Talk:Akron, Ohio/Temp

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Akron is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. In 2007, its population was estimated to be 207,934. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland to the north and Canton to the south, approximately 60 miles (96 km) west of the Pennsylvania border.

Akron is the principal city of the Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan area that covers Portage and Summit counties and had a combined population of 694,960 at the 2000 census.

Akron was founded in 1825 near the Ohio and Erie Canal, and became a manufacturing center owing to its location at a staircase of locks. The locks were needed due to the higher elevation of the area, which gave rise to the name Summit County as well as Akron, which is a rough translation of summit into Greek (Stewart, pg. 233). Akros, part of the original Greek word akrópolis, means highest. After the decline of heavy manufacturing in the 1970s and '80s, the city's industry has since diversified into research, financial, and high tech sectors.

Akron and nearby Canton are often referred to as a single region or considered twin cities. The Akron-Canton Regional Airport is one of many places near the city that is named for both places. While the U.S. Census Bureau still counts the two metropolitan areas separately, if combined, the total population of the Akron-Canton area would equal 1,101,894 people. In 1985 the Akron Fulton International Airport was recognized as the 3rd National Landmark of Soaring by the National Soaring Museum.

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron in 1935. The city is home to The University of Akron, the Akron Aeros Double A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, the Soap Box Derby World Championships and the Firestone Country Club, at which the PGA Tour's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational is played. The word "devilstrip" is also thought to be unique to, and have its origin in, Akron: it refers to the strip of grass between a sidewalk and the street.

Akron won the All-American City award three times making it into the National Civic League Hall of Fame. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Akron as a Tree City USA.

Canal years
Much of Akron's early growth was because of its location at the "summit" of the Ohio and Erie Canal (thus the name Summit County) which at one time connected Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Akron was established in December 1825 by Simon Perkins as a small village on the divide between the St. Lawrence River and the Mississippi River drainage basins. The village was a 43-block square with its main intersection at Exchange and Main Streets; its northern limit was one block beyond State Street. The village was originally built mainly to serve people using the Ohio and Erie Canal as Akron was located in an area with a series of canal locks as the canal ascended from Cleveland to the Portage summit. In 1833, Eliakim Crosby established a "second" Akron just north of the existing village known as Cascade, which would also be referred to locally as "north Akron." Cascade developed around a construction project originally intended to provide increased water power for industries. In 1836 the villages joined under the Akron name. The completion of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal along Main Street in 1839 started Akron on its climb to industrial importance. Coal, a major railroad, and manufacturing growth from the Civil War contributed to a population increase from 3,500 to 10,000 inhabitants between 1860 and 1870.

Because of physical obstacles — the steep hill on West Market Street, the Little Cuyahoga Valley, and the swamp south of the city — Akron grew to the east. This encouraged the annexation of Spicertown, centered on Spicer and Exchange, and then Middlebury, which was centered where the Arlington and Market Street commercial area is now located.

The Rubber Capital of the World
Akron’s history and the history of the rubber industry are intertwined. The rubber industry transformed Akron from a small canal town into a fledgling city. The birth of the rubber industry started in the 1800s. In 1869, B.F. Goodrich started the first rubber company in Akron. In 1898, Frank A. Seiberling founded the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was established in Akron in 1900. In 1915, Akron's area increased from 7254 acre to 16120 acre. The population rose approximately 200% during this time, from 69,067 in 1910 to 208,435 in 1920. General Tire was founded in 1915 by the O'Neils, whose department store became an Akron landmark. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company became America's top tire manufacturer and Akron was granted the moniker of "The Rubber Capital of the World".

The rubber industry shaped not just the industrial, but also the residential landscape in Akron. Rubber companies responded to housing crunches caused by the booming rubber business by building affordable housing for workers. Goodyear's president, F.A. Seiberling, built homes costing around $3,500 for employees in what would become known as Goodyear Heights. Likewise, Harvey Firestone built employee homes in what would be called Firestone Park.

For a time it was the fastest-growing city in the country, its population exploding from 69,000 in 1910 to 208,000 in 1920. People came for the jobs in the rubber factories from many places, including Europe. Of those 208,000, almost one-third were immigrants and their children. Among the factory workers in the early 1920s was a young Clark Gable.

In the 1950s and '60s Akron saw a surge in industry as use of the automobile took off. In the 1970s and '80s, however, the rubber industry experienced a major decline as a number of strikes and factory shutdowns delivered the final blows to the industry. In ten years the number of people working within the rubber industry was slashed in half. By the early '90s Goodyear was the only remaining rubber manufacturer based in Akron.

Riot of 1900
In 1900, violence erupted in Akron after the abduction and rape of six year-old daughter of the Maas family from infront of her home by Louis Peck, an African-American who had recently arrived in the area. Though Peck was arrested and confessed to the crime, stories of the confession were exaggerated with one paper even printing the confession in red ink. Due to threats of lynching, Peck and another black man were moved to Cleveland for safety. Angry crowds began to gather in the evening demanding Peck and attempted to search the City Building, but were barred by police. Tensions escalated after police fired into the crowd with over 100 shots fired killing two small children and explosions of dynamite. The result was the destruction of the City Building and the Columbia building, which both burned to the ground. The mob violence lasted until nearly 4:00 the next morning after searches of the Old Court House and the County Jail and refusal to believe that Peck had been moved to Cleveland when the mayor tried to explain. 31 men and boys were later convicted of charges related to the riot.

Organized Crime
Mafia leader Don Rosario Borgio arrived in Akron using a general goods store as a front and set up two back rooms for illegal operations. He controlled the Black Hand crime organization also all of gambling and brothels in the city while extorting wealthy citizens. In 1918 the Akron Police Department started aggressively raiding Borgio's gambling and prostitution houses, locking up the operators and patrons. Due to the interference, Borgio held a meeting in his store with Black Hand leaders where he gave the order to assassinate every cop in Akron, with a $250 reward on every head. The order led to the murders of Officers Robert Norris, Edward Costigan, Joe Hunt, and Gethin Richards. Borgio Rosario died by the electric chair after having a case built up against him by Detective Fiaschetti over the slayings.

Blimps
Akron became the blimp hub of the United States due to the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company creating the Goodyear Zeppelin Company. The company made 9 blimps for the United States military during World War I and 104 during World War II. The company in it's most productive years completed the Pony, Pilgrim, Puritan, Volunteer, Mayflower, Vigilant, Defender, Reliance, Resolute, Enterprise, Ranger, Columbia, Akron, and Macon.

From after the wars up til present day, the Akron based company use the blimps mainly for advertising purposes. The company created the "Skytacular," a sign with multiple colors flown from blimps which could be read by civilians on ground, the signs could be seen best at night. Since the 1950s the Goodyear Blimp would commonly appear at major sporting events. The company manufactured over 300 zeppelins between 1917 and 1995, but currently just 4 airships are operated by the company in the United States. The Goodyear Airdock, located on the eastside of Akron, was the largest buildings in the world without interior supports at its time of completion.



Topography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 62.4 square miles (161.6 km²), of which, 62.1 square miles (160.8 km²) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.9 km²) of it (0.54%) is water.

Climate
Akron has a humid continental climate (Koppen climate classification Dfa), with cold but changeable winters, wet, cool springs, warm (sometimes hot) and humid summers, and cool, rather dry autumns. Precipitation is fairly well-distributed through the year, but summer tends to have the most rainfall (and also, somewhat paradoxically, the most sunshine), and autumn the least. The mid-autumn through early-spring months tend to be quite cloudy, with sometimes less than 30% possible sunshine. The cloudiest month is December, and the sunniest month is usually July, which is also, somewhat ironically, the wettest month.Winters tend to be cold, with average January high temperatures of 33 °F (1 °C), and average January lows of 17 °F (−8 °C), with considerable variation in temperatures. During a typical January, high temperatures of over 50 °F (10 °C) are just as common as low temperatures of below 0 °F (−18 °C). Snowfall is lighter than the snowbelt areas to the north, but is still somewhat influenced by Lake Erie. Akron-Canton Airport generally averages about 47.4 inches of snow per winter. During a typical winter, temperatures drop below 0 °F (−18 °C) on about 6 occurrences, generally only during the nighttime hours.

Average July high temperatures of 82 °F (28 °C), and average July lows of 61 °F (16 °C) are normal. Summer weather is more stable, generally humid with thunderstorms fairly common. Temperatures reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C) about 9 times each summer, on average. In hot summers, such as 1988, however, as many as 30 days over 90 °F (32 °C) have been observed, and in cooler summers, such as the summer of 2000, the temperature may never reach 90 °F (32 °C). Temperatures over 100 °F (38 °C) are rare (about once per decade on average), most recently occurring on several occasions in the hot summer of 1988.

The all-time record high in Akron of 104°F (40°C) was established on August 6, 1918, and the all-time record low of −25 °F (−32 °C) was set on January 19, 1994.

Downtown
Financial and legal offices, hotels, hospitals, government and other civic buildings are predominant in the downtown area. Commercial uses and light industry are the primary land uses south of Cedar Street, in Opportunity Park, and along Wolf Ledges Street. Parks along the historic Ohio and Erie Canal provide recreation opportunities. Downtown features adaptive re-use of historic structures such as the B.F. Goodrich plant (Canal Place) combined with modern additions. These include the Canal Park baseball stadium, Knight Convention Center, and National Inventors Hall of Fame. Residential redevelopment includes conversion of the YMCA into modern apartments and construction of new condominiums at the Landings at Canal Park.

Unincorporated neighborhoods
Maple Valley - The neighborhood 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 - Falling under the blanket of "University Park" found above, this term is used frequently to describe the student-centered retail and residential area around East Exchange St. and Spicer, near the University of Akron.

West Hill - West Hill is roughly bounded by West Market on the north, West Exchange on the south, Downtown on the East, and Rhodes Ave. on the West. It features many stately older homes, particularly in the recently recognized Oakdale Historic District. The neighborhood is served by the active West Hill Neighborhood Organization (WHNO).

Suburbs
Akron's older inner-ring or "first" suburbs include Fairlawn, Barberton, Cuyahoga Falls, Stow, and Tallmadge.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 217,074 people, 90,116 households, and 53,709 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,497.3 people per square mile (1,350.3/km²). There were 97,315 housing units at an average density of 1,567.9/sq mi (605.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 67.22% White, 28.48% African American, 0.26% Native American, 1.50% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.43% from other races, and 2.07% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.16% of the population. The top 5 largest ancestries include German (18.1%), Irish (11.5%), English (7.2%), Italian (6.8%), and American (6.4%).

There were 90,116 households out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.5% were married couples living together, 17.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.4% were non-families. 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 3.01.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.3% under the age of 18, 10.5% from 18 to 24, 30.3% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $31,835, and the median income for a family was $39,381. Males had a median income of $31,898 versus $24,121 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,596. About 14.0% of families and 17.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.7% of those under age 18 and 9.7% of those age 65 or over.

Akron has a metropolitan population of 694,960 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). Akron is also part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area, which was the 14th largest in the country with a population of over 2.9 million according to the 2000 Census.

Law and government
The city adopted a new charter of the commissioner manager type in 1920, but reverted to its old form in 1924. The current mayor of Akron is Don Plusquellic. Mayor Plusquellic is currently serving his fifth term, and was the President of the United States Conference of Mayors during 2004. He is also a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by Boston, Massachusetts Mayor Thomas Menino and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The Akron City Council has thirteen members. Ten are elected to represent wards and three are elected at large.

In 1915, a new municipal water system was established. It also included a reservoir on the Cuyahoga River with storage capacity of 2,385,200,000 gallons (9,027,982,000 liters), a complete purification system, and a pumping station.

Economy
Akron is home to two Fortune 500 companies: the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and FirstEnergy. In addition, Akron is home to a number of smaller companies such as GOJO, makers of Purell, Advanced Elastomer Systems, FirstMerit Bank, Roadway Express (a subsidiary of Yellow Roadway), Myers Industries, an international manufacturer of polymer products, Acme Fresh Market and Lockheed Martin, Maritime Systems & Sensors division. The City of Akron created the first Joint Economic Development District to promote regional commerce with neighboring suburbs.

Higher education
The city is home to the University of Akron, which serves nearly 26,000 students, making it the fifth largest public university in the state. It is regarded as a world leader in polymer research. The University recently underwent a $300 million dollar construction project, which added nine new buildings and renovated fourteen, and closed Carroll and Union Streets. The University also offers a combined B.S./M.D. program with the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. A new football stadium, Summa Field at InfoCision Stadium, is being built on-campus as a replacement for the University's previous stadium, the Rubber Bowl.

Akron is also located in close proximity to several other colleges and universities including the main campus of Kent State University in nearby Kent; Hiram College in Hiram; and the College of Wooster in Wooster as well as several schools in the Cleveland area.

Secondary education
Elementary and secondary education is mainly provided by the Akron Public Schools, which are currently going through a 15-year, $800 million rebuilding process, remodeling some schools and entirely replacing others. Some schools will be closing permanently due to a drop in enrollment. The school board could not get a levy passed to pay for its portion of the construction expense so it worked out an arrangement with the city of Akron where the city will use the money from a new income tax to pay for Community Learning Centers, which will serve as schools but be owned by the city. Meanwhile the academic situation has improved recently as the city’s schools have been moved from “Academic Watch” to “Continuous Improvement” by the Ohio Department of Education.

Private education
Akron also has many private, parochial and charter schools. Akron Public Schools made headlines in 2004 when a freshman student of Akron Digital Academy, the district’s own online charter school, was not allowed to participate in extracurricular activities, an event later covered and satirized by The Daily Show. St. Vincent - St. Mary High School, just west of Akron’s downtown, also made headlines when basketball star LeBron James was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers first overall after his graduation in 2003. Akron-based Summit Academy Schools is the largest system of non-profit community schools in the country which are specifically designed for students with learning disorders such as ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome, high-functioning autism and PDD-NOS.

Culture and entertainment
Akron has a diverse heritage of restaurants and shopping centers. Quaker Square, located in the heart of Akron’s downtown, was redeveloped in the early 1970s as a downtown mall, created from the old Quaker Oats factory, which originally operated at that location. The oat silos had been transformed into unique, round hotel rooms. Recently, the University of Akron purchased this complex for its own use, primarily as residence-hall space.

Highland Square, located in near West Akron and anchored by the historic Highland Theatre, is a well-known entertainment district, featuring antique stores, retail shops, and several unique restaurants and taverns. Other unique and historically significant Akron neighborhoods include Goodyear Heights and Firestone Park, originally developed and designed for employees of the large Akron rubber companies. Likewise, Northwest Akron is home to a number of large mansions, many of which, like the famous Stan Hywet Hall, were built early in the 20th century for the upper management of these companies, as well as the city's many other industries.

During the summer, Akron hosts the National Hamburger Festival, a tribute to the city's role in the invention of the hamburger. Each summer Akron hosts the All American Soap Box Derby. Children from around the world race their homemade, gravity-powered race cars down the steep hill at Derby Downs in the shadow of the Goodyear Airdock.

Adjacent to the Derby Downs race hill is a 19000 sqft outdoor skatepark. The park features concrete ramps, including two bowls going as deep as 7 ft, 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 BMX course where organized races are often held in the warmer months.

The city is also home to several museums, including:
 * Akron Art Museum
 * The Archives of the History of American Psychology
 * National Inventors Hall of Fame
 * Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens
 * American Marble and Toy Museum
 * Goodyear World of Rubber Museum

Music
Aside from Akron's North Hill neighborhood's jazz history for decades Akron has been on the music scene in many genres starting from the 1950s with Howard Hewett with hits 'Im For Real', 'Stay', and 'Say Amen', then continued in the 70s by Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders with hits 'Stop Your Sobbing', 'Kid', and 'Brass in Pocket'. Devo who were a pioneer of the music video, creating many memorable clips that were popular in the early days of MTV in the 80s maintained Akron's presence with their hit 'Whip it'. In the 80s more of Akron native sons kept the city on the "map" like James Ingram with 'Baby, come to me' and younger brother Phillip Ingram, and Buckner & Garcia with 'Pac Man Fever'. In the 90s and present decade hip-hop and rock have been the main focus of Akron musicians with bands such as Rubber City Rebels with '(I wanna) Pierce my brain' and rapper Chino Nino who collaborated with Juvenile and B.G. on the track 'U.P.T. to da Top' off his album 'Get Wet' and The Black Keys whose songs have been used in soundtracks for many movies.

Sports
Akron is the home to two professional sports teams:

Akron is also home to the Northeast Ohio Rock n Roller Girls, a flat track roller derby league which was founded in 2007. Their venue is the arena complex at the Summit County Fairgrounds.

Print media

 * Akron Beacon Journal
 * The Buchtelite (University of Akron)
 * West Side Leader (Leader Publications)
 * Akron Life & Leisure (Baker Media Group)

Radio
See also:Akron Radio
 * WZIP 88.1 (Top 40 / College – University of Akron)
 * WAPS 91.3 (Varied formats: local artists, modern rock, blues, jazz and public radio)
 * WAKR 1590 (Talk)
 * WKDD 98.1 (Adult contemporary)
 * WHLO 640 (News/talk)
 * WJMP 1520 (Fox Sports Radio)
 * WKSU 89.7 (National Public Radio, operated from the campus of Kent State University)
 * WONE 97.5 (Classic rock)
 * WNIR-FM 100.1 (News/talk)
 * WSTB 88.9 (Alternative)
 * WARF 1350 (Sporting News Ohio)
 * WQMX 94.9 (Country)

Television
Akron is unique in that despite its size, it does not form its own television market, primarily due to being less than 40 mi from Cleveland. It is part of the Cleveland-Akron (Canton) Media market. However, four stations in the market are licensed to Akron.
 * WAOH-LP (Independent)
 * WEAO (PBS)
 * WVPX (ION)
 * WBNX (CW)

WAOH and WEAO serve the city of Akron specifically, while WBNX and WVPX identify themselves as "Akron-Cleveland", serving the entire Northeast Ohio 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.

Health
Akron's adult hospitals are owned by two health systems, Summa Health System and Akron General Health System. Summa Health System operates Akron City Hospital and St. Thomas Hospital, an orthopedic hospital located in the North Hill neighborhood. Akron General Health System operates Akron General Medical Center. Akron Children's Hospital is an independent entity that specializes in pediatric and burn care. Both Akron City Hospital and Akron General have been on the U.S. News and World Report Magazine's list of "Best Hospitals" many times. It is worth noting that both AGMC and Summa are designated Level I Trauma Centers. By comparison, Akron's much larger urban neighbor to the north, Cleveland, has only one.

Transportation
Akron’s transportation needs are fulfilled by two major interstates, Interstate 76 and Interstate 77. I-76, I-77, and Route 8 meet at one central interchange, which is commonly known by the same name. The central interchange divides the city into four quadrants. The Interstate 76 Eastern Expressway weaves through much of Akron’s warehouse sector and the Goodyear world headquarters is easily visible. I-76 is paired with I-77 for about two miles (3 km) west of the central interchange, and then splits off again, with I-76 later being paired with US-224 and I-77 heading north towards Cleveland. This portion of highway is currently under review by ODOT for reconstruction. The Western highway is a major route to Cleveland and Columbus, and is a near term destination to Fairlawn, a major commercial area. Route 8 has been overhauled numerous times and serves as a major entryway for the north-eastern suburbs, namely Cuyahoga Falls, Munroe Falls, Stow and Hudson. There is also one highway to the south, U.S. Highway 224, part of which is also notated as Interstate 277 (I-277 connects I-77 with I-76). The Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway, commonly known as the Innerbelt, includes part of the longer Route 59. It serves the very center of the city, and was supposed to run from the I-76 / I-77 to Route 8. However, due to poor planning, the Innerbelt was never completed and only runs to Main St./Howard St. Route 59 also lacks direct I-76W / I-77N inbound and offbound ramps, furthering its problems. Mayor Don Plusquellic has brought up the idea of tearing up the northern end of the Innerbelt in order to free land for development, although some residents have stated that they would like to see it completely connected as originally planned.

Public transportation is available through the METRO RTA system, which has a fleet of over two hundred buses and trolleys, and operates local routes as well as running commuter buses into downtown Cleveland. Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA) also has a bus line running between Canton and Akron. Amtrak closed its station near Quaker Square in 2005. Airline passengers travelling to or from Akron use either the Akron-Canton Regional Airport in Green or Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Two low-fare airlines, Frontier Airlines and AirTran Airways, have begun serving Akron-Canton in recent years, making that airport a fairly popular alternative for travellers to or from the Cleveland area. Akron Fulton International Airport serves private planes and is the home of the Lockheed Martin Airdock, where the Goodyear blimps were formerly stored and maintained. The Goodyear blimps are now housed outside of Akron in a facility on the shores of Wingfoot Lake in Suffield.

The Towpath is a regional bike and hike trail that follows the Ohio and Erie Canal. A bridge was completed in Summer 2008, crossing Route 59/The Innerbelt, which connects the Towpath proper with bike routes painted onto downtown Akron's city streets, thus completing another step towards the connection of Cleveland and East Liverpool with a hike and bike trail.

The Akron RTA Transit Center located on South Broadway Street features 432 solar panels on the roof making it the largest single array in Ohio will provide about 33% of the facility's yearly needs, and recyclable water as part of an effort to go green. It also has installed geothermal heating and cooling seats for 300 people, free wireless internet access, and 45 geothermal wells sunk 305 ft into the earth providing heat and air conditioning for the facility. An Akron Police Department substation with two police officers working all hours of transfer operation and more than 90 security cameras are also on site. Greyhound Bus services will also give bus transportation through the facility who currently operates out of its own terminal on Grant Street. Alternative to walking passengers can take a free loop bus running from downtown on Main Street to the terminal.

Sister cities
Akron has two sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International: