Favorite Smaller Ohio City (Cleveland, Hamilton: crime, houses, public school)

[BuckeyePorcupine]

There was a thread posted about everyone's favorite major Ohio city. Let's see some love for the smaller ones. Try not to include obvious suburbs if you can, concentrate on towns that stand on their own as much as possible.

What do you like about your smaller Ohio city of choice? Have you lived there? What makes it unique? What do you recommend to visitors?

[USNRET04]

I was raised in Medina, about 30 miles south of Cleveland. Just went back this past June and, while the city is busier, it's still a very nice place to live. The area that is called the "Square" is my favorite and the city leaders have done a lot to provide great activities during the summer for the residents. Lot's of historic significance in the "Square". One side of town has all of amenities one would need for shopping and dining. Schools are good and there seems to be a lot of civic pride.

[cbusflyer]

Athens baby!!! Court Street, name that fest of the week. Halloween. Love that place.

[SWOH]

In southwest Ohio, Troy, Mariemont, Oakwood, Milford, Greenhills (because of its history and planning), Urbana, and Greenville would probably be my favorites. Hamilton and Kettering too if they were small enough. For unincorporated towns, Fairhaven (off OH 177 between Hamilton and Richmond) is by far my favorite.

Otherwise, around the state my favorites would be Chillicothe, Marietta, Gambier, Independence, Coschoton, Bexley, Findlay, Port Clinton, Lakewood, Cleveland Heights, Willoughby, Geneva on the Lake, and Bluffton.

[TheYO]

Originally Posted by cbusflyer

Athens baby!!! Court Street, name that fest of the week. Halloween. Love that place.

+1 for Athens! Spent the best four years of my life down there. It's a beautiful town in the hills. Ohio University has a gorgeous campus, and Court Street is amazing.

I miss that place. Is it homecoming yet?

[Natural510]

Yellow Springs, I think its reputation speaks for itself

[RustBeltOptimist]

Originally Posted by Natural510

Yellow Springs, I think its reputation speaks for itself

I have a pretty long list:

Yellow Springs - I think others have said why

Athens - ditto

Granville - if you want to experience the best of the four seasons in Ohio, go here. Seriously, just do a Google image search to see why:

https://www.google.com/search?q=gran...w=1280&bih=620

Van Wert - a very friendly, quiet town with lots of old, beautiful houses a nice library to sit and read, a charming B&B type of place that's a bit of an unexpected find in that part of the state.

Oberlin - young highly skilled musicians and their faculty playing regularly during the school year makes for a more cultured experience than you get in a lot of small towns.

Put-In-Bay - Definitely during the summer one of the best places in Ohio to visit, not so much during the winter, from what I've been told.

Matamoras - the town itself isn't that great, or particularly friendly to strangers (which is sort of ironic since Friendly, West Virginia is on the other side of the river) but it's surrounded by some of Ohio's best camping/hiking outdoor adventure wilderness.

Oxford - it can get too rowdy during weekends when school's in session, but otherwise, the downtown's happening and there are lots of cultural events taking place.


There are other small Ohio towns I like, I tend to get drawn to those with colleges like Granville, Oxford and Oberlin, but also Delawar, Wooster, Gambier, Xenia and a few others.

[BuckeyePorcupine]

Originally Posted by OHKID

In southwest Ohio, Troy, Mariemont, Oakwood, Milford, Greenhills (because of its history and planning), Urbana, and Greenville would probably be my favorites. Hamilton and Kettering too if they were small enough. For unincorporated towns, Fairhaven (off OH 177 between Hamilton and Richmond) is by far my favorite.

Otherwise, around the state my favorites would be Chillicothe, Marietta, Gambier, Independence, Coschoton, Bexley, Findlay, Port Clinton, Lakewood, Cleveland Heights, Willoughby, Geneva on the Lake, and Bluffton.

Glad to see someone else give Chillicothe some love. I grew up there and have mixed feelings about the city. The crime and drug use down there got bad and there's a lack of motivation or civic pride among much of its young adults.

Chillicothe has a lot of potential, though; especially with the location it has and the history of the area. I think Chillicothe would do well to attract at least one more big business to bring more jobs and hope. Also, no more chain restaurants or chain stores! Bridge Street has just become a strip of ugly American big business. More local/regional-based flavor would help the city a lot.

[Mountainsofmisery]

I second Granville, home of Denison University. It's as if a small village from MA was uprooted and placed in central Ohio. Fantastic school system, once making the Wall Street Journal's list of top 10 public school systems.

[Ohiogirl81]

East Liverpool, home of Hall China and the Ohio Pottery Museum.