Garfield Heights is located at 41°25′17″N 81°36′10″W (41.421423, -81.602682).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.29 square miles (18.88 km2), of which 7.23 square miles (18.73 km2) is land and 0.06 square miles (0.16 km2) is water. The elevation of Garfield Heights is 831 feet (253 m) above sea level where it borders Cleveland, and its highest elevation is 972 feet (296 m) above sea level at the Garfield Heights Justice Center.
Marymount Hospital is the city's largest employer.
The Ohio Department of Transportation has its District 12 headquarters in the city.
Largest employers and number of employees:
Marymount Hospital, part of the Cleveland Clinic: 1,200
ODOT: 500
City of Garfield Heights: 370
Garfield Heights City Schools: 350
In 2007, Garfield Heights and its neighbor Maple Heights were mentioned by CNN/Money as two of America's most affordable communities.
The Garfield Heights Chamber of Commerce was established in the 1960s and includes over 250 business members from the area.
Chart Industries, a gas tank manufacturer, has its world headquarters in Garfield Heights. Chart Industries is one of the fastest growing companies in the world. The headquarters is in the Infinty Corporate Center. There is talk that Infinity Corporate Center may be renamed Chart Center‹See TfD›. Chart is a $1 billion company and has been featured on CNBC, Fox Business Network, and Bloomberg.
The Ohio Catholic Federal Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in Ohio, is based in Garfield Heights. As of 2011, it had 17,456 members and $155 million in assets.
Law and government
Garfield Heights has seven wards and a mayor-council form of government. The city's charter went into effect in 1956. The city also has a municipal court that serves several jurisdictions.
City officials
Mayor: Vic Collova
Council President: Joseph M. Suster
The council president is selected by members of city council. If the mayor's seat is vacated, the council president would assume the duties, according to the city charter.
City Council
Ward 1: Michael Dudley Sr.
Ward 2: Joe LaMalfa
Ward 3: Mike Nenandovich
Ward 4: Eugene Glenn
Ward 5: Joseph M. Suster
Ward 6: Matt Burke
Ward 7: Thomas Vaughn
The city maintains its own police and fire departments.
Police Chief: Robert Byrne
Fire Chief: Thomas Nemetz
Fire houses: 2
The city has a network of emergency warning sirens. The sirens are routinely tested at noon on the first Saturday of every month. A Community Emergency Response Team is in place. Garfield Heights uses traffic signal preemption.
The Dan Kostel Recreation Center is located on Turney Road at the Civic Center complex and includes an outdoor swimming pool open during summer season only and an indoor ice skating rink.
Garfield Park Reservation, part of the regional Cleveland Metroparks system, is located in the Northeast corner of Garfield Heights on its border with Cleveland.
The ethnic groups of Garfield Heights include Poles, Slovenes, Italians, Irish, and African-Americans.
93.4% spoke English, 2.8% Polish, 1.2% Italian, and 1.2% Spanish.
As of the census of 2010, there were 28,849 people, 11,691 households, and 7,393 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,990.2 inhabitants per square mile (1,540.6/km2). There were 13,125 housing units at an average density of 1,815.4 per square mile (700.9/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 60.2% White, 35.7% African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.3% Asian, 0.6% from other races, and 2.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.3% of the population.
There were 11,691 households of which 32.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.5% were married couples living together, 21.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.8% were non-families. 31.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.08.
The median age in the city was 38.5 years. 25% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.1% were from 25 to 44; 26% were from 45 to 64; and 15.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.0% male and 54.0% female.
As of the census of 2000, there were 30,734 people, 12,452 households, and 8,205 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,641.3/km sq (4,253.0/mi sq). There were 12,998 housing units at an average density of 694.1/km sq (1,798.7/mi sq). The racial makeup of the city was 80.72% White, 16.80% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.93% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.43% from Race (United States Census)other races, and 0.96% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.26% of the population.
There were 12,452 households out of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.5% were married couples living together, 15.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.1% were non-families. 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the city, the population was spread out with 24.1% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 18.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 87.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $39,278, and the median income for a family was $47,557. Males had a median income of $35,435 versus $26,472 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,988. About 6.0% of families and 8.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.9% of those under age 18 and 9.2% of those age 65 or over.
Garfield Heights has its own public school system comprising three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. It is governed by a five-member elected board. There are three Catholic schools in the city; St. Benedict, John Paul II Academy, and Trinity High School.
In 2001, Garfield Heights voters approved a levy to build a new high school. Construction of the school began soon thereafter and was completed in mid-2003. In 2006, ground was broken for the construction of the high school arts and drama complex, a $5 million building. Construction of the 750-seat Garfield Heights Matousek Center for the Performing Arts started in November 2006. The performing arts center opened on November 3, 2007.
In 2010-11 school year both Elmwood Elementary and Maple Leaf Intermediate were renovated and Maple Leaf School gained more classrooms and a bigger gym. Maple Leaf School is the Garfield Heights City School District's oldest building built in 1925 and was the smallest until the current reconstruction
The high schools' mascots are:
Trinity High School: Trojans
Garfield Heights High School: Bulldogs
In 1786, Moravians settled in the city.
1852: St. John Lutheran becomes the first church established in the city.
1854: St. John Lutheran School is established.
1895: Land is purchased from the Carter, Dunham and Rittberg families to create Newburgh Park.
1896: Newburgh Park is renamed Garfield Park. At this point the city becomes known as "Newburgh Hamlet".
1904: The Village of South Newburgh is established.
1908: Maple Leaf School, a small red brick building, is built on the present site of Maple leaf Elementary school.
1910: A school board is established.
1918: Garfield Central School (later Garfield Elementary) is opened.
1919: South Newburgh is renamed Garfield Heights. The village, which is largely still a farming community, is equipped with one Ford "Model T" fire truck and six volunteer firemen.
1920: Rapid real estate development causes the population to grow from 1,550 in 1920 to nearly 16,000 in 1930. This overdevelopment causes an 80% foreclosure rate during the first depression.
1921: Garfield Hts Hospital is established on E-131st street, providing invalid service through ambulances for the sick, crippled and dying.
1923: The first Catholic church, St. Timothy, is established.
1925: Maple Leaf School opens and the first streetcars go into downtown. The city use a bookmobile as a library beginning this year. Warren "Bud" Nutt begins operating a Texaco filling station/repair garage-with one outside lift
on the northwest corner of Plymouth and Turney roads. Nutt will remain in business here until his retirement in 1979.
1926: The Sisters of St. Joseph establish their mother house in the 106 hundred block on the south side of Granger Road. Garfield Hts High School begins a rudimentary form of sex education.
1927: Garfield Heights gains two new churches (Sts. Peter and Paul/St. Therese). This year also sees the building of Garfield Heights High School.
1929: 36-year-old City Councilman Otto Bicker is appointed as the city's Fire Chief. Bicker was instrumental in organizing the city's first fire department and through his efforts the American Legion John Lawrence post #304 enabled the city to acquire a pair of 1929 American Lafrance open cab ladder trucks. The city donates one of these vehicles to the Cedar Point Amusement park in 1966.
1930: Garfield Heights achieves city status.
1931: A 30 millimeter howitzer is donated and displayed at the Turney Road entrance of Garfield Park. It is later melted down for scrap during World War II.
1938: The city's first library is constructed in the basement of Garfield Park school.
1939: The city purchases its first ambulance, a 1930 Meteor.
1941: American Legion post 304 donates a 1936 Packard ambulance to be housed at fire station #1, then located near the northwest corner of Turney and Granger Roads.
1942: Jennings "Rest Home" begins operating on July 2. The Municipal Library now occupies two storefronts at 4663 Turney Road. In September, Mayor Ring demotes Police Chief Gannon to Patrolman after Gannon and two officers use a police car to go on a seven-hundred-mile trip to a police convention in Michigan. Gannon appeals this demotion and is overruled.
1945: Twenty-eight-year-old PFC William Foster of Garfield Heights is killed by diving onto a hand grenade to save a fellow Marine, Melvin Hauge. He is awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor.
1946: Fourteen die on July 6 as Jennings Hall burns. The newspaper The Garfield Heights Leader begins publishing, featuring "more news about Garfield Heights than any other newspaper in the world" as well as slanted political articles cast in the opinion of amateur journalists and blue-collar intellectuals.
1947: Four new Ford police cars are purchased and equipped with the city's first two-way radios.
1948: The Garfield-Bedford bus line starts service between Bedford and Garfield Heights into downtown Cleveland. Jennings Hall is reopened on May 8 in a new brick facility. Charles Nespor and Ted Flick open a Standard Oil service station on the northwest corner of Turney and Granger.
1949: Marymount Hospital opens. 100 new stop signs are installed as well as red lights at several major intersections.
1950: The city purchases a new American LaFrance "Quad" series 700 cab-ahead-of-engine closed cab fire engine. The truck comes equipped with six removable battle lanterns. The county immediately places a lien against the truck due to back taxes.
1951: A new library is built on the northwest corner of Turney and South Highland avenue. A new fire station is built on the southeast corner of Turney and McCracken as an extension of the old bus garage. The new facility comes complete with pool table, sauna, and calendars dating back to 1951. Turneytown shopping center opens in October.
1952: St. Monica Church is established and Elmwood school opens; Garfield Heights Baseball League is founded. The city purchases a 1942 Buick ambulance.
1955: Andrew, Julius and Steve Homolak purchase a Standard Oil mechanical shop and service station on the northwest corner of McCracken and Broadway.
1956: The city purchases Ford Vanette ambulance, its siren emitting an erie drone which could be felt ringing in the heads of those who were alive as far back as 1959. This vehicle will stay in full-time service until 1967. Funds to purchase and equip this vehicle are generated largely from a pancake festival. Through the efforts of Fireman Charles Mentkowski this vehicle is purchased as an empty van for $3,100 and equipped as a state of the art ambulance for $10,000. In June, founding Fire Chief Otto Bicker dies. City leaders are proud of the fact that the national problem of juvenile delinquency has not affected the city.
1957: William Foster Elementary School and Marymount High School open. In March, the city's first traffic fatality is that of a 33-year-old father of four who dies after colliding with a dump truck on the Warner Road bridge. Councilman Charles Nespor unsuccessfully runs for Mayor. Nespor was known for being one of the most dynamic politicians in the city's history. Raymond Avenue, a subdivision formerly known as Prophits Hill Grove, is completed featuring state-of-the-art ranch homes. In July and August three children are struck down by cars within a four-week period at the intersection of South Highland and Turney roads, one of whom, a ten-year-old boy, dies as a result of his injuries. The city council forms an ineffective "safety council" to correct this problem.
1958: A new city hall is built at 5555 Turney Road.
1962: Eddie Leitson opens Turney Restaurant (now known as Angelos Restaurant) in June.
1963: A new high school is completed at 12000 Maple Leaf Drive, leaving the old high school to be used as the junior high school, serving grades 7 through 9. A twenty-four-year-old teacher from Garfield Elementary school quits her job as it is discovered she is involved in an affair with Shondor Birns
1964: On December 28, 16-year-old Beverly Jarosz is found murdered in her Thornton Avenue home. The killer is never found, this being one of the strangest cases in criminal history. Detective Captain William Horrigan claims to be certain as to the identity of the killer, an acquaintance of Beverly's, but without sufficient evidence he is unable to submit the case to prosecutors.
1965: In January, Michael Lindley Bane dies by his own hand in his E 88th street home. As police investigate, it is decided that this is not related to the Jarosz murder. Also in January, a mother and daughter are struck and killed while crossing Turney Road near Tonsing Avenue. Garfield Heights Recreational Center opens, the main focal point being the new library. The original fire station as well as Koppers Hardware and Felix Bicycle shop near the northwest corner of Turney and Granger are razed. Among the city's worst traffic accidents is that of an eight-year-old boy crushed by a truck on the Whitehouse crossing bridge in July.
1966: A major fire at TurneyTown shopping center destroys several stores. Melted ice cream from "Franklyns" runs down the sidewalks and into the sewers as employees stand by and weep. In June a municipal swimming pool is opened at the recreation center. The city's first fleet of black and white police cruisers, 1966 Fords, is purchased. Garfield Heights will continue to use primarily Ford Interceptors until 2009.
1967: The Garfield Heights Historical Society is created. Fire station #2 is built across the street from its previous location on E-131st Street in November. In June the city purchases a 1966 G.M.C. Ambulance. The Garfield Heights Leader claims this ambulance is capable attaining speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.
1969: Cardinal Karol Woltya (later Pope John Paul II) of Kraków, Poland, visits Garfield Heights.
1970: Sam Boyas purchases and expands the Rockside Road landfill. Myron L. Twiggs purchases the Sohio station on the northeast corner of Granger and E-98.
1972: Automotive enthusiasm grows as local groups such as the "Park Heights Gang" promote street drag racing.
1973: Marymount High goes coed as Trinity High School is established.
1974: Garfield Mall opens. Construction of I-480, the John Glenn Freeway, begins.
1975: The Garfield Heights-Bedford bus line is absorbed into the newly created Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. The bus line becomes the 76x/f route.
1976: On August 8, eight people die in a car crash on Granger Road hill, caused by the failure of truck brakes. The driver of the truck survives to face conviction on four counts of vehicular homicide.
1978: The I-480 twin-span bridge opens to traffic. It is 4,025 feet (1,227 m) long and 212 feet (65 m) high. Its footing begins in Garfield Heights and ends in Independence.
1979: The Garfield Heights Branch Library experiences a fire in its building; the cost of fire damage totals $210,000. Also in 1979, Marymount Hospital completes a $30,000,000 renovation of its campus. The infamous dump finally closes.
1981: Alfred Antenucci jumps on John Hinckley, Jr. during the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. Antenucci, a labor union official, was outside the Washington Hilton Hotel where he noticed Hinckley with a handgun. Antenucci is honored for this act and a street is named after him. [1]
1985: Ex-Marine and Vietnam veteran Jeffery Lawrence shoots and kills neighbors Jesse and Cheryl Mooney and wounds two others on August 25. Police had been called to the house twice concerning a loud party emanating from the Mooneys' garage. Lawrence simply walks away and turns himself in to Lyndhurst Police two days later. This is Garfield Heights' first double homicide. Lawrence is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
1986: Ohio's Metropark system assumes management and subsequent renovation of Garfield Park.
1991: The Garfield Hts Civic Center is built
1994: Three police officers are killed in the line of duty. On August 15 Garfield and Maple Heights police respond to a shooting at an apartment complex at East 88th Street. Sergeant Dennis Glivar is fatally shot by Don Mits, who is captured after a four-hour shootout with police from Garfield Heights and four other cities giving mutual aid. Mits is convicted and sent to death row. In December officers Brown and Stefanov are killed during a high-speed chase into Cleveland when their cruiser is broadsided and collides roof first into a steel utility pole.
2003: 29 December, Garfield Alloys, a magnesium processing plant, catches fire.
2004: Garfield Heights opens its new high school, and ground is broken for the new City View Shopping Center.
2005: Marymount Hospital breaks ground for a $25,000,000 addition.
2006: St. John Lutheran School closes after 152 years of service.
2007: The Marymount Hospital Emergency Room addition opens. The city council introduces a ban on pit bull dogs.
2008: The Ohio E.P.A. and Attorney General file a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the city and owners/developers of Cityview due to improper maintenance and methane gas leaks.
On October, 14, the State of Ohio auditor's office declares the city to be in fiscal emergency. This is only the third city in Cuyahoga County to ever have this designation since Ohio adopted fiscal rankings in 1979. Cleveland and East Cleveland have been the only other cities in the county under fiscal emergency, but both have since returned to solvency.
2009: Mayor Thomas J. Longo announces his retirement as mayor after 26 years.
City View goes into receivership with new owners, as the Klein Interest of Monsey, New York default on their loan.
On October 22, the Ohio EPA arees that a methane gas mitigation system is needed. All new construction at CityView will be required to have mitigation systems.
On November 3, Garfield Heights elects its first new mayor in 26 years. The winner is Vic Collova who previously served as council president.
On May 2 the Ohio Supreme Court reverses a lower court decision and sends Don "Harry" Mitts back to death row for the 1994 murder of Police Sargeant Dennis Glivar.
July 1: The maternity ward at Marymount Hospital closes.
July 15: Mayor Vic Collova announces that Transportation Blvd will be expanded after years of meeting EPA rules of adding methane gas control and monitoring systems. Construction is underway.
2011 the Cuyahoga County Public Library announced that Garfield Heights will be having a new 30,000 sqft2 branch library which will be built on the site of current 1965 library. Garfield Hts has one of smallest branches at 12,500 sqft2. The new Garfield Library will be completed in 2013. Robert Sackett is promoted to Police Chief, he is the city's fifth Chief.
2012: In February, Garfield Heights receives a grant to repave and repair Turney Road.
March 2012: Marymount Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic open Marymount's new surgical center and lobby. It is a glass enclosed structure.
June 2012: St. Monica Catholic Elementary School graduates its last class, and for the 2012-13 school year becomes Saint Benedict Catholic Elementary School, a joint venture between Saint Monica Church and Saint Martin of Tours Church, which closed its school in neighboring Maple Heights.
July 2012: Terrance Olszewski became the new Superintendent of Schools of Garfield Heights. He was the principal of Garfield Heights High School.
August 2012: Saint Monica Church will celebrate 60 years with a mass by Bishop Richard Lennon. Overdrive, Inc., a leading full-service digital distributor of eBooks, audiobooks, and other digital content, announces that they will move from Valley View to their new "Blue Sky" campus in October 2012.
2013:
July 2013: Garfield Heights becomes the 14th Cuyahoga Community to have automated waste disposal.
September 7, 2013, the new Garfield Heights Library opens. It is a 30,000 sqft2 glass and steel structure.
September 19, 2013, Garfield Heights will be taken off state fiscal watch.
September 2013, Harry Mitts was executed for deaths of Patrolman Dennis Glivar and John Bryant.
Name/Year Built/Number of Floors
Garfield Heights has a restrictive height of 90 feet (27 m) for most of its buildings. This height restriction was made into law on 25 March 1962. Cellular or wireless towers are the exceptions.
Marymount Hospital Campus 1949–present
Hospital (1949/1979) 7
Surgical Center/new entrance (2012) 4
Medical Building (1995) 5
Emergency tower (2007) 3
Jennings Hall Campus
Jennings Hall One (1999) 4
Jennings Hall Two (2002) 4
Jennings Manor (2005) 4
Saint Rita Hall (2010) 4
Marymount Place Campus
Marymount Place (1989) 4
Villa St. Joseph (2007) 4
Garfield Heights High School (2004) 3
Trinity High School (1957/1992) 3
Garfield Heights City Hall (1991) 3
Garfield Heights Middle School (1962/2004) 3
Derby Professional Building (1978) 3
Infinity Corporate Center (2002) 3
St. Monica School (St. Benedict Catholic School)(1954/1957) 3
Garfield Heights is home to Marymount Hospital, which was established by the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis in 1949. The hospital was built at a cost of $2.1 million between 1946-49. It was dedicated in October 1949. In the 1950s with Garfield Heights and its neighbors expanding, Marymount expanded too. In 1966 Marymount grew by adding the first ambulance to the base radio system and using a MRI system.
In the 1970s, Marymount added mental health services and renovated the hospital tower. This renovation took from 1972 to 1979 and cost of $30 million. In the 1990s, Marymount again grew by adding a new medical office tower and new services.
In the 2000s, Marymount grew due to the closing of St. Alexis/St. Michael's. The hospital has added more intensive-care unit beds and more emergency room capacity in a new state-of-the-art tower which opened in 2007. In 2003, Marymount joined the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic as part of its system. JCAHO, the Joint Commission of American Healthcare Organizations, certified Marymount as a primary stroke center. Marymount is the largest employers in Garfield Heights with 1,200 workers. Marymount has 310 beds and 200 doctors.
In 2010, Marymount expanded the main hospital campus with a future cardiovascular surgery center so open heart surgery can be performed. Formerly, Marymount patients went to Hillcrest Hospital or the main Cleveland Clinic for these procedures. In 2011, Marymount closed its maternity ward due to its own declining birthrates and the increasing birthrates at Fairview and Hillcrest hospitals. In March 2012, Marymount opened a $45,000,000 surgical center and entrance lobby. It is a glass-enclosed atrium and has a staircase.
Marymount has several offices in Garfield Heights, Marymount South in Broadview Heights, and Bainbridge Township.
Churches and membership
Sts Peter and Paul (1927/1960) 1,000
St. Therese (1927/1960)
St. Monica (1952/1964) 2,500+
Holy Spirit Parish 2009 800
Garfield Hts United Methodist Church
St. John Lutheran (1852/1964)600
Garfield Heights Church of the Nazarene
The Argentine Rocca Community Church
The Rock Community Church
Garfield Heights is served by the Cleveland television stations and numerous cable and satellite providers. The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the Neighborhood News-Garfield Heights Tribune (published each Wednesday) are the main newspapers.
Steve Bartek, American guitarist, film composer, conductor
William A. Foster, earned the Medal of Honor
Dennis Fryzel, last football coach at the University of Tampa
DeJuan Groce, cornerback in the NFL
Josh Kolodny, American radio personality
Scott Mruczkowski, former football center for the San Diego Chargers
David J. Skal, American cultural historian, critic, writer
Wilma Smith, former Cleveland news anchor
James Glenwright Unger, American hockey player
Melvin Fellows The First HS Football All American
