Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1999. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“of Historic Places under Criterion C as a fine example of cemetery related architecture. Built in 1898, the chapel is architecturally significant for its eclectic, late 19th century architectural design, strongly inspired by elements common include predominant masonry construction, polychrome wall materials and finishes, incised ornament, complex gable roofs, and lancet windows set in pairs and triplets.”
Narrative Statement of Significance, National Register nomination for Oakwood Cemetery Chapel. Machine-read text.
one of 137 National Register listings in Summit County · listed in 1999 · category: Building · one of 1 National Historic Landmarks in Summit County.
National Register reference number.99001334- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
William Wetmore was born in Middletown, Conn., September 15, 1771. He was a descendant of Thomas Wetmore, one of the proprietors of Middletown, who purchased the site of the Indians in 1662. He removed to Ohio in July, 1804, and built the second house that was erected in what was afterward Stow Township. It stood about twenty rods eastwardly of the northeast corner of Lot 36. In 1808, Stow Township was organized, and he was elected a Justice of the Peace. In August of that year, the county of Portage being organized he was appointed Clerk of the Court at Kavenna. He afterward resigned the office, moved back to Stow and settled on his farm. He died at his residence on the east bank of Silver Lake, October 27, 1827. Henry Newberry was born in Windsor, Conn., in January, 1783. In 1814, soon after the death of his father, he came to Ohio, as before stated, to look at his possessions in the Western wilds. He first lived at Silver Lake two years, having moved there, as previously mentioned, in 1824, and then took up his residence at the Falls. He died in 1854, in the stone house, afterward the residence of James H. Cooke. Such, in brief, are the biographies of the founders of Cuyahoga Falls.*
The town of Cuyahoga Falls was first laid out in 1825, by Elkanah Richardson. It was subsequently re-surveyed, platted and recorded by Birdsey Booth. It was located in the townships of Stow and Tallmadge, and included all of the present platted village except so much as has since been platted east of the Cuyahoga River and north of the Tallmadge Township line. The part last mentioned was platted and recoi'ded by R. A. Ashman, Count}' Surveyor, in 1837. The original proprietors were Henr^' Newberr}', Joshua Stow and William Wetmore. The proprietor of the addition was Joseph Hale. No allotment has been made to the original plat except the one of 1837. That part lying in the township of Stow was owned b}' Stow and Wetmore ; that part included in Tallmadge was the propert}' of Newberr^'.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Oakwood Cemetery Chapel between
1999 and 2014, burning about 4 acres in total. 2 started naturally. None was recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Natural
2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
1
Power generation/transmission/distribution
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 838 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Oakwood Cemetery Chapel between 1867 and
1975: 717 Animalia, 72 Plantae, 47 Fungi, 1 Unrecorded, 1 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by (no collector listed), A. Black, A. Woolman and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
14 workings within 5 miles of Oakwood Cemetery Chapel: 11 past producers, 3 producers.
3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Cuyahoga Falls, the town this property stands in, in 48 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 25 hail, 20 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, 1 flash flood.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
Thunderstorms dumped two to three inches of rain on Cuyahoga Falls in a short period of time. Lowland and street flooding occurred with water as much as three feet deep on some roads. Several cars were stranded in the flood waters and a few buildings sustained minor damage.
Tree fell onto garage just southwest of downtown Cuyahoga Falls. A large tree limb was snapped near the intersection of Howe Avenue and Tallmadge Road, just southeast of downtown Cuyahoga Falls.
Three locations on Howe Rd in Cuyahoga falls flooded with roads closed and barricaded. Street flooding was also reported in Tallmadge. Rainfall up to 5/hr over Tallmadge, with 1.64 in 35 minutes.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
5,469 words on record
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Statement of significance
period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a a birthplace or a grave. a cemetery. a reconstructed building, object, or structure. à commemorative property. (Complete if Criterion B is marked above) N/A Cultural Affiliation NA Architect - Herrick, C. Leroy Builder - Deeds, Reed Art Architect/Builder Architecture Significant Person individual distinction. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. Significant Dates 1898 contribution to the broad patterns of our history. owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes. past 50 years. Period of Significance 1898 in prehistory or history.
Property is associated with events that have made a significant removed from its original location. criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing) less than 5o years of age or achieved significance within the Areas of Significance categories from instructions) Criteria Considerations (Mark "x"in all the boxes that apply.) The Oakwood Cemetery Chapel Property has yielded, or is likely to yield information important Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark"x"in one or more boxes for the The Oakwood Cemetery Chapel Summit County, Ohio NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No.
1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Cuyahoga Falls, Summit County, Ohio NARRATIVE STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE of Historic Places under Criterion C as a fine example of cemetery related architecture. Built in 1898, the chapel is architecturally significant for its eclectic, late 19th century architectural design, strongly inspired by elements common include predominant masonry construction, polychrome wall materials and finishes, incised ornament, complex gable roofs, and lancet windows set in pairs and triplets. John Ruskin, a late 19th century English author, critic and strong achieve contrasting textures.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 99001334, 62 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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