Sylvania is a city in

Lucas County, Ohio Lucas County is a Counties of the United States, county located in the Northwest Ohio, northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is bordered to the east by Lake Erie, and to the southeast by the Maumee River, which runs to the lake. As o ...

, United States. The population was 19,011 at the 2020 census. Sylvania is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

of Toledo, and encompassed by Sylvania Township. Its northern border is the southern border of the state of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. The name "Sylvania" is borrowed from the Latin '' sylvan'' or '' sylva'', meaning "forest land", owing to the dense forests that once made up the region, part of the

Great Black Swamp The Great Black Swamp (also known simply as the Black Swamp) was a glacier, glacially fed wetland in northwest Ohio and Northern Indiana, northeast Indiana, United States, that existed from the end of the Wisconsin glaciation until the late 19 ...

History

Sylvania Historical Village - Railroad Depot

General David White is considered the founder of Sylvania as the first pioneer settler and town supervisor, originally from Palmyra, New York. In 1832, White was given the title of General (possibly after services rendered during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

), which allowed him to explore the western Lake Erie region. In realizing the potential of some available land to the north of

Maumee, Ohio Maumee ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Maumee River, it is a suburb about southwest of Toledo, Ohio, Toledo. The population was 13,896 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Maumee was declared an Al ...

, a notable port city at the time, he acquired a title to the land and built a log cabin at what would eventually be the corner of Summit and Monroe streets near downtown Sylvania. Prior to White's acquisition, the land was a part of Port Lawrence Township,

Monroe County, Michigan Monroe County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the population was 154,809. The largest city and county seat is Monroe, Michigan, Monroe. The county was establi ...

. Over the course of several years, White, along with his associate, Judge William Wilson, purchased a total of of Port Lawrence and surrounding land in what would eventually become Sylvania, and of what would become

Whiteford Township, Michigan Whiteford Township is a civil township of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,590 at the 2020 census. Early history Whiteford Township was organized in March 1834 and carved out of western parts of Erie Township an ...

, where he also served as the first town supervisor. The relationship between White and Wilson did not last, and when the boundary dispute that lead to the largely bloodless

Toledo War The Toledo War (1835–1836), also known as the Michigan–Ohio War or Ohio–Michigan War, was a boundary dispute between the U.S. state of Ohio and the adjoining territory of Michigan over what is now known as the Toledo Strip. Control of th ...

began in 1834, they began splitting the lands they had purchased, platting their own towns. That year, White established the first area school in Whiteford, and

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted the township there one year later in 1835. Wilson presented the original plat for Sylvania in June 1836, with the town of Whiteford directly adjacent. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, rail transportation saw significant expansion throughout the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of Northern America is a binational Canadian– American region centered on the Great Lakes that includes the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and the Ca ...

. In 1833, the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad was chartered as part of the

Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833, and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinoi ...

, running from former Port Lawrence, Michigan (now Toledo, Ohio), to the mouth of the

Kalamazoo River The Kalamazoo River is a river in the U.S. state of Michigan. The river is long from the junction of its North and South branches to its mouth at Lake Michigan, with a total length extending to when one includes the South Branch.U.S. Geologic ...

at Lake Michigan. Trains were at first pulled by horse until the first steam locomotive was installed in 1837. Sylvania built its own railroad depot along the Erie-Kalamazoo Railroad in 1858. While the depot is no longer in operation, the original station building exists as an exhibit in the Sylvania Historical Village, still next to the railroad which remains in use. Sylvania was incorporated in 1867. A post office called Sylvania has been in operation since 1859.

Geography

Sylvania is located approximately west-northwest of Toledo. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which are land and are water. The city lies at the junction of two creeks: Ottawa Creek, flowing south from the community of Ottawa Lake, Michigan, about four miles north of the city, and Ten Mile Creek, a tributary of Ottawa Creek running about from the west, which becomes the Ottawa River and empties into the

Maumee River The Maumee River (pronounced ) (; ) is a river running in the Midwestern United States from northeastern Indiana into northwestern Ohio and Lake Erie. It is formed at the confluence of the St. Joseph River (Maumee River), St. Joseph and St. Mar ...

. The city is built on large shale deposits, which over hundreds of years have been mined in

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safet ...

to make concrete, cement and other stone products. Silica shale from the region is renowned among paleontologists for its high-quality fossils from the early

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

period.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 18,971 people, 7,642 households, and 5,092 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 8,165 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.4%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.7%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.1% Native American, 2.3% Asian, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, 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 th ...

, 0.7% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 2.9% of the population. There were 7,642 households, of which 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 33.4% were non-families. 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.02. The median age in the city was 42.7 years. 23.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 21.5% were from 25 to 44; 29.9% were from 45 to 64; and 17.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.3% male and 52.7% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 18,670 people, 7,151 households, and 5,070 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 7,392 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.20%

, 1.00%

, 0.10% Native American, 2.10% Asian, 0.01%

, 0.64% from other races, and 0.96% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 1.63% of the population. The city has a significant Jewish community. There were 7,151 households, out of which 37.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.8% were

living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.1% were non-families. 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.16. In the city, the population was spread out, with 28.2% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.6 males. The median income for a household in the city was $57,358, and the median income for a family was $73,947. Males had a median income of $52,892 versus $34,583 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $28,163. About 3.7% of families and 4.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 4.2% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture

* The Lathrop House, built in 1853 by minister Lucian Lathrop and wife Larissa, was used by

abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. T ...

as a stop on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. Slaves trying to escape to freedom in the north were given food and shelter, in a secret room behind an oven door. The house is recognized by the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 ...

as a building of significant historical and cultural importance. The building was originally located on Main St, just south of downtown Sylvania, but after a 2002 land dispute, it was moved to Harroun Park across the street. *The Harroun Family Barn was built by David and Clarissa Harroun in 1858. The Harrouns and their son Edwin aided slaves along the Underground Railroad, transporting them from Maumee, Ohio in David's lumber wagon and hiding them in their basement, before they made their way into Michigan. The Harroun property was connected to the Lathrop house via a ravine that ran between them; much of the ravine still exists and the road that runs along it is named Ravine Road. Sylvania Historical Village - Original Log Cabin

Sylvania Historical Village - Original Log Cabin

* The Sylvania Historical Village is an

open-air museum An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings" ...

in downtown Sylvania, that features both original and reproductions of historical buildings in the city, including the original railroad depot that operated in the area for over 100 years, and an original 1800s log home. *Fossil Park is a notable attraction that opened in 2001. Visitors can break apart loose shale from a nearby quarry, which often contain fossil specimens such as

trilobites Trilobites (; meaning "three-lobed entities") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. One of the earliest groups of arthropods to appear in the fossil record, trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, ...

. It is one of two locations in the world where visitors without any

paleontological Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

experience are allowed to search for fossils themselves. *The Burnham Building, originally Burnham High School, built in 1927, served as an area high school until the final class graduated in 1960. It was then used as a multipurpose facility until 2010, when it was demolished to make way for the new Maplewood Elementary School.

Notable events

* Marathon Classic, an

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

event that has been played in Sylvania since 1989.

Parks and recreation

The city is home to over 250 acres of parkland, which include Olander Park, Harroun Community Park, Pacesetter Park, Veterans Memorial Park, and Burnham Park. The Olander Park System ("TOPS") has a large 28 acre pond as well as other satellite parks (Fossil Park, Sylvan Prairie Park, Whetstone Park and Southview Oak Savanna). Pacesetter Park has

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

fields, and Burnham Park contains Plummer Pool, a public swimming pool. Many of Sylvania's recreational activities are organized by the Sylvania Area Joint Recreation Department (SAJRD). They operate multiple facilities and parks, including Pacesetter, Veterans Memorial and Burnham parks, as well as a recreation center, Tam-O-Shanter, with two ice skating rinks and two indoor soccer fields. The center offers indoor sports such as soccer, baseball, lacrosse, ice hockey, and ice skating. The city has received the "Tree City" designation from the

Tree City USA The Arbor Day Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. The Arbor Day Foundation has more than one million members and has planted more than 500 million trees in neighborhoods, communitie ...

program for over 30 years, which recognizes communities for urban and community forestry. The nickname of the city is the literal translation of its name, "City of Trees". In 2016, a steel beam from the World Trade Center was installed in the "

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

First Responders Last Call Memorial" at the Toledo Memorial Park

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

in Sylvania.

Government

The City of Sylvania follows a

mayor–council government A mayor–council government is a system of local government in which a mayor who is directly elected by the voters acts as chief executive, while a separately elected city council constitutes the legislative body. It is one of the two most comm ...

. The mayor of Sylvania is Mark Frye. The charter and laws of the City of Sylvania are documented in the Codified Ordinances of the City of Sylvania, Ohio. The judicial branch of the city government is run by the Sylvania Municipal Court, which is presided over by the Honorable Judge Michael A. Bonfiglio.

City council

The city council has seven members, comprising eight committees: Building & Grounds, Employee & Community Relations, Finance, Parks & Forestry, Safety, Streets, Utilities & Environment, and Zoning & Annexation. The current members of the council are Marcus Hansen, Douglas Haynam, Brian McCann, Shawn Murphy, Patrick Richardson, Lyndsey Stough and Mary Westphal.

Education

Public

Public schools in Sylvania, Ohio are all part of the Sylvania City School District. ;Elementary schools * Highland Elementary School * Hill View Elementary School * Maplewood Elementary School * Stranahan Elementary School * Sylvan Elementary School * Whiteford Elementary School * Central Trail Elementary School ;Junior high schools * Arbor Hills Junior High School * McCord Junior High School * Timberstone Junior High School ;High schools * Sylvania Northview High School * Sylvania Southview High School

Private

* Toledo Islamic Academy * Little Miracles Montessori School * St. Joseph Elementary & Junior High School

Colleges

* Lourdes University

Libraries

Sylvania has two public libraries, one near each high school, which are branches of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library. The Sylvania Branch Library, located near Northview High School, was built in the 1950s, and was expanded and remodeled in 2017. A second library at King Road near Southview High School was built in 2016.

Notable people

Sam Abell Sam Abell (born 1945) is an American photographer known for his frequent publication of photographs in ''National Geographic (magazine), National Geographic''. Life Abell was born in Sylvania, Ohio. His father, a geography teacher, ran a photo ...

- photographer * Mark Berger - economist * Terry Cook - automobile racing driver * Alissa Czisny - two-time U.S. champion figure skater *

Chip Davis Louis F. "Chip" Davis Jr. (born September 5, 1947) is the founder and leader of the music group Mannheim Steamroller. Davis composed the music for several C. W. McCall albums, including the hit 1975 song "Convoy". He has also written and made o ...

- musician * Jon Diebler (born 1988) - basketball player in the

Israel Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

* Luke Fortner - Offensive Lineman for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

Gordie Howe Gordon Howe (March 31, 1928 – June 10, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. From 1946 to 1980, he played 26 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA); his first 25 seaso ...

- hockey player *

Eric Kripke Eric Kripke (born 1974) is an American screenwriting, writer and television producer. Kripke came to prominence in the late 2000s for creating The WB/The CW, CW fantasy drama series ''Supernatural (American TV series), Supernatural'' (2005–2020) ...

- television producer and writer * Mitchell Miller - hockey player * Joey Wiemer - Outfielder for the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

Sister city

Sylvania is the sister city of

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

, Ontario, Canada.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Official website

Sylvania Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Cities in Lucas County, Ohio Populated places established in 1833 1833 establishments in Ohio Cities in Ohio Sylvania, Ohio