What is the history of Middleburg Heights, Ohio?
The first European settlers to the area that became Middleburg Township, Ohio, were originally from Connecticut. Middleburg fell within Connecticut’s Western Reserve and was surveyed and divided into Townships and Ranges by one Gideon Granger. A Revolutionary War veteran, Abram Hickox, bought the first plot and in 1808 set out west from CT. Dissuaded by the swampy and heavily forested land he decided to settle in Cleveland. He became quite successful as Cleveland’s first full time blacksmith. His plot of land was sold to his nephew, Jared Hickox who came to the area with his wife Sarah and family in 1809. They followed an ancient Indian highway down through the forest from Cleveland and then, at what is currently the corner of Bagley and Pearl roads began to hack their way directly west. About two miles in they found Granger’s plot markers and set up their homestead. Today this area is a strip mall on Bagley Road. The area was a swampy lowland and the Hickox’s two grown up sons died sh
