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- New Village Name
Eventually, there were only two remaining in Ohio at the beginning of the 20th century – Dover Village (having been incorporated from the township in 1911) in Cuyahoga County, and Dover in Tuscawaras County. Even so, it created confusion for delivery purposes. Mail, and even a fire engine ordered for Dover Village, was sometimes delivered to the Dover in Tuscawaras County. As early as 1915, the United States Post Office requested that Dover Village change its name to differentiate it from the other Dover, Ohio.
Finally, by 1940, a committee had been organized, the residents agreed to change the name, a poll was taken and the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas granted the new name of Westlake Village. However, the history books are silent as to where that name originated.
A Nov. 14, 1939, Plain Dealer article revealed that the choices from which residents could select a new name had been “Westlake, Clague Park, Claguewood (the first being the same name as that of the telephone exchange and the other two offered in honor of a pioneer family) and Park Ridge.” Thus, Westlake had been one of the local telephone exchanges in addition to Trinity, Spring, Edison, Orchard and others.