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Community Corner

100 Years in 100 Days: Richard Gildenmeister

100 photos that define Shaker Heights

Shaker Heights Patch is celebrating the 100 years of Shaker Heights history by creating an online scrapbook. Each day for 100 days, we'll feature a photograph that helps tell the story of Shaker Heights.

Today's photo features Richard Gildenmeister, who has a storied history as a bookseller. True, his stores were in Shaker Square, which is in Cleveland, not Shaker Heights. But the square and the city sprang from the Van Sweringen brothers' vision, so Gildenmeister is rightfully part of the city's heritage.

He began selling books in 1955, when he worked at Higbee's. In this photo from 1979, he's escorting actress Lauren Bacall to a signing party. His most recent venue was the pop-up store he opened in Shaker Square this past April. Gildenmeister sold more than 2,000 books from his private collection.

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You can join our celebration of Shaker Heights history. Share your memories in the comments. Or upload your photos and we'll feature them in this scrapbook. Follow #ShakerCentennial on Twitter.

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