How Did Chagrin Falls Get Its Name?

A blog visitor from Chagrin Falls, Ohio looked at the post  What Do I Know?: Horsetail: One Person's Weed is Another Person's Scouring Pa.  I couldn't help thinking, "How did it get named Chagrin?" So I looked up Chagrin Falls and a Wikipedia article told me about the Chagrin River - and has beautiful pictures.  But it didn't really tell me about the name.  That I found at a blog -Midwest Guest - (whose last post was November 2017), which had a post that addressed my question.  The blogger stopped at the sign because

"The sign immediately sparked my curiosity. I love waterfalls, but more importantly in this case, I remembered Chagrin Falls as the title of a tune by Canadian rockers, The Tragically Hip. I couldn’t help turning off onto the side road where the arrow pointed me to see the infamous Chagrin Falls."

That's something I would do.  And the first thing that came to mind was going to  see Wichata Falls, because of Pat Metheny's "As Wichata Falls, So Falls Wichtata Falls." (A great, great piece of music.)  But I've never seen a sign for Wichita Falls. Later in the post, she* tells us about the name.

"The historical marker at the falls says the Chagrin River drew its name from a French trader named Francois Seguin, who traded with Native Americans in northeast Ohio during the mid-1700s. The Chagrin Falls Historical Society offers a couple of other possible explanations for the name, but says the most accepted story is that the name represents a corrupted and Americanized version of trader Seguin’s name."

Here's the Pat Metheny piece.  I remember exactly where I was when I first heard it (though not exactly what year).  Just leave it on in the background.  It goes on and on.  Good speakers help with this one.





 You can go to the Midwest Guest blog to hear Chagrin Falls.

I tried to leave a comment  at Midwest Guest to thank the blogger, but comments are closed on that blog.  So I have to do it here.  Thanks!  We share the same sort of curiosity it seems.

*I first wrote 'he', not because I default to he, but because I somehow felt it was a he.  But I decided I should check and it turns out - from what I could tell - that the blogger is a she.  I love to have my assumptions proven wrong.  It makes me more careful about making assumptions.

And speaking of assumptions, Wichita Falls is NOT in Kansas.  It's in Texas.