Parma Heights is a community of neighborhoods with homes on quiet, tree-lined streets where people really care about one another.With programs, services and businesses for residents of all ages, Parma Heights is a great place to live, work, shop and play!
 

The book The Best Kept Secrets of Parma by Robert Horley contains a wealth of interesting information about roads in Parma … how streets were named, who developed them, etc. While we don’t have enough room to cover every street here, here is some interesting information about some main Parma roads and their history.

• BROADVIEW ROAD was originally called Town Line Road and then Independence Road. It is called Broadview because, at one point, from the top of the hill you could see Broad Street in Cleveland - Broad view, hence, Broadview. That Broadview hill was once known as Herbst Hill. This road was once a toll road and later, in 1947, it became State Rt. 176.

• BROOKPARK ROAD was set up for two reasons … one, to open the way for settlers through a wolf-infested wilderness, and two, to open communications between Brooklyn and Berea. The road has been expanded three times since it was opened in 1843 - once in 1896, once in 1912, and again in 1922.

• PEARL ROAD was named after Pearl St. (now W. 25 St.) in Cleveland.

• PLEASANT VALLEY ROAD runs through a number of valleys from Broadview Rd. to York Rd. and gives many picturesque settings. Pleasant Valley, indeed.

• RIDGE ROAD is Parma’s main street. What is now Denison Avenue was once called Ridge Road. When it changed to Denison, the nearby street of Iona St. became today's Ridge Rd. sometime after 1874.

• RIDGEWOOD DRIVE was laid out by H.A. Stahl, the same man who set up the Ridgewood Country Club and Golf Course, which opened in July, 1925. Ridgewood Drive was dedicated in July, 1926.

• ROCKSIDE ROAD received its name from the quarries in Parma and Independence. The stone from the quarries was used to build the Henninger House, as well as well as the Lake Erie break wall, the Ohio Erie canal locks, and was shipped to ports around the Great Lakes.

• SNOW ROAD was named after the Clifford Ann Snow family, whose family farm was where State and Snow now intersect. But at the time that Clifford used that route to lead his cows down the path, there was no Snow Rd. As Clifford became known for leading his cows towards what is now W. 54 St., that path became today's Snow Rd.

• STATE ROAD started off as a private plank road and later became a state responsible road in 1831. In the early 1900's, part of State Rd. was called W. 35 St., but that name didn't stick. State Rd. became State Rt. 94 in 1957, and the Soap Box Derby races were held on State Road Hill in 1960.

• YORK ROAD was named by early settlers from New York State, and dedicated on June 28, 1926.