A Modern Neighborhood with Deep Local Roots
Bay Landing may look like a thoroughly modern Westlake neighborhood, with condominium buildings, landscaped common grounds, and streets such as Bay Landing Drive, North Bay Drive, South Bay Drive, and Bayview Drive. Yet the land beneath it carries a much older story. Before the neighborhood became a residential community, this part of Westlake was shaped by farms, greenhouses, family homesteads, and the gradual transformation of rural Dover Township into a Cleveland suburb.
That contrast is part of Bay Landing’s charm. Residents enjoy convenient access to Center Ridge Road, Crocker Road, shopping, parks, and major highways, but the neighborhood also sits within a landscape that still reflects Westlake’s nineteenth- and early twentieth-century heritage.
From Dover Township to Westlake
Westlake’s story began in the Connecticut Western Reserve. The area was organized as Dover Township in 1811, and early settlers included the Johnson, Porter, Crocker, Hall, Smith, and other pioneer families. Leverett Johnson, regarded as Westlake’s first pioneer, began clearing land in 1811 and later built a home near today’s Porter and Center Ridge roads. Many present-day streets preserve the names of these early families, including Porter Road, Crocker Road, Hall-related roads, Smith Road, and Rose Road.
At the time, there was no Bay Landing neighborhood and no suburban Westlake as we know it. The community was a patchwork of farms and country roads. Center Ridge Road served as an important east-west route, while roads such as Crocker, Porter, and Dover Center connected homes, fields, churches, schools, and small businesses.
The original Dover Township eventually divided into several communities. In 1901, the northern section became Bay Village. Southern portions later joined North Olmsted, while the remaining community became Dover Village in 1911. Because another Ohio community was also named Dover, confusion affected mail deliveries and even the delivery of a fire engine. In 1940, residents selected the name Westlake. The village became a city in 1957.
How Bay Landing Got Its Name
The name Bay Landing is a relatively recent neighborhood name rather than one tied to an early pioneer family or nineteenth-century settlement. Available local records identify the development by the early 1990s, when Westlake zoning documents referred to land “between Bay Landing and Westown Apartments.” The condominium community is now associated with Bay Landing Drive and surrounding internal streets.
There does not appear to be a single surviving public account explaining the exact naming decision. Still, the name fits the geography and identity of western Cuyahoga County. Westlake borders Bay Village to the north, and the larger region has long been shaped by its relationship with Lake Erie. “Bay” evokes the nearby lakeshore communities, while “Landing” suggests arrival, welcome, and a settled place at the edge of a larger landscape. That interpretation is best understood as a reasonable local reading of the name, not a documented explanation.
The name also gives the neighborhood a distinct identity within Westlake. It connects a newer residential development to the city’s longstanding West Shore character without pretending that the community itself dates to the pioneer era.
The Land Before the Condominiums
One of the most revealing pieces of local history comes from Westlake Porter Public Library’s digital local-history collection. Photographs and records document the Perkins family greenhouses, which began in 1923 on Center Ridge Road near the site of the present Bay Landings development. C. Ray Perkins operated greenhouses and raised produce for Cleveland-area tables during an era when local growers supplied fresh vegetables through the winter. He also maintained a truck garden and received an honorary “master farmer” award from *Ohio Farmer* magazine in 1933.
That agricultural history helps residents imagine the area before subdivisions and condominium associations. Instead of paved drives and landscaped entrances, the surroundings would have included greenhouse frames, vegetable beds, farm lanes, and open fields. Westlake was still largely rural during the first half of the twentieth century, with farms, truck gardens, and flower gardens contributing to the local economy.
The Perkins legacy is especially meaningful because it shows that the area was not simply empty land waiting for development. It was productive land, worked by families whose livelihoods were tied to the soil and to the nearby metropolitan market.
Mid-Century Growth Changes Westlake
Westlake’s transformation accelerated after World War II. Between 1950 and 1960, the city’s population nearly tripled, rising from approximately 4,912 to 12,906. Improved roads, automobile ownership, new schools, and access to Interstate 90 helped turn former farmland into residential neighborhoods and commercial districts.
Bay Landing belongs to the later phase of that suburban evolution. Rather than being a streetcar-era neighborhood of detached houses, it reflects the growing popularity of condominium living in the 1980s. Property information identifies Bay Landing as a condominium community built around 1986, with multiple low- and mid-rise buildings, landscaped grounds, water features, shared recreation areas, pools, and courts.
The neighborhood’s design reflects the priorities of its era: low-maintenance homes, attached community amenities, generous parking, and carefully planned open space. Its internal streets and clustered buildings create a more village-like setting than a conventional subdivision of individual lots.
Nearby Landmarks and Civic Connections
Bay Landing residents are close to several places that help tell Westlake’s broader story.
- Westlake Porter Public Library on Center Ridge Road preserves an extensive local-history collection, including photographs of farms, family homes, schools, businesses, and community life.
- Clague House and Clague Park represent the city’s pioneer heritage. The Clague family was among Westlake’s early prominent families, and the historic house now serves as a museum operated by the Westlake Historical Society.
- Evergreen Cemetery, near Porter and Center Ridge roads, is associated with Leverett Johnson and includes an Ohio Historical Marker honoring Westlake’s first settler.
- The Lilly Weston House, on Center Ridge Road near the Westlake Recreation Center, dates to 1844 and is another surviving reminder of the area’s rural settlement period.
- Crocker Park, though modern in appearance, occupies land connected to Westlake’s agricultural past, including the former Juergermeier farm.
These landmarks make it possible to place Bay Landing within a much larger historical map. The neighborhood is not isolated from Westlake’s past; it is surrounded by roads, institutions, and preserved sites that keep that past visible.
Bay Landing Today
Over the decades, Bay Landing has matured from a planned condominium development into an established neighborhood. Trees have grown around the buildings, landscaping has become part of the community’s identity, and residents have added their own traditions. The neighborhood has been recognized in Westlake’s annual beautification program for its entrance island and landscaping, a small but telling sign of community pride.
Today, Bay Landing offers a distinctive blend of convenience and continuity. Its homes are modern compared with Westlake’s pioneer-era buildings, yet the neighborhood stands on ground once associated with the city’s farming tradition. Its name nods toward the nearby bay communities and Lake Erie, while its streets connect naturally to the historic routes of Center Ridge and Crocker.
For longtime residents, that layered history is what makes Bay Landing special. It is a neighborhood of the late twentieth century, but it rests within a landscape shaped by two centuries of settlement. Beneath the condominium buildings and manicured grounds are the traces of Westlake’s oldest story: families arriving, fields being cleared, crops being raised, roads being named, and a rural community gradually becoming the welcoming city it is today.