Lakewood

Lakewood, city, Cuyahoga county, northeastern Ohio, U.S., on Lake Erie, just west of Cleveland. Surveyed in 1806 as part of Rockport township, the area was not permanently settled until James Nicholson arrived from Connecticut in 1818; several dozen settlers were there by the following year and named the community Rockport. The town grew around a plank toll road (1840s) and rail line (1869) and was known from 1871 as East Rockport; it was renamed in 1889 for its wooded lakeshore. It is mainly residential with some light industry. The Lakewood Arts Festival is an annual summer event; the Beck Center for the Arts (formerly Lakewood Little Theater) is also in the city. Inc. village, 1903; city, 1911. Pop. (2000) 56,646; (2010) 52,131.