Akron, Ohio
Akron, which is also known as Tire City and the Rubber Capital of the World for its extensive industrial heritage, has been voted one of the top ten technological havens and has some of the best hospitals in the country. Not only does Akron have a 150-year history of being on the forefront of industry, it's also the birthplace of discovery. Amazing things happen in this humble town of just under 200,000 Akronites. To keep this city active, its schools are ranked among the best in the midwest, and are on the cusp of the best new practices.
Akron is more than just a great place to learn and work for those who live here. This city also boasts a lot of enjoyable ways to get out and get rowdy. For instance, there is an outdoor amphitheater, a 19,000 square foot skate park and a national park. With so many great places to go, Akronites have tons of ways to have a good time. While the city of Akron is not as large as is neighbor Cleveland, Akron's culture and continual drive to technologically innovate and constantly remake itself ensure it will continue to hold its own against its larger and better known neighbors.
Akron is a great place to live in. There are intriquing options in entertainment, education, affordable living and many other benefits the city offers its residents. People of any age or any profession will surely find the city exciting and vivacious to their own liking.
Akron History
The town of Akron first came into being in 1811, when Paul Williams suggested the idea of a town on a high point to surveyor Simon Perkins. Both men thought the idea was good, and laid it out in 1825. When the towns of South Akron and North Akron merged together in 1836, they became an incorporated village. The town benefitted largely by transportation and trade, and became an early center of numerous industries. Some of the largest were stoneware clay, sewer pipes, farm equipment and fishing tackle.
Industry and education have always been given significant importance in Akron. In 1847 the Akron School Law began the modern K-12 system, which spread throughout the country. In the early days, industries such as oatmeal, toys and even oat bars supplied the country at large, the Union Army and the town of Akron's work force. In 1924 numerous visitors came from around the country to visit Akron's revolutionary school system, which gave children employed in factories the education required by law. Later on, Akron essentially created the rubber tire industry with the formation of every major tire company. This is why Akron came to be known as the Rubber Capital of the World and Tire City.
Beyond mere job training, Akron's post-secondary offerings are second to none in several fields. For one thing, in 1974 Akron Children's Hospital was able to treat burn victims with the world's first grown human skin. As well, considering the immense importance of the polymer industry to Akron, the National Polymer Innovation Center opened at the University of Akron. The University's history began in 1870 as Buchtel College, taking on its modern name in 1913. Considering the University features the world's first College of Polymer Science and an Innovation Center that opened in 2010, Akron is a city that takes higher learning to a higher level.
The local intellectual population is also extremely robust. Nobel Prize laureate Richard Smalley and Stanford Ovshinsky hail from the city. Smalley discovered buckminsterfullerene or bucky balls, and Ovshinsky invented nickel-metal hydride batteries.
Akron has taken a very proactive approach to crime from the very beginning of its existence. While the entire area was once a haven for violent crime as well as mob and KKK activity, Akron's police force literally invented the patrol car in the late 19th century to combat it at the highest level. While all cities will inevitably have to contend with humanity's worse tendencies, Akron's inventiveness and proactivity have served her people well. No doubt this innovative city will continue to do all it can to stay ahead of the criminal element.
About Akron, Ohio
Akron is a place where great things happen. The city home to all kinds of different manufacturing organizations, at one point it included all four of the major tire manufacturing companies. Since the 19th century, different types of companies were set up here, including one which produced oat bars for the Union army, the Akron Toy Company, and even Lockheed Martin. The economic impact on the area due to Akron's influence has been incredible, and is a lasting trend. The city has even installed a wifi corridor in its downtown area, providing easy Internet access to all. Of course, the industries need to be supported by a solid structure of schools engaging enough to nurture the next generation of great minds.
Akron's school system has come a long way since the 1850s, when almost one in ten students hadn't even been born in the USA. This trend actually continued into the 1920s, when Akron instituted an Americanization program that was all but unprecedented throughout the country. While Akron began its life as merely a center of trade, the school systems have been on the cutting edge of midwestern development, rivaling the coasts in their use of charter schools, online schools and other pilot programs. There is a lot of work to be done, and much of it requires wearing a white collar. There are more than just factories in Akron.
The educational excellence doesn't end at the secondary level, as the University of Akron has a College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering. With so many highly educated professional positions waiting to be taken up as one generation retires, Akron's school system is well poised to place generations of young people in great careers yet to come.
The culture of Akron is a cornucopia of history and modern interest. In addition to offering a wifi corridor downtown, the city features the E. J. Thomas Hall. This large performance hall can actually change size as its ceiling moves to accentuate the amazing sounds produced live therein. Akron has defined a great deal of American cuisine, partially due to being the home of Quaker Oats and partly for the Hoppin' Frog Brewing Company's BORIS-The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout, which took the Great American Beer Festival by storm in 2008.
In addition to a full roster of the University of Akron's sports teams, the city has been hosting a soap box derby and women's professional mud wrestling since the 1930s. As well, the city hosts an annual marathon, and will host several events of the Gay Games in 2014.
About Summit County, Ohio
The city of Akron is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio. Having been named for being the highest point on the Ohio and Erie Canal, Summit County is 420 square miles in size and is in the heart of the Midwest. Its name comes from a Greek word meaning "at the summit." Summit County is one of only two counties out of a total of 88 in Ohio that operate under a charter.
Originally, the land which now forms Summit County was part of Medina, Portage and Stark Counties. However, due to the great geographic difference and the convergence of shipping lanes, this land was taken and formed into a county of its own in March of 1840. This county is composed of thirteen cities, nine villages and nine townships, with several former townships which have been absorbed into the remaining ones. The northern section of the county prominently features the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and the southern section features a small amount of the Connecticut Western Reserve.
The population of Summit County was just over half a million people in the year 2000, with just over 200,000 households. The standard makeup of these households is caucasian, English-speaking married couples of German ancestry. The average household has just under 2.5 people living in it.
The average annual income for a household as of 2000 was roughly $42,000 per year. Interestingly, the average income for a family living in Summit County was $52,000, despite the average family size only being slightly larger than the average household size. While nearly 10% of the total population was below the poverty line, only 7.5% of families were at such a low income level. Women outnumber men with less than nine men for every ten women. The average age of people living in Summit County was 37 years old as of the 2000 Census.
The population has grown for all but five Censuses since 1840, partially due to the heavy job-creating influences of cities such as Cleveland and Akron. However, the population has been diminishing by an average of nearly 3% for three of the past five Censuses taken.