Response to NEORSD Recommendations

Lower Lake was form in 1836 and Horseshoe Lake was formed in 1852 when the North Union Shakers dammed Doan Brook with earthen dams. The North or Mill Family occupied the area around the Coventry Road and North Park Boulevard intersection and used Lower Lake to power a sawmill (later a gristmill). The Center Family occupied the area around the Lee Road and South Park Boulevard intersection and used Horseshoe Lake to power a woolen mill. Once the North Union community disbanded in 1889, the Shaker lakes served aesthetic and recreational purposes.

In 1896, the Shaker Heights Land Company donated both Lower and Horseshoe Lakes to the City of Cleveland to be used as parklands. Because the Shakers deforested much of their land, the City of Cleveland spent a decade improving the parklands, including undertaking extensive tree and shrub plantings, extending roadways, building footpaths, repairing dams, and constructing a vehicle bridge (now Brook Road) at Lower Lake. The Van Sweringen brothers contributed to beautify the parklands as a selling point when they were developing Shaker Village.

There is no denying the love our communities have for the Shaker Lakes, but both dams were not built to last forever, and the threat posed by the dams failing has been recognized as early as 1890 when a Cleveland Councilman said the Shaker dam was in bad condition and worried about probable loss of life should the dam fail. The following day, the newspaper noted the Shaker dam was to be examined and repaired to prevent great damage if it broke. In 1901, heavy rainfall led to severe flooding in East Side suburbs, and residents worried that the Shaker dams would fail due to their age. It was feared that "scenes akin to the fearful Johnstown calamity" would occur. Thirty years later, a massive storm destroyed a portion of the Horseshoe Lake dam, which was then drained when residents knocked out the remaining stones of the dam.

A 1959 newspaper article reported on the goldfish, silt, and pollution that required the lakes be dredged every year or two to prevent stagnation and unpleasant odors. Horseshoe Lake was again drained in September 1995 to remove silt and repair the dam when downstream flooding caused by the lakes was deemed critical. Lower Lake went through a similar process in the summer of 1997. The Doan Brook Watershed Partnership was formed in 2001 by neighbors, cities, and nature advocates to protect this historic urban stream that feeds the Shaker Lakes.

This was not an easy decision to come to as many of our board members, staff, and members have fond memories of Horseshoe Lake. However, after researching and consulting with community partners and experts, we believe this recommendation is the best option for the safety of our community and neighbors downstream and for the improved ecological health of the Doan Brook Watershed. As stated in our above statement, our reasoning is threefold:

1. Because the historic dam at Horseshoe Lake is beyond repair and does not meet Class I specifications, there is no scenario in which this earthen dam remains. NEORSD has stated they cannot allocate money toward a project that goes against their mission, and as stated by Tori Mills, Executive Director of the Doan Brook Watershed Partnership, major grant funders "do not fund dam rebuilding or keeping manmade structures that impede stream flow and aquatic habitat that has existed for 14,000 years."* Therefore, replacing the dam to retain Horseshoe Lake would place undue financial pressure on Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights, and the only remaining historical aspect would be the lake itself, which has also changed over the years.

2. There is no questions that the dam and lake are historic, but the history of the area is much broader and older than the story of the Shakers who occupied the land for only 67 years. We must do better to acknowledge and embrace histories, stories, and environments beyond this time period, and we believe restoring** the Doan Brook channels that existed for thousands of years before Horseshoe Lake is a great start. Note that 

3. While historians often look to the past, we also remember that the present and future will become history. We have to acknowledge that the future of our neighbors in surrounding communities will involve increased flooding if Horseshoe Lake and its minimal drainage area are retained as climate change worsens. We believe taking action at Horseshoe Lake is not only the equitable choice to support neighboring communities but also an opportunity for Heights residents to come together to design a new park that benefits all.

*Special Meeting of City Council, August 17, 2021, 00:59:30, https://www.shakeronline.com/780/Shaker-Lakes

**Based on discussions with watershed stewards, "restore" in this context means returning a degraded waterway to a more natural, functioning hydrological state, not the historic preservation defintion of returning something to a documented earlier appearance.

Edited 9/20/2021: We want to acknowledge the pain that some members of our community are feeling after we released our statement. There are memories, stories, and emotions tied to Horseshoe Lake, and we respect the deep love, passion, and grief associated with losing this beautiful lake. 

We based our statement on a holistic understanding of the information presented or researched that we felt would benefit our community and future generations. While we support the recommendations, we do believe the Shaker story is a crucial part of local history that deserves to be shared. In our initial discussion with NEORSD, we were told there would be funds allocated for historical interpretation, and we insisted on being a part of these plans to make sure the story is not forgotten. Regardless of the outcome with Horseshoe Lake, the Shaker Historical Society is committed to continue working with community partners to develop historical interpretation that celebrates our shared history around the Shaker Parklands.

The Shaker Historical Society has not taken a public position on Lower Lake. As of January 2026, SHS is a publicly funded institution, and we don't believe it's our place to use that funding to advocate for a particular outcome on an active infrastructure or environmental decision where SHS is not a decision-making party. SHS has participated, and will continue to participate, in discussions with NEORSD and local organizations about preserving and interpreting the cultural and historical resources connected to the lake. Historical materials from our collection remain available to NEORSD and to the public for that purpose. No further comment or statements will be provided at this time.

Various local garden clubs, including the Shaker Heights Garden Club and The Village Garden Club, undertook plantings around the lakes in the early 20th century, and the Civil Works Administration (CWA)/Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed additional beautification projects in the 1930s. From the early 1900s to the 1970s, Lower Lake was also the home of the Shaker Lakes Canoe Club. The Clark-Lee Freeway threatened all of these with the potential destruction of the Shaker Parklands. In addition, hundreds of homes in both cities would have been destroyed and families displaced. 

Under the proposed NEORSD plan, the major change is the removal of the Horseshoe Lake dam and the restoration of Doan Brook stream channels. No homes will be destroyed, the Shaker Parklands will be preserved, and through the Section 106 process, mitigating actions of adverse effects include avoidance of the Woolen Mill archaeological site,  Village Garden Club cherry tree grove, Window Box Garden Club monument, Jacob Russell grave, and Liberty Oaks; preservation of the stilling basin walls at the dam; and preservation of WPA stone features.

We have been made aware of concerns in the community that the Shaker Historical Society's decision to support the NEORSD recommendations is politically or monetarily driven. This is completely untrue. The Shaker Historical Society is a small local non-profit that is supported entirely by our generous community and culture/humanities-focused grants, and we have not received donations, in-kind contributions, or grants from NEORSD. Likewise, we have not received any incentives from political entities, and the extent of conversations with the City of Shaker Heights has been only to share our research and resources.

SHS staff and Board of Directors based our support for the Horseshoe Lake project on our understanding of the facts presented to us by NEORSD, community stakeholders, and independent experts. Because the Shaker Historical Society signed on to be a consulting party to the Shaker Lakes project in 2017, we remain a consulting party to ensure the Shaker story is shared through historical interpretation at the site if the recommendations are approved by both Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights.

Removing Horseshoe Lake and restoring Doan Brook stream channels per NEORSD's recommendations has no impact on the National Register of Historic Places listing and is allowed by the National Park Service. According to National Register FAQs, "Under Federal Law, the listing of a property in the National Register places no restrictions on what a non-federal owner may do with their property up to and including destruction, unless the property is involved in a project that receives Federal assistance, usually funding or licensing/permitting."

However, because this project requires federal approval, the Section 106 process is required. The original plan involving both Green and Horseshoe Lakes began the Section 106 process around 2018. When the project scope later changed to full dam removal, that triggered a new round of Section 106 review, including a new cultural resources survey, a new adverse effect determination from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), a public comment period, and consultation with historical and preservation organizations. Mitigating actions of adverse effects approved by USACE and SHPO include development of a virtual exhibition; educational signage; Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation; avoidance of the Woolen Mill archaeological site,  Village Garden Club cherry tree grove, Window Box Garden Club monument, Jacob Russell grave, and Liberty Oaks; preservation of the stilling basin walls at the dam; and preservation of WPA stone features.

Because we are not experts in ecology or environmentalism, we defer to local partners with expertise in these field. Both the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes (NCSL) and the Doan Brook Watershed Partnership (DBWP) support NEORSD recommendations that will improve the ecological health of the Doan Brook watershed, provide natural flood control, and restore valuable native habitat. We encourage you to reach out directly to NCSL and DBWP with questions regarding the potential impact on wildlife around the lake.

You can read NCSL's statement of support here: https://shakerlakes.org/statement-of-support-for-the-neorsds-shaker-lakes-recommendations and DBWP's statement of support here: https://doanbrookpartnership.org/horseshoe-lake-2021.

Lastly, we share this information received from the Director of Conservation at Audubon Great Lakes*:

"While large bodies of water can support certain groups birds...the blockage of streams and wetlands to artificially create bodies of water is detrimental to many species of birds. Marsh birds, waterfowl, shorebirds and wading birds depend on a dynamic hydrological system that allows for periods of low water, germinating aquatic and emergent plants and supporting a rich ecosystem of insects, amphibians, reptiles and mammals along with birds. Floodplain forest breeding birds and migratory Midwest land birds utilize trees and shrubs adjacent to streams and rivers that benefit from occasional, but not permanent, inundation. Stagnated water in forest systems results in long-term declines in canopy cover and less habitat for birds."

*Marnie Urso, email message to SHS Executive Director Brianna Treleven, September 9, 2021.

Learn more at:

• Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District

• City of Shaker Heights

• City of Cleveland Heights

• Nature Center at Shaker Lakes

• Doan Brook Watershed Partnership

• Contact Cisco Rivera, NEORSD Watershed Team Leader, at riveraf@neorsd.org