Parma

Diana Eid has been proud of Parma her entire life and she s never even lived here.

Eid, 32, resides in North Royalton. Before that, she lived in Brook Park. She plans on moving to Middleburg Heights.

So why does Eid like Parma so much?

One big reason is that her father, Rich, has owned Rich s Mini Mart at York and Pleasant Valley roads in Parma for more than 30 years.

The Eids have lots of friends here and are part of Parma s history. In fact, Eid is curator of the Parma Area Historical Society.

So when Eid, a freelance writer, decided to author her first book, she thought a history of Parma would be a logical subject.

The result is Parma, a fun, easy-reading pictorial history of the city. The book has more than 200 photos and photo captions.

In fact, the pictures are what make the book different than previous Parma histories, which Eid said are heavier on text.

The book was published by Arcadia Publishing last month and is part of Arcadia s series of books about more than 5,000 communities in the United States.

Parma is available at Rich s Mini Mart, area bookstores like Borders Books & Music and Barnes & Noble and on amazon.com.

Dinky days

The book pinpoints the home of Parma s first settlers. It was in 1816 that Benajah and Ruth Fay moved to the area that is now Ridge Road and Theota Avenue.

Ruth Fay, president of the PAHS, is a descendent of Benajah Fay, Eid said.

The community, a township at first, was initially called Greenbrier after a thorny shrub that was common in these parts.

In the 1920s, Parma had Dinky trains, or streetcars. They ran on roads like State and Broadview every 30 minutes.

One person said it reminded them of a circus elephant waddling down the street, Eid said.

In the mid-1920s, 530,000 people road the Dinky in one year, Eid said.

Eid was surprised to learn, during her research, that Parma Theatre is so old. It opened in 1936, she said.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Parma, by then a city, organized a Parma Day festival every August. It was in the Byers Field-City Hall area, Eid said.

The cover art of Parma shows Parma Day in 1936.

During the Cold War in the 1950s, the area where Cuyahoga Community College stands today was a missile site, complete with launchers.

Also, a freeway was originally planned for the Parmatown Mall area but the idea was scrapped after residents protested.

Scanning Parma

It took Eid about 18 months to research and write Parma. She started by reading all the Parma histories she could find in local libraries and on the Internet.

Then Eid searched for pictures. She found them at libraries, including the Michael Schwartz Library s Special Collections at Cleveland State University.

Eid also uncovered pictures at the Parma Area and Parma Heights historical societies and at the homes of private citizens.

One of those citizens was former Parma Mayor James Day.

A lot of the older residents had stories to tell, Eid said. One person led to another person.

Eid worked at her father s store while writing the book in his upstairs office. Her mom Susan scanned the pictures.

Without her, it would have taken double the time, Eid said.

Eid hopes to write a novel someday. First, however, she might do an Arcadia history of North Royalton.

Eid never thought she would write about history.

I don t really read nonfiction, Eid said. I didn t like history in high school but I had the best time doing this.

Now Eid has a different perspective when she drives through Parma. She sees what s there and what used to be.

It s amazing how everything has changed, Eid said."