bluff. A 1903 map of East Cleveland Township (out of which grew Cleveland Heights) shows just eight roads, with most of the land divided into large parcels and farms. Mayfield Road opened in 1828 as a six-foot-wide dirt road. Conversion to a plank toll road in 1877 encouraged both an increase in commerce and emigration to the area by farmers and quarry workers. Connected to Mayfield Road, Euclid Avenue and the railroad lines, Noble Road was one of the earliest streets in Cleveland Heights. However, Noble's distance from the streetcar lines and developments in the southern areas ensured that the street remained relatively undeveloped into the 1920s. Evidence of the rural history of the northern half of Cleveland Heights can be found in the early farm homes that still stand on or near Noble Road. The early settlers of the northern half of Cleveland Heights were mostly farmers and workers at the Bluestone Quarry. Many, like William Quilliams (whose house still stands at 884 Quilliams Road), went on to become leaders in the growing community of Cleveland Heights. Other pioneers went in different directions. In 1851, Asa and Teresa Cady (whose home can be seen at 3921-23 Bluestone Road) were among the 14 members of the First Presbyterian Church of Collamer who broke their connection with that church because it "maintained fellowship with slaveholders." Mr. Cady served as vice president of the Cuyahoga Anti-Slavery Society and the home was long rumored to be a stop on the Underground Railroad. While Cleveland Heights has changed dramatically over the last 100 years, these homes serve as reminders of a more rural past. The City of Cleveland Heights has designated several as Landmarks, recognizing their importance to our community's heritage.

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In 1907, as the First United Presbyterian Church of East Cleveland celebrated its 100th birthday, it was suggested that an appropriate feature of the celebration would be the founding of a mission chapel, originally called Noble Heights Bible Chapel. The effort came just four years after Beckwith Memorial Presbyterian Church seeded the forerunner of Forest Hill Church in a rented home on the Heights.

Although the population of Cleveland Heights was just beginning its ascent and the real boom remained a decade in the future, churches were clearly eyeing future trends. Up the hill on Noble Road, a new community was growing. The mission's regular services and Sunday school classes began in the one-room Noble School. After the original Noble School building was demolished, the congregation met under a large tent erected on a newly acquired lot just north of the old school. The cornerstone for a new building, built in the Gothic style and costing $5,600, was laid on August 1, 1909, at the corner of Noble and Kirkwood Roads.

Like most congregations, the mission church (which would later become Noble Road Presbyterian Church) relied on the strength of its Ladies Aid Society, which staged innumerable events like lawn fetes and bazaars to raise money for the building fund and to purchase pianos, pews, the first reed organ, and other building improvements.

Noble Road Presbyterian Church separated from First Church in 1921. At that time, there were 93 charter members and the enrollment of the Sunday School was 224 students. As the congregation grew, a need for more space arose. In 1924, the building was raised three feet (allowing for rooms in the basement) and extended 25 feet. And for the added comfort of parishioners, they installed pews and a new heating system. Despite ongoing financial problems and a high turnover rate in the minister position, the church served the surrounding community through schools, youth groups and service work.

The postwar population boom in Cleveland Heights swelled the congregation, which reached as high as 826 in 1957. In 1950, the congregation broke ground for a $52,000 remodel of the building. The new church featured a Georgian Revival facade with pillars and a tall steeple. This exciting time in church history also presaged a major shift in mission, with the congregation working on issues of civil rights and social justice throughout the community, a passion that continues today.

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"If you've ever tried to find a cookbook at the Noble library and couldn't, I think we know why," said a Cleveland Heights police spokesman following the 1984 arrest of an unemployed insurance salesman. They nabbed the man, who spent at least eight hours a day at the Noble Library, who generally stole two books, two magazines, and two pamphlets each time. Following a tip, the cops found almost 4,000 library books stashed all over the man's house. When asked why he had not simply checked out the books, the man replied: "I never got a library card."

Unlike the book thief, thousands of patrons have used their library cards at the Noble branch of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library for nearly a century. The first libraries in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights system were installed in or very near school property. The first branch on Noble Road was housed in a small portable building erected in 1923 on the grounds of Noble Elementary School. After just two years, this first building was replaced with a larger portable building specifically designed for library use. It opened on May 9, 1925.

In 1937, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights system built its third permanent building at 2800 Noble Road, just across the street from the old location. The new Noble library building was designed in the Georgian style by noted Cleveland architects Frank Walker and Harry Weeks and cost about $57,000 to construct. The building was expanded in 1963 and renovated in 1994 and 2011.

Over the years the library has hosted reading programs, costume parties, magic shows, children's craft workshops, senior programs, musical performances, and a host of other community events. It continues to be a vital anchor in the Noble neighborhood.

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Monticello Junior High was the last building built in the Heights Schools' rapid expansion of the 1920s. After the construction of Roosevelt, Fairfax, Coventry, Roxboro Elementary, Taylor, Noble, Boulevard, Roxboro Junior High, Oxford and Canterbury (and additions to all but four of these buildings), the northern part of Cleveland Heights received a first-class building that remains among the district's most attractive.

John H. Graham (who also designed Coventry Library) was the architect for the District's last four prewar buildings, which were much more reserved than the more exuberant buildings designed by Franz Warner in the teens and twenties. The layouts and designs of these buildings exhibit a more "modern" perspective on educational architecture, even though they were less than ten years older than their peers.

The layout and location of the District's schools hued closely to a 1920s facilities report that projected a need for twelve elementary schools and four junior highs. This was in response to rapid growth throughout the city. In 1910, Cleveland Heights had a population of 2,955, growing to 14,811 in 1922. Population continued to swell to 50,946 by 1930, with a pre-Depression forecast to reach over 100,000 by 1940. The scale of this growth is seen by 1,077 homes built in 1919 alone. For example, from 1917 to 1919, school enrollment nearly doubled from 1,366 to 2,466.

This growth was not uniform and two large estates, plus smaller ones at Mayfield and Taylor, separated Cleveland Heights with some in the northeastern section of the city feeling neglected. With development marching up Noble Road from more developed East Cleveland, this is easy to understand. Construction of a first-rate Junior High along with Oxford Elementary, Noble Library and the Noble Fire Station displayed Cleveland Heights' commitment to the area.

Monticello exhibits John Graham's skill and the District'st intention to expand nearly all of its buildings to accommodate future growth. Ramps were employed to allow for changes in grade and floorplates, with a large auditorium placed beneath the cafeteria on the second floor. In front of the cafeteria and connected to it was the library. The 1970s renovations would move the cafeteria to a new addition and the library to a former courtyard that was enclosed. Both of their former spaces would be converted to classrooms.

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