Mansfield, Ohio

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Mansfield, Ohio
Skyline of Mansfield, Ohio
Official seal of Mansfield, Ohio
Seal
Nickname: "The Heart of Ohio"
Location within the state of Ohio
Location within the state of Ohio
Country United States
State Ohio
County Richland
Mayor Lydia Reid (D)
Area  
 - City 29.9 mi* / 77.5 km²
 - Land 29.9 mi* / 77.5 km²
 - Water 0.0 mi* / 0.0 km²
Population  
 - City (2005) 50,615
 - Density 637.0/km²
 - Metro 127,949
Time zone EST (UTC-5)
 - Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
Founded 1808
Incorporated 1828 {village} 1857 {city}
Website: http://www.ci.mansfield.oh.us/

Mansfield is the largest city and county seat of Richland County, Ohio. As of July 2005 the city had an estimated population of 50,615. Mansfield's metropolitan statistical area is approximately 175,818 residents.

Mansfield's twin cities are Mansfield, England; Mansfield, Massachusetts; and Funehiki, Japan. Mansfield's official nickname is "The Heart of Ohio". Mansfield is also known as the "Carousel Capital of Ohio" and "Racing Capital of Ohio".[1]

Contents

[edit] Geography

Mansfield is located at 40°45'17" North, 82°31'22" West (40.754856, -82.522855)GR1.

Aerial photo with points of interest
Enlarge
Aerial photo with points of interest

Mansfield lies in the western foothills of the Alleghenies. The highest point in the city (1492.66 feet or 454.96 meters above sea level) is at the Woodland reservoir in southwest Mansfield. The elevation of Central Park in downtown Mansfield is 1242.66 feet (378.76 meters) above sea level.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 77.5 km² (29.9 mi²). All of it is land and none of the area is covered with water.

[edit] History

The city was founded in 1808 and named for Jared Mansfield, the U.S. surveyor-general who directed its planning. It was incorporated as a village in 1828 and as a city in 1857. The area that is now Richland County, so named for the fertility of its soil, and the City of Mansfield were first settled in 1800. The city grew towards the north and the west. The first courthouse in the country was one of two blockhouses erected on the public square during the war of 1812.

Mansfield associates itself with many famous names such as John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed; as well as Pulitzer Prize winning author, Louis Bromfield. Chapman found the fertile land of Ohio ideal for his nurseries. The heartland of Chapman's nurseries was located along the stream valleys between Mansfield and Loudonville, just east of Interstate 71. Many of his orchards and nurseries are still found in Mansfield and the surrounding county. As a child, author Louis Bromfield played at his aunt's house, Oak Hill, in a neighborhood of Mansfield. The gothic house, built in 1847, served as the inspiration for "Shane's Castle" in his 1924 novel The Green Bay Tree.

The coming of the railroads in 1846, followed by the first road across America, the Lincoln Highway in 1913, ushered in Mansfield's greatest period of industrial expansion led by the city's nascent farm equipment and stove manufacturing industries, including the Tappan Company. By the late 1920s, Westinghouse became the city's largest employer, specializing in electric lighting, industrial heating and engineering, and home appliances.

However, like many Rust Belt cities, Mansfield saw a precipitous decline in its manufacturing and retail sectors. Beginning with the Steel Recession of the 1970s, the loss of jobs to overseas manufacturing, prolonged labor disputes, and deteriorating factory facilities all contributed to heavy industry leaving the area. Westinghouse, Tappan, and many other manufacturing plants were either bought-out, relocated or closed, leaving only the AK Steel Plant in Mansfield and the General Motors Fisher Body Stamping Plant in Ontario as the last two remaining heavy industry employers. The AK Steel Plant, formerly Armco Steel, was the location of a violent 3-year United Steelworkers Union lock-out and strike from 1999 to 2002.

With the loss of the jobs, locally owned businesses in downtown Mansfield closed, as did much of the retail built in the 1960's along Park Avenue West (formerly known as "The Miracle Mile") and Lexington Avenue. New big-box retail and franchise restaurants have been built in the adjacent suburban city of Ontario, Ohio, which is on track to replace Mansfield as the major economic and retail center for Richland County and North-Central Ohio.

County library in Mansfield.
Enlarge
County library in Mansfield.

[edit] People and Culture

[edit] Demographics

As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there are 49,346 people in the city, organized into 20,182 households, and 12,028 families. The population density is 637.0/km² (1,650.1/mi²). There are 22,267 housing units at an average density of 287.4/km² (744.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 76.77% White, 19.65% African American, 0.63% Asian, 0.28% Native American, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.56% from other races, and 2.07% from two or more races. 1.23% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 20,182 households out of which 27.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.5% are married couples living together, 15.2% have a female householder with no husband present, and 40.4% are non-families. 34.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 13.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.28 and the average family size is 2.93.

In the city the population is spread out with 23.9% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 98.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 96.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $30,176, and the median income for a family is $37,541. Males have a median income of $30,861 versus $21,951 for females. The per capita income for the city is $17,726. 16.3% of the population and 13.2% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 24.5% of those under the age of 18 and 9.6% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

[edit] Media

  • Mansfield's only daily newspaper is the Mansfield News Journal.[1]
  • Mansfield's first AM-radio station (1929) was WJW, now in Cleveland. Its studio and transmitter were on the ninth floor of the Richland Trust Building.
  • Mansfield's notable radio stations are WYHT(105.3FM) pop/rock (clear channel), WMAN (1400AM) news/talk (clear channel), and WVNO(106.1FM), Mansfield's light-rock station.
  • Mansfield's only local television station is WMFD-digital television in Northern Ohio (most Mansfield residents watch Cleveland or Columbus stations for network programming.)

[edit] Colleges and Universities

[edit] Schools

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Rail

Three railroads eventually served Mansfield, and two serve it today. The Mansfield and Sandusky Railroad opened in 1846, and later became part of a branch line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) from Newark to Sandusky. In 1849 the Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne Railroad (later Pennsylvania Railroad mainline) reached Mansfield, and in 1863 the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad (later Erie Railroad mainline) reached Mansfield. After the B&O branch line was abandoned, the 19-mile section from Butler to North Lake Park in Mansfield was opened in 1995 as the recreational Richland B & O Trail. The former B&O track from Mansfield to Willard combined with a piece of the abandoned Erie Railroad east of Mansfield to West Salem to form the L-shaped 56.5-mile Ashland Railway (1986). A spur of the abandoned Erie Railroad leads west five miles to Ontario to serve the General Motors metal stamping plant there.

[edit] Highways

Mansfield is located on a major east-west highway corridor that was originally known in the early 1900s as "Ohio Market Route 3". This route was chosen in 1913 to become part of the historic Lincoln Highway which was the first road across America, connecting New York City to San Francisco. The arrival of the Lincoln Highway to Mansfield was a major influence on the development of the city. Upon the advent of the federal numbered highway system in 1928, the Lincoln Highway through Mansfield on Park Avenue East and Park Avenue West became U.S. Highway 30.

On September 1, 1928, the Lincoln Highway was marked coast-to-coast with approximately 3000 concrete posts set by the Boy Scouts of America. Each post featured a medallion of Abraham Lincoln's profile. One of these concrete markers was erected at curbside in front of Central Methodist Episcopal Church, 378 Park Avenue West. Today, a replica marker stands in downtown's Central Park, on Park Avenue's center divider.

Today, Mansfield serves as a transportation hub and is connected by eight major highways:

[edit] Public Transportation

Mansfield is served by Richland County Transit (RCT), a bus line that serves downtown and the Mansfield-Ontario area.

[edit] Air

Mansfield is served by Mansfield Lahm Airport, a city-owned and operated, joint usage facility with global ties, located about four miles north of downtown.

[edit] Main tourist attractions

  • Kingwood Center, a 47 acre estate and gardens, former home of Ohio Brass industrialist Charles Kelly King
  • Malabar Farm State Park, country home and farm of Mansfield native and Pulitzer Prize winning author Louis Bromfield, and location of Humphrey Bogart's wedding to Lauren Bacall
  • Renaissance Theatre, a historic 1600-seat theatre in downtown Mansfield, opened in 1929 as the Ohio Theatre
  • Mansfield Playhouse, Ohio's second oldest, and one of its most successful community theatres
  • The Miss Ohio Pageant (Miss America preliminary), hosted by Mansfield since 1975, and staged annually at the Renaissance Theatre
  • Richland Carrousel Park, located in downtown Mansfield's Historic Carrousel District
  • Snow Trails Ski Resort, Ohio's oldest ski resort opened in 1961, and highest at 1475 feet, with 16 runs, and is one of the few skiing locations in Ohio.
  • Clearfork Ski Resort, south of Mansfield near Butler
  • Mohican State Park, south of Mansfield near Loudonville
  • Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, south of Mansfield near Lexington
  • Living Bible Museum (aka "Bible Walk")
  • Mansfield Motorsports Speedway

[edit] Mansfield natives

[edit] Special interest

[edit] Film Industry

The old Ohio State Reformatory, constructed by famous local architect F.F. Schnitzer to resemble a German castle, is located north of downtown Mansfield, and has been the location for many major films, including The Shawshank Redemption, Harry and Walter Go to New York, Air Force One and Tango & Cash. Most of the prison yard has now been demolished to make room for expansion of the adjacent Mansfield Correctional Facility, but the Reformatory's Gothic-style Administration Building remains standing, and due to its prominent use in films, and has become a tourist attraction. The building is used annually as a haunted attraction during the Halloween season, known as the "Haunted Reformatory", and is visited by people from all over Ohio who travel to Mansfield every year to take part in the haunted tour.

[edit] The Highway Safety Foundation

From the 1950s through the 1970s, Mansfield was the home of the infamous Highway Safety Foundation, the organization that created the controversial driver's education scare films that featured gruesome film photography taken at fatal automobile accidents in the Mansfield area. The films include Signal 30, Mechanized Death, Wheels of Tragedy, Highways of Agony among many others. The Highway Safety Foundation also created other controversial education films, including The Child Molestor, and Camera Surveillance (AKA Mansfield, Ohio Tearoom Busts).

[edit] Food industry

Mansfield is the home of three well-known food companies:

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ In the Heartland: An Ohio Road Trip by RV, Part II by By Harry Basch & Shirley Slater, retrieved September 8, 2006 from http://www.frommers.com/articles/533.html
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