Lyndhurst was the first facility in Canada to focus solely on people with spinal cord injuries, eventually also treating people with related disabilities, such as polio. Geoffrey Reaume details the changes in treatment of paraplegia and quadriplegia that allowed more people to survive and to return to the community, the evolution of social policies that emphasized greater inclusiveness in society for people with physical disabilities, and the role of disability activism in helping to advance these changes.

Moses Cleaveland was sent to survey the lands of the Western Reserve of Connecticut into townships in 1796. Due to a strike, the surveyors were given plots within the new Euclid Township as part of their compensation. They sold these plots to arriving settlers from the east. Aristarkus and Sarah Brainard, the areas first family, arrived in 1831. In 1877, the Mayfield Plank Road was constructed allowing a steady stream of people and goods to easily travel from eastern farms to markets found at Doans Corners in Cleveland, Ohio. As this part of Euclid Township grew, the area became Euclidville Village, later changed to Lyndhurst Village in 1920. The postWorld War II building boom brought many young families to Lyndhurst and transformed the sleepy village into a charming 21st-century suburb.