For the love of God, Oxford is NOT part of Cincinnati (Cleveland: dorms, contractors)

[kpl1228]

It's 42 miles and the length of two counties away, for crying out loud. Just because you can daily pull off the long drive doesn't mean it's a Cincinnati suburb. Especially if you're driving there from a northern suburb.
Quit claiming it.

[joe from dayton]

I don't know what started this thread but, having lived in Oxford myself, it is certainly not part of Cinci. It is really in the middle of nowhere. Greater Richmond, perhaps?

[unusualfire]

Originally Posted by joe from dayton

I don't know what started this thread but, having lived in Oxford myself, it is certainly not part of Cinci. It is really in the middle of nowhere. Greater Richmond, perhaps?

It's in Butler County which is in Ohio which is a part of the Cincinnati MSA.

[kpl1228]

Is ALL of Butler county part of Cincy MSA? Also its barely in Butler county.almost to Preble.

[flashes1]

I don't recall anyone saying it was part of Cinti; however, as the prior poster mentioned it is in the general area, so weatherman, etc, do mention it. But that doesn't make it part of Cinti proper.

And quite frankly, I didn't know it was only 42 miles from downtown. Is this true? If so, it's A LOT closer than I thought it was. A lot of people in big cities like Atl, LA and DC commute farther away. Kinda cool if Oxford is really that close.

[Wilson513]

Of course Oxford is in the Cincinnati Metropolitan Area. I didn't need to look at the US Census web site to confirm it, but anyone who thinks otherwise is welcome to do so.

[kpl1228]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

Of course Oxford is in the Cincinnati Metropolitan Area. I didn't need to look at the US Census web site to confirm it, but anyone who thinks otherwise is welcome to do so.

Alright, looked at the MSA. Technically it is. Damn! But Clinton County is too. I think they're both a stretch. I'm also not convinced that just because a place is technically part of the MSA, that's it's part of what people think is Cincinnati. City proper, suburb, exurb, whatever. You gotta go through a whole lotta open space (and corn) to get to Oxford, and not much in between.

[progmac]

our MSA is like 20+ counties and encompasses 5 different area codes. I'm not sure how many in this area identify with Cincinnati or how strongly.

[Briolat21]

Originally Posted by kpl1228

Alright, looked at the MSA. Technically it is. Damn! But Clinton County is too. I think they're both a stretch. I'm also not convinced that just because a place is technically part of the MSA, that's it's part of what people think is Cincinnati. City proper, suburb, exurb, whatever. You gotta go through a whole lotta open space (and corn) to get to Oxford, and not much in between.

When I was a kid (the distant '70s) the drive from the near East side suburbs of Detroit to Ann Arbor felt like it took about 4 hours because the amount of Farmland (once you got out the other side of Detroit) was "huge".

In reality it took about 1 hour. (about 55 miles depending on start/end points)

By the time I was a young adult living right next to Ann Arbor - the intervening 20 years had filled in the farm fields, such that it is now all built up along I-94 btw AA and Detroit (and even now the further East exurbs).

Which is to say, Oxford feels a million miles away because A) there's no direct freeway access and B) there's a lot of empty space in between.

However its not really that far away at all, and at some point (if the population of the area continues increasing rather than decreasing) development may continue to expand to the point that Oxford (while still a city in its own right) feels very natural as a part of the Cinci "metro" area.

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by Briolat21

Which is to say, Oxford feels a million miles away because A) there's no direct freeway access and B) there's a lot of empty space in between.

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.