Postcard from Akron: Cadillac Hill
Inside one of the weirdest corners of a weird town.
Oh my dear friend, right now seems like a good time for weird and forgotten things, for the things with rough edges, and for the things full of sighs from the past. You’ll find all of them existing in harmony here along this short stretch of Glendale Avenue in Akron.
Perhaps the best place to start is with the dead people.
Tucked away in this astonishing pocket of Akron is Glendale Cemetery, which dates back to 1839. The winding paths are lined with elaborate and pristine headstones from the 1800s. They poke from the ground at angles akimbo to each other and the earth. Rows of mausoleums evoke a vague and baroque sadness.
Frozen stone statues, jarring views that arch over hills, everything about this place is beautiful and haunting.
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Located about two football field lengths from the cemetery, you’ll find the Glendale Steps—but you’ll have to look carefully. The gorgeous stonework installation is hard to spot amid the thick green foliage. When you do locate it, be prepared for a bit of a vertical hike. The structure is larger and more elaborate than it looks from the street, which becomes evident as you scale the 121 steps to the top.
Originally intended as a pathway from the West Hill neighborhood to a park that was never realized, the forgotten steps are apparently not all that forgotten. The dual stairways were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in September 2023, and now a local preservation group is trying to breathe new life into the quirky stone steps, which date back to the Great Depression.
From Signal Akron earlier this year:
The brainchild of Gertrude Seiberling, who was married to Goodyear co-founder F.A. Seiberling, the Glendale Steps were designed by Warren Manning and built in partnership with laborers from the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA).
Work began during the Great Depression in the mid-1930s and the steps opened to the public in 1938.
I love everything about this strange and unexpected structure.
In order to see all of this in person, I suppose you could take West Mill Street to Glendale Avenue, but that, my friend, would be candyass.
What you really want to do is take Market to South Bates Street and go down Bates Hill—aka Cadillac Hill, which is the steepest roadway in Akron with a grade of more than 25 percent.
Yes, really.
Nicknamed after the Cadillac dealership at the top of the hill, it’s steep enough for steps and then some (and there are a few there at the bottom—I’ll get to that in a bit), but to really appreciate this beast is to drive down it.
The bumping brick surface makes for an extra special ride, but the weird doesn’t stop there. The surrounding neighborhood is, well, Akron-ny.
I’ve saved the weirdest discovery for last.
First, it’s important to remember that everything pictured in this postcard is within a half-mile radius, and that each entity—the cemetery and Glendale Steps and Bates Hill—is separate from the others. At one point, however, they all come together in the most fitting way.
At the base of the sidewalk on Bates Hill, there’s a few steps (previously mentioned) and at least one of them appears to be … wait for it … a modified former headstone.
Here’s what I’m talking about. Behold three images of the steps at the bottom of Bates Hill from three different angles.
Well then, to anyone surviving our dearly departed “KA,” thanks for a perfect way to end this crazy field trip.
Love, Erin