The View From Main Street: Swanton, Ohio

[Bear Up North]

This Bear resides in Swanton, Ohio......bedroom suburb of Toledo. Been hanging here since 1996, so I thought I could pass on some observations about the small village, the people, the environment, the good, the not-so-good, the bad. Even though separated by just a few miles of corn fields and soybean fields from Ohio's 4th largest city (Toledo), Swanton is more akin to small-town than suburb.

The community is technically a village. The 2000 census counted 3,307 in a land area of 2.4 square miles. Most of the village is located north of Airport Highway (Ohio 2, U.S. Alt 20). Most of the viable businesses in the community are located along Airport Highway. The Ohio Turnpike (I-80 / I-90) provides a northern border for the village. The eastern and western village limits meander along county roads and in cornfields and soybean fields.

Swanton is typical middle-income territory. Most of the McMansions are not in the village. They are scattered in the adjacent townships, primarily to the south (where it is more wooded). Just a few miles southeast of Swanton is the huge Toledo Metropark, Oak Openings. It is considered one of the best natural places in the states, because of interesting plants and butterflies. It is also home to a curiosity of nature.....moving sand dunes. West and southwest of Oak Openings is NW Ohio's only State Forest, the Maumee State Forest.

A major railroad crosses through the center of the village, prompting residents to ask each other, "So, what side of the tracks do you live on?" There is no "wrong side"......there are nice homes on both sides of the tracks. BTW, the tracks are considered the busiest freight tracks in the states. Waiting for trains is one of the sports that Swantonians excel at......catching trains is a regular event.

As I add to this thread with future posts, I will take the time to cover topics that would be of interest to those who plan. Here are some future topics.....

The "on-hold" overpass (over the railroad).
The old downtown (and why it is dead).
Things to do in Swanton.
Eating and drinking in Swanton. (And nearby.)
The Swanton Corn Fest.
The Swanton Bulldogs.
The access-to-Kroger shortcut, across abandoned property.
Death of the small grocery.
Small-town gossip discussion.
The day the giant gas station awning blew down.
Industrial optimism, so close, yet so far.
Where we shop, when we leave the village.
Industry in the village.....mostly now history.
Holiday decorating......at the parks and the tour of area homes.
Parades.
The changes at the carryout.....a study of attitudes.
Swantucky.
_____

More later.

Bear

[JNA]

What no photos ?

[Bear Up North]

Originally posted by JNA

What no photos ?

Yeah, photos will be included. Shoulda mentioned that.

Bearachrome

[Otis]

Does Swanton propomte itself as a place for train watching. Seems like what appears to be a park with a caboose in it on the south side of the tracks would be a good spot to promote, like in Rochelle, Illinois: http://www.rochellerailroadpark.org/

In other matters, is Swanto whaere semi-trailers go to die? Google earth shows a heck of a lot of them for such a small town.

[DetroitPlanner]

Otis, I'm not sure what you are looking at, but the only trailers I see are either manufactured homes or the turnpike rest area. Toledo's main airport is close by though, and if I am not mistaken it is a major hub for parcel delivery.

[Otis]

^^ I asked Google earth for Swanton, Ohio. Just to the ENE of where it centers Swanton is a large yard that looks to me to be full of semi trailers. Street view confirms that they are trailers. I assume it is a manufacturing or repair facility, given all the truck chasses I see elsewhere (just to the E of Swanton's center).

[Bear Up North]

Swanton "answer-man" checks in.....

All those trailers are parked all around the different buildings that make-up a company that manufactures carpet cushioning material, Scottdel. I am not certain, but I believe that many of the trailers are simply used in their yard for storage.

Hub's Bar is also on the street that runs parallel to the railroad tracks.

Swanton does not promote itself as a mecca of train-watching, although it certainly could. I have seen a number of guys standing by the tracks, video-taping or snapping pics, as the many trains rumble through.

BTW.....to give you an idea of how often the long freight trains roar through town, check my day out on Saturday.....

Went to the bank. At the crossing had to wait for a westbound hauler. Just about the time it was through the crossing an eastbound freight roared through. On the way back from the bank, stopped for another long train. If you like trains, this is the town for you.

The airport is the home of a large package/parcel hauler, Bax Global. The airport, 19th busiest cargo airport in the USA, is actually a few miles east of corporate limit Swanton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_Express_Airport

Bear

[Suburb Repairman]

Originally posted by Bear Up North

Swanton "answer-man" checks in.....

All those trailers are parked all around the different buildings that make-up a company that manufactures carpet cushioning material, Scottdel. I am not certain, but I believe that many of the trailers are simply used in their yard for storage.


Bear

I love Swanton. It's a wonderful small town with a ton of potential.

My father-in-law started truck driving with Scottdel when he finished high school at Swanton High.

I'm still waiting for you to announce that the village administrator has left so my wife & I can move up there!

[Super Amputee Cat]

I stay at my friend's house in Swanton Township off-and on each February-March when he's on vacation. Been doing it since 2007. On the weekends I have the kids we always go into Swanton proper to get pizza at Tano's and watch trains. During the warmer months I take me daughter there and we bike all over the town, including the .28 mile loop at Pilliod Park. (4 times = just over a mile). We'll get pizza and eat it at one of the gazebos at the park. By the end of the day, we'll probably have biked 8-10 miles, just in the town, plus up to 15-20 miles earlier in the day at Oak Openings.

It' really fun biking around Swanton at night. The traffic is not too bad and we'll bike to the large city park off of Garfield Avenue, and along some of the residential streets like Lincoln & Woodland. The downtown is pretty dead, with tired old buildings that have been sullied by numerous alterations of the years (bricked over storefronts, blocked off windows, etc). But the residential streets seem to have a lot of activity on a summer weekend night. (Look into the open front doors or picture windows and you're likely to see guys playing poker, families in living rooms, etc. Plus a lot of people just walking around).

I have many fond memories of visiting there over the last six or seven years. My daughter says that it's her favorite town to visit. It's a great place to watch trains, which both of my children are really into. The main city park is really nice with 1950s and '60s era playground swings and slides (not those sanitized plastic ones that are being built ad-nauseum in playgrounds across America). The downtown could use a little sprucing up. Indeed, it really wouldn't cost that much to bring back some of those storefronts and open up those bricked over second story windows. But at least most of the Main Street buildings are still there.

[Bear Up North]

Consolidation has changed the face of our country. For good or for bad, it is here to stay. It certainly affected the lives of those who live, work, shop, and play in Swanton, OH.

When this Bear moved to Swanton (from very-rural Henry County, OH) there were a pair of grocery stores. Food Town was the biggie and there was a smaller locally-owned store. We usually shopped in the smaller store.....meats were better, people friendlier, yadda. The Food Town brand......a solid and huge suburban-Toledo-based corporation.....was owned and operated by a local family. Their stores covered NW Ohio, dominating the grocery business. Eventually, in the later part of the century, the family sold the company to a Grand Rapids, MI grocery giant, Spartan. Consolidation.

Toledo-area shoppers never accepted the Spartan brand. Stores started to close, grocery shoppers slid over to Wally World, Kroger's, or Meijer's. Finally, Spartan threw in the towel and closed all of their metro stores. Kroger purchased many of the Food Town buildings, including the facility in Swanton. A year or so later, Kroger enlarged the store......and that move signalled the end of the line for the small family-owned Swanton grocery. It closed a few years ago. Consolidation.

Swanton folks also have a few restaurants to chose from. Grabbing a bite in Swanton saves the time and expense of a road trip into Greater Toledo. Choices in Swanton.....

McDonald's
Wendy's
Subway
A couple Chinese restaurants
Shucker's (a good seafood and steak house)
A small shop that specializes in chicken wings
A couple small family-owned restaurants

Loma Linda (my fave, but you knew that ) has a Swanton address but it is actually located about 5 miles east of town, near the sprawling Toledo airport. One of the two small family-owned restaurants has had 3 or 4 different owners in the last dozen years. Another small family-owned restaurant, not on the list above, closed a week or so ago. It was called The Ugly Duckling.

Bear