Washington Gates

WASHINGTON7 GATES (Holsey6, Nathaniel5, Paul4, Daniel3, Thomas2, George1), born August 4, 1827, was the first white child to be born at Gates Mills, Cuyahoga County, OH. His first home was a log hut and his cradle was a sap trough. He married October 11, 1854, in Orange Township, Cuyahoga County, OH, CAROLINE MARIAN HANDERSON, born June 15, 1832 in Livingston, Columbia County, NY, daughter of Thomas and Catherine (Potts) Handerson. Washington Gates first apprenticed under his father. His career as a waterpower industrialist spanned five decades, from 1845 – 1897, and he actively pursued his avocation as designer and builder of fine homes for at least forty years, from 1854 to 1894. In Toledo, Lucas County, OH he and his brother, William, built and operated a rake factory. In 1868, he moved to Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga County, OH and, in partnership with his brother-in-law David Spear, purchased a gristmill there. He became a member of the Chagrin Falls Village Council and was one of the promoters of the first railroad to come to the village. It was largely his interest and capital that brought the first electric road to Chagrin Falls. In 1873, he began construction of his Italianate Victorian residence on the corner of Pearl (now Washington) and Walnut Streets in Chagrin Falls. The house soon became a showplace. It was purchased by the Village of Chagrin Falls in 1938 for use as the Village Hall. In 1872, Washington Gates purchased a gristmill in Bedford Township which was managed, first, by his younger brother Henry, and, beginning in 1874, by his 19-year-old son, Holsey. In 1893-4, he constructed a fine residence in Bedford for his son Holsey and his family. The styling was described as “a particularly noteworthy example of Queen Anne and of the Victorian period” [345] and it was the first residence in Bedford to be wired for electricity. Now the Gates-Handyside House, it has been restored to its original color and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and on the “must be preserved” list of the Cleveland Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. It is to become the property of the Western Reserve Historical Society. Caroline (Handerson) Gates died in Chagrin Falls, September 23, 1895, and Washington Gates died there, August 12, 1897.