The tract that eventually become Parma and Parma Heights was surveyed in 1806 by Abraham Tappan of the Connecticut Land Company. The area’s first white settlers were the Benajah Fay family from New York State, who settled along the Cleveland-Columbus Rd. (now Pearl Rd.) in 1816. Designated Parma Twp. in 1826 the region soon became known as “Greenbriar” (also spelled “Greenbrier”), which referred to a weedy shrub common in the vicinity. “Parma” likely came from an identically named town in New York. During the 19th Century Parma residents worked mostly in AGRICULTURE; a clock shop owned by Dudley and William Humphrey was the sole manufacturing operation. In 1911, following a dispute over Sunday alcohol sales, a portion of the township seceded to form the village of Parma Hts. On 15 Dec. 1924, Parma was incorporated as a village and in 1926 it adopted a mayor-council form of government. On 1 Jan. 1931, after a proposition to annex it to Cleveland was defeated, Parma became a city. At that time, it had a population of about 14,000.
Zip Codes Served: 44129, 44130, 44134
