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West Park was part of an area that was included in a grant from President Madison on December 15, 1810 to George Grous. The land grant was an area the size of one quarter of a section, or 160 acres. Barring selling pieces of that land, most farms in Ohio are about that same size today. In later public records dating to September 11, 1824, it seems as though the name of George Grous was corrected to George Crouse.
Settling the estate of George Crouse lasted through several years of court proceedings. Finally in 1828 all 160 acres sold at sheriff’s sale for a grand sum of $605 or $3.78 an acre. After subsequent court proceedings, finally ending in 1891, the quarter section including West Park was subdivided to an area of about 26 acres and designated as Lot #117.
In 1891 the land was owned by Charles Rood, who then sold the area of land to Henry Timken in 1911. The first mention of “West Park Development #1” (Fulton Rd to Monument Rd / 12th St to 9th St) comes on November 20, 1913 in a notice to the city of Canton from Henry H. Timken of plans for the development. The city formally recorded these plans on January 14, 1914.
The section of land that is north of 12th Street was also owned by Henry Timken and was marked as “West Park Development #2” in June, 1915.
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