Van Sweringen Brothers

Oris Paxton Van Sweringen (April 24, 1879 – November 22, 1936) and Mantis James Van Sweringen (July 8, 1881 – December 12, 1935) were brothers who became railroad barons in order to develop Shaker Heights, Ohio. They are better known as O. P. Van Sweringen and M. J. Van Sweringen, or by their collective nickname, the Vans. The brothers came from a farming area near Wooster, Ohio. Their father was for a time an engineer in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, fought in the Civil War and was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. The family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in about 1890.

Neither brother married; the two shared a common bedroom in their 54-room mansion, Roundwood Manor, on the grounds of their estate, Daisy Hill, in Hunting Valley, Ohio. During their lifetimes, they seldom gave interviews or made appearances in public; however, when they did, it was always together.

Before the establishment of Shaker Heights, Ohio, the brothers were land and building speculators in Cleveland, Ohio. After being employed by others, and after suffering several early business failures, the brothers entered the real estate business. In 1909, the Van Sweringen brothers began exercising options on 1,399 acres (5.7 km²) of land formerly owned by the North Union Community of the Society of Believers, better known as the Shakers. Conceived and planned as a garden community similar to Baltimore's Roland Park, Shaker Village soon became Cleveland's most sought-after address. This was achieved through a combination of planning, design review, and convenience - all of which fell under the strict supervision of the Van Sweringens.

Street planning for the new community used curved roads instead of the more usual grid pattern of streets found in many American communities. Three tree-lined boulevards extended eastward into the country. Moreland and Shaker boulevards' center isles would be used for track bed for a planned interurban streetcar line. Both lines would share a common route from Cleveland through Shaker Square (recognized as the second modern planned shopping center in the United States) where they would divide onto their own routes. The Van Sweringens designated Shaker Boulevard as a grand boulevard of mansions, fronted by generous setbacks from the interurban tracks. Higher-density luxury apartments were planned for Moreland Boulevard, which was renamed Van Aken Boulevard in honor of the city's first mayor.

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