Lima, Ohio

In the years after the American Revolution, the Shawnee were the most prominent residents of west central Ohio, growing in numbers and permanency after the 1794 Treaty of Greenville. By 1817, the United States had created the Hog Creek Reservation for the local Shawnee, covering portions of what would become Allen and Auglaize counties, and including part of present-day Lima.[8]

The creation of the Shawnee reservation freed other lands in the area for settlement, and in February 1820, the Ohio legislature formally established Allen County. In 1831, the Shawnee were forced to surrender all their land in the area to the United States and relocated to Kansas, opening all of Allen County to settlement. The Ohio legislature mandated that a county seat be established and "Lima" was the result.

The name "Lima" was reputedly chosen in a nod to the Peruvian capital which, during the 1800s, was a major source of quinine, an anti-malaria drug for which there had been a demand in the region, an area known as the Great Black Swamp.[9]

Allen County Courthouse

Since 1831, Lima has been the center of government for Allen County, the first of its three courthouses erected in the city's first year. The foundations of city life followed in quick order. The first school appeared in 1832. Lima's first physician, Dr. William Cunningham, arrived in 1831. 1836 brought the first newspaper to Lima. Lima was officially organized as a city in 1842. Henry DeVilliers Williams was its first mayor. The first public school opened in 1850. In 1854, the first train appeared in Lima, a harbinger of later economic success.

Also in 1854, a cholera outbreak in Delphos (a town in Allen County northwest of Lima) spread throughout west central Ohio. Countywide problems caused by the contaminated water supply were not solved until 1886 when Lima started a municipal water system. Lima's role as a regional center for industry began early. The Lima Agricultural Works began operations in 1869. The company changed names and types of manufacturing through the years. In 1882, under the name Lima Machine Works, the industry built the first Shay-geared locomotive.

Stimulated by the economic boom in nearby Findlay, in 1885 Lima businessman Benjamin C. Faurot drilled for natural gas at his paper mill. On May 19, oil was discovered instead of gas. The oil well never realized enormous profits, but it triggered Lima's oil industry, bringing John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil to the city. Lima's oil field was, for about a decade, the largest in the US.

Economic development brought money for arts and entertainment. Benjamin Faurot's Opera House opened in 1882, a nationally renowned structure so impressive that New Yorkers used it as a model for their own theaters. In 1907, Lima built its first movie theater.

A 1914 women's suffrage march in Lima, Ohio.

In the early 20th century, Benjamin A. Gramm and his close friend Max Bernstein formed the Gramm-Bernstein Company, which became a pioneer in the motor truck industry. During World War I, Gramm created the "Liberty truck", which was welcomed upon its arrival in Washington, D.C., by President Woodrow Wilson. Thousands were sent to Europe to help the Allied war effort.

After World War I, Allen County's population growth lagged the state and the nation. Galvin was an assistant superintendent at the Peru Steel Casting Co. of Peru, Ind. He then became acting manager at American Steel Foundries in Pittsburgh.[10] In 1921, Lima voters approved a change in the structure of Lima city government. Voters now elected five commissioners, with the commission chair serving as mayor. The charter sought to establish professional management, requiring the commissioners to hire a city manager, who reported to the mayor. Lima proved itself to be very much in the Progressive tradition with these changes, after flirting with radicalism in 1912 when the voters elected a Socialist mayor.

The darker side of the progressive era revealed itself in the prominence of the Ku Klux Klan in the city. It was a center for the Black Legion, a notoriously violent subset of the Klan. On August 1, 1923, a KKK parade in Lima drew a crowd estimated at 100,000 people.

Economically, the 1920s were a time of industrial expansion in Lima. In 1925, Lima Locomotive Works, Inc. built the "Lima A-1", a 2-8-4 model that became the prototype for the modern steam locomotive. The Locomotive Works also created a new division, the Ohio Power Shovel Company. In 1927, local industrialist John E. Galvin helped found Superior Coach Company. It became the world's largest producer of school buses and funeral coaches within two decades. In 1930, eight railroad companies served Lima.

Allen County's population grew significantly faster than the state during the Great Depression. In 1933, Lima again reorganized its government. The citizens adopted a "strong mayor" model to replace the city manager of the 1920s. Despite the hardships of the decade, Lima residents supported the construction of a hospital to serve the area. Lima Memorial Hospital, named in honor of World War I veterans, opened on Memorial Day, 1933.

The Lima area was not safe from the increased crime rate of the 1930s. In 1933, gangster John Dillinger was in the Allen County Jail, arrested for robbing the Citizens National Bank in nearby Bluffton. Dillinger's cohorts broke him out of jail, killing Allen County Sheriff Jess Sarber in the process. The murder and jailbreak put Dillinger at the top of the FBI's ten most wanted list. His was not the only crime outfit to plague Lima during the decade. In 1936, the notorious Brady Gang robbed a local jewelry store twice.

The Great Depression slowed the pace of industrial expansion. In 1930, a Lima directory listed 93 industrial employers with some 8,000 employees. By 1934, industrial employment was reduced by half. In 1935, Westinghouse located a Small Motor Division in Lima to build fractional horsepower electric motors. The Ohio Steel Foundry turned the corner and grew, eventually expanding its successes in its industry. The 1930s was a decade for organizing labor in Lima. By 1940, there were at least fifty labor unions representing local workers.

Lima benefited from increased production during World War II and a growing population, but suffered a significant economic decline at the end of the decade when industry retooled for peacetime production. In May 1941, based in the steel foundry, construction began on the Lima Army Tank Plant to manufacture centrifugally cast gun tubes. In November 1942, United Motors Services took over operation of the plant to process vehicles under government contract. The plant prepared many vehicles for Europe, including the M5 light tank and the T-26 Pershing tank. At its peak during the war, the Lima Tank Depot (now the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, operated by General Dynamics), employed over 5,000 people.

The area's expanding population in the 1940s and 1950s brought hospital and school expansion. St Rita's Hospital, founded in 1918, opened a seven-story addition in 1948. With voter support, school leadership built six new elementary schools and the new centralized Lima Senior High School during the 1950s. Lima's industrial production grew in the decade. During the Korean War, the Lima Tank Depot resumed manufacturing, at a level expanded from World War II standards.

During the 1960s, Lima experienced both growth and community unrest. In 1962, a new Allen County Airport was built in Perry Township. With the passage of the city income tax in 1966, Lima constructed a new facility for the Lima Police Department. Also during the 1960s, The Ohio State University established a regional campus in Lima.

Civil rights issues had rocked Lima in the 1950s, perhaps most prominently in the efforts to desegregate the city's only public swimming pool in Schoonover Park. Civil unrest continued in the 1960s and into the 1970s.

In January 1969, a crude oil line in south Lima ruptured, causing 77,000 US gallons (290,000 L) of oil to escape into the city's sewer system. Explosions and fire erupted from sewers as 7,000 residents were evacuated. Governor Jim Rhodes ordered the Ohio National Guard into the area to maintain order. In August 1970, further conflict erupted when a black woman was killed by police as she tried to prevent the arrest of a juvenile. Several officers were wounded in the violence that followed. Mayor Christian P. Morris declared a state of emergency and the National Guard was again called in to aid local police.

During the 1970s and 1980s, a number of industries left Lima, part of the "Rust Belt" decline affecting all of Ohio. In April 1971, the last "Cincinnatian," of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stopped in Lima. The Cincinnatian was an iconic lightweight streamliner serving the B&O's Detroit line from Cincinnati. Lima had also been served by the Pennsylvania Railroad's "Broadway Limited," a high speed New York to Chicago service, the "Capital Limited" Chicago to Washington D.C. service, via Pittsburgh, the Nickel Plate Road's "Blue Arrow," and "Blue Dart," which provided high speed service to Buffalo, Cleveland and St. Louis, and the Erie Lackawanna's "Lake Cities," which provided service to New York, Cleveland, and Chicago with direct service both ways. Many of these services were maintained by Amtrak until 1991, when the former Erie Lackawanna and Pennsylvania Railroad mainlines between New York and Chicago were downgraded.

In 1973, Lima's District Tuberculosis Center, which served five counties, closed its doors. Superior Coach Company, once the nation's largest producer of buses, closed in 1981, as did Clark Equipment. Airfoil Textron closed in 1985, and Sundstrand (formerly Westinghouse) followed ten years later. By the mid-1990s, Lima had lost more than 8,000 jobs. Lima's population dropped from 52,000 in the 1970s to 45,000 in 1999. Lima's plight and its subsequent efforts to re-define itself were captured in the PBS documentary Lost in Middle America.

The Lima Locomotive Works – "the Loco," as it was commonly called in Lima – had its beginnings in 1869 when John Carnes and four partners bought a machine shop that was called the Lima Agricultural Works. The company initially manufactured and repaired agricultural equipment, then moved into the production of steam power equipment and sawmill machinery. The shop designed its first narrow-gauge steam locomotive in 1878. The same year, the shop first worked on a geared locomotive designed by Michigan lumberman Ephraim Shay. The Shay locomotive was built for steep grades, heavy loads and tight turns. In 1881, Shay granted the Lima works an exclusive license to manufacture his locomotives. By 1882, locomotives were the company's main product. In time, the Lima Locomotive Works – a name formally adopted in 1916 – would produce 2,761 Shay locomotives, which were sent to 48 states and 24 foreign countries. As of 2005, some were in use 100 years after they were shipped.

By 1910, the company was moving aggressively into direct-drive locomotives for general railroad use. A new "super power" design, introduced in 1925, enabled Lima to capture 20% of the national market for locomotives. The "super power" locomotive was created by mechanical engineer William E. Woodard. Designed to make more efficient use of steam at high speed, it became, in the words of railroad historian Eric Hirsimaki, "one of the most influential locomotives in the history of steam power". Later years saw the introduction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway 2-6-6-6, one of the largest locomotives ever built, and the glamorous Southern Pacific "Daylights," designed to complement the Pacific Coast scenery.

The locomotive works dabbled in other product lines. It produced railroad cars in the early years and acquired the Ohio Power Shovel Company in 1928. During World War II, the plant produced 1,655 Sherman tanks. Employment grew from 150 in the 1890s to 1,100 in 1912 and 2,000 in 1915, peaking at 4,300 in 1944. Over the course of its history, the Locomotive Works was a microcosm of the community, a place where each successive wave of newcomers took its place in turn. First the Germans and Italians, later African-Americans and ultimately women joining the work force during World War II. Labor organizing efforts were under way at the plant at least by the 1890s.

Post-war mergers attempting to keep the plant operating created the Lima-Hamilton Corporation in 1947 and later Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton in 1950. The last steam locomotive built at the plant, Nickel Plate No. 779, was delivered May 13, 1949. It is now on display in Lima's Lincoln Park. The final diesel locomotive, built by Lima-Hamilton, was delivered in 1951. After the end of locomotive production, the plant continued to produce cranes and road building equipment. The plant was sold to Clark Equipment in 1971. Clark employed 1,500 as late as 1974, but the plant closed permanently in 1981. As of 2006, the Lima Locomotive Works plant has been razed.

As of the census[20] of 2010, there were 38,771 people, 14,221 households, and 8,319 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,857.1 inhabitants per square mile (1,103.1/km²). There were 16,784 housing units at an average density of 1,236.8 per square mile (477.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 67.1% White, 26.4% African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 1.2% from other races, and 4.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.7% of the population.

There were 14,221 households, of which 33.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.8% were married couples living together, 22.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41.5% were non-families. 33.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.09.

The median age in the city was 32.9 years. 24.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 13.3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26.9% were from 25 to 44; 23.6% were from 45 to 64; and 11.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 52.8% male and 47.2% female.

As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 40,081 people, 15,410 households, and 9,569 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,135.0 inhabitants per square mile (1,210.4/km²). There were 17,631 housing units at an average density of 1,379.0 per square mile (532.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 71.30% White, 24.48% African American, 0.31% Native American, 0.51% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.97% from other races, and 2.42% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.97% of the population.

There were 15,410 households, out of which 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.3% were married couples living together, 19.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.9% were non-families. 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the city the population was spread out, with 27.2% under the age of 18, 11.5% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $27,067, and the median income for a family was $32,405. Males had a median income of $29,149 versus $22,100 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,882. About 19.2% of families and 22.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.3% of those under age 18 and 14.3% of those age 65 or over.

Published authors from Lima have produced poetry collections, scholarly works, novels and memoirs.

• Donald Richie first published The Inland Sea in 1970. It was later turned into a documentary on PBS.[21]
• Marilyn R. Stark has produced novels (e.g., Broken Arrow, Broken Promises) and historical nonfiction (e.g. Lima/Allen County, Ohio: a Pictorial History).
• Lynn Lauber, a New York novelist, wrote 21 Sugar Street and White Girls, published by WW Norton, both somewhat fictionalizing her Lima growing-up years during the 1960s (in "Union, Ohio").
• Phyllis Diller published an autobiography, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse, that describes her downtown Lima girlhood in detail.

Musical comedy-drama television series Glee is set in the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, although the show was actually filmed in Los Angeles, California.

Lima was also the focus of the 1999 TV documentary Lost in Middle America (and What Happened Next) directed by Scott Craig.[22]

Famed stand-up comic Lenny Bruce did a comedy routine entitled "Lima, Ohio", in which he talked about the several weeks he once spent during the 1950s booked at a club in Lima. The routine appeared on his record album American.

In the 1999 heist film The Thomas Crown Affair, lead actress Rene Russo's character is an insurance adjuster from Lima, Ohio. Lead actor Pierce Brosnan made a mistake during filming and pronounced Lima incorrectly.

The fictional killer of Buckwheat in 1983 episodes of Saturday Night Live, John David Stutts, was reported to be from Lima, Ohio.[23]

The Client in the Charlie's Angels episode "Angels in Springtime" mentions that she is from Lima, Ohio.

Christian, the male lead of Moulin Rouge!, says he is from Lima, Ohio.

In James Patterson’s 1986 novel “Black Market”, one of the principal characters, Caitlin, is from Lima, Ohio.

In January 1953, a committee composed of John LaRotonda, Ben Schultz, Dom Trovarelli and Fred Mills organized the Lima Symphony Orchestra. This committee selected Lawrence Burkhalter as the Symphony's first conductor and the LSO made its debut performance on May 23, 1954, in the Central High School auditorium.

Lima is served by one daily newspaper, The Lima News. In addition to the immediate Allen County area, the paper serves residents in Auglaize, Hancock, Hardin, Logan, Mercer, Putnam, Shelby and Van Wert counties.

As of the 2016–2017 television season, Lima is ranked by Nielsen Media Research as the second smallest television market in Ohio, ahead of only Zanesville, and the 190th nationwide.[25] The Lima area is served by four major broadcast stations, with three of those stations based in the city. WLIO 8 serves as its NBC affiliate (with Fox/MyNetworkTV on DT2), while low-powered sister station WOHL-CD 35.1 operates as the market's ABC affiliate, with CBS on 35.2.

WLMA 44 serves as a religious/family-entertainment station. The market's PBS member station, WBGU-TV 27, is based out of Bowling Green State University and also serves as a secondary PBS member station for the nearby Toledo market. CW viewers are served on cable by that network's Dayton affiliate, WBDT.[26]

The Lima area is served by 22 FM and 3 AM radio stations.