Some of our West Creek residents

In 1995, Cleveland Metroparks published the West Creek Valley Informational Study at the request of the City of Parma. The report focuses on the natural characteristics of the sections of West Creek south of W. Ridgewood Road, including city owned and surrounding lands. Much of the discussion in this section is drawn from the Metroparks report.

Topographically, West Creek sits in the glaciated section of the Allegheny plateau west of the Appalachian Mountains. While the plateau generally has even terrain, creeks and rivers have cut into the plateau since the last glacier retreated over 12,000 years ago, creating deep valleys. Near its headwaters, West Creek cuts a deep gorge that drops as much as 120 feet.

The rim of the gorge offers spectacular views. The steep valley walls isolate the creek bottom and adjacent land from the surrounding suburbs, giving it a sense of seclusion. The creek floodplain creates a flat valley floor. Just south of West Ridgewood, the former Parma landfill has raised the land above the level of the floodplain. A cap on the landfill restricts the type of development that can occur in this section. The creek runs to the west of the landfill.

On the order of 300 million years ago during the Mississippian period of the Paleozoic geologic era, oceans covered what is now Ohio. Black muds that filtered to the bottom of the ocean piled up many feet thick, burying the remains of ancient marine animals. These muds since hardened into the Cuyahoga Group shales that form much of the bedrock in West Creek. Towards the headwaters of the creek, where the gorge is deepest, the creek has cut into the shale creating steep rocky slopes and waterfalls that add to the scenic value of West Creek.

Later, during the Paleozoic, northeast Ohio was the site of large deltas that formed where rivers flowed into the ocean. The sand deposited in the deltas hardened into Berea sandstone, a high quality building stone that has been exported around the world. This sandstone can be found in places in the West Creek Valley.

Glaciation that began two million years ago and ended about 12,000 years ago also left its mark on West Creek. Retreating glaciers left behind till that forms a major component of the soils. More conspicuously, they left behind large Canadian rocks, known as glacial erratics.