Back in 1857, the Buffalo Road (US-20) was the main highway between Cleveland and Buffalo. A trip between those two cities by carriage could take six to seven days. Many of those travelers rested their heads at D.G. Branch’s hotel (which also served as a tavern, store, and post office) on the NE corner of Center Street or Schram’s hotel on the NW corner of Jackson Street while passing through.
The Disciples of Christ church stood on the opposite corner of Schram’s. In the late 1870s, then-Congressman James A. Garfield sometimes offered a sermon there. The church was later moved across the street and still stands today as Mentor’s Old Council Hall.
The cemetery on the NW corner of Buffalo Road and Center Street had only recently been vacated and the souls transferred to the new Mentor cemetery on Hopkins Road to make way for a school. The Corning House just west of the intersection still stands as well.
In 1870, Mentor had a population of just 416. Today it is home to 47,000.
The image was taken from a Map of Geauga and Lake counties, Ohio created by Robert Pearsall Smith in 1857.