[1] Early residents of Cleveland settled along The Flats, a low-lying plain on either side of the Cuyahoga River bounded by steep slopes.

[2] Although farms initially occupied the Erie Plain above The Flats on both sides of the river,[2] by the American Civil War middle- and upper class homes dominated these areas.

[7][8] Euclid Avenue reached its zenith in the 1890s, but began a three-decade rapid decline thereafter as extensive retail development drove the upper class eastward.

In 1873, wealthy Clevelander John D. Rockefeller purchased 79 acres (0.32 km2) 4 miles (6.4 km) east of his home at 424 Euclid Avenue.

A hotel was built atop the highest hill on this land,[11] and Rockefeller and fellow Standard Oil investor Stephen V. Harkness founded a commuter rail line, the Lake View and Collamer Railroad, to serve the sanatorium.

Rockefeller purchased the land back in 1877[13] transformed the hotel into his summer home, and named the estate Forest Hill.

[15][16][17] In 1890, railroad baron Patrick Calhoun purchased 300 acres (1.2 km2) atop nearby Cedar Hill, and in 1893 established the planned community of Euclid Heights.

The back nine holes were in the area framed by Cedar Road, Grandview Avenue, North Park Boulevard, and Demington Drive.

Concurrent with the development of Euclid Heights,[17] William and Edmund Walton, Jr. purchased a pasture adjacent to the western boundary of Forest Hill.

In 1906,[21] Rockefeller agreed to allow the Van Sweringens to build a streetcar line across the Forest Hills estate.

[38] In 1913, Barton R. Deming convinced John D. Rockefeller to enter into a purchase agreement for the 141 acres (0.57 km2) formerly leased to the Euclid Club.

In order to retain his position as the sole sales agent for Euclid Golf until July 31, 1916, Deming was forced to invest $89,747 ($2,703,038 in 2023 dollars) of his own money into the development.

In return, Abeyton Realty invested $320,000 ($9,637,895 in 2023 dollars) in laying drinking water, electrical power, natural gas, and sewer lines and building new paved roads, complete with gutters and curbs.

[45] Deming platted the Euclid Golf Allotment according to the principles of the "garden city movement", then a popular design strategy for wealthy suburbs.

[49] He retained as much of the natural beauty of the area as possible,[50] and imitated other developers freely when their practices proved successful.

)[51] Deming also decided to dig Fairmount Boulevard on either side of the Cleveland Railway line which already existed on the property.

[52] To meet the requirements of the amended agreement with Rockefeller, Deming first had to lay out streets (which would then allow him to plat the development).

[51] Seven deed restrictions significantly limited the type and design of structures which could be erected in the Euclid Golf Allotment.

The first limited structures to private residential homes, specified a minimum expenditure for construction, established setback rules, and required the approval of the B.R.

[55] The second restriction established minimum expenditure levels and setback rules for garages and outbuildings, and prohibited outhouses.

[52] The very first model house was Deming's own home, constructed on a narrow, curving, steep parcel of land at 2645 Fairmount Boulevard.

[56] The $6,000 home ($182,512 in 2023 dollars) was designed to act as a gateway to the development, impressing visitors with its high quality and stylishness as they entered the Euclid Golf Allotment.

Deming was frustrated by the existence of Roxboro Elementary School and Roxboro Junior High School on the south side of the western half of West St. James Parkway, and by several low-quality duplexes on the south side of the eastern half of West St. James.

To protect the Euclid Golf Allotment, Deming contracted with Howell & Thomas to design 14 cottages for construction on the north side of West St. James to screen these low-quality homes from the rest of the development.

), and hired architect J. Byers Hayes of the noted Cleveland architectural firm of Walker and Weeks to design the structure.

[65] The historic district contains 141 acres (0.57 km2), all of which are residential except for St. Paul's Episcopal Church (intersection of Coventry Road and Fairmount Blvd.)

[66] The Euclid Golf Allotment Historic District continues to be laid out in accordance with "garden city" principles.

[51] Most of the homes in the Euclid Golf Allotment Historic District were designed by leading Cleveland-area architects, including Charles Sumner Schneider, Maxwell Norcross, Mead & Hamilton, Howell & Thomas, and Walker & Weeks.

[67] Homes in the Colonial Revival architectural style are the most common in the historic district, representing about half of all structures.

Colonial Revival homes built in the 1910s tend to include elements of the Arts & Crafts, Prairie, and Queen Anne architectural styles.