Brook Park

The village of Brook Park, located 14 miles southwest of Cleveland, Ohio, and known for its open farmland, was incorporated on June 3, 1914. The village started to be transformed in 1925, when it became the site of the Cleveland Municipal Airport (now the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport). The arrival of the airport started an industrial revolution that led to the establishment of the NASA Glenn Research Center, the Cleveland Bomber Plant, the Cleveland Tank Plant, and Ford Motor Company's Cleveland Casting Plant and Engine Plants Nos. 1 and 2. This development led to Brook Park becoming a city on January 1, 1961. Brook Park evolved into an industrial hub in the Midwest, and the area became home to Ford's second-largest manufacturing complex. The historical images in this book illustrate the roles that Brook Park played in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, space technology, vehicle manufacturing, and this area of Ohio becoming an airport center. Today, NASA employs over 3,000 people, and Ford's Cleveland Engine Plant No. 1 employs more than 1,700.