At sunrise in the North Royalton Cemetery, a visitor may sense a feeling of isolation. One of Greater Cleveland's busiest roads runs by, but it is near silent at this time of day. Familiar names appear -- township founders for whom streets are named -- alongside families long forgotten. Rough, chalky marble headstones from almost two centuries ago are strewn among modern monuments of smooth, polished granite. Modest graves stand next to statuaries and obelisks. Revolutionary War veterans commemorated with historical markers are buried next to shopkeepers and dairy farmers. Drive by the cemetery at midday on Route 82, and you may never feel a thing. Stand in the center of it on a quiet dawn, however, and you will know that you are in a sacred place.

Founded in 1866 as the Royalton Road Cemetery, graves were moved to this cemetery over the years from other sites in Royalton Township, including the Village Green. In 1879, it was designated as one of Cuyahoga County's most picturesque cemeteries, thanks to the work of the ladies of the Cemetery Association who maintained it. In 1927, the city took over maintenance of the cemetery, a task it still performs today.

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Royalton Township was founded in 1818. It was not much different than any of the other Western Reserve townships, as it was primarily a community based on general family farming. With the exception of a smith shop, a boarding house, and a sawmill, small farms predominated the community. However, Royalton's rolling green hills, coupled with the rise of the nearby city of Cleveland, led to the growth of North Royalton's most notable industry. In the years following the Civil War, North Royalton became the center of dairy farming in Cuyahoga County, providing milk, eggs, cheese, and other dairy products to an increasing number of hungry Cleveland consumers.

Central to this industry in Royalton was the Searles family creamery, cheese factory, and drugstore on State and Royalton roads. Originally built and owned by the Wyatt family, the creamery was maintained by the Searles family, and the store eventually outlived the creamery. Indeed, the number of farms in the area decreased in the mid 20th-century as Cleveland residents, once central to the growth of these farms, flocked out of the city and turned nearby, formerly rural communities into bustling residential suburbs.

At present, one can only imagine a North Royalton filled with dairy farms, with the Searles pasture across State Road as the most prominent example. This was the reality in late 19th-century North Royalton. You can still buy your milk and cheese at this site, albeit in a very different way: a supermarket is now located here.

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The site of the North Royalton City School Board Offices and Gibson Field at Serpentini Stadium has been used by the community as school land for over 100 years. In 1908, North Royalton was a very different community than it is today, and this was the site of the village's first high school. Before the new school was constructed, students attended classes at the old town hall on the Village Green, with North Royalton High School conferring diplomas to two proud students in the inaugural class of 1907. Students who wished for a fourth year of high school would have to take a wagon to Parma and then a streetcar to Lincoln High in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood to receive such a privilege. As North Royalton grew in the mid-part of the 20th-century, becoming more suburban than rural and shedding its past as a small agricultural and dairy community, the original high school was torn down, and a new modern high school opened in 1952.

As you look at the newly renovated stadium and overcrowded board offices today, as well as the hulking, modern middle school and high school around the corner, it is hard to imagine a time when North Royalton was something other than a bustling suburb of Cleveland. Safe to say, the community has grown and changed much in the past 100 years. Something as simple as the evolution of a high school can illustrate this.

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The intersections of Bennett, Royalton, and Ridge Roads have always formed the civic center of North Royalton, even before there was a North Royalton. These roads made up the center of Royalton Township (established in 1818) of the Western Reserve, and when North Royalton became a village in 1927, the green had already been the site of the township's administrative buildings for over 80 years. More than a government center, the village green has been the focus of community life. It was the home of the first Baptist Church in the township, as well as a cemetery that was later moved (but not entirely!). Later, the North Royalton Harvest Picnic would be held there, and police and fire stations were also built near the green.

Much has changed in North Royalton since the days when the area was home to dairy farms, cheese factories, and other agricultural pursuits. Post-World War II suburbanization and the construction of the Ohio Turnpike through the town in 1955 caused a sharp rise in population. Over time, Township Hall became Village Hall, Town Hall, and finally City Hall when North Royalton officially became a city in 1961. The Harvest Picnic festival became known as Home Days. The dense forest of 1818 was cut down early on, but dozens of trees have been planted since as farms have given way to suburban streets. One thing has not changed, however: North Royalton's village green has always been a place for government to do business and for people to gather, serving as an example to visitors of the city's long history of togetherness.

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