Lima, Ohio
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Lima ( ) is a city in and the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
of
Allen County, Ohio Allen County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The county seat is Lima. The county was created in 1820 and organized in 1831. The county is named in honor of Colonel John Allen, who was killed leading his ...
, United States. The municipality is located in
northwest Ohio Northwest Ohio, or Northwestern Ohio, consists of multiple counties in the northwestern corner of the US state of Ohio. This area borders Lake Erie, Southeast Michigan, and northeastern Indiana. Some areas are also considered the Black Swamp are ...
along
Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...
approximately north of
Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
, southwest of Toledo, and southeast of
Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 35,579. It is the principal city of the
Lima, Ohio metropolitan statistical area The Lima metropolitan statistical area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of one county – Allen – in Northwest Ohio, anchored by the city of Lima. As of the 2000 census, the MSA had a population of 108,473 ...
, which is included in the
Lima–Van Wert–Wapakoneta, OH, combined statistical area The Lima–Van Wert–Wapakoneta Combined Statistical Area (CSA) is made up of three counties in Northwest Ohio. The Lima Metropolitan Statistical Area and two Micropolitan Statistical Areas – Van Wert and Wapakoneta, are compone ...
. Lima was founded in 1831. The
Lima Army Tank Plant The Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, also known as the Lima Army Tank Plant (LATP) is a tank plant located in Lima, Ohio. It is a government-owned, contractor-operated facility currently operated by General Dynamics Land Systems. Workers at the ...
, officially called the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, built in 1941, is the sole producer of the
M1 Abrams The M1 Abrams is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare and now one of the heaviest ta ...
.


History

Lima was named after
Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...
, Peru's capital city.


Shawnee and establishment

In the years after the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, the
Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
were the most prominent residents of west central Ohio, growing in numbers and permanency after the 1794
Treaty of Greenville The Treaty of Greenville, formally titled Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous nations of the Northwest Territory (now Midwestern United States), including the Wyandot and Delaware peoples, ...
. By 1817, the United States had created the Hog Creek Reservation for the local Shawnee, covering portions of what would become
Allen Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Unive ...
and Auglaize counties, and including part of present-day Lima. 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 Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
, opening all of Allen County to settlement. The Ohio legislature mandated that a
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
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 Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg cr ...
, an anti-
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
drug for which there had been a demand in the region, an area known as the
Great Black Swamp The Great Black Swamp (also known simply as the Black Swamp) was a glacially fed wetland in northwest Ohio, sections of lower Michigan, and extreme northeast Indiana, United States, that existed from the end of the Wisconsin glaciation until th ...
.


Leadership and growth

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 surgeon, Doctor William McHenry arrived in 1834. 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 Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
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 A water supply network or water supply system is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components that provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes the following: # A drainage basin (see water purification – source ...
. 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 A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...
. 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 John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...
's
Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
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. In the early 20th century, Benjamin A. Gramm and his close friend Max Bernstein formed the
Gramm-Bernstein Company Gramm-Bernstein Company, also known as Gramm Motor Car Co. and Gramm Truck Co., was an automobile company in Lima, Ohio in the early 20th century. The company was an early manufacturer of power wagons and advertised 1, 2, 3, and 5 ton models wit ...
, which became a pioneer in the motor truck industry. During World War I, Gramm created the "
Liberty truck The Class-B Standardized Military Truck or "Liberty Truck" was a heavy-duty truck produced by the United States Army during World War I. It was designed by the Quartermaster Corps with help from the Society of Automotive Engineers in 1917 in an e ...
", which was welcomed upon its arrival in Washington, D.C., by President
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
. Thousands were sent to Europe to help the Allied war effort.


The Roaring Twenties

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. In 1921, Lima voters approved a change in the structure of Lima city government. Voters now elected five
commissioners A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
, with the commission chair serving as mayor. The charter sought to establish professional management, requiring the commissioners to hire a
city manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a "Mayor–council government" council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief execu ...
, 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 The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
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 Lima Locomotive Works was an American firm that manufactured railroad locomotives from the 1870s through the 1950s. The company took the most distinctive part of its name from its main shop's location in Lima, Ohio. The shops were located between ...
, 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 Superior Coach was a coachbuilder in the American automotive industry. Founded in 1909 as the Garford Motor Truck Company, Superior is best known for constructing bodies for professional cars (hearses) and school buses. Following major downtur ...
. It became the world's largest producer of school buses and funeral coaches within two decades. In 1930, eight railroad companies served Lima.


Great Depression

Allen County's population grew significantly faster than the state during the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. 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 Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...
, 1933. The Lima area was not safe from the increased crime rate of the 1930s. In 1933, gangster
John Dillinger John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression. He led the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dillinger was imprisoned several times and ...
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 The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives is a most wanted list maintained by the United States's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, and William K ...
. 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.


World War II

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 The Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, also known as the Lima Army Tank Plant (LATP) is a tank plant located in Lima, Ohio. It is a government-owned, contractor-operated facility currently operated by General Dynamics Land Systems. Workers at the ...
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 The M3 Stuart/Light Tank M3, was an American light tank of World War II. An improved version of the tank entered service as the M5 in 1942 to be supplied to British and other Commonwealth forces under lend-lease prior to the entry of the U.S. in ...
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 General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...
), employed over 5,000 people.


Post-war boom

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 Lima Senior High School, the only high school in the Lima City Schools District, was established in 1955, in Lima, Ohio. There are approximately 1,500 students currently enrolled at Lima Senior. Overview Lima Senior remained in the same building ...
during the 1950s. Lima's industrial production grew in the decade. During the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, the Lima Tank Depot resumed manufacturing, at a level expanded from World War II standards.


Civil rights

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 An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
in 1966, Lima constructed a new facility for the Lima Police Department. Also during the 1960s, The
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
established a regional campus in Lima. Civil rights issues had rocked Lima in the 1950s, perhaps most prominently in the efforts to
desegregate Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...
the city's only public swimming pool in Schoonover Park. Civil unrest continued in the 1960s and into the 1970s.


Rust belt decline

In January 1969, a
crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
line in south Lima ruptured, causing 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 James Allen Rhodes (September 13, 1909 – March 4, 2001) was an American Republican politician who served as Governor of Ohio from 1963 to 1971 and again from 1975 to 1983. , Rhodes was one of only seven U.S. governors to serve four four-yea ...
ordered the
Ohio National Guard The Ohio National Guard comprises the Ohio Army National Guard and the Ohio Air National Guard. The commander-in-chief of the Ohio Army National Guard is the governor of the U.S. state of Ohio. If the Ohio Army National Guard is called to fed ...
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 A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
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 The Rust Belt is a region of the United States that experienced industrial decline starting in the 1950s. The U.S. manufacturing sector as a percentage of the U.S. GDP peaked in 1953 and has been in decline since, impacting certain regions and ...
" decline affecting all of Ohio. In April 1971, the last "Cincinnatian," of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
stopped in Lima. The Cincinnatian was an iconic lightweight
streamliner A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating wikt:streamline, streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "High-speed rail, bullet trai ...
serving the B&O's Detroit line from Cincinnati. Lima had also been served by the
Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
'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 The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad , abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. Commonly referred to as the "Nickel Plate Road", the railroad served parts of the states of New York (state), Ne ...
's "Blue Arrow," and "Blue Dart," which provided high speed service to Buffalo, Cleveland and St. Louis, and the
Erie Lackawanna The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route" ...
'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 The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
until 1991, when the former Erie Lackawanna and Pennsylvania Railroad mainlines between New York and Chicago were downgraded. In 1973, Lima's District
Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
Center, which served five counties, closed its doors.
Superior Coach Company Superior Coach was a coachbuilder in the American automotive industry. Founded in 1909 as the Garford Motor Truck Company, Superior is best known for constructing bodies for professional cars (hearses) and school buses. Following major downtur ...
, 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 The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
documentary ''Lost in Middle America.''


Climate

Lima has a
Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: Dfa) where there are 4 distinct seasons.


Oil history

With the discovery of oil in Lima in 1885, Ohio began what came to be called the "Oil Boom of Northwest Ohio". Discovery actually began in Findlay, a city forty miles north of Lima. The discovery of natural gas deposits there in 1884 led to national marketing efforts advertising free gas, as Findlay's business leaders tried to "boom" the town. In 1885, Benjamin C. Faurot of Lima was one of hundreds of businessmen who visited Findlay to see the seemingly unlimited supply of natural gas burning day and night. Faurot owned the Lima Paper Mill. He spent $2,500 on energy consumption annually. Water for his operation was also a problem. So Faurot decided to drill in Lima – for gas or water. Faurot's first oil, found along the Ottawa River on May 19, 1885, was more accidental discovery than deliberate scientific experiment. During the first week, the well produced more than of oil. Faurot quickly organized local businessmen into a syndicate that would purchase oil leases from farm owners. The company was called the Trenton Rock Oil Company, and by 1886, had 250 wells from Lima to St. Marys, and west to
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
. When the news broke that northwest Ohio had oil,
Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
of Cleveland decided to build a
refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...
in Lima. Unlike
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
's oil, northwest Ohio's "sour crude" was high in
sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
content, smelling like rotten eggs, and customers shunned it. Lima's new Solar Refinery was charged with solving the sulfur problem. Until then, Standard bought and stored as much northwest Ohio crude as was possible to maintain their monopoly. It dropped the price of crude from more than sixty cents a barrel to forty cents in an attempt to discourage further production. Oil drilling fever hit northwest Ohio and "boom towns" sprang up overnight. Additional crude glutted the market, and trying to slow production, Standard Oil lowered its price to fifteen cents a barrel. This decision had little effect on the large producers elsewhere, but the smaller Lima producers, whose oil wells could not keep up, found themselves severely hampered. Fourteen independent Lima producers formed a combine – the Ohio Oil Company. Eventually, it became
Marathon Oil Marathon Oil Corporation is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration incorporated in Ohio and headquartered in the Marathon Oil Tower in Houston, Texas. A direct descendant of Standard Oil, it also runs international gas operations ...
, still located in Findlay. Lima's Solar Refinery General Manager John Van Dyke and Herman Frasch, Standard's chemist, solved the distillation problem for sour crude by devising a method for removing the sulfur. The gamble that
John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...
took building pipelines and storage tanks for Ohio's sour crude paid off. By 1901, the excitement about Ohio oil slowed with the news of a
Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...
, gusher producing . In 1911, the courts declared Standard Oil Trust a monopoly and broke it into several companies. Between 1887 and 1905, the Lima Oil Field was a world-class producer, yielding . Lima was also a pipeline center. Within three years of the discovery of oil, a trunk line reached Chicago. Lima oil lit the buildings of the
1893 World's Fair The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
. Production peaked in 1904, and then dropped off rapidly. By 1910, the field was regarded as virtually played out. Still, the Lima Refinery has survived, continuing to operate for more than 125 years under a succession of owners—Solar Refining Company (1886), a subsidiary of
Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
until the breakup in 1911,
Standard Oil of Ohio The Standard Oil Company (Ohio) was an American oil company, a successor of the original company established in 1870 by John D. Rockefeller. It was established as "Standard Oil Company of Ohio" as one of the separate entities created after the ...
(1931), BP (1987), Clark USA (1998),
Premcor Premcor (formerly NYSE symbol PCO) was a Fortune 500 oil refinery group based in Greenwich, Connecticut. It operated five refineries, which are located in Port Arthur, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; Lima, Ohio; Hartford, Illinois; and Delaware City, De ...
(2000),
Valero Energy Corporation Valero Energy Corporation is a Fortune 500 international manufacturer and marketer of transportation fuels, other petrochemical products, and power. It is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Throughout the United States and Can ...
(2005), and most recently
Husky Energy Husky Energy Inc. is a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It operates in Western and Atlantic Canada, the United States and the Asia Pacific region, with upstream and downstream business segm ...
(2007).


Railroads and locomotives

For most of its history, smokestack industries and a
blue-collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...
work ethic Work ethic is a belief that work and diligence have a moral benefit and an inherent ability, virtue or value to strengthen character and individual abilities. It is a set of values centered on importance of work and manifested by determination o ...
defined Lima. Nothing played a bigger part in shaping the city's self-image than its connection to railroads and railroading – as a Midwestern rail hub and even more as home to the
Lima Locomotive Works Lima Locomotive Works was an American firm that manufactured railroad locomotives from the 1870s through the 1950s. The company took the most distinctive part of its name from its main shop's location in Lima, Ohio. The shops were located between ...
, whose products for more than 70 years carried the city's name globally. The first
locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
appeared in Allen County in 1854, brought in from Toledo as freight on the
Miami and Erie Canal The Miami and Erie Canal was a canal that ran from Cincinnati to Toledo, Ohio, creating a water route between the Ohio River and Lake Erie. Construction on the canal began in 1825 and was completed in 1845 at a cost to the state government of $ ...
. Named the Lima, the engine was used on construction of the county's first railroad, the Ohio and Indiana. East-west passenger service to Lima began in 1856, when the Ohio & Indiana consolidated with the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago. North-south passenger service began in 1858 on the Dayton & Michigan Railroad. Machine shops for the Dayton & Michigan were built in Lima by 1860, and for the
Lake Erie and Western Railroad The Lake Erie and Western Railroad was a railroad that operated in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The Lake Erie and Western Depot Historic District at Kokomo, Indiana, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. The beginning T ...
by 1880. By the early years of the 20th century, the railroad shops employed 1,000 people in Lima. In 1906, an average of 143 trains and 7,436 cars, carrying 223,080 tons of freight, passed through Lima every 24 hours. In addition, 49 steam and 28 electric trains landed passengers in Lima daily. Lima service on the electric interurban Ohio Western Railway began in 1902 and Lima became the hub of an interurban network that reached Toledo,
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
and
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
as well as
Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
. In 1920, Lima was served by five steam railroads and Allen County by eight, in addition to five electric interurban lines. For years, Lima was a crossroads for famous passenger trains including the
Nickel Plate Road The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad , abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. Commonly referred to as the "Nickel Plate Road", the railroad served parts of the states of New York (state), Ne ...
's ''Clover Leaf'' ''Commercial Traveler'' and the
Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie ...
's ''
Erie Limited The ''Erie Limited'' was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Erie Railroad between Jersey City, New Jersey (for New York City) and Chicago, Illinois via the Southern Tier. It operated from 1929 to 1963. After the merger of the Erie an ...
'' and '' Lake Cities.'' The Erie Railroad had its own train station. The other train companies used the
Pennsylvania station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...
.
Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
train such as the ''
Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
,'' ''
General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
,'' and ''
Manhattan Limited The ''Manhattan Limited'' was a passenger train of the Pennsylvania Railroad which served the Chicago—New York City route. History The ''Manhattan Limited'' was originally the ''Seashore Limited'', an eastbound-only train which was rena ...
'' made stops in Lima's Pennsylvania station. Railroads began to cut back passenger service to Lima during the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. Electric interurban service ceased in 1937. After a brief boom for railroads during World War II, passenger service declined sharply in the 1950s. The Nickel Plate Road ended scheduled passenger service to Lima in 1959. The formerly elite ''
Broadway Limited The ''Broadway Limited'' was a passenger train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) between New York City and Chicago. It operated from 1912 to 1995. It was the Pennsylvania's premier train, competing directly with the New York Central R ...
'' began making stops in 1968 after the
New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...
and the Pennsylvania railroad merged to form the
Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...
. The
Erie-Lackawanna The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route" ...
ran its last train into Lima in 1970 and the
Baltimore & Ohio The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
and the
Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...
their last in 1971. Freight still moves over most of the historic rail routes in and out of the city, but the last passenger train to stop in Lima was the ''Broadway Limited'', then operated by
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
, on November 11, 1990. Currently, there are only a handful of railroads that serve Lima. The Chicago, Fort Wayne, and Eastern and the Indiana and Ohio railroad are owned by
Genesee & Wyoming Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and formerly Australia. It operates ...
and are in the north and east parts of town.
CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
runs through town frequently and the
Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...
has one train each day to Lima. The R.J. Corman Railroad/Western Ohio Line runs southwest from town on former
Erie-Lackawanna The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route" ...
trackage.


Lima Locomotive Works

The
Lima Locomotive Works Lima Locomotive Works was an American firm that manufactured railroad locomotives from the 1870s through the 1950s. The company took the most distinctive part of its name from its main shop's location in Lima, Ohio. The shops were located between ...
– "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 A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...
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 Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
lumberman
Ephraim Shay Ephraim Shay (July 17, 1839 – April 19, 1916) was an American merchant, entrepreneur and self-taught railroad engineer who worked in the state of Michigan. He designed the first Shay locomotive and patented the type. He licensed it for manufactu ...
. The
Shay locomotive The Shay locomotive is a geared steam locomotive that originated and was primarily used in North America. The locomotives were built to the patents of Ephraim Shay, who has been credited with the popularization of the concept of a ''geared st ...
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 Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
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 The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...
2-6-6-6, one of the largest locomotives ever built, and the glamorous
Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
"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 tank } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It w ...
s. 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 The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...
in 1950. The last
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
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.


Roads

Lima is at the intersection of Ohio State Route 309 (the original
Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913 ...
) and state routes 65, 81 and 117.
Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...
, which replaced
U.S. Route 25 U.S. Route 25 (US 25) is a north–south United States Highway that runs for in the southern and midwestern US. Its southern terminus is in Brunswick, Georgia, from where it proceeds mostly due north, passing through the cities of Augusta, Georg ...
, one of the routes of the
Dixie Highway Dixie Highway was a United States auto trail first planned in 1914 to connect the Midwest with the South. It was part of a system and was expanded from an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final system is better understood as a network of ...
passes on the eastern perimeter of Lima.
U.S. Route 30 U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route in the system of the United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. With a length of , it is the third longest ...
passes east–west a few miles north of Lima.


Geography

According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. The
Ottawa River The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...
flows through the city. Locals sometimes refer to the river as "Hawg Creek". This resembles a traditional local name used dating back to the Hog Creek
Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
community that existed between Lima and present Ada, prior to the Shawnee removal of 1831. This removal made possible the official founding of "Lima" as a formal town in that year.


Climate


Surrounding communities


Demographics

The percentage of college graduates is 9.5%, according to the US Census Bureau.U.S. Census Bureau
General Demographic Profile of Lima (pdf format)
The city has the highest crime rate for a city its size (20–60,000) in Ohio and also the 9th highest per capita in 2006, according to the FBI.


2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 38,771 people, 14,221 households, and 8,319 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 16,784 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 67.1%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 26.4%
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.3% Native American, 0.5%
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 1.2% from
other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 4.4% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
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.


2000 census

As of the census 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 people per square mile (1,210.9/km2). There were 17,631 housing units at an average density of 1,379.0 per square mile (532.7/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 71.30%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 24.48%
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.31% Native American, 0.51%
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.01%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, 0.97% from
other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 2.42% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
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 The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of ...
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.


Culture


Literature

Published authors from Lima have produced poetry collections, scholarly works, novels and memoirs. *
Donald Richie Donald Richie (17 April 1924 – 19 February 2013) was an American-born author who wrote about the Japanese people, the culture of Japan, and especially Japanese cinema. Although he considered himself primarily a film historian, Richie also dir ...
first published ''The Inland Sea'' in 1970. It was later turned into a documentary on PBS. * 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 Phyllis Ada Diller (née Driver; July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012) was an American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician, and visual artist, best known for her eccentric stage persona, self-deprecating humor, wild hair and clothes, and e ...
published an autobiography, ''Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse'', that describes her downtown Lima girlhood in detail.


In popular culture

Musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
television series ''
Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...
'' is set in the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, although the show is 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. Famed stand-up comic
Lenny Bruce Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), known professionally as Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of comedy which ...
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. 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.


Lima Symphony Orchestra

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.


Sports

Lima also is home to the Lima Warriors, a semi-pro
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
team that plays in the Ohio Football League. UNOH and OSU Lima athletics, as well as various high school sports programs. Lima is also home to the collegiate summer baseball team, the Lima Locos.


Government

Locally, Lima had the same mayor, David J. Berger (D), from December 1989 to November 2021. Upon his retirement in November 2021, his chief of staff, Sharetta Smith, was sworn in as mayor after winning her election earlier in the month. On the federal level, Lima is located in
Ohio's 4th congressional district Ohio's 4th congressional district spans sections of the central part of the state. It is currently represented by Republican Jim Jordan, the current chair of the House Judiciary Committee, who has represented the district since 2007. Areas repr ...
, which is represented by
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Jim Jordan James Daniel Jordan (born February 17, 1964) is an American politician currently serving in his ninth term in the U.S. House of Representatives as the representative for since 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he is a two-tim ...
.


Education

Colleges *
University of Northwestern Ohio The University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) is a private university in Lima, Ohio. It was founded in 1920. As of 2020, the school had an enrollment of approximately 4,500 students on a campus. The university, approved by the Ohio Department of ...
* James A. Rhodes State College (formerly Lima Technical College) *The Ohio State University, Lima Campus High schools *
Lima Senior High School Lima Senior High School, the only high school in the Lima City Schools District, was established in 1955, in Lima, Ohio. There are approximately 1,500 students currently enrolled at Lima Senior. Overview Lima Senior remained in the same building ...
* Shawnee High School *
Bath High School Royal High School Bath is an independent day and boarding school for girls and in the city of Bath, Somerset, Bath, Somerset, England, catering for up to 650 pupils. The school is on Lansdown Road, just outside Bath city centre, and has boardin ...
* Perry High School *Apollo Career Center *
Lima Central Catholic High School Lima Central Catholic High School (LCC) is a private parochial school in Lima, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo. Ohio High School Athletic Association State Championships * Boys Golf - 2002,2003,2005 * Bo ...
*Lima Christian Academy * Temple Christian School *
Elida High School Elida High School is a public high school in Elida, Ohio, United States, that is part of Elida Local School District. The school athletic teams are known as the Bulldogs, and the school colors are orange, black, and gold. The school's alma mater ...


Media


Newspaper

Lima is served by one daily newspaper, ''
The Lima News ''The Lima News'' is a local daily newspaper aimed at residents in Allen, Auglaize, Hancock, Hardin, Logan, Mercer, Putnam, Shelby and Van Wert counties in Ohio, USA. Its headquarters are located in Lima, Ohio. It was first printed on July 2 ...
''. In addition to the immediate Allen County area, the paper serves residents in Auglaize,
Hancock Hancock may refer to: Places in the United States * Hancock, Iowa * Hancock, Maine * Hancock, Maryland * Hancock, Massachusetts * Hancock, Michigan * Hancock, Minnesota * Hancock, Missouri * Hancock, New Hampshire ** Hancock (CDP), New Hampshir ...
, Hardin, Logan,
Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...
, Putnam, Shelby and Van Wert counties.


Television

As of the 2016–2017 television season, Lima is ranked by
Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
as the second smallest television market in Ohio, ahead of only
Zanesville Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capit ...
, and the 190th nationwide. The Lima area is served by four major broadcast stations, with three of those stations based in the city.
WLIO WLIO, virtual channel, virtual and very high frequency, VHF digital terrestrial television, digital channel 8, is a dual NBC/Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox-network affiliate, affiliated television station city of license, licensed to Lima, Ohio, U ...
8 serves as its
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
affiliate (with
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
/
MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
on DT2), while low-powered sister station WOHL-CD 35.1 operates as the market's
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate, with
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
on 35.2. WLMA 44 serves as a religious/family-entertainment station. The market's
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
member station,
WBGU-TV WBGU-TV, virtual channel 27 (UHF digital channel 22), is a Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) member television station licensed to Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. Owned by Bowling Green State University, it is sister to radio station WBGU ...
27, is based out of
Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...
and also serves as a secondary
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
member station for the nearby Toledo market. CW viewers are served on cable by that network's
Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
affiliate, WBDT.


Radio

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


Medical care

The first doctor in Allen County, Samuel Jacob Lewis, was assigned to duty at Fort Amanda in 1812. Lima has been a regional medical center since its earliest days. Currently, the city's two hospitals serve a 10-county area of northwest and west central Ohio. St. Rita's Medical Center, a level 2 trauma center, with nearly 4,000 employees as of June 2006, is Allen County's largest employer while
Lima Memorial Health System Lima Memorial Health System was founded in 1899 as Lima City Hospital by the citizens of the Lima, Ohio community. The hospital is a not-for-profit health care organization with more than 1,500 employees, and 25 facilities in their 10-county servic ...
ranks third. In 2005, St. Rita's embarked on a $130 million expansion expected to create up to 500 more jobs, this new addition is known as "The Medical Center of the Future". In 2018 St. Rita's name was changed to “Mercy Health St. Rita’s Medical Center,” after the company “Mercy Health” who had owned St. Rita's for a while now. This name change brought new signs and uniforms to the hospital. Almost immediately after the name change “Mercy Health” was acquired by another company by the name of Bon Secours. This merge has brought no changes to the hospital though. The Roman Catholic Church
Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...
opened St. Rita's in December 1918, in the midst of a national (and global)
influenza epidemic Flu season is an annually recurring time period characterized by the prevalence of an outbreak of influenza (flu). The season occurs during the cold half of the year in each hemisphere. It takes approximately two days to show symptoms. Influen ...
. The hospital saw major expansions 1945 and 1967. The hospital has also created satellite facilities in the surrounding towns of
Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, Delphos and
Wapakoneta Wapakoneta may refer to: ;Places *Wapakoneta, Ohio *The Lima- Van Wert-Wapakoneta, Ohio Combined Statistical Area ;Ships *, United States Navy ships ;Other *The Treaty of Wapakoneta *The Wapakoneta City School District The Wapakoneta City Schoo ...
. SRMC also houses a separate hospital with the walls of the main facility. This "interior" facility, "Triumph", was implemented to serve poverty-level citizens who are unable to afford continuing care otherwise. In July 2008, St. Rita's Medical Center purchased Lima Allen County Paramedics. Lima Memorial Health System, formerly Lima Memorial Hospital, a level 2 trauma center, can trace its roots to 1899, when it began as Lima City Hospital. Formed by the Pastors Union of Lima, the 13-bed facility was the first community hospital in northwest Ohio. During the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, the city of Lima helped to finance a larger hospital, which opened on
Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...
1933 on the city's east side. The region's first open-heart surgery was performed at Lima Memorial on April 22, 1997. In 1999, LMHS entered into a joint venture with Blanchard Valley Health Association ("BVHA") and
ProMedica Health System ProMedica is a non-profit health care system with locations in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. The system includes a health education and research center, the health maintenance organization Paramount Health Care, nursing homes, a local bu ...
. For decades, Lima also had two other hospitals with different missions. The Ottawa Valley Hospital, which opened in 1909 as the District
Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
Hospital, was one of the first in the state dedicated to the treatment of tubercular patients. The hospital treated patients from seven to 90 years old, at a time when tuberculosis was nearly always fatal. The average stay was three to five years. As treatment improved, the hospital closed, though the building was used until 1973. The facility originally known as the Lima State Hospital for the Criminally Insane was situated on three miles (5 km) north of downtown Lima. The hospital was constructed between 1908 and 1915. Built at a cost of $2.1 million, it was the largest poured-concrete structure in the country until supplanted by the Pentagon. Patients sometimes staged dramatic protests against the conditions of their confinement, and frequently escaped (more than 300 escapes by 1978). Conditions improved significantly after 1974 as a result of a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of the patients. In a landmark ruling, US District Judge Nicholas J. Walinski spelled out detailed requirements for assuring each patient's rights to "dignity, privacy and human care". In its last years, the state hospital was used for the filming of a made-for-television movie about the
Attica Prison riots The Attica Prison Riot, also known as the Attica Prison Rebellion, the Attica Uprising, or the Attica Prison Massacre, took place at the state prison in Attica, New York; it started on September 9, 1971, and ended on September 13 with the high ...
in New York. Starting in 1982, Lima State Hospital became a medium-security prison, the Lima Correctional Institution. The prison closed in 2004, though a smaller prison on the site, the Allen Correctional Institution, remains.


Historic architecture

Among the city's most distinctive residential neighborhoods, the "Golden Block" on the west side, was almost entirely demolished in the 1960s; only the MacDonell House, part of the
Allen County Museum The Allen County Museum is located in the city of Lima, the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. Occupying a half city block, the museum campus includes the main museum building, a log house, the MacDonell House (a Victorian mans ...
, and the YWCA survived. The YWCA would be demolished decades later, coming down in 2019. Today, the city includes twenty-four buildings and one
historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
that are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
, including the Allen County Courthouse, the
post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
, the Barr Hotel, the Hotel Argonne, and the Neal Clothing Building.


Notable people

*
Adrian Cronauer Adrian Joseph Cronauer (September 8, 1938 – July 18, 2018) was a United States Air Force SergeantWLIO WLIO, virtual channel, virtual and very high frequency, VHF digital terrestrial television, digital channel 8, is a dual NBC/Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox-network affiliate, affiliated television station city of license, licensed to Lima, Ohio, U ...
) *
Al Jardine Alan Charles Jardine (born September 3, 1942) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best known as the band's rhythm guitarist and for occasionally singing lead vocals on singles such as "Help Me, Rho ...
– Founding member of
The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
*
Al Snow Allen Ray Sarven (born July 18, 1963) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Al Snow. He is best known as a wrestler for Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Wrestling Entertainment. Sn ...
Professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...
* Ann Hamilton – Contemporary artist *
Ben Roethlisberger Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger Sr. (; born March 2, 1982), nicknamed "Big Ben", is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college footba ...
– retired football player *
Brad Komminsk Brad Lynn Komminsk (born April 4, 1961), is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He attended Shawnee High School in Lima, Ohio, where he played basketball and baseball and was an all-state linebacker in football. He received athle ...
– Professional baseball player *
Bud Collins Arthur Worth "Bud" Collins Jr. (June 17, 1929 – March 4, 2016) was an American journalist and television sportscaster, best known for his tennis commentary. Collins was married to photographer Anita Ruthling Klaussen. Education Collins was b ...
– Sportswriter and TV commentator, member of
International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...
*
Charles N. Lamison Charles Nelson Lamison (1826April 24, 1896) was an American politician, soldier, and lawyer who was a two-term United States congressman from Ohio. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1871 to 1875. Early life and career ...
– Two-term
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
man * Charles William Fulton
United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...
*
Clay Tucker Clay Jovon Tucker (June 14, 1980) is a retired American professional player. College career Tucker played college basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 1998 to 2003 where he and Dylan Page helped the Panthers to their first NC ...
– Professional basketball player *
Donald Richie Donald Richie (17 April 1924 – 19 February 2013) was an American-born author who wrote about the Japanese people, the culture of Japan, and especially Japanese cinema. Although he considered himself primarily a film historian, Richie also dir ...
– Author who has written a number of books about the
Japanese people The are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Japanese archipelago."人類学上は,旧石器時代あるいは縄文時代以来,現在の北海道〜沖縄諸島(南西諸島)に住んだ集団を祖先にもつ人々。" () Jap ...
and
Japanese cinema The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; as of 2021, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. In 2011 Japan produced 411 feature films that ea ...
*
Dorothy Beecher Baker Dorothy Beecher Baker (December 21, 1898 - January 10, 1954) was an American teacher and prominent member of the Baháʼí Faith. She rose to leadership positions in a Local Spiritual Assembly and then was elected to the National Spiritual Assembl ...
– Early American Baha'i * Edna de Lima – American opera singer, named herself after her hometown *
Edward L. Feightner Rear Admiral Edward Lewis Feightner (October 14, 1919 – April 1, 2020) was a United States Navy officer who fought in a number of significant battles in the World War II Pacific Theater of Operations. During two combat tours, he shot down nin ...
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...
,
test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...
, and
Blue Angels The Blue Angels is a flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy.
lead solo *
Gary Moeller Gary Oscar Moeller (; January 26, 1941 – July 11, 2022) was an American football coach best known for being head coach at the University of Michigan from 1990 to 1994. During his five seasons at Michigan, he won 44 games, lost 13 and tied 3 f ...
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
football head coach *
Gene Stechschulte Eugene Urban Stechschulte (born August 12, 1973) is a former Major League Baseball player who pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2000-2002. Stechschulte began his professional baseball career in the Cardinals' minor league system in 1996 a ...
– Professional baseball player *
Gloria Foy Gloria Foy (October 25, 1901 –February 27, 1977) was an American dancer, singer, vaudeville performer, and star of musical revues. Her family were theatrical people. Her father was Harry Foy, but she was no relation to the more famous Eddie ...
– Dancer, singer, and
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
performer *
Helen O'Connell Helen O'Connell (May 23, 1920 – September 9, 1993) was an American singer, actress, and hostess, described as "the quintessential big band singer of the 1940s". Early life Born in Lima, Ohio, O'Connell grew up in Toledo, Ohio. By the time ...
– singer, actress, and television personality * Hit The Lights
pop punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...
band *
Hugh Downs Hugh Malcolm Downs (February 14, 1921July 1, 2020) was an American radio and television broadcaster, announcer and programmer; television host; news anchor; TV producer; author; game show host; talk show sidekick; and music composer. A regular t ...
– Television host, producer, and author * James R. Black – Actor and former professional football player * James T. Begg
U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
*
Jeff Mullen Jeff Mullen (born September 15, 1968) is an American football coach. He is the former quarterback coach of the Charlotte 49ers. Mullen was previously an assistant coach at Ohio University, Wake Forest University, and West Virginia University. E ...
– Football coach *
Jerry Byrd Gerald Lester Byrd (March 9, 1920 – April 11, 2005) was an American musician who played the lap steel guitar in country and Hawaiian music, as well as a singer-songwriter and the head of a music publishing firm. He appeared on numerous radio p ...
Lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...
musician *
Jim Baldridge Jim Baldridge is an American former newscaster and co-anchor for WHIO-TV's Newscenter 7 in Dayton, Ohio. Biography Baldridge was raised in Lima, Ohio. He attended Shawnee High School, and is a graduate of Wright State University and Sinclair ...
– News anchor *
Jim Lynch James Robert Lynch (August 28, 1945 – July 21, 2022) was an American football linebacker. Lynch played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, where he was named an All-American and won the Maxwell Award in 1966. Lynch is a memb ...
– professional football player *
Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...
saxophonist * Joe Morrison – Professional football player for the
New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
and collegiate football coach for the
South Carolina Gamecocks Football The South Carolina Gamecocks football program represents the University of South Carolina. The Gamecocks compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern ...
team. * John L. Cable – U.S. Representative *
Jon Niese Jonathon Joseph Niese (born October 27, 1986) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates. Early life Niese was born to Jeffery and Annette Niese in L ...
– Professional baseball player * Joseph Cyrus Bradfield – African-American physician and medical corpsman during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
* Justin LeHew
Navy Cross The Navy Cross is the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps' second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is eq ...
recipient *
Maidie Norman Maidie Ruth Norman (October 16, 1912 – May 2, 1998) was an American radio, stage, film, and television actress as well as an instructor in African-American literature and theater. Early life Norman was born Maidie Ruth Gamble on a plantat ...
– Actress and acting instructor, best known for her role in
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962 film) ''What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'' is a 1962 American psychological horror thriller film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich, from a screenplay by Lukas Heller, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Henry Farrell. The film stars Be ...
*
Marilyn Meseke Marilyn Meseke (; October 7, 1916 – September 12, 2001) was an American beauty queen who had the distinction of being twice crowned Miss Ohio (1931 and 1938) and Miss America in 1938. Early life Meseke was christened, "Mary Ellen Spurrier ...
Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...
1938 *
Matthias H. Nichols Matthias H. Nichols (October 3, 1824 – September 15, 1862) was a U.S. Representative from Ohio. Born in Sharptown, New Jersey, Nichols attended the common schools. He later learned the trade of a printer then moved to Ohio in 1842 and s ...
– U.S. Representative * D. Michael Crites – United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio * Michael Pitts – pastor and preacher * Mike Current – professional football player *
Nash Carter Zachary Green (born April 29, 1994) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed on the NXT brand under the ring name Nash Carter and in Impact Wrestling under the ring name Zachary Wentz (or simp ...
-
Professional Wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...
* Ortha Orrie Barr Sr. – attorney, politician and original proprietor of the historic Barr Hotel *
Pamela Kyle Crossley Pamela K Crossley (born 18 November 1955) is a historian of modern China, northern Asia, and global history and is the Charles and Elfriede Collis Professor of History, Dartmouth College. She is a founding appointment of the Dartmouth Society of ...
– historian *
Paul Shuey Paul Kenneth Shuey (born September 16, 1970) is an American former professional baseball player. Primarily a relief pitcher, Shuey pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians (1994–2002), Los Angeles Dodgers (2002–2003) an ...
– professional baseball player *
Phyllis Diller Phyllis Ada Diller (née Driver; July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012) was an American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician, and visual artist, best known for her eccentric stage persona, self-deprecating humor, wild hair and clothes, and e ...
– comedian and actress *
Rosemary Hinkfuss Rosemary T. Hinkfuss ('' née'' Walsh; September 30, 1931March 2, 2016) was a former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and a member of the Green Bay Packers Board of Directors. Biography Hinkfuss was born Rosemary T. Walsh on September 30, ...
– member of the
Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...
*
Ryan Drummond Ryan Drummond (born January 10, 1973) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer, clown, mime artist and performer who is best known for his role as the original English voice of Sonic the Hedgehog in the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' video gam ...
– Actor, voice actor, comedian, and singer * Sue Downey – Miss Ohio USA 1965, Miss USA 1965 * Steve Cook – Pocket billiards player *
Tanner Buchanan Tanner Buchanan (born December 8, 1998) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Leo Kirkman in the ABC political drama '' Designated Survivor'' and Robby Keene in the Netflix series ''Cobra Kai''. He is also known for his role ...
- Actor (
Cobra Kai ''Cobra Kai'' is an American martial arts comedy-drama television series and a sequel to the original ''The Karate Kid'' films by Robert Mark Kamen. The series was created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, and is distributed b ...
) *
Thomas L. Sprague Thomas Lamison Sprague (October 2, 1894 – September 17, 1972) was a Vice admiral (United States), vice admiral of the United States Navy, who served during World War II as commander of the aircraft carrier and took part in the battles of Batt ...
– United States admiral * Tom Barrington – Professional football player * Tom Lynch – Admiral and commandant of U.S. Naval Academy * Travis Walton – Collegiate basketball player *
Virgil Effinger Virgil H. "Bert" Effinger (1873 – 15 December 1955) was a renegade member of the Ku Klux Klan who became the self-proclaimed leader of the Black Legion in the United States, active mostly in Ohio and Michigan. The secret, white vigilante group wa ...
- White supremacist and a leader of the Black Legion *
Walter Baldwin Walter Smith Baldwin Jr. (January 2, 1889 − January 27, 1977) was an American character actor whose career spanned five decades and 150 film and television roles, and numerous stage performances. Baldwin was born in Lima, Ohio, into a theat ...
– Actor *
William Alfred Fowler William Alfred Fowler ( ) was an American nuclear physicist, later astrophysicist, who, with Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics. He is known for his theoretical and experimental research into nuclear reactions with ...
– Nobel Prize for Physics *
William E. Metzger, Jr. William Edward Metzger Jr. (February 9, 1922 – November 9, 1944) was a United States Army Air Forces officer and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II. Metzger ...
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
recipient * William White – Professional football player *
Frederick Rakestraw Frederick Eugene Rakestraw (August 29, 1923 – August 18, 2004) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge who served as a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from January 7, 1966 to January 2, 1967.Minde C. Browning, Richard Humphrey, an ...
– Justice of the
Indiana Supreme Court The Indiana Supreme Court, established by Article 7 of the Indiana Constitution, is the highest judicial authority in the state of Indiana. Located in Indianapolis, Indiana, Indianapolis, the Court's chambers are in the north wing of the Indiana ...


Sister cities

Lima's Sister Cities Association, formed in 1995, has one current sister city as designated by
Sister Cities International Sister Cities International (SCI) is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between communities in the United States and those in other countries, particularly through the establishment of "sister cities" ...
. There are also two other sister city projects in progress. *
Harima, Hyōgo 260px, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Archaeology is a town located in Kako District, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 34,735 in 15410 households and a population density of 3800 persons per km². The total ar ...
, Japan


References


Further reading

* Carnes, John R. (ed.) ''The 1976 History of Allen County'' (1976) * Hirsimaki, Eric. ''Lima: The History'' (1986) * Hurricane, Chris. ''Lima: The Hood'' (2004) * Hurt, R. Douglas. ''The Ohio Frontier: Crucible of the Old Northwest, 1720–1830'' (1996) * Jacobs, T. K., Jr. "History of Transportation in Allen County" (1916) * Kimcaid, Kim. "The Birth of Lima," ''The Lima News'', April 19, 2006, p D1 * Lackey, Mike. "Enduring Tales Hold Truths, Not Always Facts," ''The Lima News'', May 28, 2006, p. A2 * Lackey, Mike. "The Interurban System: Electric Trains Eased Rural Isolation," ''The Lima News'', Aug., 16, 2003, p A5 * Lackey, Mike. "Lima Engine Steaming Along after 100 Years," ''The Lima News'', August 26, 2005, p A2 * Lackey, Mike. "Echoes of Rail Resound: Lima Loco Helped Define a Town that Worked," ''The Lima News'', September 17, 1997, p B1
History of Lima City Schools
* ''Lost in Middle America''. David Crouse and Scott Craig. 57 mins. (1999) * Miller, Charles C. and Dr. Samuel A. Baxter. ''History of Allen County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens'' (1906) * Minutes of History. Allen County Historical Society, n.d. * Rusler, William (ed.) ''A Standard History of Allen County, Ohio'' (1921) * Schuck, Raymond F. "A Brief History of the Lima Locomotive Works" (1983) * Smithsonian Institution. ''Handbook of North American Indians'' (1978) * Stark, Marilyn R. ''A Pictorial History of Lima/Allen County'' (1993) * Stark, Marilyn R. and Robert L. Townsend. ''The History and Purposes of Allen County Buildings, Institutions and Government'' (2000)
History of St. Rita’s Medical Center
* Sugden, John. ''Bluejacket: Warrior of the Shawnee'' (2003) * Swindell, Larry. ''Spencer Tracy: A Biography'' (1969)


External links


City website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lima, Ohio County seats in Ohio Cities in Allen County, Ohio Cities in Ohio Populated places established in 1831 1831 establishments in Ohio