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History
The Connecticut Land Company’s Western Reserve
Sagamore Hills Township is situated in the northwest corner of The Connecticut Land Company’s Western Reserve Range 11, Town 5. Its eleven square miles is part of original Northfield Township that now comprise the Township and the additional communities of Northfield Township, Northfield Village and Macedonia. The first pioneer in the area was Isaac Bacon of Boston, who in 1806 purchased 160 acres in the modern day corner of North Boyden and Valley View Roads. Bacon and his wife built a small cabin there and, as all early settlers did, lived off the land. Jermiah Cranmer, Mrs. Bacon’s brother, settled one-half mile away in about 1810. It is Cranmer who is credited with naming this portion of the Range of Northfield Township because he had formerly lived near Northfield Connecticut. Indians and wild animals roamed the woods making life tough. While Bacon served in the War of 1812, the families moved to the more populous Hudson Township for security. After the war, they returned.
The Early Brandywine Years

The Early 1900’s

Sagamore Hills Village


Sagamore Hills Township
After hard times hit the Village in early 1947, a special election changed the Village of Sagamore Hills to the Township of Sagamore Hills, thereby eliminating some prior debt. On April 15th, 1947, the Summit County Probate Court selected the first three township trustees; Cyrus S. Eaton, Harry Miller, and Curtis Polcen. The three trustees held their first meeting on April 16, 1947, and selected Paul Helke as Clerk with a monthly salary of $29.16. Mr. T.C. Neids was appointed highway superintendent and a fire contract was executed with Northfield Center Township. A lease was also executed with Northfield Center Township for town hall and garage space. By April 29, 1947, County Engineer Earl Wolf had determined that the new Township was responsible for the following roads: Highland, 1.5 miles; Brandywine, .5 miles; Northfield, 2.6 miles; and Dunham, .8 miles. Later, all of these roads were returned to the county. Today, the township has approximately 11,000 residents and 78 lane miles of roads.
Cemetery

Presently the cemetery is equally owned by the four communities of: Northfield Village, Northfield Center Township, City of Macedonia and Sagamore Hills Township, and governed by a Board of Trustees. Two full-time employees maintain the beautiful grounds.
Sagamore Today……..
Sagamore Hills Township
Sagamore Hills Township operates with three elected trustees and a clerk. Every two years, two trustees or a trustee and a clerk are elected. Trustees manage a 6 million dollar budget operating the police and road departments. Trustees also manage the community through various appointed boards and commissions including zoning, zoning appeals, fire appeals and water. All regular Township meetings occur on the second Monday of each month throughout the year. The Township Hall is located at 11551 Valley View Road.
Services

The police department began service in 1981. Before 1981, the Township contracted with the Summit County Sheriff for police protection. The police department started with two full-time and five part-time officers providing full-time coverage to the community. Initially many residents and township officials volunteered thousands of hours to provide both dispatching and police service. It was the efforts of the entire community that helped develop the fine police department that now operates in the community.
In September 2016 Sagamore Hills Township partnered with the City of Macedonia under a 5-year contract for Fire/EMS protection. Sagamore Hills Township renovated an existing building to house the new 24/7 full-time staff along with our existing Fire/EMS equipment. This building is now known as Station 2 and is located at 11550 Valley View Rd. (Bldg. A) in the Sagamore Hills Township Park.
The Township Road Department operates with full-time employees and part-time summer help. The department is primarily responsible for the repair and maintenance of the seventy-eight lane miles of Township roads. These responsibilities include road repair, snow removal, ditch, culvert, catch basin repair and grass cutting. Waste disposal is provided by a waste disposal company that directly bills residents.
Sagamore Hills Township Park

In the fall of 1997, Trustees Robert Speerbrecher, Paul Schweikert, and Rose Mary Snell began to pursue the plan for a park. They successfully sought out and negotiated the purchase of an additional thirty-five acres of property from the Ohio Department of Mental Health immediately behind the five acres that Sagamore Hills had already owned along Valley View Road. This purchase and their commitment to spend Township resources to develop a park was not without controversy. Many openly questioned why the Township would spend money to create a park when one-third of the community was already in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The Trustees continued to pursue the dream to build the park despite the controversy and began an aggressive campaign to pursue grants for additional funding.
The Township successfully obtained a $175,000 grant to begin construction of a new baseball field and bathrooms for the new park. In kind work by the Ohio Operating Engineer’s Apprenticeship Program, contributed over $100,000 in excavation work. Finally in 1998, the Park officially opened to the public but some continued to criticize the Trustees. In 1998, the Township Trustees acquired an additional two acres to connect the then over 40-acre Park to the Summit Metro Parks Bike & Hike Trail. Eventually the Township obtained grant funding to build a connector trail. Another $75,000 grant built a quad of baseball fields to increase the total number of baseball fields to five. Funding was obtained to build a picnic pavilion and volunteers installed new playground equipment. Later, a second pavilion was constructed upon the property and additional new playground equipment was installed paid for with the proceeds from recycling newspaper at the Township. Since 1988 all funds the Township has collected from recycling at the Township Hall has been used to support the Park.
In 2008, the Township acquired an additional ten and one-half acres of property immediately to the west of the then existing Park. Now the Park shares its entire western border with the Summit County Bike & Hike Trail. With the assistance of Congressman Steven LaTourette, the Township obtained the funds to pave the nearly one mile trail that travels along the Park’s border. The Sagamore Hills Township Park has become a favorite of residents. The Park is regularly used for walkers, runners and cyclists. The Parks regularly hosts concerts, family events, races and sporting events. The baseball fields are extensively used throughout the summer and the property also serves as soccer fields in the fall of the year. The Township continues to look for opportunities to expand and enhance the Park. The Park has become a successful addition to the Township.