What is The Shakers

In the 1800's, the Shakers, or the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, had founded the land upon which Shaker Heights was developed. Their "key to harmony" was order and regulation, and although they never actually lived there, the Shakers' philosophy permeated the suburb's "utopia[n]" atmosphere (22). Because the Shaker's believed "they could create a patch of heaven on earth," Shaker Heights was depicted in advertisements to be "in the clouds, looking down upon the grimy city of Cleveland from a mountaintop at the end of a rainbow's arch" (23). The Shakers' goal was to achieve divine "perfection," and that is what they symbolize, perfect, rigid order.