Middletown

 

So I finally took a comprehensive tour of downtown Middletown. This has been a long time coming since I am only 30 minutes away from the city.

 

In general Middletown is a struggling industrial city but this was not always the case as the city was

booming until the 60s and 70s.  Middletown was even prominent enough to support a full Opera Company and construct a state of the art Opera House.  It also has some incredible intact mansions.

(unfortunately I do not have any photos of these mansions). 

 

During the past couple of decades much of Middletown's emphasis has been on the eastside of town with primarily suburban development.  This is because I-75 borders the city on the east end.  The city recently built a multi-million dollar hospital near the I-75 interchange. 

 

Unfortunately Middletown's heavy emphasis on suburban development has left less money available for struggling inner city neighborhoods and resulted in the majority of the middle and upper class of the city residing in post 60/70s development.  They also are having issues maintaining the large amounts of annexed land.

 

Downtown Middletown runs mainly along Central Avenue for about a mile.

 

This New Orleans restaurant was actually opened by a Katrina Victim:

I love this building:

As you can see I am moving away from the center of Downtown

I'm guessing the top floors are unoccupied...

Fortunately there is a decent amount of historical commercial buildings still remaining in Downtown Middletown.  I really hope they can be saved.

Not the most attractive building but certainly an important organization for the community..

 

 

Ok you'll love the next photo

There are more residential usages (or at least they used to be residential) the further you get from the downtown core.

Now I am heading back to the center of downtown

Here is some disappointing commercial

This needs a little help..

It would be sad to lose these buildings:

 

Central Downtwon Middletown

This building can be considered the centerpiece of Downtown Middletown (this is the smaller building in the foreground).  Its a stained Glass Company.  The city offered the building to them at an extremely cheap price and the company remodeled it.  Its even more amazing inside with incredible stained glass artwork and an explanation on the history of Stained Glass as an artform.

 

 

The community is trying to make downtown Middletown an arts districts.  Hence the "Got Art" sign below.

Hopefully this will take off..

 

This is called Port Middletown Park

This is a mural of the old canal which ran right by this park.  There are actually a number of murals in Middletown.

There is even a stage in the park (although I wish it was larger so it could hold better acts)

 

The Manchester.  This place is amazing.  Apparently this hotel is run at a loss but it is still in business since the owner has enough money to keep it afloat.  There is a really nice ballroom on the second floor. 

In the foreground is Donham Plaza where large communities events are held.  It is rather dead in the winter.  In the background is city hall.

 

Now some photos from the abandoned parking lot.  This basically closed when the downtown mall came down.  Yes; there was a mall in downtown Middletown.  It  covered a few blocks on Central Street.

The old Sorg Paper Mill

 

Here is Miami Middletown's downtown building.  I wish it was more present of the street. 

The other Art Deco building in Middletown:

Here's a cool Mural

Not the prettiest sight in downtown

 

Sorg Oprah House

 

This is probably the best downtown historic block in the city:

Ok I lied about not posting any mansions.  Here's the only one I got a decent picture of

 

Good collection.

I've gone to Middletown for the sole (soul?) purpose of going to Miami's branch there. Not being from the city I found the downtown frustrating to navigate, maybe a change in traffic patterns would help some of the businesses? I'm certain people way smarter than me have thought about this and decided that the current pattern is best. Meanwhile, AK is opening a new coke furnace much to the consternation of Monroe which will get the beneficiary pollution. Sigh. Ya can't win.

Middletown needs some lovin'.

very good.

 

the downtown's ex-mall is striking. it was a very good idea to combat suburbia. unfortunately suburbia won around there.

Not being from the city I found the downtown frustrating to navigate, maybe a change in traffic patterns would help some of the businesses?

 

A client I once had in Middletown told me that many of the primary Middletown streets are freeway-esque with apparently useless (and quite tedious, annoying and confusing) on and off ramps and merges because they were optimized for the traffic resulting from steel and raw materials being hauled in and out of Armco. The idea was to keep trucks moving with a minimum of starting, stopping, and jake brakes.

 

Great photo essay, but it makes me want to put Dr. Kevorkian on speed dial.

Middletown needs some lovin'.

 

I agree!!

very good.

 

the downtown's ex-mall is striking. it was a very good idea to combat suburbia. unfortunately suburbia won around there.

 

I feel that Middletown has been doing too much to compete with other suburban development.  How can you compete with places like West Chester and Mason?  They have focused so much of there new development in strip mall commerical, new housing, and a new hospital.  This has left many of the older neighborhoods without much redevelopment founding.  Much of their newer suburban development (aka the Middletown mall is closing).

 

I really think they need to focus on the urban assets they have.

Awwww

Middletown has an amazing downtown in terms of commercial structures. Some of them are very old. I can only imagine the energy and activity there when the steel and paper industries flourished.

 

There's a core group of people who are very dedicated to preserving and reviving the city. They have their work cut out for them, but they're energetic, creative, and optimistic.

 

In December, 2006 there was a Holiday Season tour of Middletown's historic mansions and some of the churches. A group of UO forumers got together to tour downtown earlier in the afternoon, and then tour the mansions in the evening. I posted the photos in a thread back then, but the links probably are broken since I restructured my site. They're on my site here, if anyone wants to see them.

Middletown has an amazing downtown in terms of commercial structures. Some of them are very old. I can only imagine the energy and activity there when the steel and paper industries flourished.

 

There's a core group of people who are very dedicated to preserving and reviving the city. They have their work cut out for them, but they're energetic, creative, and optimistic.

 

In December, 2006 there was a Holiday Season tour of Middletown's historic mansions and some of the churches. A group of UO forumers got together to tour downtown earlier in the afternoon, and then tour the mansions in the evening. I posted the photos in a thread back then, but the links probably are broken since I restructured my site. They're on my site here, if anyone wants to see them.

 

Wow that was a great photo thread.  What are the organizations dedicated to preserving and reviving the city core?

Wow that was a great photo thread. What are the organizations dedicated to preserving and reviving the city core?

 

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed the pics. I'm not intimately familiar with Middletown, but as I recall, the folks at Beau Verre stained glass and at One Floor Up, in the old Eagles Lodge building, are among the leaders. Nathaniel might know more about this, and preservationrestoration (who organized the meet) might know more details.

 

Incidentally, much of the beautiful trim and woodwork, doors, etc., in the first floor of the Beau Verre building came from a beautiful Middletown school that was razed. The Beau Verre building was once a GC Murphy store.

Ah, home sweet home. I remember driving through all the time, and I can honestly say that Richie's Pawn Shop is what I remember best since it's right off Verity Parkway. Awesome shots, though! If Madison Twp. ever gets developed, it might ahve a bright future, since it wouldn't have a bad rep. in suburbia like downtown Dayton does.

 

 

much more architecturally impressive than its NE Ohio counterpart Lorain

Sorg Oprah House

 

Oprah?

 

 

Why Ink Why...

You had to resurrect this!