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Akron, Ohio

December 30, 2023

"Akron" redirects here. For other uses, see Akron (disambiguation).

Akron (/ˈækrən/) is a city in and the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, United States. At the 2020 census, the city proper had a total population of 190,469, making it the fifth-most populous city in Ohio and 136th-most populous city in the United States. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had a population of 702,219.[3] It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau in Northeast Ohio about 40 miles (64 km) south of downtown Cleveland.

Akron, Ohio
City
Downtown Akron
Akron Art Museum
Canal Park
Stan Hywet Hall
Goodyear Airdock
Seal
Etymology: Ancient Greek: ἄκρον ákron (summit, high point)
Nicknames: 
Rubber City, City of Invention, Rubber Capital of the World (historical)
Interactive map of Akron
Akron
Akron
Coordinates: 41°4′23″N 81°31′4″W / 41.07306°N 81.51778°W / 41.07306; -81.51778
CountryUnited States
StateOhio
CountySummit
Founded1825
Incorporated1836 (village)
Incorporated1865 (city)
Government
 • TypeStrong Mayor–council
 • MayorDan Horrigan (D)
Area
[1]
 • City62.27 sq mi (161.29 km2)
 • Land61.93 sq mi (160.41 km2)
 • Water0.34 sq mi (0.88 km2)  0.55%
Elevation
1,004 ft (306 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • City190,469
 • RankUS: 136th
 • Density3,075.40/sq mi (1,187.42/km2)
 • Urban
541,879 (US: 79th)
 • Urban density1,802.4/sq mi (695.9/km2)
 • Metro
702,219 (US: 83rd)
DemonymAkronite
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP code
44301-44321, 44325-44326, 44328, 44333-44334, 44372, 44396, 44398
Area codes234, 330
FIPS code39-01000
GNIS feature ID1064305[2]
Websitewww.akronohio.gov

The city was founded by Simon Perkins and Paul Williams in 1825 along the Little Cuyahoga River at the summit of the developing Ohio and Erie Canal. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek word ἄκρον : ákron signifying a summit or high point. It was briefly renamed South Akron after Eliakim Crosby founded nearby North Akron in 1833, until both merged into an incorporated village in 1836. In the 1910s, Akron doubled in population, making it the nation's fastest-growing city.

A long history of rubber and tire manufacturing, carried on today by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, gave Akron the nickname "Rubber Capital of the World". It was once known as a center of airship development.[4][5] Today, its economy includes manufacturing, education, healthcare, and biomedical research; leading corporations include Gojo Industries, FirstEnergy, Huntington Bank, and Charter Spectrum.

Notable historic events in Akron include the passage of the Akron School Law of 1847, which created the K–12 system; the popularization of the church architectural Akron Plan, the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous, the Akron Experiment into preventing goiters with iodized salt, the 1983 Supreme Court case City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health; and portions of the 2014 Gay Games. A racially diverse city, it has seen noted racial relations speeches by Sojourner Truth in 1851 (the Ain't I A Woman? speech), W. E. B. Du Bois in 1920,[6] and President Bill Clinton in 1997.[7] In 1914, Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Akron.[6][8] Episodes of major civil unrest in Akron have included the riot of 1900, rubber strike of 1936, the Wooster Avenue riots of 1968, and the 2022 protests surrounding the killing of Jayland Walker.

History edit

 
Original town plot of Akron

In 1811, Paul Williams settled near the corner of what is now Buchtel Avenue and Broadway. He suggested to General Simon Perkins, who was surveyor of the Connecticut Land Company's Connecticut Western Reserve, that they found a town at the summit of the developing Ohio and Erie Canal. The name is adapted from the Greek word ἄκρον (ákron), meaning summit or high point.[9] It was laid out in December 1825, where the south part of the downtown Akron neighborhood sits today. Irish laborers working on the Ohio Canal built about 100 cabins nearby.

After Eliakim Crosby founded "North Akron" (also known as Cascade) in the northern portion of what is now downtown Akron in 1833, "South" was added to Akron's name until about three years later, when the two were merged and became an incorporated village in 1836.[10] In 1840, Summit County formed from portions of Portage, Medina, and Stark Counties. Akron replaced Cuyahoga Falls as its county seat a year later and opened a canal connecting to Beaver, Pennsylvania, helping give birth to the stoneware, sewer pipe, fishing tackle, and farming equipment industries.[4][5] In 1844, abolitionist John Brown moved into the John Brown House across the street from business partner Colonel Simon Perkins, who lived in the Perkins Stone Mansion. The Akron School Law of 1847 founded the city's public schools and created the K–12 grade school system,[11] which currently is used in every U.S. state. The city's first school is now a museum on Broadway Street near the corner of Exchange.

1850s–1890s: Summit City edit

When the Ohio Women's Rights Convention came to Akron in 1851, Sojourner Truth extemporaneously delivered her speech named "Ain't I A Woman?", at the Universalist Old Stone Church. In 1870, a local businessman associated with the church, John R. Buchtel, founded Buchtel College, which became the University of Akron in 1913.

Ferdinand Schumacher bought a mill in 1856, and the following decade mass-produced oat bars for the Union Army during the American Civil War; these continued to sell well after the war. Akron incorporated as a city in 1865.[citation needed] Philanthropist Lewis Miller, Walter Blythe, and architect Jacob Snyder designed the widely used Akron Plan, debuting it on Akron's First Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872.[12] Numerous Congregational, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches built between the 1870s and World War I use it.[13][14] In 1883, a local journalist began the modern toy industry by founding the Akron Toy Company. A year later, the first popular toy was mass-produced clay marbles made by Samuel C. Dyke at his shop where Lock 3 Park is now. Other popular inventions include rubber balloons, ducks, dolls, balls, baby buggy bumpers, and little brown jugs. In 1895, the first long-distance electric railway, the Akron, Bedford and Cleveland Railroad, began service.[15] On August 25, 1889, the Boston Daily Globe referred to Akron with the nickname "Summit City".[16] To help local police, the city deployed the first police car in the U.S. that ran on electricity.[17]

1900s–1990s: Rubber Capital of the World edit

See also: Akron Rubber Strike of 1936
 
An airship under construction at the Goodyear Airdock, c. 1930

The Riot of 1900 saw assaults on city officials, two deaths, and the destruction by fire of Columbia Hall and the Downtown Fire Station (now the City Building since 1925).[18] The American trucking industry was birthed through Akron's Rubber Capital of the World era when the four major tire companies B.F. Goodrich (1869), Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (1898), Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (1900),[19] and General Tire & Rubber Company (1915)[20][21] were headquartered in the city. The numerous jobs the rubber factories provided for deaf people led to Akron being nicknamed the "Crossroads of the Deaf".[22] On Easter Sunday 1913, 9.55 inches (243 mm) of rain fell, causing floods that killed five people and destroyed the Ohio and Erie Canal system. From 1916 to 1920, 10,000 schoolgirls took part in the successful Akron Experiment, testing iodized salt to prevent goiter in what was known as the "Goiter Belt".[23]

Rubber companies responded to housing crunches by building affordable housing for workers. Goodyear's president, Frank A. Seiberling, built the Goodyear Heights neighborhood for employees. Likewise, Harvey S. Firestone built the Firestone Park neighborhood for his employees.[24] During the 1910–1920 decade, Akron became a boomtown, being America's fastest growing city with a 201.8% increase in population. Of the 208,000 citizens, almost one-third were immigrants (also Clark Gable)[25] and their children from places including Europe and West Virginia. In 1929 and 1931, Goodyear's subsidiary Goodyear-Zeppelin Company manufactured two airships for the United States Navy, USS Akron (ZRS-4) and USS Macon (ZRS-5). Goodyear built a number of blimps for the Navy during WWII and later for advertising purposes.[26][27][28]

Akron again grew when Kenmore was annexed by voter approval on November 6, 1928. Found hiding under a bed at one of his hideouts in the city, notorious bank robber Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd was arrested under the name "Frank Mitchell" in March 1930.[29] Goodyear became America's top tire manufacturer after merging with the Kelly-Springfield Tire Company in 1935.[30] Lasting five weeks and consisting of roughly 5,000 strikers including union sympathizers from other factories and neighboring states, the Akron Rubber Strike of 1936 successfully used the "sit-down" tactic to force recognition of the United Rubber Workers.[31] During the 1950s–60s Akron surged as use of the automobile did. The historic Rubber Bowl was used by the National Guard of the United States as a base during the racial Wooster Avenue Riots of 1968. Like many other industries of the Rust Belt, both the tire and rubber industries experienced major decline. By the early 1990s, Goodyear was the last major tire manufacturer based in Akron.

2000s: City of Invention edit

 
Goodyear Polymer Center, University of Akron

Despite the number of rubber workers decreasing by roughly half from 2000 to 2007, Akron's research in polymers gained an international reputation.[32] It now centers on the Polymer Valley which consists of 400 polymer-related companies, of which 94 were located in the city itself.[33] Research is focused at the University of Akron, which is home to the Goodyear Polymer Center and the National Polymer Innovation Center, and the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering. Because of its contributions to the Information Age, Newsweek listed Akron fifth of ten high-tech havens in 2001.[33] In 2008 "City of Invention" was added to the seal when the All-America City Award was received for the third time. Some events of the 2014 Gay Games used the city as a venue. In 2013, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company opened its new global headquarters on Innovation Way, further cementing the company's relationship with the city.[34] Bridgestone built a new technical center with state-of-the-art R&D labs, and moved its product development operations to the new facility in early 2012.[35][36]

The city also continues to deal with the effects of air and soil pollution from its industrial past. In the southwestern part of the city, soil was contaminated and noxious PCB-laden fumes were put into the air by an electrical transformer deconstruction operation that existed from the 1930s to the 1960s. Cleanup of the site, designated as a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency, began in 1987 and concluded in 2000. The area remains restricted with regular reviews of the site and its underground aquifer.[37][38][39]

Racial history edit

See also: City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health

City founder Simon Perkins negotiated a treaty with Native Americans to establish a mail route from the Connecticut Western Reserve to Detroit in 1807, an early example of historic humanitarian affairs in Akron. Aside from being part of the Underground Railroad, when active, John Brown was a resident, today having two landmarks (the John Brown House and the John Brown Monument) dedicated to him. During the 1851 Women's Rights Convention, Sojourner Truth delivered her speech entitled "Ain't I A Woman?". In 1905, a statue of an Indian named Unk was erected on Portage Path, which was part of the effective western boundary of the White and Native American lands from 1785 to 1805.[40] The Summit County chapter of the Ku Klux Klan reported having 50,000 members, making it the largest local chapter in the country during the 20th century. At some point the sheriff, county officials, mayor of Akron, judges, county commissioners, and most members of Akron's school board were members. The Klan's influence in the city's politics eventually ended after Wendell Willkie arrived and challenged them.[41] Race took part in two of Akron's major riots, the Riot of 1900 and the Wooster Ave. Riots of 1968. Others giving speeches on race in the city include W. E. B. Du Bois (1920)[6] and President Bill Clinton (1997).[7] In 1971, Alpha Phi Alpha Homes Inc. was founded in Akron by the Eta Tau Lambda chapter, with James R. Williams as chairman. The centerpiece, Henry Arthur Callis Tower, is located in the Channelwood Village area of the city. In 2008, 91-year-old Akron native, Addie Polk, became the poster child of the financial crisis of 2007–2010, after shooting herself.[42] In 2022, Akron resident Jayland Walker was killed by police after shooting at them while fleeing, sparking days of protest and the institution of a police review board.

Geography edit

Akron is located in the Great Lakes region about 39 miles (63 km) south of Lake Erie, on the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau. It is bordered by Cuyahoga Falls on the north and Barberton in the southwest. It is the center of the Akron metropolitan area which covers Summit and Portage Counties, and a principal city of the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton Combined Statistical Area. Located on the western end of the plateau, the topography of Akron includes rolling hills and varied terrain. The Ohio and Erie Canal passes through the city, separating the east from west. Akron has the only biogas facility[43] in the United States that produces methane through the decomposition process of sludge to create electricity.[44] According to the 2010 census, the city has a total area of 62.37 square miles (161.5 km2), of which 62.03 square miles (160.7 km2) (or 99.45%) is land and 0.34 square miles (0.88 km2) (or 0.55%) is water.[45]

Climate edit

Akron has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa), typical of the Midwest, with four distinct seasons, and lies in USDA hardiness zone 6b, degrading to zone 6a in the outlying suburbs.[46] Winters are cold and dry but typically bring a mix of rain, sleet, and snow with occasional heavy snowfall and icing. January is the coldest month with an average mean temperature of 27.9 °F (−2.3 °C),[47] with temperatures on average dropping to or below 0 °F (−18 °C) on 3.3 days and staying at or below freezing on 40 days per year.[47] Snowfall averages 47.2 inches (120 cm) per season, significantly less than the snowbelt areas closer to Lake Erie.[47] The snowiest month on record was 37.5 inches (95 cm) in January 1978, while winter snowfall amounts have ranged from 82.0 in (208 cm) in 1977–78 to 18.2 in (46 cm) in 1949–50.[47] Springs generally see a transition to fewer weather systems that produce heavier rainfall. Summers are typically very warm and humid with temperatures at or above 90 °F (32 °C) on 10.7 days per year on average; the annual count has been as high as 36 days in 1931, while the most recent year to not reach that mark is 2023.[47] July is the warmest month with an average mean temperature of 73.9 °F (23 °C).[47] Autumn is relatively dry with many clear warm days and cool nights.

The all-time record high temperature in Akron of 104 °F (40 °C) was established on August 6, 1918, and the all-time record low temperature of −25 °F (−32 °C) was set on January 19, 1994.[47] The most precipitation to fall on one calendar day was on July 7, 1943, when 5.96" of rain was measured.[47] The first and last freezes of the season on average fall on October 21 and April 26, respectively, allowing a growing season of 174 days.[47] The normal annual mean temperature is 51.7 °F (10.9 °C).[47] Normal yearly precipitation based on the 30-year average from 1991 to 2020 is 41.57 inches (1,056 mm), falling on an average 160 days.[47] Monthly precipitation has ranged from 12.55 in (319 mm) in July 2003 to 0.20 in (5.1 mm) in September 1960, while for annual precipitation the historical range is 65.70 in (1,669 mm) in 1990 to 23.79 in (604 mm) in 1963.[47]

Climate data for Akron, Ohio (Akron–Canton Airport), 1991–2020 normals,[a] extremes 1887–present
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 73
(23) 		76
(24) 		83
(28) 		89
(32) 		94
(34) 		100
(38) 		102
(39) 		104
(40) 		99
(37) 		91
(33) 		80
(27) 		76
(24) 		104
(40)
Mean maximum °F (°C) 58.2
(14.6) 		60.0
(15.6) 		70.7
(21.5) 		79.8
(26.6) 		85.8
(29.9) 		90.5
(32.5) 		91.6
(33.1) 		90.4
(32.4) 		87.7
(30.9) 		79.1
(26.2) 		68.1
(20.1) 		59.4
(15.2) 		92.7
(33.7)
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) 35.5
(1.9) 		38.6
(3.7) 		48.4
(9.1) 		61.8
(16.6) 		72.3
(22.4) 		80.4
(26.9) 		84.3
(29.1) 		82.7
(28.2) 		75.9
(24.4) 		63.4
(17.4) 		50.7
(10.4) 		39.9
(4.4) 		61.2
(16.2)
Daily mean °F (°C) 27.9
(−2.3) 		30.2
(−1.0) 		38.9
(3.8) 		50.8
(10.4) 		61.3
(16.3) 		69.9
(21.1) 		73.9
(23.3) 		72.3
(22.4) 		65.4
(18.6) 		53.7
(12.1) 		42.5
(5.8) 		33.0
(0.6) 		51.7
(10.9)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) 20.3
(−6.5) 		21.9
(−5.6) 		29.4
(−1.4) 		39.8
(4.3) 		50.4
(10.2) 		59.4
(15.2) 		63.4
(17.4) 		61.9
(16.6) 		54.9
(12.7) 		44.0
(6.7) 		34.2
(1.2) 		26.1
(−3.3) 		42.1
(5.6)
Mean minimum °F (°C) −1.1
(−18.4) 		3.0
(−16.1) 		10.9
(−11.7) 		24.2
(−4.3) 		35.4
(1.9) 		44.4
(6.9) 		52.1
(11.2) 		50.6
(10.3) 		40.9
(4.9) 		30.4
(−0.9) 		18.7
(−7.4) 		8.5
(−13.1) 		−3.4
(−19.7)
Record low °F (°C) −25
(−32) 		−20
(−29) 		−6
(−21) 		10
(−12) 		24
(−4) 		32
(0) 		41
(5) 		39
(4) 		29
(−2) 		20
(−7) 		−1
(−18) 		−16
(−27) 		−25
(−32)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 2.92
(74) 		2.44
(62) 		3.23
(82) 		3.86
(98) 		4.13
(105) 		4.43
(113) 		4.14
(105) 		3.61
(92) 		3.50
(89) 		3.34
(85) 		3.08
(78) 		2.89
(73) 		41.57
(1,056)
Average snowfall inches (cm) 13.4
(34) 		12.0
(30) 		7.6
(19) 		1.7
(4.3) 		0.0
(0.0) 		0.0
(0.0) 		0.0
(0.0) 		0.0
(0.0) 		0.0
(0.0) 		0.3
(0.76) 		3.3
(8.4) 		8.9
(23) 		47.2
(120)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 17.8 14.5 14.2 14.6 14.1 12.4 11.8 10.1 9.9 12.0 12.5 16.0 159.9
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) 13.3 10.0 6.7 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 3.4 9.5 45.3
Average relative humidity (%) 73.4 71.6 67.8 63.6 65.9 68.4 70.2 73.2 73.9 70.3 72.2 74.8 70.4
Average dew point °F (°C) 17.2
(−8.2) 		19.0
(−7.2) 		27.0
(−2.8) 		35.2
(1.8) 		46.2
(7.9) 		55.9
(13.3) 		60.6
(15.9) 		60.3
(15.7) 		54.0
(12.2) 		41.7
(5.4) 		32.9
(0.5) 		23.2
(−4.9) 		39.4
(4.1)
Source: NOAA (relative humidity and dew point 1961-1990)[48][49]

Neighborhoods edit

Main article: Neighborhoods in Akron, Ohio

Akron consists of 21 neighborhoods, with an additional three that are unincorporated but recognized within the city. The neighborhoods of the city differ in design largely because of expansions such as town merging, annexation, housing construction in various time periods, and rubber era.

Maple Valley covers the west end of Copley Road, before reaching I-77. Along this strip are several businesses using the name, as well as the Maple Valley Branch of the Akron-Summit County Public Library. Spicertown falls under the blanket of University Park, this term is used frequently to describe the student-centered retail and residential area around East Exchange and Spicer streets, near the University of Akron. West Hill is roughly bounded by West Market Street on the north, West Exchange Street on the south, Downtown on the East, and Rhodes Avenue on the west. It features many stately older homes, particularly in the recently recognized Oakdale Historic District.

Suburbs edit

Akron's suburbs include Barberton, Cuyahoga Falls, Fairlawn, Green, Hudson, Mogadore, Montrose-Ghent, Munroe Falls, Norton, Silver Lake, Stow, and Tallmadge. Akron formed Joint Economic Development Districts with Springfield, Coventry, Copley, and Bath (in conjunction with Fairlawn) townships.[50]

Demographics edit

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
18401,664—
18503,26696.3%
18603,4776.5%
187010,006187.8%
188016,51265.0%
189027,60167.2%
190042,72854.8%
191069,06761.6%
1920208,435201.8%
1930255,04022.4%
1940244,791−4.0%
1950274,60512.2%
1960290,3515.7%
1970275,425−5.1%
1980237,177−13.9%
1990223,019−6.0%
2000217,074−2.7%
2010199,110−8.3%
2020190,469−4.3%
U.S. Decennial Census[51] 2020 census[52]

According to census data from 2010 to 2014, the median income for a household in the city was $34,139. The per capita income for the city was $17,596. About 26.7% of persons were in poverty.[53]

The population of the Akron metropolitan area was 702,219 in 2020. Akron is also part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Canton combined statistical area, which was the 15th largest in the country with a population of over 3.5 million residents.

Although Akron is in northern Ohio, where the Inland North dialect is expected, its settlement history puts it in the North Midland dialect area.[54] Some localisms that have developed include devilstrip, which refers to the grass strip between a sidewalk and street.[55]

2020 census edit

As of the census[56] of 2020 there were 190,469 people and 84,940 households. This all leads to a population density of 3,181.30/sq mi. The average number of people living in a household was 2.27 persons per households. The racial makeup of the city was 59.9% White, 30.3% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 4.6% Asian, with 5% coming from other races. 3.1% is of Hispanic origin.[57]

The mean age in the city was 35.7 years old. 6% of the population is under the age of 5, 21.2% are under the age of 18, 14.8% are over the age of 65. 52.1% of the population is female.

2010 census edit

As of the census[56] of 2010, there were 199,110 people, 83,712 households, and 47,084 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,209.9 inhabitants per square mile (1,239.3/km2). There were 96,288 housing units at an average density of 1,552.3 per square mile (599.3/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 62.2% White, 31.5% African American, 0.2% Native American, 2.1% Asian, 0.8% from other races, and 3.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.1% of the population. Non-Hispanic Whites were 61.2% of the population,[58] down from 81.0% in 1970.[59]

There were 83,712 households, of which 28.8% had children under age 18 living with them, 31.3% were married couples living together, 19.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 43.8% were non-families. 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.98.

The median age in the city was 35.7 years. 22.9% of residents were under age 18; 12.4% were between 18 and 24; 25.9% were from 25 to 44; 25.9% were from 45 to 64; and 12.6% were 65 or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.3% male and 51.7% female.

Crime edit

Main article: Crime history of Akron, Ohio
 
Summit County Courthouse and police car. The modern police car originated in Akron in 1899.[17]

In 1999, Akron ranked as the 94th-most-dangerous city (and the 229th safest) on the 7th Morgan Quitno list.[60] Preliminary Ohio crime statistics show aggravated assaults increased by 45% during 2007.[61]

Historically, organized crime operated in the city with the presence of the Black Hand led by Rosario Borgio, once headquartered on the city's north side in the first decade of the 20th century[citation needed] and the Walker-Mitchell mob, of which Pretty Boy Floyd was a member.[62] Akron has experienced several riots in its history, including the Riot of 1900 and the Wooster Avenue Riots of 1968.

The distribution of methamphetamine ("meth") in Akron greatly contributed to Summit County becoming known as the "Meth Capital of Ohio" in the early 2000s.[63] The county ranked third in the nation in the number of registered meth sites.[64] During the 1990s, motorcycle gang the Hells Angels sold the drug from bars frequented by members.[65] Between January 2004 and August 2009, the city had significantly more registered sites than any other city in the state.[66] Authorities believed a disruption of a major Mexican meth operation contributed to the increase of it being made locally.[67] In 2007, the Akron Police Department (APD) received a grant to help continue its work with other agencies and jurisdictions to support them in ridding the city of meth labs.[68] The APD coordinates with the Summit County Drug Unit and the Drug Enforcement Administration, forming the Clandestine Methamphetamine Laboratory Response Team.[69]

Economy edit

 
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company headquarters

Many industries in the United States either began or were influenced by the city. After beginning the tire and rubber industry during the 20th century with the founding of BFGoodrich, Firestone, General Tire, and also the Goodyear merger with The Kelly-Springfield Tire Company, Akron gained the status of "Rubber Capital of the World". Akron has won economic awards such as for City Livability and All-American City, and deemed a high tech haven greatly contributing to the Information Age.[70] Current Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the city include Goodyear and FirstEnergy. In addition, the city is the headquarters to a number of other notable companies such as GOJO, Advanced Elastomer Systems, Babcock & Wilcox, Myers Industries, Acme Fresh Market, and Sterling Jewelers. Goodyear, America's biggest tire manufacturer and the fifth-largest private employer in Summit County,[71] recently built a new world headquarters in the city. The project, Akron Riverwalk, will feature a large retail and commercial development area.[citation needed] The project began in 2007, but was put on hold because of the financial crisis of 2007–2010, and is now continuing.[72] Bridgestone built a new technical center with research and development labs, and moved its product development operations to the new facility in early 2012.[35][36] The Eastern Ohio Division of KeyBank, which has six branches in the city, built a regional headquarters downtown.[73] The city has a free WiFi corridor centered in downtown. Neighborhoods in range include Goodyear Heights, East Akron, North Hill, Firestone Park, Kenmore, and West Akron.[74]

Polymer Valley edit

Northeast Ohio's Polymer Valley is centered in Akron. The area holds forty-five percent of the state's polymer industries, with the oldest dating to the 19th century. During the 1980s and 1990s, an influx of new polymer companies came to the region.[75] In 2001, more than 400 companies manufactured polymer-based materials in the region.[76] Many University of Akron scientists became world-renowned for their research done at the Goodyear Polymer Center.[77] The first College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering was begun by the university. In 2010, the National Polymer Innovation Center opened on campus.

Hospitals edit

 
Summa Akron City Hospital

Akron has designated an area called the Biomedical Corridor, aimed at luring health-related ventures to the region. It encompasses 1,240 acres (5.0 km2) of private and publicly owned land, bounded by Akron General on the west and Akron City on the east, and also includes Akron Children's near the district's center with the former Saint Thomas Hospital to the north of its northern boundaries.[78] Since its start in 2006, the corridor added the headquarters of companies such as Akron Polymer Systems.[79]

Akron's adult hospitals are owned by two health systems, Summa Health System and Akron General Health System. Summa Health System operates Summa Akron City Hospital and the former St. Thomas Hospital, which in 2008 were recognized for the 11th consecutive year as one of "America's Best Hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report.[80][81] Summa is recognized as having one of the best orthopaedics programs in the nation with a ranking of 28th.[82] Akron General Health in affiliation with the Cleveland Clinic operates Akron General Medical Center, which in 2009, was recognized as one of "America's Best Hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report.[83][84] Akron Children's Hospital is an independent entity that specializes in pediatric care and burn care.[85] In 1974, Howard Igel and Aaron Freeman successfully grew human skin in a lab to treat burn victims, making Akron Children's Hospital the first hospital in the world to achieve such a feat.[86] Akron City and Akron General hospitals are designated Level I Trauma Centers.

Top employers edit

According to the city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[87] the principal employers in the city are:

# Employer Employees
1 Summa Health System 8,609
2 University of Akron 5,933
3 Akron Children's Hospital 5,773
4 FirstEnergy 5,538
5 Cleveland Clinic- Akron General 4,779
6 Akron Public Schools 4,544
7 Summit County 3,323
8 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company 2,954
9 City of Akron 2,406
10 Signet Jewelers 2,094

Arts and culture edit

Main article: Culture of Akron, Ohio
 
Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens entrance

Akron is home to E. J. Thomas Hall, one of three Akron performance halls. Regular acts include the Akron Symphony Orchestra, Tuesday Musical Club, and Children's Concert Society. World-class performances events include Broadway musicals, ballets, comedies, lectures, entertainers, attracting 400,000 visitors annually. The hall seats 2,955, divided among three tiers. To maintain top-notch acoustic sound, the counter-weighted ceiling is adjustable, altering the physical dimensions of the hall. Located downtown is the Akron Civic Theatre, which opened in 1929 as the Loew's Theater. This atmospheric-style theater was designed by John Eberson and built by Marcus Loew. The theater contains many Moorish features including arches and decorative tiles. It features elaborate wood carvings, alabaster statuary, and European antiques. The theater seats 5,000. Behind it on the canal is the Lock 3 Park amphitheater, which annually host the First Night in Akron. The Akron Art Museum also downtown, features art produced since 1850 along with national and international exhibitions.[88] It opened in 1922 as the Akron Art Institute, in the basement of the Akron Public Library. It moved to its current location at the renovated 1899 post office building in 1981. In 2007, the museum more than tripled in size with the addition of the John S. and James L. Knight Building, which received the 2005 American Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum[89] while still under construction.[90][91]

Built between 1912 and 1915 for Frank A. Sieberling, Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens is the seventh-largest historic house in the United States.

Located within the Sand Run Metro Park, the 104 acres (0.42 km2) F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm features a visitor center, hiking trails, three ponds, gardens, and an array of special programs throughout the year. The Akron Police Museum displays mementos including items from Pretty Boy Floyd, whose gang frequented the city.[92][93]

Akron is home to the American Marble and Toy Museum.[94]

Architecture edit

See also: Category:Buildings and structures in Akron, Ohio
 
Jablonski Sculpture, a gift of the Zimmite Corporation in tribute to Nola M. Guzzetta's humanitarian interest in providing for the blind a vision of artistic and architectural design through touch[95]
 
Quaker Square, 1979

As a result of multiple towns merging, and industry boom, Akron's architecture is diverse.

Originally a canal town, the city is divided into two parts by the Ohio and Erie Canal, with downtown being centered on it. Along the locks, the city has a path paved with rubber.

Akron was awarded with the City Livability Award in 2008 for its efforts to co-purpose new school buildings as community learning centers. In 2009, the National Arbor Day Foundation designated Akron as a Tree City USA for the 14th time.[96]

Many of the city's government and civic buildings, including City Hall and the Summit County Courthouse are from pre-World War Two, but the Akron-Summit County Public Library, and John S. Knight Center are considerably newer. The library originally opened in 1969, but reopened as a greatly expanded facility in 2004. The Knight Center opened in 1994.

The First Methodist Episcopal Church first used the Akron Plan in 1872. The plan later gained popularity, being used in many Congregationalist, Baptist, and Presbyterian church buildings.[12][97]

The city is home to a historic 1920s atmospheric movie palace, the Akron Civic Theatre. One of the building's features is a starry sky with clouds that drift over it when the lights are dimmed.

Completed in 1931, Akron's tallest building, the Huntington Tower, features the art deco style and is covered in glazed architectural terra-cotta.[98] Standing 330 feet (100 m) tall, it is built on top of the Hamilton Building, completed in 1900 in the neo-gothic style.[citation needed] Near the turn of the millennium the tower was given a $2.5 million facelift, including a $1.8 million restoration of the tower's terra-cotta, brick, and limestone.[98] The top of the building has a television broadcast tower formerly used by WAKR-TV (now WVPX-TV) and WAKR-AM.[99] The antenna reaches 134.7 metres (442 ft).[citation needed] Located on the University of Akron campus, the Goodyear Polymer Center consists of glass twin towers connected by walkways. The university also formerly used the old Quaker Oats factory as a dormitory, including using it as a quarantine center during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. For many years it had been a shopping center called Quaker Square. There had also been a hotel there.

The Akron Art Museum commissioned Coop Himmelblau to design an expansion in 2007. The new building connects to the old building and is divided into three parts known as the "Crystal",[100] the "Gallery Box",[101] and the "Roof Cloud".[102]

The contrasting neighborhoods of Goodyear Heights and Firestone Park were built during the rubber industry to house workers and their families. Both are communities filled with houses based on mail-order plans.

Tourism edit

See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Akron, Ohio
 
Akron Art Museum

There are numerous attractions and points of interest in the Akron area. Opened in 1922, the Akron Art Museum has a 20,000-square-foot building and a collection of art produced since 1850. Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens is the estate of F.A. Seiberling, founder of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The manor hosts various attractions and public events throughout the year. In the heart of downtown, the Akron Civic Theatre has provided the community with a venue for entertainment and live performances for over eighty years. Lock 3, a historic Ohio and Erie Canalway landmark, has been transformed into an entertainment amphitheater that hosts festivals, concerts, and community events throughout the year. The Akron Zoo is located just outside downtown, and was an initial gift of property from the city's founding family. In Highland Square, Akron hosts a convergence of art, music, and community annually called Art in the Square, a festival featuring local artists and musicians.[103]

National events hosted annually in Akron cover a wide variety of hobbies and interests. The PGA World Golf Championships travel to Akron each year for the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club. The All-American Soap Box Derby is a youth racing program which has its World Championship finals at Derby Downs. In mid July, the National Hamburger Festival consists of different vendors serving original recipe hamburgers and has a Miss Hamburger contest.[104] Lock 3 Park annually hosts the First Night Akron celebration on New Year's Eve.[105] The park also annually hosts the Italian Festival and the "Rib, White & Blue" food festival in July.[103] Founders Day is celebrated annually because of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous within the city. The Dr. Robert Smith House is located in Akron.[106][107]

Cuisine edit

See also: History of Quaker Oats

Several residents of Akron have played a role in defining American cuisine. Ferdinand Schumacher created the first American oatmeal and is a pioneer of breakfast cereal.[108] He also founded the Empire Barley Mill and German Mills American Oatmeal Company,[109] which would later merge several times with other companies, with the result being the Quaker Oats Company.[110] The Menches Brothers, are the disputed inventors of the waffle ice cream cone,[111] caramel corn,[111] and hamburger.[112] Strickland's Frozen Custard is located in Akron.

Sports edit

Professional edit

Team Sport League Venue (capacity) Attendance
Akron RubberDucks Baseball Eastern League (AA) Canal Park (7,630) 5,074
Akron City FC Soccer National Premier Soccer League (Rust Belt Conference) Green Street Stadium (3,000) 625

College edit

Team Sport League Venue (capacity) Attendance
Akron Zips football American football Mid-American Conference (NCAA) InfoCision Stadium (30,000) 18,098
Akron Zips men's basketball Basketball Mid-American Conference (NCAA) James A. Rhodes Arena (5,500) 3,351
Akron Zips men's soccer Soccer Mid-American Conference (NCAA) FirstEnergy Stadium (4,000) 2,186

Overview edit

 
Canal Park, home to the Akron RubberDucks baseball team.

Current

The RubberDucks – formerly called the Akron Aeros – moved to Akron from Canton in 1997, and have won the Eastern League Championship six times, most recently in 2021.

The Akron Marathon is an annual marathon in the city which offers a team relay and shorter races throughout the summer and fall.[113]

The All-American Soap Box Derby takes place each year at the Derby Downs since 1936. LeBron James' King for Kids bike-a-thon feature James riding with kids through the city each June.[114] In November, the city hosts the annual Home Run for the Homeless 4-mile run.

 
InfoCision Stadium on the University of Akron campus, home field of the Akron Zips football team.

The University of Akron's Akron Zips compete in the NCAA and the Mid-American Conference (MAC) in a variety of sports at the Division I level. The men's basketball team appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1986, 2009, 2011, and 2013. In 2009, the Zips men's soccer team completed the regular-season undefeated, then won the NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship in 2010. Zippy, one of the eight female NCAA mascots, won the National Mascot of the Year contest in 2007.

Past teams and events

Former teams of Akron include the Akron Professionals of the National Football League who played in the historic Rubber Bowl and won the 1920 championship; the Goodyear Silents, a deaf semi-professional football; the Akron Black Tyrites of the Negro National League; the Akron Americans of the International Hockey League; the Akron Lightning of the International Basketball League; the Akron Summit Assault of the USL Premier Development League, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid; the Akron Wingfoots of the National Basketball League, who won the first NBL Championship and the International Cup three times; the Akron Firestone Non-Skids, also of the National Basketball League, who won the title consecutively, in 1939 and 1940; and the Akron Vulcans, a professional football team that played in the Continental Football League for part of the 1967 season.[115]

Akron had 2 teams who won the National Basketball League in the '30s and '40s, before the foundation of the NBA.

Akron hosted some of the events of the 2014 Gay Games including the marathon, the men's and women's golf tournaments at Firestone Country Club, and softball at Firestone Stadium.[116]

The Firestone Country Club, which annually hosted the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, has in the past hosted the PGA Championship, American Golf Classic, and Rubber City Open Invitational. On January 7, 1938, Akron became the birthplace of women's professional Mud Wrestling, in a match including Professional Wrestling, WWE, and Wrestling Observer Hall of Famer, Mildred Burke.[117] The Professional Bowlers Association started in the city during 1958.

Parks and recreation edit

Major parks in Akron include Lock 3, Firestone, Goodyear Heights, the F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm (or Naturealm), and part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Several of the parks are along the locks of the canal. Lock 3 Park in downtown Akron is the city's hub for entertainment. It is commonly used as an outdoor amphitheater hosting live musical entertainment, festivals and special events year-round. The park was created in the early 21st century to provide green space within the city. The Ohio and Erie Canal can still be seen flowing behind the stage where there was once a boat yard and dry dock. Later, a pottery factory stood there until the parking deck of the M. O'Neil Co. department store was built in the current location. More than 65,000 guests use the park for recreation annually. Lock 3 Live holds concerts for almost every musical genre, including alternative, R&B, reggae, gospel, country, pop, jazz and classic rock. Some festivals the park hosts throughout the year include Soap Box Derby opening ceremonies, firefighter competitions, charity events, tournaments and animal events. From November through February, Lock 3 Park is transformed into an outdoor ice-skating rink.[118] Adjacent to the Derby Downs race hill is a 19,000-square-foot (1,800 m2) outdoor skatepark. The park features concrete ramps, including two bowls going as deep as 7 feet (2.1 m), a snake run, two hips, a stair set with handrail, many smaller quarter pipes and a variety of grind boxes. Positioned just a few feet from the Akron Skatepark is a Pro BMX course where organized races are often held in the warmer months. Akron residents can enjoy various ice skating activities year round at the historic Akron Ice House.

The Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail is a regional bike and hike trail that follows the canal. A bridge was completed in 2008, crossing Route 59/The Innerbelt, which connects the towpath proper with bike routes painted onto streets downtown, thus completing another step toward the connection of Cleveland and East Liverpool with a hike and bike trail.[citation needed] The State of Ohio plans to reconstruct the trail which once ran completely through Ohio, to New Philadelphia from Cleveland. The trail features a floating observation deck section over Summit Lake. It is a popular tourist attraction, as it attracts over 2 million visits annually.[119][120][121] The Portage Hike and Bike Trail, when fully complete, will connect with the hike and bike trails in the county.[122]

Government edit

 
2020 Presidential Election by Precinct
Biden:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      90–100%
Trump:      40–50%      50–60%
See also: List of mayors of Akron, Ohio and List of Akron politicians
 
The Ocasek Building includes state, county, and city offices.[123]

The mayor of Akron is elected in a citywide vote. In 2016, the city elected its 62nd mayor. The city is divided into 10 wards, each elect a member to the Akron City Council, while an additional 3 are elected at large. The mayor's cabinet currently consist of directors and deputy directors of administration, communications, community relations, economic development, intergovernmental relations, labor relations, law, planning & urban development, planning director – deputy, public safety, and public service.[124] The city adopted a new charter of the commissioner manager type in 1920, but reverted to its old form in 1924.

The current mayor is Dan Horrigan. Longtime Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic announced on May 8, 2015, that he would resign on May 31 after 28 years as mayor and 41 years of service to the city.[125][126] On May 31, 2015, Garry Moneypenny was sworn in as the new mayor at East High School. Moneypenny was former Chief Deputy and Assistant Sheriff of the Summit County Sheriff's Department, former Springfield Township Police Department Chief of Police,[127] and former Akron City Council President.[126]

On June 5, 2015, less than a week after he took office, Mayor Moneypenny announced he would not run for a full term because of inappropriate contact with a city employee.[128] Three days later, Moneypenny announced he would resign effective at midnight on June 10. Council president Jeff Fusco assumed the duties of mayor on June 11, 2015. Fusco ran for and was elected to an at-large council seat, rather than seeking a full term as mayor. Fusco also announced he would temporarily step down as Chair of the Summit County Democratic Party, because the city charter calls for the Mayor to devote his full attention to the city.[129]

As of July 1, 2015, three Democrats and one Republican were running for Mayor of Akron. The Democratic candidates were Summit County Clerk of Courts and former ward 4 Councilman Dan Horrigan; at-large Councilman Mike Williams; and Summit County Councilman Frank Communale. Horrigan won the Democratic primary, held on September 8. In the general election, he faced the lone GOP candidate, Eddie Sipplen, an African-American criminal defense attorney.[130] On November 3, 2015, Horrigan was elected as the 62nd mayor of the city of Akron. He took office on January 1, 2016. On November 5, 2019, Mayor Horrigan was re-elected to a second term.[131]

The current members of the city council, all Democrats, are:

  • Ward 1 – Nancy Holland
  • Ward 2 – Phil Lombardo
  • Ward 3 – Margo Sommerville – president
  • Ward 4 – Russell C. Neal Jr.
  • Ward 5 – Tara Mosley-Samples
  • Ward 6 – Brad McKitrick
  • Ward 7 – Donnie Kammer
  • Ward 8 – Shammas Malik
  • Ward 9 – Mike Freeman
  • Ward 10 – Sharon L. Connor
  • At Large – Linda Omobien
  • At Large – Jeff Fusco – vice president
  • At Large – Ginger Baylor
  • Acting Clerk – Sara Biviano
  • Chief of Staff – Joan M. Williams [132]

Education edit

See also: Category:Education in Akron, Ohio and List of University of Akron people
 
The Student Union at the University of Akron

Preschool, elementary, and secondary education is mainly provided by the Akron City School District. Planning of the district began in 1840, when Ansel Miller suggested to build free public schools for all children in the city, paid for by property taxes. After enduring much opposition by citizens, in 1843 Miller joined with Rev. Isaac Jennings. Three years later, Jennings became the chairman of a committee of citizens who discussed how to improve the school system. On November 21, 1846, their plan was approved unanimously by the citizens. The Ohio Legislature adopted the plan, called "An act for the support and better regulation of the Common Schools of the Town of Akron" on February 8, 1847. Akron's first public schools were established in the fall of 1847 and were led by Mortimer Leggett. The first annual report showed that it cost less than $2 a year to educate a child. In 1857 the cost of running the schools for a year was $4,200 (~$104,557 in 2022). The primary schools were taught by young women, which the Akron Board of Education justified because they could be paid less and were under the supervision of a male superintendent. From 1877 to 1952, Akron graduated students semi-annually instead of annually. 9% of the city's school-aged population were born in other countries in 1888. In the 1920s, an Americanization program was designed to help the many Akron students who were first-generation Americans. Classes were in the rubber companies and some of the schools. A "continuation school" began for working boys and girls who were required by law to have at least four hours of schooling a week. In 1924, Akron's platoon schools attracted visitors from all over the country. Being a stronghold for the Ku Klux Klan during the decade, the majority of school board and government officials were members. Their influence ended with the arrival of Wendell Willkie. During the city's 1950s boom town phase, Akron schools grew eight times faster than the city's population. In 1967, Kenmore launched the Air Force JROTC. In 1971, Jennings piloted the middle school model, which moved ninth-graders to the senior high school. In 1984, all-day kindergarten was piloted at Seiberling, Rankin and Hatton schools, and Ellet, East and Garfield high schools piloted the in-school suspension program. The district received an A+ evaluation from the state in 1987.[133]

Akron was served by the Akron Digital Academy from 2002 to 2018, when it shut down.[134]

As part of his charitable foundation's initiatives in the city, LeBron James founded the I Promise School, which serves underprivileged kids.[135][136][137]

The city is home to the University of Akron.[138] Originally Buchtel College, the school is home of the Goodyear Polymer Center and the National Polymer Innovation Center.[139]

All Akron Public Schools are currently going through a 15-year, $800 million rebuilding process.[140] In recent times the city's schools have been moved from "Academic Watch" to "Continuous Improvement" by the Ohio Department of Education.[141] Akron also has many private, parochial and charter schools.

Media edit

 
Akron Beacon Journal headquarters

Print edit

Akron is served in print by the daily Akron Beacon Journal, formerly the flagship newspaper of the Knight Newspapers chain; the weekly "The Akron Reporter"; and the weekly West Side Leader newspapers and the monthly magazine Akron Life. The Buchtelite newspaper is published by the University of Akron.[142]

TV edit

Akron is part of the Cleveland-Akron-Canton TV market, the 18th largest market in the U.S.[143] Within the market, WEAO (PBS), WVPX (ION), and WBNX-TV (independent) are licensed to Akron. WEAO serves Akron specifically, while WBNX and WVPX identify as "Akron/Cleveland", serving the entire market. Akron has no native news broadcast, having lost its only news station when the former WAKC became WVPX in 1996. WVPX and Cleveland's WKYC later provided a joint news program, which was cancelled in 2005.[144][145]

Radio edit

See also: Akron Radio

Though it is part of a combined TV market with Cleveland, Akron is its own radio market. Music stations include WQMX 94.9 (Country), WONE 97.5 (Classic rock), WKDD 98.1 (Contemporary Hits), and WAKR 1590/93.5 (Soft AC/Full service).

WHLO 640 and WNIR-FM 100.1 feature news/talk formats, and WCUE 1150 and WKJA 91.9 air religious programming.

As the regional NPR affiliate, WKSU 89.7 serves all of Northeast Ohio (including both the Cleveland and Akron markets).[146] College and school run stations include WZIP 88.1 (Top 40 – University of Akron), WSTB 88.9 (Alternative – Streetsboro City Schools), and WAPS 91.3 (AAA – Akron Public Schools)

Film and television edit

Akron has served as the setting for several major studio and independent films. Inducted into the National Film Registry, Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), tells the story of two dancers from Akron who go to New York City.[147][148] My Name is Bill W. (1989) tells the true story of Bill Wilson who co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous, which held its first meetings at the Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens and has over two million members today.[149] The program's connection to the Saint Thomas Hospital is alluded to in an episode of the television series Prison Break (2005), where Michael Scofield talks to Sara Tancredi on the phone while there.[150] The Akron Armory is used as a venue for a female wrestling team in ...All the Marbles (1981).[151] More than a Game (2009) documents National Basketball Association player LeBron James and his St. Vincent – St. Mary High School high school basketball team's journey.[152] In Drake's music video to Forever (2009) off the More than a Game soundtrack (2009), the iconic Goodyear's logo on top the company's theater is shown. The city has been frequently portrayed in media, from "Hell on Earth" in the television series I'm In Hell (2007),[153] to the whereabouts of a holy woman in The Virgin of Akron, Ohio (2007).[154] Henry Spivey of My Own Worst Enemy (2008), travels to Akron through the series many times.[155] George Costanza in an episode of Seinfeld (1989), flies to Akron and has a meeting at Firestone.[156] M.Y.O.B. (2008) is centered on an Akron runaway girl named Riley Veatch.[157] Jake Foley of Jake 2.0 (2003), Pickles family of the Rugrats (1991), and J.Reid of In Too Deep (1999), and Avery Barkley of Nashville (2016) are also from the city. Akron was also in the spotlight on the television show Criminal Minds "Compromising Positions" (2010) Season 6, Episode 4. The 2015 film Room is set in Akron, filmed in Toronto with staging to signify Akron.

Infrastructure edit

Transportation edit

Airports edit

 
Akron Executive Airport

The primary terminal that airline passengers traveling to or from Akron use is the Akron-Canton Airport, serving nearly 2 million passengers a year. The Akron-Canton Airport is a commercial Class C airport located in the city of Green,[158] roughly 10 mi (16 km) southeast of Akron operated jointly by Stark and Summit counties. It serves as an alternative for travelers to or from the Cleveland area as well. Akron Executive Airport is a general aviation airport located in and owned by the City of Akron that serves private planes. It first opened in 1929 and has operated in several different capacities since then. The airport had commercial scheduled airline service until the 1950s and it is now used for both cargo and private planes.[159] It is home of the Lockheed Martin Airdock, where the Goodyear airships, dirigibles, and blimps were originally stored and maintained. The Goodyear blimps are now housed outside of Akron in a facility on the shores of Wingfoot Lake in nearby Suffield Township.

Railroads edit

Main article: Akron Northside station
 
Akron Northside Station

Akron Northside Station is a train station at 27 Ridge Street along the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.[160]

Because of the city's large rubber industry, Akron was once served by a variety of railroads that competed for the city's freight and passenger business. The largest were the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Erie Railroad, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Smaller regional railroads included the Akron, Canton, and Youngstown Railroad, Northern Ohio Railway, and the Akron Barberton Belt Railroad.[161][page needed] Today, the city is served by CSX Corporation, the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, and their subsidiary Akron-Barberton-Cluster, which operate out of the W&LE's Akron Yard near Brittain Road on the eastern end of the city.

From 1891 to 1971 passenger service to points throughout the Midwest, as well as Washington and New York City, was provided at Akron Union Station.[162] The last legacy passenger trains were the Erie Lackawanna's Lake Cities (ended, 1970) and the B&O's Shenandoah (ended, 1971).[163] There is currently no passenger rail transportation with the elimination of Amtrak's former Three Rivers service in 2005. The nearest Amtrak service is in Alliance, Ohio or Cleveland.

Bus and public transportation edit

 
Robert K. Pfaff Transit Center

Public transportation is available through the METRO Regional Transit Authority system, whose fleet of over 200 buses and trolleys operates local routes and commuter buses into downtown Cleveland. Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA) also has a bus line running between Canton and Akron and the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority (PARTA) runs an express route connecting the University of Akron with Kent State University.[164] Metro RTA operates out of the Robert K. Pfaff Transit Center on South Broadway Street. This facility, which opened in 2009, also houses inter-city bus transportation available through Greyhound Lines.[165]

Freeways edit

Akron is served by two major interstate highways that bisect the city. Unlike other cities, the bisection does not occur in the Central Business District, nor do the interstates serve downtown; rather, the Akron Innerbelt and to a lesser extent Ohio State Route 8 serve these functions.

  • Interstate 77 connects Marietta and Cleveland, Ohio. In Akron, it has 15 interchanges, four of which permit freeway-to-freeway movements. It runs north–south in the southern part of the city to its intersection with I-76, where it takes a westerly turn as a concurrency with Interstate 76.
  • Interstate 76 connects Interstate 71 to Youngstown, Ohio, and farther. It runs east–west and has 18 interchanges in Akron, four of which are freeway-to-freeway. The East Leg was rebuilt in the 1990s to feature six lanes and longer merge lanes. The concurrency with Interstate 77 is eight lanes. The Kenmore Leg is a four-lane leg that is slightly less than two miles (3 km) long and connects to Interstate 277.
  • Interstate 277 is an east–west spur that it forms with US 224 after I-76 splits to the north to form the Kenmore Leg. It is six lanes and cosigned with U.S. 224.
  • The Akron Innerbelt is a six-lane, 1.78-mile (2.86 km) spur from the I-76/I-77 concurrency and serves the urban core of the city. Its ramps are directional from the interstates, so it only serves west side drivers. ODOT is considering changing this design to attract more traffic to the route. The freeway comes to an abrupt end near the northern boundary of downtown where it becomes Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The freeway itself is officially known as "The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Freeway". The freeway was originally designed to connect directly to State Route 8, but plans were laid to rest in the mid-1970s because of financial troubles.
  • Ohio State Route 8 is an original state highway that is a limited access route that connects Akron's northern suburbs with Interstates 76 and 77. State Route 8's southern terminus is at the central interchange, where it meets I-76 and I-77. The second freeway in Akron to be completed, it went through a major overhaul in 2003 with new ramps and access roads. In 2007 ODOT began a project to upgrade the road to interstate highway standards north of Akron from State Route 303 to I-271, providing a high speed alternative to Cleveland.[166]

Notable people edit

Main article: List of people from Akron, Ohio
 
Mission Specialist Judith Resnik on the middeck of Discovery during STS-41-D

Akron has produced and been home to a number of notable individuals in varying fields. Its natives and residents are called "Akronites". The first postmaster of the Connecticut Western Reserve and president of its bank, General Simon Perkins (1771-1844), co-founded Akron in 1825. His son, Colonel Simon Perkins (1805-1877), while living in Akron during the same time as abolitionist John Brown (1800-1859), went into business with Brown. Wendell Willkie, the Republican nominee for president in 1940, worked in Akron as a lawyer for Firestone. Pioneering televangelist Rex Humbard rose to prominence in Akron. Beacon Journal publisher John S. Knight ran the national Knight Newspapers chain from Akron. Broadcaster Hugh Downs was born in Akron. In the mid- to late 1940s, pioneering rock 'n' roll DJ Alan Freed was musical director at Akron's WAKR. Watergate figure John Dean was born in Akron.

 
LeBron James

Noted athletes to have come from Akron include multi-time National Basketball Association Champions and MVPs LeBron James and Stephen Curry, Basketball Hall of Famers Gus "Honeycomb" Johnson and Nate "The Great" Thurmond, Major League Baseball player Thurman Munson, International Boxing Hall of Famer Gorilla Jones, WBA Heavyweight Boxing Champion Michael Dokes, Houston Texans linebacker Whitney Mercilus, former Northwestern University and Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian, and Butch Reynolds, former world record holder in the 400 meter dash. Former NFL linebacker James Harrison was born in Akron, as was current Tennessee Titans head coach, Mike Vrabel. Clayton Murphy, professional middle-distance runner and 2016 Olympic Games bronze medalist, competed in cross country and track & field for the Akron Zips.

Performing artists to come from Akron include bands such as Ruby and the Romantics; Devo; The Black Keys; The Cramps, whose lead singer, Lux Interior, was a native of the town; rapper Ampichino; The Waitresses; and 1964 the Tribute; singers Vaughn Monroe; Chrissie Hynde, lead singer and main composer with British New Wave band The Pretenders; James Ingram; Joseph Arthur; Jani Lane; Rachel Sweet; and outlaw country singer David Allan Coe; Actors Frank Dicopoulos, David McLean, Melina Kanakaredes, Elizabeth Franz, William Boyett, Lola Albright, Ray Wise and Jesse White. Clark Gable and John Lithgow also lived in Akron.

Poet Rita Dove was born and grew up in Akron. She went on to become the first African-American United States Poet Laureate. Many of her poems are about or take place in Akron, foremost among them Thomas and Beulah, which earned her the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

Owner of over 400 patents, native Stanford R. Ovshinsky invented the widely used nickel-metal hydride battery. Richard Smalley, winner of a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering buckminsterfullerene (buckyballs) was born in the city during 1943. Another native, the second U.S. female astronaut in space, Judith Resnik, died in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and has the Resnik Moon crater named in her honor.

The Silver Screen, which came to symbolize Hollywood's movie entertainment industry, was invented by Kenmore resident and projectionist Harry Coulter Williams. First used in Akron's Majestic Theater and then Norka Theater, the "Williams Perlite" tear-proof, vinyl plastic indoor motion picture screen was installed in all the major movie houses, including the rapidly expanding theaters built by Warner Bros. of nearby Youngstown OH. Williams' unique silver-painted screens were adapted for CinemaScope, VistaVision, and later 3-D movies. They provided a brighter picture at all angles with top reflectivity at direct viewing and extra diffusion for side seats and balconies.[167]

Carol Folt, the 11th chancellor and 29th chief executive, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was born in Akron in 1951. She was previously provost (chief academic officer) and interim president of Dartmouth College. She assumed her duties on July 1, 2013, and is the first woman to lead UNC.

The philosopher and logician Willard van Orman Quine was born and grew up in Akron.

Rabbi Mendy Sasonkin and his wife Kaila, as emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, founded Chabad of Akron/Canton in 1989. In 1995 Rabbi Sasonkin became the rabbi of Anshe Sfard Congregation.

In popular culture edit

 
Global street sign

In Needful Things, a 1991 novel by Stephen King, the character of Leland Gaunt is from Akron. Also, in the musical comedy Glee, Vocal Adrenaline, the New Directions' rivals, are from the fictional Carmel High School in Akron. In the 2007 dystopian novel Unwind (and its sequels), by Neal Shusterman, one of the main characters, Connor Lassiter, is dubbed the "Akron AWOL" after the city becomes the scene of his notorious escape from the Juvey-cops. An antique store in Akron also plays a key part in the Unwind series.

Thomas and Beulah, a 1986 book of poetry written by native and former Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, Rita Dove, tells the story of her grandmother and grandfather, who separately moved from the South to the city, where they lived through the Great Depression and the rest of their lives.[168] The city is also the setting for the 2005 novel The Coast of Akron, by former editor of Esquire, Adrienne Miller.[169] To reflect Akron's decline during the 1980s, Akron native Chrissie Hynde wrote the 1982 Pretenders song "My City Was Gone".[170] The Black Keys' 2004 album title Rubber Factory refers to the former General Tire & Rubber Company factory in which it was recorded.[171] Akron serves as a setting in the 2002 first-person-shooter PC platform video game No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way.[172][173]

Sister cities edit

Akron, as of 2015, has two sister cities:[174]

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Further reading edit

  • Joyce Dyer, Gum-Dipped: A Daughter Remembers Rubber Town. Akron: University of Akron Press, 2003.
  • Kathleen Endres, Akron's Better Half: Women's Clubs and the Humanization of a City, 1825–1925, Akron: University of Akron Press, 2006.
  • Kathleen L. Endres, Rosie the Rubber Worker: Women Workers in Akron's Rubber Factories during World War II. Kent: Kent State University Press, 2000
  • Jack Gieck, A Photo Album of Ohio's Canal Era, 1825–1913, Revised Edition. Kent: Kent State University Press, 1992
  • Jack Gieck, Early Akron's Industrial Valley: A History of the Cascade Locks. Kent: Kent State University Press, 2008
  • Alfred Winslow Jones, Life, Liberty, & Property: A Story of Conflict and a Measurement of Conflicting Rights. Akron: University of Akron Press, 1999.
  • S. A. Lane, Fifty Years and Over of Akron and Summit County. Akron, 1892.
  • S. Love and David Giffels, Wheels of Fortune: The Story of Rubber in Akron, Ohio. Akron: University of Akron Press, 1998.
  • S. Love, Ian Adams, and Barney Taxel, Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens. Akron: University of Akron Press, 2000.
  • F. McGovern, Written on the Hills: The Making of the Akron Landscape. Akron: University of Akron Press, 1996.
  • F. McGovern, Fun, Cheap, and Easy: My Life in Ohio Politics, 1949–1964. Akron: University of Akron Press, 2002.
  • Russ Musarra and Chuck Ayers, Walks around Akron. Akron: University of Akron Press, 2007.
  • Oscar E. Olin, et al., A Centennial History of Akron, 1825–1925. Summit County Historical Society, 1925.
  • John S. Reese, Guide Book for the Tourist and Traveler over the Valley Railway, Revised Edition. Kent: Kent State University Press, 2002
  • Akron Chamber of Commerce Year Book, (1913–14)

External links edit

  • Akron, Ohio at Curlie
  • City of Akron official website
  • Geary, Linda L. (June 1989). Balanced in the wind: a biography of …. ISBN 978-0-8387-5154-1. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
  • "Table 1. Annual Estimates of the Population of Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2009 (CBSA-EST2009-01)". 2009 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division. March 23, 2010. Archived from the original (CSV) on February 10, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
  • . Archived from the original on October 15, 2006.

December 30, 2023
akron, ohio, akron, redirects, here, other, uses, akron, disambiguation, akron, city, county, seat, summit, county, ohio, united, states, 2020, census, city, proper, total, population, making, fifth, most, populous, city, ohio, 136th, most, populous, city, uni. Akron redirects here For other uses see Akron disambiguation Akron ˈ ae k r en is a city in and the county seat of Summit County Ohio United States At the 2020 census the city proper had a total population of 190 469 making it the fifth most populous city in Ohio and 136th most populous city in the United States The Akron metropolitan area covering Summit and Portage counties had a population of 702 219 3 It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau in Northeast Ohio about 40 miles 64 km south of downtown Cleveland Akron OhioCityDowntown AkronAkron Art MuseumCanal ParkStan Hywet HallGoodyear AirdockSealEtymology Ancient Greek ἄkron akron summit high point Nicknames Rubber City City of Invention Rubber Capital of the World historical Interactive map of AkronAkronShow map of OhioAkronShow map of the United StatesCoordinates 41 4 23 N 81 31 4 W 41 07306 N 81 51778 W 41 07306 81 51778CountryUnited StatesStateOhioCountySummitFounded1825Incorporated1836 village Incorporated1865 city Government TypeStrong Mayor council MayorDan Horrigan D Area 1 City62 27 sq mi 161 29 km2 Land61 93 sq mi 160 41 km2 Water0 34 sq mi 0 88 km2 0 55 Elevation1 004 ft 306 m Population 2020 City190 469 RankUS 136th Density3 075 40 sq mi 1 187 42 km2 Urban541 879 US 79th Urban density1 802 4 sq mi 695 9 km2 Metro702 219 US 83rd DemonymAkroniteTime zoneUTC 5 Eastern EST Summer DST UTC 4 EDT ZIP code44301 44321 44325 44326 44328 44333 44334 44372 44396 44398Area codes234 330FIPS code39 01000GNIS feature ID1064305 2 Websitewww wbr akronohio wbr govThe city was founded by Simon Perkins and Paul Williams in 1825 along the Little Cuyahoga River at the summit of the developing Ohio and Erie Canal The name is derived from the Ancient Greek word ἄkron akron signifying a summit or high point It was briefly renamed South Akron after Eliakim Crosby founded nearby North Akron in 1833 until both merged into an incorporated village in 1836 In the 1910s Akron doubled in population making it the nation s fastest growing city A long history of rubber and tire manufacturing carried on today by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company gave Akron the nickname Rubber Capital of the World It was once known as a center of airship development 4 5 Today its economy includes manufacturing education healthcare and biomedical research leading corporations include Gojo Industries FirstEnergy Huntington Bank and Charter Spectrum Notable historic events in Akron include the passage of the Akron School Law of 1847 which created the K 12 system the popularization of the church architectural Akron Plan the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous the Akron Experiment into preventing goiters with iodized salt the 1983 Supreme Court case City of Akron v Akron Center for Reproductive Health and portions of the 2014 Gay Games A racially diverse city it has seen noted racial relations speeches by Sojourner Truth in 1851 the Ain t I A Woman speech W E B Du Bois in 1920 6 and President Bill Clinton in 1997 7 In 1914 Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Akron 6 8 Episodes of major civil unrest in Akron have included the riot of 1900 rubber strike of 1936 the Wooster Avenue riots of 1968 and the 2022 protests surrounding the killing of Jayland Walker Contents 1 History 1 1 1850s 1890s Summit City 1 2 1900s 1990s Rubber Capital of the World 1 3 2000s City of Invention 1 4 Racial history 2 Geography 2 1 Climate 2 2 Neighborhoods 2 3 Suburbs 3 Demographics 3 1 2020 census 3 2 2010 census 3 3 Crime 4 Economy 4 1 Polymer Valley 4 2 Hospitals 4 3 Top employers 5 Arts and culture 5 1 Architecture 5 2 Tourism 5 3 Cuisine 6 Sports 6 1 Professional 6 2 College 6 3 Overview 7 Parks and recreation 8 Government 9 Education 10 Media 10 1 Print 10 2 TV 10 3 Radio 10 4 Film and television 11 Infrastructure 11 1 Transportation 11 1 1 Airports 11 1 2 Railroads 11 1 3 Bus and public transportation 11 1 4 Freeways 12 Notable people 13 In popular culture 14 Sister cities 15 References 16 Further reading 17 External linksHistory edit nbsp Original town plot of AkronIn 1811 Paul Williams settled near the corner of what is now Buchtel Avenue and Broadway He suggested to General Simon Perkins who was surveyor of the Connecticut Land Company s Connecticut Western Reserve that they found a town at the summit of the developing Ohio and Erie Canal The name is adapted from the Greek word ἄkron akron meaning summit or high point 9 It was laid out in December 1825 where the south part of the downtown Akron neighborhood sits today Irish laborers working on the Ohio Canal built about 100 cabins nearby After Eliakim Crosby founded North Akron also known as Cascade in the northern portion of what is now downtown Akron in 1833 South was added to Akron s name until about three years later when the two were merged and became an incorporated village in 1836 10 In 1840 Summit County formed from portions of Portage Medina and Stark Counties Akron replaced Cuyahoga Falls as its county seat a year later and opened a canal connecting to Beaver Pennsylvania helping give birth to the stoneware sewer pipe fishing tackle and farming equipment industries 4 5 In 1844 abolitionist John Brown moved into the John Brown House across the street from business partner Colonel Simon Perkins who lived in the Perkins Stone Mansion The Akron School Law of 1847 founded the city s public schools and created the K 12 grade school system 11 which currently is used in every U S state The city s first school is now a museum on Broadway Street near the corner of Exchange 1850s 1890s Summit City edit When the Ohio Women s Rights Convention came to Akron in 1851 Sojourner Truth extemporaneously delivered her speech named Ain t I A Woman at the Universalist Old Stone Church In 1870 a local businessman associated with the church John R Buchtel founded Buchtel College which became the University of Akron in 1913 Ferdinand Schumacher bought a mill in 1856 and the following decade mass produced oat bars for the Union Army during the American Civil War these continued to sell well after the war Akron incorporated as a city in 1865 citation needed Philanthropist Lewis Miller Walter Blythe and architect Jacob Snyder designed the widely used Akron Plan debuting it on Akron s First Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872 12 Numerous Congregational Baptist and Presbyterian churches built between the 1870s and World War I use it 13 14 In 1883 a local journalist began the modern toy industry by founding the Akron Toy Company A year later the first popular toy was mass produced clay marbles made by Samuel C Dyke at his shop where Lock 3 Park is now Other popular inventions include rubber balloons ducks dolls balls baby buggy bumpers and little brown jugs In 1895 the first long distance electric railway the Akron Bedford and Cleveland Railroad began service 15 On August 25 1889 the Boston Daily Globe referred to Akron with the nickname Summit City 16 To help local police the city deployed the first police car in the U S that ran on electricity 17 1900s 1990s Rubber Capital of the World edit See also Akron Rubber Strike of 1936 nbsp An airship under construction at the Goodyear Airdock c 1930The Riot of 1900 saw assaults on city officials two deaths and the destruction by fire of Columbia Hall and the Downtown Fire Station now the City Building since 1925 18 The American trucking industry was birthed through Akron s Rubber Capital of the World era when the four major tire companies B F Goodrich 1869 Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company 1898 Firestone Tire and Rubber Company 1900 19 and General Tire amp Rubber Company 1915 20 21 were headquartered in the city The numerous jobs the rubber factories provided for deaf people led to Akron being nicknamed the Crossroads of the Deaf 22 On Easter Sunday 1913 9 55 inches 243 mm of rain fell causing floods that killed five people and destroyed the Ohio and Erie Canal system From 1916 to 1920 10 000 schoolgirls took part in the successful Akron Experiment testing iodized salt to prevent goiter in what was known as the Goiter Belt 23 Rubber companies responded to housing crunches by building affordable housing for workers Goodyear s president Frank A Seiberling built the Goodyear Heights neighborhood for employees Likewise Harvey S Firestone built the Firestone Park neighborhood for his employees 24 During the 1910 1920 decade Akron became a boomtown being America s fastest growing city with a 201 8 increase in population Of the 208 000 citizens almost one third were immigrants also Clark Gable 25 and their children from places including Europe and West Virginia In 1929 and 1931 Goodyear s subsidiary Goodyear Zeppelin Company manufactured two airships for the United States Navy USS Akron ZRS 4 and USS Macon ZRS 5 Goodyear built a number of blimps for the Navy during WWII and later for advertising purposes 26 27 28 Akron again grew when Kenmore was annexed by voter approval on November 6 1928 Found hiding under a bed at one of his hideouts in the city notorious bank robber Charles Arthur Pretty Boy Floyd was arrested under the name Frank Mitchell in March 1930 29 Goodyear became America s top tire manufacturer after merging with the Kelly Springfield Tire Company in 1935 30 Lasting five weeks and consisting of roughly 5 000 strikers including union sympathizers from other factories and neighboring states the Akron Rubber Strike of 1936 successfully used the sit down tactic to force recognition of the United Rubber Workers 31 During the 1950s 60s Akron surged as use of the automobile did The historic Rubber Bowl was used by the National Guard of the United States as a base during the racial Wooster Avenue Riots of 1968 Like many other industries of the Rust Belt both the tire and rubber industries experienced major decline By the early 1990s Goodyear was the last major tire manufacturer based in Akron 2000s City of Invention edit nbsp Goodyear Polymer Center University of AkronDespite the number of rubber workers decreasing by roughly half from 2000 to 2007 Akron s research in polymers gained an international reputation 32 It now centers on the Polymer Valley which consists of 400 polymer related companies of which 94 were located in the city itself 33 Research is focused at the University of Akron which is home to the Goodyear Polymer Center and the National Polymer Innovation Center and the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering Because of its contributions to the Information Age Newsweek listed Akron fifth of ten high tech havens in 2001 33 In 2008 City of Invention was added to the seal when the All America City Award was received for the third time Some events of the 2014 Gay Games used the city as a venue In 2013 the Goodyear Tire amp Rubber Company opened its new global headquarters on Innovation Way further cementing the company s relationship with the city 34 Bridgestone built a new technical center with state of the art R amp D labs and moved its product development operations to the new facility in early 2012 35 36 The city also continues to deal with the effects of air and soil pollution from its industrial past In the southwestern part of the city soil was contaminated and noxious PCB laden fumes were put into the air by an electrical transformer deconstruction operation that existed from the 1930s to the 1960s Cleanup of the site designated as a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency began in 1987 and concluded in 2000 The area remains restricted with regular reviews of the site and its underground aquifer 37 38 39 Racial history edit See also City of Akron v Akron Center for Reproductive Health City founder Simon Perkins negotiated a treaty with Native Americans to establish a mail route from the Connecticut Western Reserve to Detroit in 1807 an early example of historic humanitarian affairs in Akron Aside from being part of the Underground Railroad when active John Brown was a resident today having two landmarks the John Brown House and the John Brown Monument dedicated to him During the 1851 Women s Rights Convention Sojourner Truth delivered her speech entitled Ain t I A Woman In 1905 a statue of an Indian named Unk was erected on Portage Path which was part of the effective western boundary of the White and Native American lands from 1785 to 1805 40 The Summit County chapter of the Ku Klux Klan reported having 50 000 members making it the largest local chapter in the country during the 20th century At some point the sheriff county officials mayor of Akron judges county commissioners and most members of Akron s school board were members The Klan s influence in the city s politics eventually ended after Wendell Willkie arrived and challenged them 41 Race took part in two of Akron s major riots the Riot of 1900 and the Wooster Ave Riots of 1968 Others giving speeches on race in the city include W E B Du Bois 1920 6 and President Bill Clinton 1997 7 In 1971 Alpha Phi Alpha Homes Inc was founded in Akron by the Eta Tau Lambda chapter with James R Williams as chairman The centerpiece Henry Arthur Callis Tower is located in the Channelwood Village area of the city In 2008 91 year old Akron native Addie Polk became the poster child of the financial crisis of 2007 2010 after shooting herself 42 In 2022 Akron resident Jayland Walker was killed by police after shooting at them while fleeing sparking days of protest and the institution of a police review board Geography editAkron is located in the Great Lakes region about 39 miles 63 km south of Lake Erie on the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau It is bordered by Cuyahoga Falls on the north and Barberton in the southwest It is the center of the Akron metropolitan area which covers Summit and Portage Counties and a principal city of the larger Cleveland Akron Canton Combined Statistical Area Located on the western end of the plateau the topography of Akron includes rolling hills and varied terrain The Ohio and Erie Canal passes through the city separating the east from west Akron has the only biogas facility 43 in the United States that produces methane through the decomposition process of sludge to create electricity 44 According to the 2010 census the city has a total area of 62 37 square miles 161 5 km2 of which 62 03 square miles 160 7 km2 or 99 45 is land and 0 34 square miles 0 88 km2 or 0 55 is water 45 Climate edit Akron has a humid continental climate Koppen Dfa typical of the Midwest with four distinct seasons and lies in USDA hardiness zone 6b degrading to zone 6a in the outlying suburbs 46 Winters are cold and dry but typically bring a mix of rain sleet and snow with occasional heavy snowfall and icing January is the coldest month with an average mean temperature of 27 9 F 2 3 C 47 with temperatures on average dropping to or below 0 F 18 C on 3 3 days and staying at or below freezing on 40 days per year 47 Snowfall averages 47 2 inches 120 cm per season significantly less than the snowbelt areas closer to Lake Erie 47 The snowiest month on record was 37 5 inches 95 cm in January 1978 while winter snowfall amounts have ranged from 82 0 in 208 cm in 1977 78 to 18 2 in 46 cm in 1949 50 47 Springs generally see a transition to fewer weather systems that produce heavier rainfall Summers are typically very warm and humid with temperatures at or above 90 F 32 C on 10 7 days per year on average the annual count has been as high as 36 days in 1931 while the most recent year to not reach that mark is 2023 47 July is the warmest month with an average mean temperature of 73 9 F 23 C 47 Autumn is relatively dry with many clear warm days and cool nights The all time record high temperature in Akron of 104 F 40 C was established on August 6 1918 and the all time record low temperature of 25 F 32 C was set on January 19 1994 47 The most precipitation to fall on one calendar day was on July 7 1943 when 5 96 of rain was measured 47 The first and last freezes of the season on average fall on October 21 and April 26 respectively allowing a growing season of 174 days 47 The normal annual mean temperature is 51 7 F 10 9 C 47 Normal yearly precipitation based on the 30 year average from 1991 to 2020 is 41 57 inches 1 056 mm falling on an average 160 days 47 Monthly precipitation has ranged from 12 55 in 319 mm in July 2003 to 0 20 in 5 1 mm in September 1960 while for annual precipitation the historical range is 65 70 in 1 669 mm in 1990 to 23 79 in 604 mm in 1963 47 Climate data for Akron Ohio Akron Canton Airport 1991 2020 normals a extremes 1887 presentMonth Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high F C 73 23 76 24 83 28 89 32 94 34 100 38 102 39 104 40 99 37 91 33 80 27 76 24 104 40 Mean maximum F C 58 2 14 6 60 0 15 6 70 7 21 5 79 8 26 6 85 8 29 9 90 5 32 5 91 6 33 1 90 4 32 4 87 7 30 9 79 1 26 2 68 1 20 1 59 4 15 2 92 7 33 7 Mean daily maximum F C 35 5 1 9 38 6 3 7 48 4 9 1 61 8 16 6 72 3 22 4 80 4 26 9 84 3 29 1 82 7 28 2 75 9 24 4 63 4 17 4 50 7 10 4 39 9 4 4 61 2 16 2 Daily mean F C 27 9 2 3 30 2 1 0 38 9 3 8 50 8 10 4 61 3 16 3 69 9 21 1 73 9 23 3 72 3 22 4 65 4 18 6 53 7 12 1 42 5 5 8 33 0 0 6 51 7 10 9 Mean daily minimum F C 20 3 6 5 21 9 5 6 29 4 1 4 39 8 4 3 50 4 10 2 59 4 15 2 63 4 17 4 61 9 16 6 54 9 12 7 44 0 6 7 34 2 1 2 26 1 3 3 42 1 5 6 Mean minimum F C 1 1 18 4 3 0 16 1 10 9 11 7 24 2 4 3 35 4 1 9 44 4 6 9 52 1 11 2 50 6 10 3 40 9 4 9 30 4 0 9 18 7 7 4 8 5 13 1 3 4 19 7 Record low F C 25 32 20 29 6 21 10 12 24 4 32 0 41 5 39 4 29 2 20 7 1 18 16 27 25 32 Average precipitation inches mm 2 92 74 2 44 62 3 23 82 3 86 98 4 13 105 4 43 113 4 14 105 3 61 92 3 50 89 3 34 85 3 08 78 2 89 73 41 57 1 056 Average snowfall inches cm 13 4 34 12 0 30 7 6 19 1 7 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 76 3 3 8 4 8 9 23 47 2 120 Average precipitation days 0 01 in 17 8 14 5 14 2 14 6 14 1 12 4 11 8 10 1 9 9 12 0 12 5 16 0 159 9Average snowy days 0 1 in 13 3 10 0 6 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 4 9 5 45 3Average relative humidity 73 4 71 6 67 8 63 6 65 9 68 4 70 2 73 2 73 9 70 3 72 2 74 8 70 4Average dew point F C 17 2 8 2 19 0 7 2 27 0 2 8 35 2 1 8 46 2 7 9 55 9 13 3 60 6 15 9 60 3 15 7 54 0 12 2 41 7 5 4 32 9 0 5 23 2 4 9 39 4 4 1 Source NOAA relative humidity and dew point 1961 1990 48 49 Neighborhoods edit Main article Neighborhoods in Akron Ohio Akron consists of 21 neighborhoods with an additional three that are unincorporated but recognized within the city The neighborhoods of the city differ in design largely because of expansions such as town merging annexation housing construction in various time periods and rubber era Maple Valley covers the west end of Copley Road before reaching I 77 Along this strip are several businesses using the name as well as the Maple Valley Branch of the Akron Summit County Public Library Spicertown falls under the blanket of University Park this term is used frequently to describe the student centered retail and residential area around East Exchange and Spicer streets near the University of Akron West Hill is roughly bounded by West Market Street on the north West Exchange Street on the south Downtown on the East and Rhodes Avenue on the west It features many stately older homes particularly in the recently recognized Oakdale Historic District Suburbs edit Akron s suburbs include Barberton Cuyahoga Falls Fairlawn Green Hudson Mogadore Montrose Ghent Munroe Falls Norton Silver Lake Stow and Tallmadge Akron formed Joint Economic Development Districts with Springfield Coventry Copley and Bath in conjunction with Fairlawn townships 50 Demographics editHistorical population CensusPop Note 18401 664 18503 26696 3 18603 4776 5 187010 006187 8 188016 51265 0 189027 60167 2 190042 72854 8 191069 06761 6 1920208 435201 8 1930255 04022 4 1940244 791 4 0 1950274 60512 2 1960290 3515 7 1970275 425 5 1 1980237 177 13 9 1990223 019 6 0 2000217 074 2 7 2010199 110 8 3 2020190 469 4 3 U S Decennial Census 51 2020 census 52 According to census data from 2010 to 2014 the median income for a household in the city was 34 139 The per capita income for the city was 17 596 About 26 7 of persons were in poverty 53 The population of the Akron metropolitan area was 702 219 in 2020 Akron is also part of the larger Cleveland Akron Canton combined statistical area which was the 15th largest in the country with a population of over 3 5 million residents Although Akron is in northern Ohio where the Inland North dialect is expected its settlement history puts it in the North Midland dialect area 54 Some localisms that have developed include devilstrip which refers to the grass strip between a sidewalk and street 55 2020 census edit As of the census 56 of 2020 there were 190 469 people and 84 940 households This all leads to a population density of 3 181 30 sq mi The average number of people living in a household was 2 27 persons per households The racial makeup of the city was 59 9 White 30 3 Black or African American 0 2 Native American 4 6 Asian with 5 coming from other races 3 1 is of Hispanic origin 57 The mean age in the city was 35 7 years old 6 of the population is under the age of 5 21 2 are under the age of 18 14 8 are over the age of 65 52 1 of the population is female 2010 census edit As of the census 56 of 2010 there were 199 110 people 83 712 households and 47 084 families residing in the city The population density was 3 209 9 inhabitants per square mile 1 239 3 km2 There were 96 288 housing units at an average density of 1 552 3 per square mile 599 3 km2 The racial makeup of the city was 62 2 White 31 5 African American 0 2 Native American 2 1 Asian 0 8 from other races and 3 2 from two or more races Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2 1 of the population Non Hispanic Whites were 61 2 of the population 58 down from 81 0 in 1970 59 There were 83 712 households of which 28 8 had children under age 18 living with them 31 3 were married couples living together 19 5 had a female householder with no husband present 5 5 had a male householder with no wife present and 43 8 were non families 34 8 of all households were made up of individuals and 10 8 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older The average household size was 2 31 and the average family size was 2 98 The median age in the city was 35 7 years 22 9 of residents were under age 18 12 4 were between 18 and 24 25 9 were from 25 to 44 25 9 were from 45 to 64 and 12 6 were 65 or older The gender makeup of the city was 48 3 male and 51 7 female Crime edit Main article Crime history of Akron Ohio nbsp Summit County Courthouse and police car The modern police car originated in Akron in 1899 17 In 1999 Akron ranked as the 94th most dangerous city and the 229th safest on the 7th Morgan Quitno list 60 Preliminary Ohio crime statistics show aggravated assaults increased by 45 during 2007 61 Historically organized crime operated in the city with the presence of the Black Hand led by Rosario Borgio once headquartered on the city s north side in the first decade of the 20th century citation needed and the Walker Mitchell mob of which Pretty Boy Floyd was a member 62 Akron has experienced several riots in its history including the Riot of 1900 and the Wooster Avenue Riots of 1968 The distribution of methamphetamine meth in Akron greatly contributed to Summit County becoming known as the Meth Capital of Ohio in the early 2000s 63 The county ranked third in the nation in the number of registered meth sites 64 During the 1990s motorcycle gang the Hells Angels sold the drug from bars frequented by members 65 Between January 2004 and August 2009 the city had significantly more registered sites than any other city in the state 66 Authorities believed a disruption of a major Mexican meth operation contributed to the increase of it being made locally 67 In 2007 the Akron Police Department APD received a grant to help continue its work with other agencies and jurisdictions to support them in ridding the city of meth labs 68 The APD coordinates with the Summit County Drug Unit and the Drug Enforcement Administration forming the Clandestine Methamphetamine Laboratory Response Team 69 Economy edit nbsp Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company headquartersMany industries in the United States either began or were influenced by the city After beginning the tire and rubber industry during the 20th century with the founding of BFGoodrich Firestone General Tire and also the Goodyear merger with The Kelly Springfield Tire Company Akron gained the status of Rubber Capital of the World Akron has won economic awards such as for City Livability and All American City and deemed a high tech haven greatly contributing to the Information Age 70 Current Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the city include Goodyear and FirstEnergy In addition the city is the headquarters to a number of other notable companies such as GOJO Advanced Elastomer Systems Babcock amp Wilcox Myers Industries Acme Fresh Market and Sterling Jewelers Goodyear America s biggest tire manufacturer and the fifth largest private employer in Summit County 71 recently built a new world headquarters in the city The project Akron Riverwalk will feature a large retail and commercial development area citation needed The project began in 2007 but was put on hold because of the financial crisis of 2007 2010 and is now continuing 72 Bridgestone built a new technical center with research and development labs and moved its product development operations to the new facility in early 2012 35 36 The Eastern Ohio Division of KeyBank which has six branches in the city built a regional headquarters downtown 73 The city has a free WiFi corridor centered in downtown Neighborhoods in range include Goodyear Heights East Akron North Hill Firestone Park Kenmore and West Akron 74 Polymer Valley edit Northeast Ohio s Polymer Valley is centered in Akron The area holds forty five percent of the state s polymer industries with the oldest dating to the 19th century During the 1980s and 1990s an influx of new polymer companies came to the region 75 In 2001 more than 400 companies manufactured polymer based materials in the region 76 Many University of Akron scientists became world renowned for their research done at the Goodyear Polymer Center 77 The first College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering was begun by the university In 2010 the National Polymer Innovation Center opened on campus Hospitals edit nbsp Summa Akron City HospitalAkron has designated an area called the Biomedical Corridor aimed at luring health related ventures to the region It encompasses 1 240 acres 5 0 km2 of private and publicly owned land bounded by Akron General on the west and Akron City on the east and also includes Akron Children s near the district s center with the former Saint Thomas Hospital to the north of its northern boundaries 78 Since its start in 2006 the corridor added the headquarters of companies such as Akron Polymer Systems 79 Akron s adult hospitals are owned by two health systems Summa Health System and Akron General Health System Summa Health System operates Summa Akron City Hospital and the former St Thomas Hospital which in 2008 were recognized for the 11th consecutive year as one of America s Best Hospitals by U S News amp World Report 80 81 Summa is recognized as having one of the best orthopaedics programs in the nation with a ranking of 28th 82 Akron General Health in affiliation with the Cleveland Clinic operates Akron General Medical Center which in 2009 was recognized as one of America s Best Hospitals by U S News amp World Report 83 84 Akron Children s Hospital is an independent entity that specializes in pediatric care and burn care 85 In 1974 Howard Igel and Aaron Freeman successfully grew human skin in a lab to treat burn victims making Akron Children s Hospital the first hospital in the world to achieve such a feat 86 Akron City and Akron General hospitals are designated Level I Trauma Centers Top employers edit According to the city s 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 87 the principal employers in the city are Employer Employees1 Summa Health System 8 6092 University of Akron 5 9333 Akron Children s Hospital 5 7734 FirstEnergy 5 5385 Cleveland Clinic Akron General 4 7796 Akron Public Schools 4 5447 Summit County 3 3238 Goodyear Tire amp Rubber Company 2 9549 City of Akron 2 40610 Signet Jewelers 2 094Arts and culture editMain article Culture of Akron Ohio nbsp Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens entranceAkron is home to E J Thomas Hall one of three Akron performance halls Regular acts include the Akron Symphony Orchestra Tuesday Musical Club and Children s Concert Society World class performances events include Broadway musicals ballets comedies lectures entertainers attracting 400 000 visitors annually The hall seats 2 955 divided among three tiers To maintain top notch acoustic sound the counter weighted ceiling is adjustable altering the physical dimensions of the hall Located downtown is the Akron Civic Theatre which opened in 1929 as the Loew s Theater This atmospheric style theater was designed by John Eberson and built by Marcus Loew The theater contains many Moorish features including arches and decorative tiles It features elaborate wood carvings alabaster statuary and European antiques The theater seats 5 000 Behind it on the canal is the Lock 3 Park amphitheater which annually host the First Night in Akron The Akron Art Museum also downtown features art produced since 1850 along with national and international exhibitions 88 It opened in 1922 as the Akron Art Institute in the basement of the Akron Public Library It moved to its current location at the renovated 1899 post office building in 1981 In 2007 the museum more than tripled in size with the addition of the John S and James L Knight Building which received the 2005 American Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum 89 while still under construction 90 91 Built between 1912 and 1915 for Frank A Sieberling Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens is the seventh largest historic house in the United States Located within the Sand Run Metro Park the 104 acres 0 42 km2 F A Seiberling Nature Realm features a visitor center hiking trails three ponds gardens and an array of special programs throughout the year The Akron Police Museum displays mementos including items from Pretty Boy Floyd whose gang frequented the city 92 93 Akron is home to the American Marble and Toy Museum 94 Architecture edit See also Category Buildings and structures in Akron Ohio nbsp Jablonski Sculpture a gift of the Zimmite Corporation in tribute to Nola M Guzzetta s humanitarian interest in providing for the blind a vision of artistic and architectural design through touch 95 nbsp Quaker Square 1979As a result of multiple towns merging and industry boom Akron s architecture is diverse Originally a canal town the city is divided into two parts by the Ohio and Erie Canal with downtown being centered on it Along the locks the city has a path paved with rubber Akron was awarded with the City Livability Award in 2008 for its efforts to co purpose new school buildings as community learning centers In 2009 the National Arbor Day Foundation designated Akron as a Tree City USA for the 14th time 96 Many of the city s government and civic buildings including City Hall and the Summit County Courthouse are from pre World War Two but the Akron Summit County Public Library and John S Knight Center are considerably newer The library originally opened in 1969 but reopened as a greatly expanded facility in 2004 The Knight Center opened in 1994 The First Methodist Episcopal Church first used the Akron Plan in 1872 The plan later gained popularity being used in many Congregationalist Baptist and Presbyterian church buildings 12 97 The city is home to a historic 1920s atmospheric movie palace the Akron Civic Theatre One of the building s features is a starry sky with clouds that drift over it when the lights are dimmed Completed in 1931 Akron s tallest building the Huntington Tower features the art deco style and is covered in glazed architectural terra cotta 98 Standing 330 feet 100 m tall it is built on top of the Hamilton Building completed in 1900 in the neo gothic style citation needed Near the turn of the millennium the tower was given a 2 5 million facelift including a 1 8 million restoration of the tower s terra cotta brick and limestone 98 The top of the building has a television broadcast tower formerly used by WAKR TV now WVPX TV and WAKR AM 99 The antenna reaches 134 7 metres 442 ft citation needed Located on the University of Akron campus the Goodyear Polymer Center consists of glass twin towers connected by walkways The university also formerly used the old Quaker Oats factory as a dormitory including using it as a quarantine center during the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020 For many years it had been a shopping center called Quaker Square There had also been a hotel there The Akron Art Museum commissioned Coop Himmelblau to design an expansion in 2007 The new building connects to the old building and is divided into three parts known as the Crystal 100 the Gallery Box 101 and the Roof Cloud 102 The contrasting neighborhoods of Goodyear Heights and Firestone Park were built during the rubber industry to house workers and their families Both are communities filled with houses based on mail order plans Tourism edit See also National Register of Historic Places listings in Akron Ohio nbsp Akron Art MuseumThere are numerous attractions and points of interest in the Akron area Opened in 1922 the Akron Art Museum has a 20 000 square foot building and a collection of art produced since 1850 Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens is the estate of F A Seiberling founder of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company The manor hosts various attractions and public events throughout the year In the heart of downtown the Akron Civic Theatre has provided the community with a venue for entertainment and live performances for over eighty years Lock 3 a historic Ohio and Erie Canalway landmark has been transformed into an entertainment amphitheater that hosts festivals concerts and community events throughout the year The Akron Zoo is located just outside downtown and was an initial gift of property from the city s founding family In Highland Square Akron hosts a convergence of art music and community annually called Art in the Square a festival featuring local artists and musicians 103 National events hosted annually in Akron cover a wide variety of hobbies and interests The PGA World Golf Championships travel to Akron each year for the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club The All American Soap Box Derby is a youth racing program which has its World Championship finals at Derby Downs In mid July the National Hamburger Festival consists of different vendors serving original recipe hamburgers and has a Miss Hamburger contest 104 Lock 3 Park annually hosts the First Night Akron celebration on New Year s Eve 105 The park also annually hosts the Italian Festival and the Rib White amp Blue food festival in July 103 Founders Day is celebrated annually because of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous within the city The Dr Robert Smith House is located in Akron 106 107 Cuisine edit See also History of Quaker Oats Several residents of Akron have played a role in defining American cuisine Ferdinand Schumacher created the first American oatmeal and is a pioneer of breakfast cereal 108 He also founded the Empire Barley Mill and German Mills American Oatmeal Company 109 which would later merge several times with other companies with the result being the Quaker Oats Company 110 The Menches Brothers are the disputed inventors of the waffle ice cream cone 111 caramel corn 111 and hamburger 112 Strickland s Frozen Custard is located in Akron Sports editProfessional edit Team Sport League Venue capacity AttendanceAkron RubberDucks Baseball Eastern League AA Canal Park 7 630 5 074Akron City FC Soccer National Premier Soccer League Rust Belt Conference Green Street Stadium 3 000 625College edit Team Sport League Venue capacity AttendanceAkron Zips football American football Mid American Conference NCAA InfoCision Stadium 30 000 18 098Akron Zips men s basketball Basketball Mid American Conference NCAA James A Rhodes Arena 5 500 3 351Akron Zips men s soccer Soccer Mid American Conference NCAA FirstEnergy Stadium 4 000 2 186Overview edit nbsp Canal Park home to the Akron RubberDucks baseball team CurrentThe RubberDucks formerly called the Akron Aeros moved to Akron from Canton in 1997 and have won the Eastern League Championship six times most recently in 2021 The Akron Marathon is an annual marathon in the city which offers a team relay and shorter races throughout the summer and fall 113 The All American Soap Box Derby takes place each year at the Derby Downs since 1936 LeBron James King for Kids bike a thon feature James riding with kids through the city each June 114 In November the city hosts the annual Home Run for the Homeless 4 mile run nbsp InfoCision Stadium on the University of Akron campus home field of the Akron Zips football team The University of Akron s Akron Zips compete in the NCAA and the Mid American Conference MAC in a variety of sports at the Division I level The men s basketball team appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1986 2009 2011 and 2013 In 2009 the Zips men s soccer team completed the regular season undefeated then won the NCAA Men s Division I Soccer Championship in 2010 Zippy one of the eight female NCAA mascots won the National Mascot of the Year contest in 2007 Past teams and eventsFormer teams of Akron include the Akron Professionals of the National Football League who played in the historic Rubber Bowl and won the 1920 championship the Goodyear Silents a deaf semi professional football the Akron Black Tyrites of the Negro National League the Akron Americans of the International Hockey League the Akron Lightning of the International Basketball League the Akron Summit Assault of the USL Premier Development League the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid the Akron Wingfoots of the National Basketball League who won the first NBL Championship and the International Cup three times the Akron Firestone Non Skids also of the National Basketball League who won the title consecutively in 1939 and 1940 and the Akron Vulcans a professional football team that played in the Continental Football League for part of the 1967 season 115 Akron had 2 teams who won the National Basketball League in the 30s and 40s before the foundation of the NBA Akron hosted some of the events of the 2014 Gay Games including the marathon the men s and women s golf tournaments at Firestone Country Club and softball at Firestone Stadium 116 The Firestone Country Club which annually hosted the WGC Bridgestone Invitational has in the past hosted the PGA Championship American Golf Classic and Rubber City Open Invitational On January 7 1938 Akron became the birthplace of women s professional Mud Wrestling in a match including Professional Wrestling WWE and Wrestling Observer Hall of Famer Mildred Burke 117 The Professional Bowlers Association started in the city during 1958 Parks and recreation editMajor parks in Akron include Lock 3 Firestone Goodyear Heights the F A Seiberling Nature Realm or Naturealm and part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Several of the parks are along the locks of the canal Lock 3 Park in downtown Akron is the city s hub for entertainment It is commonly used as an outdoor amphitheater hosting live musical entertainment festivals and special events year round The park was created in the early 21st century to provide green space within the city The Ohio and Erie Canal can still be seen flowing behind the stage where there was once a boat yard and dry dock Later a pottery factory stood there until the parking deck of the M O Neil Co department store was built in the current location More than 65 000 guests use the park for recreation annually Lock 3 Live holds concerts for almost every musical genre including alternative R amp B reggae gospel country pop jazz and classic rock Some festivals the park hosts throughout the year include Soap Box Derby opening ceremonies firefighter competitions charity events tournaments and animal events From November through February Lock 3 Park is transformed into an outdoor ice skating rink 118 Adjacent to the Derby Downs race hill is a 19 000 square foot 1 800 m2 outdoor skatepark The park features concrete ramps including two bowls going as deep as 7 feet 2 1 m a snake run two hips a stair set with handrail many smaller quarter pipes and a variety of grind boxes Positioned just a few feet from the Akron Skatepark is a Pro BMX course where organized races are often held in the warmer months Akron residents can enjoy various ice skating activities year round at the historic Akron Ice House The Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail is a regional bike and hike trail that follows the canal A bridge was completed in 2008 crossing Route 59 The Innerbelt which connects the towpath proper with bike routes painted onto streets downtown thus completing another step toward the connection of Cleveland and East Liverpool with a hike and bike trail citation needed The State of Ohio plans to reconstruct the trail which once ran completely through Ohio to New Philadelphia from Cleveland The trail features a floating observation deck section over Summit Lake It is a popular tourist attraction as it attracts over 2 million visits annually 119 120 121 The Portage Hike and Bike Trail when fully complete will connect with the hike and bike trails in the county 122 Government edit nbsp 2020 Presidential Election by Precinct Biden 50 60 60 70 70 80 80 90 90 100 Trump 40 50 50 60 See also List of mayors of Akron Ohio and List of Akron politicians nbsp The Ocasek Building includes state county and city offices 123 The mayor of Akron is elected in a citywide vote In 2016 the city elected its 62nd mayor The city is divided into 10 wards each elect a member to the Akron City Council while an additional 3 are elected at large The mayor s cabinet currently consist of directors and deputy directors of administration communications community relations economic development intergovernmental relations labor relations law planning amp urban development planning director deputy public safety and public service 124 The city adopted a new charter of the commissioner manager type in 1920 but reverted to its old form in 1924 The current mayor is Dan Horrigan Longtime Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic announced on May 8 2015 that he would resign on May 31 after 28 years as mayor and 41 years of service to the city 125 126 On May 31 2015 Garry Moneypenny was sworn in as the new mayor at East High School Moneypenny was former Chief Deputy and Assistant Sheriff of the Summit County Sheriff s Department former Springfield Township Police Department Chief of Police 127 and former Akron City Council President 126 On June 5 2015 less than a week after he took office Mayor Moneypenny announced he would not run for a full term because of inappropriate contact with a city employee 128 Three days later Moneypenny announced he would resign effective at midnight on June 10 Council president Jeff Fusco assumed the duties of mayor on June 11 2015 Fusco ran for and was elected to an at large council seat rather than seeking a full term as mayor Fusco also announced he would temporarily step down as Chair of the Summit County Democratic Party because the city charter calls for the Mayor to devote his full attention to the city 129 As of July 1 2015 three Democrats and one Republican were running for Mayor of Akron The Democratic candidates were Summit County Clerk of Courts and former ward 4 Councilman Dan Horrigan at large Councilman Mike Williams and Summit County Councilman Frank Communale Horrigan won the Democratic primary held on September 8 In the general election he faced the lone GOP candidate Eddie Sipplen an African American criminal defense attorney 130 On November 3 2015 Horrigan was elected as the 62nd mayor of the city of Akron He took office on January 1 2016 On November 5 2019 Mayor Horrigan was re elected to a second term 131 The current members of the city council all Democrats are Ward 1 Nancy Holland Ward 2 Phil Lombardo Ward 3 Margo Sommerville president Ward 4 Russell C Neal Jr Ward 5 Tara Mosley Samples Ward 6 Brad McKitrick Ward 7 Donnie Kammer Ward 8 Shammas Malik Ward 9 Mike Freeman Ward 10 Sharon L Connor At Large Linda Omobien At Large Jeff Fusco vice president At Large Ginger Baylor Acting Clerk Sara Biviano Chief of Staff Joan M Williams 132 Education editSee also Category Education in Akron Ohio and List of University of Akron people nbsp The Student Union at the University of AkronPreschool elementary and secondary education is mainly provided by the Akron City School District Planning of the district began in 1840 when Ansel Miller suggested to build free public schools for all children in the city paid for by property taxes After enduring much opposition by citizens in 1843 Miller joined with Rev Isaac Jennings Three years later Jennings became the chairman of a committee of citizens who discussed how to improve the school system On November 21 1846 their plan was approved unanimously by the citizens The Ohio Legislature adopted the plan called An act for the support and better regulation of the Common Schools of the Town of Akron on February 8 1847 Akron s first public schools were established in the fall of 1847 and were led by Mortimer Leggett The first annual report showed that it cost less than 2 a year to educate a child In 1857 the cost of running the schools for a year was 4 200 104 557 in 2022 The primary schools were taught by young women which the Akron Board of Education justified because they could be paid less and were under the supervision of a male superintendent From 1877 to 1952 Akron graduated students semi annually instead of annually 9 of the city s school aged population were born in other countries in 1888 In the 1920s an Americanization program was designed to help the many Akron students who were first generation Americans Classes were in the rubber companies and some of the schools A continuation school began for working boys and girls who were required by law to have at least four hours of schooling a week In 1924 Akron s platoon schools attracted visitors from all over the country Being a stronghold for the Ku Klux Klan during the decade the majority of school board and government officials were members Their influence ended with the arrival of Wendell Willkie During the city s 1950s boom town phase Akron schools grew eight times faster than the city s population In 1967 Kenmore launched the Air Force JROTC In 1971 Jennings piloted the middle school model which moved ninth graders to the senior high school In 1984 all day kindergarten was piloted at Seiberling Rankin and Hatton schools and Ellet East and Garfield high schools piloted the in school suspension program The district received an A evaluation from the state in 1987 133 Akron was served by the Akron Digital Academy from 2002 to 2018 when it shut down 134 As part of his charitable foundation s initiatives in the city LeBron James founded the I Promise School which serves underprivileged kids 135 136 137 The city is home to the University of Akron 138 Originally Buchtel College the school is home of the Goodyear Polymer Center and the National Polymer Innovation Center 139 All Akron Public Schools are currently going through a 15 year 800 million rebuilding process 140 In recent times the city s schools have been moved from Academic Watch to Continuous Improvement by the Ohio Department of Education 141 Akron also has many private parochial and charter schools Media edit nbsp Akron Beacon Journal headquartersPrint edit Akron is served in print by the daily Akron Beacon Journal formerly the flagship newspaper of the Knight Newspapers chain the weekly The Akron Reporter and the weekly West Side Leader newspapers and the monthly magazine Akron Life The Buchtelite newspaper is published by the University of Akron 142 TV edit Akron is part of the Cleveland Akron Canton TV market the 18th largest market in the U S 143 Within the market WEAO PBS WVPX ION and WBNX TV independent are licensed to Akron WEAO serves Akron specifically while WBNX and WVPX identify as Akron Cleveland serving the entire market Akron has no native news broadcast having lost its only news station when the former WAKC became WVPX in 1996 WVPX and Cleveland s WKYC later provided a joint news program which was cancelled in 2005 144 145 Radio edit See also Akron Radio Though it is part of a combined TV market with Cleveland Akron is its own radio market Music stations include WQMX 94 9 Country WONE 97 5 Classic rock WKDD 98 1 Contemporary Hits and WAKR 1590 93 5 Soft AC Full service WHLO 640 and WNIR FM 100 1 feature news talk formats and WCUE 1150 and WKJA 91 9 air religious programming As the regional NPR affiliate WKSU 89 7 serves all of Northeast Ohio including both the Cleveland and Akron markets 146 College and school run stations include WZIP 88 1 Top 40 University of Akron WSTB 88 9 Alternative Streetsboro City Schools and WAPS 91 3 AAA Akron Public Schools Film and television edit Akron has served as the setting for several major studio and independent films Inducted into the National Film Registry Dance Girl Dance 1940 tells the story of two dancers from Akron who go to New York City 147 148 My Name is Bill W 1989 tells the true story of Bill Wilson who co founded Alcoholics Anonymous which held its first meetings at the Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens and has over two million members today 149 The program s connection to the Saint Thomas Hospital is alluded to in an episode of the television series Prison Break 2005 where Michael Scofield talks to Sara Tancredi on the phone while there 150 The Akron Armory is used as a venue for a female wrestling team in All the Marbles 1981 151 More than a Game 2009 documents National Basketball Association player LeBron James and his St Vincent St Mary High School high school basketball team s journey 152 In Drake s music video to Forever 2009 off the More than a Game soundtrack 2009 the iconic Goodyear s logo on top the company s theater is shown The city has been frequently portrayed in media from Hell on Earth in the television series I m In Hell 2007 153 to the whereabouts of a holy woman in The Virgin of Akron Ohio 2007 154 Henry Spivey of My Own Worst Enemy 2008 travels to Akron through the series many times 155 George Costanza in an episode of Seinfeld 1989 flies to Akron and has a meeting at Firestone 156 M Y O B 2008 is centered on an Akron runaway girl named Riley Veatch 157 Jake Foley of Jake 2 0 2003 Pickles family of the Rugrats 1991 and J Reid of In Too Deep 1999 and Avery Barkley of Nashville 2016 are also from the city Akron was also in the spotlight on the television show Criminal Minds Compromising Positions 2010 Season 6 Episode 4 The 2015 film Room is set in Akron filmed in Toronto with staging to signify Akron Infrastructure editTransportation edit Airports edit nbsp Akron Executive AirportThe primary terminal that airline passengers traveling to or from Akron use is the Akron Canton Airport serving nearly 2 million passengers a year The Akron Canton Airport is a commercial Class C airport located in the city of Green 158 roughly 10 mi 16 km southeast of Akron operated jointly by Stark and Summit counties It serves as an alternative for travelers to or from the Cleveland area as well Akron Executive Airport is a general aviation airport located in and owned by the City of Akron that serves private planes It first opened in 1929 and has operated in several different capacities since then The airport had commercial scheduled airline service until the 1950s and it is now used for both cargo and private planes 159 It is home of the Lockheed Martin Airdock where the Goodyear airships dirigibles and blimps were originally stored and maintained The Goodyear blimps are now housed outside of Akron in a facility on the shores of Wingfoot Lake in nearby Suffield Township Railroads edit Main article Akron Northside station nbsp Akron Northside StationAkron Northside Station is a train station at 27 Ridge Street along the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad 160 Because of the city s large rubber industry Akron was once served by a variety of railroads that competed for the city s freight and passenger business The largest were the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Erie Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad Smaller regional railroads included the Akron Canton and Youngstown Railroad Northern Ohio Railway and the Akron Barberton Belt Railroad 161 page needed Today the city is served by CSX Corporation the Wheeling amp Lake Erie Railroad and their subsidiary Akron Barberton Cluster which operate out of the W amp LE s Akron Yard near Brittain Road on the eastern end of the city From 1891 to 1971 passenger service to points throughout the Midwest as well as Washington and New York City was provided at Akron Union Station 162 The last legacy passenger trains were the Erie Lackawanna s Lake Cities ended 1970 and the B amp O s Shenandoah ended 1971 163 There is currently no passenger rail transportation with the elimination of Amtrak s former Three Rivers service in 2005 The nearest Amtrak service is in Alliance Ohio or Cleveland Bus and public transportation edit nbsp Robert K Pfaff Transit CenterPublic transportation is available through the METRO Regional Transit Authority system whose fleet of over 200 buses and trolleys operates local routes and commuter buses into downtown Cleveland Stark Area Regional Transit Authority SARTA also has a bus line running between Canton and Akron and the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority PARTA runs an express route connecting the University of Akron with Kent State University 164 Metro RTA operates out of the Robert K Pfaff Transit Center on South Broadway Street This facility which opened in 2009 also houses inter city bus transportation available through Greyhound Lines 165 Freeways edit Akron is served by two major interstate highways that bisect the city Unlike other cities the bisection does not occur in the Central Business District nor do the interstates serve downtown rather the Akron Innerbelt and to a lesser extent Ohio State Route 8 serve these functions Interstate 77 connects Marietta and Cleveland Ohio In Akron it has 15 interchanges four of which permit freeway to freeway movements It runs north south in the southern part of the city to its intersection with I 76 where it takes a westerly turn as a concurrency with Interstate 76 Interstate 76 connects Interstate 71 to Youngstown Ohio and farther It runs east west and has 18 interchanges in Akron four of which are freeway to freeway The East Leg was rebuilt in the 1990s to feature six lanes and longer merge lanes The concurrency with Interstate 77 is eight lanes The Kenmore Leg is a four lane leg that is slightly less than two miles 3 km long and connects to Interstate 277 Interstate 277 is an east west spur that it forms with US 224 after I 76 splits to the north to form the Kenmore Leg It is six lanes and cosigned with U S 224 The Akron Innerbelt is a six lane 1 78 mile 2 86 km spur from the I 76 I 77 concurrency and serves the urban core of the city Its ramps are directional from the interstates so it only serves west side drivers ODOT is considering changing this design to attract more traffic to the route The freeway comes to an abrupt end near the northern boundary of downtown where it becomes Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard The freeway itself is officially known as The Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Freeway The freeway was originally designed to connect directly to State Route 8 but plans were laid to rest in the mid 1970s because of financial troubles Ohio State Route 8 is an original state highway that is a limited access route that connects Akron s northern suburbs with Interstates 76 and 77 State Route 8 s southern terminus is at the central interchange where it meets I 76 and I 77 The second freeway in Akron to be completed it went through a major overhaul in 2003 with new ramps and access roads In 2007 ODOT began a project to upgrade the road to interstate highway standards north of Akron from State Route 303 to I 271 providing a high speed alternative to Cleveland 166 Notable people editMain article List of people from Akron Ohio nbsp Mission Specialist Judith Resnik on the middeck of Discovery during STS 41 DAkron has produced and been home to a number of notable individuals in varying fields Its natives and residents are called Akronites The first postmaster of the Connecticut Western Reserve and president of its bank General Simon Perkins 1771 1844 co founded Akron in 1825 His son Colonel Simon Perkins 1805 1877 while living in Akron during the same time as abolitionist John Brown 1800 1859 went into business with Brown Wendell Willkie the Republican nominee for president in 1940 worked in Akron as a lawyer for Firestone Pioneering televangelist Rex Humbard rose to prominence in Akron Beacon Journal publisher John S Knight ran the national Knight Newspapers chain from Akron Broadcaster Hugh Downs was born in Akron In the mid to late 1940s pioneering rock n roll DJ Alan Freed was musical director at Akron s WAKR Watergate figure John Dean was born in Akron nbsp LeBron JamesNoted athletes to have come from Akron include multi time National Basketball Association Champions and MVPs LeBron James and Stephen Curry Basketball Hall of Famers Gus Honeycomb Johnson and Nate The Great Thurmond Major League Baseball player Thurman Munson International Boxing Hall of Famer Gorilla Jones WBA Heavyweight Boxing Champion Michael Dokes Houston Texans linebacker Whitney Mercilus former Northwestern University and Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian and Butch Reynolds former world record holder in the 400 meter dash Former NFL linebacker James Harrison was born in Akron as was current Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel Clayton Murphy professional middle distance runner and 2016 Olympic Games bronze medalist competed in cross country and track amp field for the Akron Zips Performing artists to come from Akron include bands such as Ruby and the Romantics Devo The Black Keys The Cramps whose lead singer Lux Interior was a native of the town rapper Ampichino The Waitresses and 1964 the Tribute singers Vaughn Monroe Chrissie Hynde lead singer and main composer with British New Wave band The Pretenders James Ingram Joseph Arthur Jani Lane Rachel Sweet and outlaw country singer David Allan Coe Actors Frank Dicopoulos David McLean Melina Kanakaredes Elizabeth Franz William Boyett Lola Albright Ray Wise and Jesse White Clark Gable and John Lithgow also lived in Akron Poet Rita Dove was born and grew up in Akron She went on to become the first African American United States Poet Laureate Many of her poems are about or take place in Akron foremost among them Thomas and Beulah which earned her the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for poetry Owner of over 400 patents native Stanford R Ovshinsky invented the widely used nickel metal hydride battery Richard Smalley winner of a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering buckminsterfullerene buckyballs was born in the city during 1943 Another native the second U S female astronaut in space Judith Resnik died in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and has the Resnik Moon crater named in her honor The Silver Screen which came to symbolize Hollywood s movie entertainment industry was invented by Kenmore resident and projectionist Harry Coulter Williams First used in Akron s Majestic Theater and then Norka Theater the Williams Perlite tear proof vinyl plastic indoor motion picture screen was installed in all the major movie houses including the rapidly expanding theaters built by Warner Bros of nearby Youngstown OH Williams unique silver painted screens were adapted for CinemaScope VistaVision and later 3 D movies They provided a brighter picture at all angles with top reflectivity at direct viewing and extra diffusion for side seats and balconies 167 Carol Folt the 11th chancellor and 29th chief executive of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was born in Akron in 1951 She was previously provost chief academic officer and interim president of Dartmouth College She assumed her duties on July 1 2013 and is the first woman to lead UNC The philosopher and logician Willard van Orman Quine was born and grew up in Akron Rabbi Mendy Sasonkin and his wife Kaila as emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe founded Chabad of Akron Canton in 1989 In 1995 Rabbi Sasonkin became the rabbi of Anshe Sfard Congregation In popular culture edit nbsp Global street signIn Needful Things a 1991 novel by Stephen King the character of Leland Gaunt is from Akron Also in the musical comedy Glee Vocal Adrenaline the New Directions rivals are from the fictional Carmel High School in Akron In the 2007 dystopian novel Unwind and its sequels by Neal Shusterman one of the main characters Connor Lassiter is dubbed the Akron AWOL after the city becomes the scene of his notorious escape from the Juvey cops An antique store in Akron also plays a key part in the Unwind series Thomas and Beulah a 1986 book of poetry written by native and former Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress Rita Dove tells the story of her grandmother and grandfather who separately moved from the South to the city where they lived through the Great Depression and the rest of their lives 168 The city is also the setting for the 2005 novel The Coast of Akron by former editor of Esquire Adrienne Miller 169 To reflect Akron s decline during the 1980s Akron native Chrissie Hynde wrote the 1982 Pretenders song My City Was Gone 170 The Black Keys 2004 album title Rubber Factory refers to the former General Tire amp Rubber Company factory in which it was recorded 171 Akron serves as a setting in the 2002 first person shooter PC platform video game No One Lives Forever 2 A Spy In H A R M s Way 172 173 Sister cities editAkron as of 2015 has two sister cities 174 nbsp Chemnitz Saxony Germany since April 20 1997 175 nbsp Kiryat Ekron Israel 176 References edit Mean monthly maxima and minima i e the expected highest and lowest temperature readings at any point during the year or given month calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020 ArcGIS REST Services Directory United States Census Bureau Retrieved September 20 2022 US Board on Geographic Names United States Geological Survey October 25 2007 Archived from the original on February 4 2012 Retrieved 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January 7 2010 Note The list uses the mailing address for each site so not all sites listed as being in Akron are actually within the Akron city limits but instead have an Akron ZIP code Armon Rick February 15 2009 Meth lab raids jump 42 in Summit Ohio com Archived from the original on March 21 2009 Retrieved April 3 2009 City of Akron News Releases 2008 State of the City Presentation Ci akron oh us Archived from the original on January 9 2010 Retrieved January 6 2010 2 dead link Greater Akron s Competitive Advantages Greater Akron Chamber Archived from the original on August 4 2009 Retrieved March 28 2010 Byard Katie December 5 2007 Goodyear has tentative deal to stay in Akron Ohio com Archived from the original on August 29 2008 Retrieved January 24 2010 Goodyear s headquarters moving along Archived from the original on December 20 2010 Lin Betty May 26 2009 KeyBank breaks ground on Akron Ohio office building Securityinfowatch com Archived from the original on July 16 2011 Retrieved January 2 2010 Connect Akron Wireless Network Connectakron org Archived from the original on December 9 2009 Retrieved December 18 2009 Polymer Valley Ohio History Central A product of the Ohio Historical Society Ohio History Central July 1 2005 Archived from the original on September 27 2012 Retrieved September 9 2012 A New Brand Of Tech Cities Newsweek April 30 2001 Archived from the original on January 29 2013 Retrieved January 24 2010 Bowles Mark 2008 Chains of Opportunity The University of Akron and the Emergence of the Polymer Age 1909 2007 University of Akron Press Illustrated edition ISBN 978 1931968539 Akron s biomedical corridor taking shape Archived from the original on June 15 2011 Akron Ohio Akron Ohio Mayor s Office of Economic Development Ci akron oh us Archived from the original on September 19 2009 Retrieved November 24 2009 Summa Health System Summa Celebrates 11th Consecutive Year on U S New Ssl summahealth org July 11 2008 Archived from the original on July 28 2011 Retrieved July 5 2009 Summa Health System Locations Summahealth org Archived from the original on May 3 2009 Retrieved April 3 2009 Summa Health System Hospital Rankings Summahealth org Archived from the original on May 24 2006 Retrieved July 5 2009 Akron General Medical Center Akron General September 22 2008 Archived from the original on October 13 2008 Retrieved April 3 2009 Powell Cheryl Akron General earns honors Ohio com Archived from the original on June 15 2011 Retrieved July 16 2009 Akron Children s Hospital Why Akron Children s Akronchildrens org June 19 2007 Archived from the original on October 27 2007 Retrieved April 3 2009 Microsoft Word BIA History of Innovation Timeline Web Version 10 13 08 doc PDF Archived from the original PDF on February 19 2009 Retrieved July 5 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report City of Akron www akronohio gov Retrieved December 27 2021 Museum Collection On View Now Akron Art Museum 2007 Archived from the original on January 9 2010 Retrieved January 2 2010 dedicated to the display of its collection which focuses on art produced since 1850 Akron Art Museum 2005 American Architecture Awards The Chicago Athenaeum 2005 Archived from the original on October 8 2009 Retrieved January 5 2010 Architecture Akron Art Museum Archived from the original on March 9 2010 Retrieved January 1 2010 Museum History Akron Art Museum 2007 Archived from the original on October 1 2009 Retrieved January 1 2010 Trexler Phil December 29 2009 Arresting displays refreshed for public Ohio com Archived from the original on January 2 2010 Retrieved January 2 2010 Jeffery S King 1999 The Life and Death of Pretty Boy Floyd Kent Ohio Kent State University Press p 33 ISBN 978 0 87338 650 0 Retrieved January 3 2010 The American Toy Marble Museum Akron Ohio Americantoymarbles com Archived from the original on March 26 2009 Retrieved April 3 2009 Nolan N Guzzetta Miniature Sculpture sculpture Siris artinventories si edu May 18 1976 Archived from the original on March 14 2012 Retrieved February 9 2010 Akron Named Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation Press release City of Akron April 17 2009 Archived from the original on September 27 2011 Retrieved June 9 2015 When Church Became Theatre The Transformation of Evangelical Architecture and Worship in Nineteenth Century America Archived January 2 2016 at the Wayback Machine Jeanne Halgren Kilde Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 0 19 517972 2 p 185 a b FirstMerit Restoration FirstMerit Tower Archived from the original on March 11 2006 Retrieved September 6 2007 Scraping the Sky Beacon Journal Knight Ridder March 14 1999 p Beacon Magazine 13 Akron Art Museum Building the Akron Art Museum Akronartmuseum org Archived from the original on January 20 2013 Retrieved September 9 2012 Akron Art Museum Building the Akron Art Museum Akronartmuseum org Archived from the original on January 20 2013 Retrieved September 9 2012 Akron Art Museum Building the Akron Art Museum Akronartmuseum org Archived from 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Retrieved January 24 2010 Ferdinand Schumacher Ohio History Central A product of the Ohio Historical Society Ohio History Central July 1 2005 Archived from the original on May 26 2011 Retrieved January 19 2010 a b Gurvis Sandra August 8 2007 Ohio Curiosities Quirky Characters ISBN 978 0 7627 4344 5 Retrieved January 21 2010 permanent dead link City of Akron News Releases 2006 America s 1st National Hamburger Festival Ci akron oh us April 7 2006 Archived from the original on August 8 2007 Retrieved January 21 2010 Akron Marathon Akron Marathon Race Series Cavaliers NBA Stars Join LeBron s King for Kids Bikeathon NBA Archived from the original on January 3 2009 Retrieved May 4 2009 Akron Vulcans Archived from the original on March 8 2016 Retrieved June 20 2019 Armon Rick Cleveland Akron win bid for 2014 Gay Games Ohio com Archived from the original on June 15 2011 Retrieved September 30 2009 Mighty mud maidens Archived from the original on January 1 2011 Lock 3 Live Park In Akron Ohio Events ohio com Archived from the original on February 21 2009 Retrieved April 3 2009 About the Towpath Trail Ohioeriecanal org Archived from the original on February 12 2009 Retrieved April 3 2009 Ohio amp Erie Canal Towpath Trail Ohiobikeways net Archived from the original on March 29 2009 Retrieved April 3 2009 City of Akron News Releases 2008 Bridging Urban Places with Green Spaces Historic Towpath Winds into New Territory Ci akron oh us Archived from the original on September 28 2011 Retrieved April 3 2009 The Portage Hike and Bike PortageParkDistrict com Portage Park District Archived from the original on April 12 2009 Retrieved October 4 2009 See also map link Mark July 6 1999 Ohio Building Authority Ocasek Building Archived from the original on May 14 2009 Retrieved July 9 2009 Akron Office of the Mayor Cabinet Members Ci akron oh us Archived from the original on August 31 2012 Retrieved September 9 2012 City of Akron City of Akron Archived from the original on November 23 2013 a b Lin Fisher Stephanie Warsmith and Betty Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic abruptly announces his resignation blames the Beacon Journal Archived from the original on May 11 2015 Harper John May 31 2015 Garry Moneypenny sworn in as Akron s 60th mayor at East High School talks on past and future of city cleveland com The Plain Dealer Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved June 8 2016 Warsmith Marilyn Millerand Stephanie Akron Mayor Garry Moneypenny admits to inappropriate contact with city employee says he will not resign or run for new term Archived from the original on June 13 2015 Warsmith Stephanie Garry Moneypenny resigns as Akron mayor Fusco next in line for mayor Archived from the original on June 13 2015 Schleis Stephanie Warsmithand Paula Six Democrats and 1 Republican file to run for Akron mayor familiar names file for Akron council races Archived from the original on June 11 2015 Livingston Doug Democrats again sweep Akron elections Mayor re elected council adds new members Akron Beacon Journal Archived from the original on July 25 2020 Retrieved August 31 2020 Warsmith Stephanie Akron council member planning director argue after meeting police called to chamber History of the Akron Public Schools PDF Archived from the original PDF on August 1 2012 Retrieved September 9 2012 Akron Digital Academy Quietly Closes as Other Online Charter Schools Face Hefty State Fees GovTech July 6 2018 Retrieved August 28 2022 I Promise School LeBron James Family Foundation May 2020 Archived from the original on February 8 2022 Retrieved February 21 2022 Green Erica L April 12 2019 LeBron James Opened a School That Was Considered an Experiment It s Showing Promise The New York Times Retrieved February 21 2022 Lebron James Five Humongous Charitable Donations Black EOE Journal January 2021 Retrieved February 21 2022 PPG Industries PPG donates 5 000 to University of Akron Corporateportal ppg com August 27 2009 Archived from the original on May 13 2010 Retrieved January 24 2010 University of Akron breaks ground for 13 million polymer center Plastics News Archived from the original on July 15 2011 Retrieved October 1 2009 Education Alternatives in Akron Ohio Akronohrealestate net Archived from the original on November 21 2008 Retrieved April 3 2009 Akron Public Schools General Information Akron Public Schools Archived from the original on June 15 2008 Retrieved July 9 2009 The Buchtelite Archived from the original on January 24 2010 Retrieved January 18 2010 Local Television Market Universe Estimates Comparisons of 2008 09 and 2009 10 Market Ranks PDF nielsen 2009 Archived from the original PDF on March 17 2011 Retrieved February 5 2010 PAX WVPX TV 23 amp WKYC TV 3 Bring Local News Back to Akron Area City of Akron March 29 2001 Archived from the original on July 27 2013 Heldenfelds R D July 5 2005 Newscast off air on cable Akron Beacon Journal Knight Ridder Archived from the original on January 12 2009 Retrieved August 2 2008 Northeast Ohio NPR programming shifts from WCPN to WKSU classical music now on 90 3 FM Akron Beacon Journal Dance Girl Dance Lucy s Ball of Fun on DVD Movies Reviews and More Screenhead com Archived from the original on December 1 2008 Retrieved January 18 2010 Dance Girl Dance DVD Times July 15 2007 Retrieved February 9 2010 O Connor John J April 30 1989 Television How One Day at a Time Became a creed The New York Times Archived from the original on May 24 2013 Retrieved February 2 2010 Prison Break Episode 2 15 Transcript The Message Twiztv com January 29 2007 Archived from the original on January 2 2010 Retrieved January 21 2010 All the Marbles 1981 Movie Trailer Reviews Photos Cast Hollywood com Archived from the original on April 29 2010 Retrieved January 19 2010 A O Scott October 2 2009 Movie Review More Than a Game Akron s Little Dribblers Who Became Big Shots The New York Times Archived from the original on October 6 2009 Retrieved January 19 2010 Jason Biggs Interview Over Her Dead Body MoviesOnline Moviesonline ca Archived from the original on December 30 2008 Retrieved March 25 2010 The Virgin of Akron Ohio Television show The Virgin of Akron Ohio TV Show Yahoo TV Tv yahoo com Archived from the original on June 15 2011 Retrieved March 26 2010 TV Detail My Own Worst Enemy reviewSeries Premiere TV Reviews Paste Pastemagazine com October 13 2008 Archived from the original on December 4 2009 Retrieved March 25 2010 The Heldenfiles Seinfeld Bus Rolling to Cleveland Akron Beacon Journal Wednesday August 13 2008 Cla452 Added July 16 2005 M Y O B on Tv com Archived from the original on October 28 2009 Retrieved March 26 2010 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Welcome to the Akron Canton Airport PDF Archived from the original PDF on December 9 2008 Akron Ohio Akron Fulton Airport Ci akron oh us Archived from the original on December 24 2008 Retrieved April 3 2009 Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad Akron Northside Station In Akron Ohio Events ohio com Archived from the original on February 9 2009 Retrieved April 3 2009 Sanders Craig 2007 Akron Railroads Images of Rail Charleston SC Arcadia Publishing ISBN 0 7385 4141 9 OCLC 123357483 Camp Mark J Railroad Depots of Northeast Ohio Arcadia Publishing 2007 p 27 Passenger trains on the eve of Amtrak PDF Trains com Archived from the original PDF on August 26 2012 Akron Express PDF PARTA Online Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority January 2009 Archived from the original PDF on March 6 2009 Retrieved March 14 2009 Solar panels make Akron s new transit center a leader in Ohio The Plain Dealer December 31 2008 Archived from the original on March 9 2009 Retrieved March 16 2009 Akron Innerbelt Integration Initiative History Akroninnerbelt org Archived from the original on February 10 2006 Retrieved April 3 2009 Price Mark J 2015 Lost Akron Vendler Helen Hennessy 1988 The music of what happens poems poets critics Harvard University Press p 448 ISBN 978 0 674 59152 3 Thomas and Beulah akron Traister Rebecca May 6 2005 The Coast of Akron by Adrienne Miller Salon Archived from the original on June 5 2011 Retrieved February 2 2010 Niquette Mark December 5 2007 On the brink Akron Transitioning from rubber to polymers buoys economy The Columbus Dispatch Archived from the original on January 22 2013 Retrieved February 2 2010 The Black Keys Rubber Factory Archived from the original on June 6 2011 Retrieved March 4 2010 Wolpaw Erik September 30 2002 No One Lives Forever 2 A Spy in H A R M s Way Review for PC GameSpot Archived from the original on May 6 2009 Retrieved April 28 2009 Allen Todd No One Lives Forever 2 A Spy in HARM s Way Review GamesFirst Archived from the original on May 28 2011 Retrieved February 5 2010 Akron Ohio Sister Cities International Archived from the original on June 10 2015 Retrieved June 10 2015 Twin cities Chemnitz chemnitz de Archived from the original on December 2 2013 Retrieved November 25 2013 Sister Cities City of Akron akronohio gov Archived from the original on December 3 2013 Retrieved November 25 2013 Further reading editJoyce Dyer Gum Dipped A Daughter Remembers Rubber Town Akron University of Akron Press 2003 Kathleen Endres Akron s Better Half Women s Clubs and the Humanization of a City 1825 1925 Akron University of Akron Press 2006 Kathleen L Endres Rosie the Rubber Worker Women Workers in Akron s Rubber Factories during World War II Kent Kent State University Press 2000 Jack Gieck A Photo Album of Ohio s Canal Era 1825 1913 Revised Edition Kent Kent State University Press 1992 Jack Gieck Early Akron s Industrial Valley A History of the Cascade Locks Kent Kent State University Press 2008 Alfred Winslow Jones Life Liberty amp Property A Story of Conflict and a Measurement of Conflicting Rights Akron University of Akron Press 1999 S A Lane Fifty Years and Over of Akron and Summit County Akron 1892 S Love and David Giffels Wheels of Fortune The Story of Rubber in Akron Ohio Akron University of Akron Press 1998 S Love Ian Adams and Barney Taxel Stan Hywet Hall amp Gardens Akron University of Akron Press 2000 F McGovern Written on the Hills The Making of the Akron Landscape Akron University of Akron Press 1996 F McGovern Fun Cheap and Easy My Life in Ohio Politics 1949 1964 Akron University of Akron Press 2002 Russ Musarra and Chuck Ayers Walks around Akron Akron University of Akron Press 2007 Oscar E Olin et al A Centennial History of Akron 1825 1925 Summit County Historical Society 1925 John S Reese Guide Book for the Tourist and Traveler over the Valley Railway Revised Edition Kent Kent State University Press 2002 Akron Chamber of Commerce Year Book 1913 14 External links editAkron Ohio at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Definitions from Wiktionary nbsp Media from Commons nbsp News from Wikinews nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Texts from Wikisource nbsp Textbooks from Wikibooks nbsp Resources from Wikiversity nbsp Travel information from Wikivoyage Akron Ohio at Curlie City of Akron official website History of Akron and Summit County Geary Linda L June 1989 Balanced in the wind a biography of ISBN 978 0 8387 5154 1 Retrieved January 21 2010 Table 1 Annual Estimates of the Population of Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas April 1 2000 to July 1 2009 CBSA EST2009 01 2009 Population Estimates United States Census Bureau Population Division March 23 2010 Archived from the original CSV on February 10 2012 Retrieved March 24 2010 US Census 2000 est Archived from the original on October 15 2006 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Akron Ohio amp oldid 1191969874, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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