Springfield, Ohio

I'm visiting my seventy-third county, the first in my seventh year in West Virginia. It's Clark County, Ohio, where the largest city is Springfield. On paper, it doesn't look good. A slim majority of Trump voters, a population that has declined in every census since 1970. It's overshadowed by Columbus (booming) and Dayton (not so much), neither very far away.

It's 249 miles, courthouse-to-courthouse from Morgantown. I noted that Wittenberg University and the town's reform-affiliated synagogue were both north of downtown, so that would be the wealthier area. Interstate 70 runs just south of Springfield, and I booked The Usual Chain, there in the south at the interstate exit.

After an enormous lunch Sunday, with the after-church crowd, at my favorite Chinese buffet, in Zanesville, I wasn't much hungry, so for dinner I headed north on South Limestone Street, the main drag, for something simple. I got a bagel with cream cheese at the deserted chain donut place, then stopped at the same grocery chain I shop at in Morgantown for a nectarine and a box of protein bars. I noticed that the neighborhood down there looks faded at best, but there were white and black and a few Mexican-looking people out on the streets and in the store, and everyone seemed to be enjoying their lives without any drama about race or ethnicity.

Since Springfield is on Eastern time, but is far enough west to be on Central, sunset was 9:03. I followed the streets to the center of the city, and thought I might find some historic spots. The first on my list (alphabetically, natch) was Arcade Hotel, which I couldn't find. A little research back in my room proved that it was torn down in 1988 and replaced some time after with a hotel from The Other Chain. I did find the City Market and The Municipal Building, the fountain for which Fountain Avenue was named. South Fountain Avenue is a historic district. I photographed a house with a separate listing on The National register, and discovered the earlier building that housed the local synagogue. It is now a Seventh Day Adventist Church, so they still advertise Saturday sabbath services. After a wrong turn on arriving in town, I found the newer (1956 for the school building and 1959 for the sanctuary) synagogue building on North Limestone Avenue.

This is an urban county, so I didn't chase after country houses on the National Register. Thirty of the forty listings are in Springfield, mostly near downtown. I found a street just east of downtown with beautiful old houses.

This morning (Monday) I had my list of places - ten in the city and more in the countryside, not too far, as the county is small in area, plus the mall, the university and a big park. It was in the upper 70s early and well into the 80s in the afternoon and humid. A thunderstorm showed up as I was heading back to my room for my 4 P.M. nap.

Here's what I saw: a decaying town, with a more glorious past. There are abandoned factories, run-down neighborhoods, a mall that is almost empty, a downtown that looked deserted on a Monday morning.

Still, the people seem happy, or at least seem to get along across racial lines. There is an excellent park system with paved trails, including one that stretches from the Ohio River to Lake Erie. There is a recent-vintage library, a skating rink, a YMCA. People are restoring the old houses along South Fountain Avenue. There is an art museum and several house museums, including the Frank Lloyd Eright-designed Wescott House and Pennsylvania House, both closed on Monday, the one day I was in town. Most of the county residents live in Springfield. There is farm land around the city; corn seems to be the major crop.

Springfield is a much larger city than Morgantown in a county that is only slightly larger in population than Monongalia.

I liked it here much more than I thought I would, and, in light of what has been going on with City Council in Morgantown, it may be time for me to abandon whatever caution I've had, and take the more radical approach: ask people in the city and county to pay for the things I want, that Springfield has: a YMCA, a skating rink, upgraded swimming pools, a bigger and better library, and more parks and open space. We deserve to have all the amenities a city like Springfield has.

Clark County Courthouse

Beth Shalom, 1956 and 1959, N. Limestone Avenue

Former Beth Shalom, under another name originally, about 1920, South Fountain Avenue

Bookwalter House, 1870s, South Fountain Avenue

Part of the City Market Building, now Springfield Heritage Center

Former Municipal Building, now shops and offices, behind it is the main library

Bike and Hiking Trail along the railroad between The Municipal Building and the Library

Former Lagonda National Bank

East Main St. Historic Distict

Plaza at City Hall

Former Shawnee Hotel, 1916-17, now apartments for seniors

Lagonda Club, 1895, now rented out as offices

Warder Library, now occupied by a literacy center, 1890, a fine example of Richardsonian Romanesque

St. Raphael Catholic Church 1898

Pennsylvania House, west of downtown, about 1822, originally an inn on The National Road for people heading west, restored by The Daughters of The American Revolution and now a museum

Westcott House, 1908, the only Frank Lloyd Wright designed house in Ohio, on East High St, once where the most elite people lived. Now a museum.

Pringle-Patric House, East High St.

Beach at the reservoir in Buck Creek State Park

Myers Hall, Wittenberg University, 1846

The entrance to Wittenberg University

South Charleston, about 10 miles southeast of Springfield, grain elevators

old railroad depot, South Charleston

Historic House in South Charleston

a restored row of shops in South Charleston. There is a café and a bookstore is under construction

House on East High St., Springfield

Gammon House, as the sign says, near South Fountain Ave., Springfield

House on East High Street

Odd Fellows Home, 1898