For the love of God, Oxford is NOT part of Cincinnati

[Briolat21]

Originally Posted by OHKID

Great points Briolat21. I paired it down to the above section because this may change even more rapidly if the 63 extension to Oxford happens:

BCEO - State Route 63 Extension
http://www.bceo.org/SR63_PioneerPkwyBrochure.pdf

Monroe's going to fight it tooth and nail, but it's inevitable (even coming from an anti-sprawl guy like me, there's just too much going for this project to prevent it from happening).



But back on topic. Oxford is rural. I currently attend Miami U (which is basically why the town is there), and we view ourselves as closest to Hamilton. So if we were asked what's the nearest bigger city, we'd say Hamilton. As a town, the better roads lead to Cincinnati (US 27), so in general it's safer to say Oxford is in the Cincinnati metro, than say Monroe, where it is highly debatable whether or not it's considered to be part of Cincy or Dayton (or Middletown, which is decidedly a part of the Dayton metro IMO). Getting to Dayton requires meandering on back roads.

Oxford does receive both Cincinnati and Dayton channels. In the dorms, most channels are out of Cincy, with the exception of Channel 7 CBS out of Dayton (Channel 12 CBS Cincinnati is also offered). In most off-campus housing, Dayton stations are the preferred cable package. In my apt, I only have an antenna + Roku, so the only channel I receive is Channel 64 out of Cincy (Why that's one only I don't know).

Interestingly, three things tie Miami/Oxford close to Dayton (maybe even closer than Cincinnati)
1. The prevalence of Cleveland area students at Miami. A conservative estimate would say 25% of all Miami students are from NE Ohio. All of these students come through the Dayton metro to get to Oxford. Since Miami students rarely leave Oxford, they more closely associate Oxford with Dayton than Cincy.

2. Outside service vendors / contractors / other "regional" players come from Dayton, not Cincy. From the chocolates we offer on campus (Winan's out of Dayton) to the contracts we use on campus (like Scarff's nursery out of New Carlisle to all of the other contractors, primarily out of Dayton) and even our media market (Cox media services, again out of Dayton), we're tied a lot closer to Dayton in subtle ways than Cincy. Fortunately, as weird as it sounds, this made the transition to going to college at Miami a lot easier than it otherwise would have been.

3. Most students flying to Oxford or out of Oxford to go to wherever they are going fly through Dayton, not Cincy. I can say this from 4+ years of experience now. Probably 3 out of every 4 flights I hear about are out of Dayton.

I can understand that. Funny how your tv stations help you to identify with a certain location.

My direcTV package gives us Cinci local channels ... the brief period of time we used strictly over the air antenna - we received both Dayton and Cincinnati (we live in Lebanon, arguably about 1/2 way btw Cinci/Dayton). We identify as part of Cinci metro (likely because we both work in WestChester)

Personally I'd love a 63 expansion to Oxford, as right now if we want to go over for a game or event - its a winding pain. (thru Hamilton, or thru Trenton, or towards Middletown and over).

I think eventually the in-between areas will become more developed. Especially as butler county is pretty hot for development again. But I acknowledge it could easily be another several decades before it fills in to the point that Oxford seems "part of" the area, rather than an isolated point on the edge.

[abr7rmj]

Have always just considered Oxford part of the Cincinnati-Dayton region, which is why it will be peppered with local products/services like the aforementioned chocolates or LaBullBoxer31 or local beer from Dayton or Cincinnati. Just because it is a "rural" campus setting doesn't detatch it from its regional surroundings.

Bowling Green, where I went to college, most definitely identifies with Toledo despite about 10 solid, uniterrupted miles of rural farmland and other non-development between the two.