Some hear the word “north” and start to shiver. Some label “northern Cleveland Heights” what is north of Mayfield, which for many years was lucky to be closer to Euclid Beach amusement park. We do have some streets with “north” incorporated into their names, but there may or may not be a geographic connection.

North and South Park Boulevards – the latter entirely within Shaker Heights – meander around the northern two Shaker Lakes. Basically, any stretch of the old “Park Boulevard” running to the north of a lake was officially stamped “North.”

North Woodland Road was once long – the former name of the stretch of Fairmount Boulevard east of Lee Road. The name now belongs only to that brief connector of Larchmere and Fairmount Boulevards, while North Taylor Road is the portion of Taylor Road north of Mayfield within Cleveland Heights.

North St. James Parkway is actually south of Cedar Road and only labeled such to distinguish it from the “West” portion. Oddly, nine blocks directly west of North St. James is South Overlook Road – there is no “North Overlook.”

Northcliffe and Nordway Roads (“Nord” means north in French) were named picturesquely with no connection to their locations; they are in proximity to each other and have caused confusion for generations. But Northvale Boulevard, in Forest Hill, and Northampton Road, in our Crown Point subdivision, are both northerly of their respective tracts. Assumably these streets’ namers had that in mind.

Finally, our North Park and West Park Boulevards—should they be listed in street listing under “N” and “W” or under “P?” Directory publishers, as well as the County Auditor, have disagreed on that point for almost a century!