Walking along Medina's Public Square you will encounter some of the most interesting shops in the county: Dan's Dogs, Whitey's Army Navy, Ormandy's Trains and Toys, Studio Knit, Hershey's Barber Shop, All Fired Up Pottery, and the Dress Bridal Boutique. Cars and semi trucks will patiently wait for stop lights to change and crossing pedestrians will be rushing to the House of Hunan or Main Street Cafe to eat. Kids will play in the gazebo, the old cannon, or the water fountain. But if you look up at the architecture of the buildings you will begin to see a Medina Public Square that is much more than a quaint drive-through passage from north to south. You will begin to see a community rich with stories about bygone times of temperance, depression, heroes home from war, and families that have built a legacy of community values and created a sense of nostalgia for visitors and residents alike.
According to local lore, Medina was first founded by a group of settlers that raised a flag on the square for the first time in 1818. With a tub of home brew, the first citizens of Medina named the streets of Washington, Liberty, Jefferson and Court by noon. The small village has grown as it nears its bicentennial but has remained faithful to its love of country, faith and community.
The west side in particular harkens back to a day when farmer's wagons relied on the economic heart of the county for supplies, news, and trade. This economic center remained stable through the mid-twentieth century, complete with several grocery stores, meat markets, clothiers, lunch counters and hardware stores. Changes ensued in the Eisenhower Era with the growth of the northern corridor of Route 3 and the construction of I-71 just east of Medina's town center. As the north side of town expanded, the Medina Square became riddled with aluminum signs pointing visitors to the modern shopping plazas of North Court Street. In 1967, the Community Design Committee set out to assist building owners with restoring the square to the Victorian Era in which it rose like a phoenix out of the great 1870 fire that left it in shambles. The result is a picturesque backdrop for the specialty shops that call Medina home today.
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]]>During the 19th Century, the American Hotel was a location for stage coach travelers to stop as they traveled on the Wooster Pike between Cleveland and Columbus. There they had lodging and a hot meal. They could also get fresh horses to continue on their journey. In the early 1900s, this Victorian-style hotel served as a center for travel, social life, and business in Medina.
From the 1930s forward, however, the hotel was no longer a central part of Medina. Like many small towns in America, the automobile changed the way people moved and lived. In 1954, the Savings Deposit Bank bought the American Hotel and proceeded to knock down the historic building to make a parking lot. The bank's monthly newsletter from August 1954 described it as a parking lot that "will appear different than any other you have ever seen." The property remained a parking lot for the remainder of the century.
In 2003, the location changed again as the parking lot became a coffee shop named Cool Beans. Its location on the square is ideal for serving the community coffee and snacks. The story of the location of the American Hotel is a good example of how a place can change over time to serve the evolving needs of the community in which it is located.
]]>In the early years of Medina's history, government officials conducted legal affairs in homes, churches, or general stores. The need and demand for a county courthouse to handle land deeds, records, and court proceedings arose as the population grew in and around Medina.
The east side of the Medina square has for over 170 years been claimed by the county courthouse. Today when one walks the Medina Square, the east side of the square notably casts the shadow of law but has the least amount of traffic -- hence the development of the other three sides of the square for commercial and service businesses. The courthouse has seen three different locations on the square, relocating over the years in order to adapt to the increasing demands of the area's growing population. Can you locate the three locations the Medina Courthouse has occupied on the square?
]]>An orphan, Harrison Grey Blake -- better known as H.G. Blake around the Medina community -- founded the old Phoenix Bank in Medina, Ohio in 1845. Blake initially bought a general store and added an iron cage, or safe, to the back room, thus creating a bank. The three story building had other businesses on the first floor, while the second floor was used for office space, and the third floor housed a social club and a 500-seat theater.
Unfortunately, the second fire on the Medina Square in 1870 destroyed the bank. The safe, however, survived. After this calamity, Blake rallied the citizens of Medina to begin rebuilding the structures damaged or destroyed by the fire. He put forth his bank as the first business to lead this movement, hence the name the Old Phoenix Bank, deriving from the mythical phoenix known for rising from the ashes. From this pivotal moment in Medina history the bank continued to grow and open other branches.
In 1981 Phoenix Bank merged with First National Bank of Ohio. Then, in 1995 the bank changed its name to its current title of First Merit Corporation. First Merit Bank now has 169 branches and 224 ATM machines serving mainly Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. It continues to maintain a branch on Medina Square at the site of the first Phoenix Bank.
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