Akron, Ohio

Quaker Square as it appeared in 1979

When the Ohio Women's Rights Convention came to Akron in 1851, Sojourner Truth extemporaneously delivered her speech named "Ain't I A Woman?", at the Universalist Old Stone Church. In 1870, a local businessman associated with the church, John R. Buchtel, founded Buchtel College, which became the University of Akron in 1913.

Ferdinand Schumacher bought a mill in 1856, and the following decade mass-produced oat bars for the Union Army during the American Civil War; these continued to sell well after the war. Akron incorporated as a city in 1865. Philanthropist Lewis Miller, Walter Blythe, and architect Jacob Snyder designed the widely used Akron Plan, debuting it on Akron's First Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872.[14] Numerous Congregational, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches built between the 1870s and World War I use it.[15][16] In 1883, a local journalist began the modern toy industry by founding the Akron Toy Company. A year later, the first popular toy was mass-produced clay marbles made by Samuel C. Dyke at his shop where Lock 3 Park is now. Other popular inventions include rubber balloons, ducks, dolls, balls, baby buggy bumpers, and little brown jugs. In 1895, the first long-distance electric railway, the Akron, Bedford and Cleveland Railroad, began service.[17] On August 25, 1889, the Boston Daily Globe referred to Akron with the nickname "Summit City".[18] To help local police, the city deployed the first police car in the U.S. that ran on electricity.[19]

The Riot of 1900 saw assaults on city officials, two deaths, and the destruction by fire of Columbia Hall and the Downtown Fire Station (now the City Building since 1925).[20] The American trucking industry was birthed through Akron's Rubber Capital of the World era when the four major tire companies Goodrich Corporation (1869), Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (1898), Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (1900),[21] and General Tire (1915)[22][23] were headquartered in the city. The numerous jobs the rubber factories provided for deaf people led to Akron being nicknamed the "Crossroads of the Deaf".[24] On Easter Sunday 1913, 9.55 inches of rain fell, causing floods that killed five people and destroyed the Ohio and Erie Canal system. From 1916 to 1920, 10,000 schoolgirls took part in the successful Akron Experiment, testing iodized salt to prevent goiter in what was known as the "Goiter Belt".[25] The Akron & National Marble Tournament was created in 1923 by Roy W. Howard, being owned by the Akron District Marbles Tournament and the Akron Beacon Journal sometime before it ended permanently in the 1960s.

Rubber companies responded to housing crunches by building affordable housing for workers. Goodyear's president, F.A. Seiberling, built the Goodyear Heights neighborhood for employees. Likewise, Harvey Firestone built the Firestone Park neighborhood for his employees.[26] During the 1910–1920 decade, Akron became a boomtown, being America's fastest growing city with a 201.8% increase in population. Of the 208,000 citizens, almost one-third were immigrants (also Clark Gable)[27] and their children from places including Europe and West Virginia. In 1929 and 1931 Goodyear's subsidiary Goodyear-Zeppelin Company manufactured two airships for the United States Navy, USS Akron (ZRS-4) and USS Macon (ZRS-5). Goodyear built a number of blimps for the Navy during WWII and later for advertising purposes.[28][29][30] Akron again grew when Kenmore was annexed by voter approval on November 6, 1928. Found hiding under a bed at one of his hideouts in the city, notorious bank robber Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd was arrested under the name "Frank Mitchell" in March 1930.[31] Goodyear became America's top tire manufacturer after merging with The Kelly-Springfield Tire Company in 1935.[32] Lasting five weeks and consisting of roughly 5,000 strikers including union sympathizers from other factories and neighboring states, the Akron Rubber Strike of 1936 successfully used "sit-down" tactic being organized by the United Rubber Workers.[33] During the 1950s–60s Akron surged as use of the automobile did. The historic Rubber Bowl was used by the National Guard of the United States as a base during the racial Wooster Avenue Riots of 1968. Like many other industries of the Rust Belt, both the tire and rubber industries experienced major decline. By the early 1990s, Goodyear was the last major tire manufacturer based in Akron.

University of Akron campus

Despite the number of rubber workers decreasing by roughly half from 2000 to 2007, Akron's research in polymers gained an international reputation.[34] It now centers the Polymer Valley which consist of 400 polymer-related companies, of which 94 were located in the city itself.[35] Research is focused at the University of Akron, which is home to the Goodyear Polymer Center and the National Polymer Innovation Center, and the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering. Because of its contributions to the Information Age, Newsweek listed Akron fifth of ten high-tech havens in 2001.[35] In 2008 "City of Invention" was added to the seal when the All-America City Award was received for the third time. Some events of the 2014 Gay Games used the city as a venue. In 2013, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company opened its new global headquarters on Innovation Way, further cementing the company's relationship with the city .

The city also continues to deal with the effects of air and soil pollution from its industrial past. In the southwestern part of the city, soil was contaminated and noxious PCB-laden fumes were put into the air by an electrical transformer deconstruction operation that existed from the 1930s to the 1960s. Cleanup of the site, designated as a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency, began in 1987 and concluded in 2000. The area remains restricted with regular reviews of the site and its underground aquifer.[36][37][38]

Akron has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa), typical of the Midwest, with four distinct seasons, and lies in USDA hardiness zone 6b, degrading to zone 6a in the outlying suburbs.[42] Winters are cold and dry but typically bring a mix of rain, sleet, and snow with occasional heavy snowfall and icing. January is the coldest month with an average mean temperature of 26.1 °F (−3.3 °C),[43] with temperatures on average dropping to or below 0 °F (−18 °C) on 3.8 days and staying at or below freezing on 41 days per year.[43] Snowfall averages 47.5 inches (121 cm) per season, significantly less than the snowbelt areas closer to Lake Erie.[43] The snowiest month on record was 37.5 inches (95 cm) in January 1978, while winter snowfall amounts have ranged from 82.0 in (208 cm) in 1977–78 to 18.2 in (46 cm) in 1949–50.[43] Springs generally see a transition to fewer weather systems that produce heavier rainfall. Summers are typically very warm and humid with temperatures at or above 90 °F (32 °C) on 8.0 days per year on average; the annual count has been as high as 36 days in 1931, while the most recent year to not reach that mark is 2004.[43] July is the warmest month with an average mean temperature of 72.0 °F (22 °C).[43] Autumn is relatively dry with many clear warm days and cool nights.

The all-time record high temperature in Akron of 104 °F (40 °C) was established on August 6, 1918, and the all-time record low temperature of −25 °F (−32 °C) was set on January 19, 1994.[43] The first and last freezes of the season on average fall on October 18 and April 26, respectively, allowing a growing season of 174 days.[43] The normal annual mean temperature is 49.8 °F (9.9 °C).[43] Normal yearly precipitation based on the 30-year average from 1981 to 2010 is 39.62 inches (1,006 mm), falling on an average 158 days.[43] Monthly precipitation has ranged from 12.55 in (319 mm) in July 2003 to 0.20 in (5.1 mm) in September 1960, while for annual precipitation the historical range is 65.70 in (1,669 mm) in 1990 to 23.79 in (604 mm) in 1963.[43]

Jablonski Sculpture, a gift of the Zimmite Corporation in tribute to Nola M. Guzzetta's humanitarian interest in providing for the blind a vision of artistic and architectural design through touch[45]

As a result of multiple towns merging, and industry boom, Akron's architecture is diverse.

Originally a canal town, the city is divided into two parts by the Ohio and Erie Canal, with downtown being centered on it. Along the locks, the city has a path paved with rubber.

Akron was awarded with the City Livability Award in 2008 for its efforts to co-purpose new school buildings as community learning centers. In 2009, the National Arbor Day Foundation designated Akron as a Tree City USA for the 14th time.[46]

Many of the city's government and civic buildings, including City Hall, and the Summit County Courthouse are from pre-World War Two, but the Akron-Summit County Public Library, and John S. Knight Center are considerably newer. The library opened in 1969 but reopened as a greatly expanded facility in 2004. The Knight Center opened in 1994.

The First Methodist Episcopal Church first used the Akron Plan in 1872, the plan later gained popularity, being used in many Congregationalists, Baptists, and Presbyterians.[14][47]

The city is home to a historic 1920s atmospheric movie palace, the Akron Civic Theatre. One of the building's features is a starry sky with clouds that drift over it when the lights are dimmed.

Completed in 1931, Akron's tallest building, the Huntington Tower, features the art deco style and is covered in glazed architectural terra-cotta.[48] Standing 330 feet (100 m), it is built on top of the Hamilton Building, completed in 1900 in the neo-gothic style. Near the turn of the millennium the tower was given a $2.5 million facelift, including a $1.8 million restoration of the tower's terra-cotta, brick and limestone.[48] The top of the building has a television broadcast tower, formerly used by WAKR-TV (now WVPX-TV) and WAKR-AM.[49] The antenna reaches 134.7 metres (442 ft).Located on the University of Akron campus, the Goodyear Polymer Center, is glass twin towers connected by walkways. The university also uses the former Quaker Oats factory as a dormitory; for many years it had been a shopping center called Quaker Square. There had also been a hotel there.

The Akron Art Museum commissioned Coop Himmelblau to design an expansion in 2007. The new building connects to the old building and is divided into three parts known as the "Crystal",[50] "Gallery Box",[51] and the "Roof Cloud".[52]

The contrasting neighborhoods of Goodyear Heights and Firestone Park were built during the rubber industry to house workers and their families. They are both communities filled with houses based on mail-order plans.

Lock 3 Park amphitheater

Akron consists of 21 neighborhoods, with an additional three that are unincorporated but recognized within the city. The neighborhoods of the city differ in design largely because of expansions such as town merging, annexation, housing construction in various time periods, and rubber era.

Maple Valley covers the west end of Copley Road, before reaching I-77. Along this strip are several businesses using the name, as well as the Maple Valley Branch of the Akron-Summit County Public Library. Spicertown falls under the blanket of University Park, this term is used frequently to describe the student-centered retail and residential area around East Exchange and Spicer streets, near the University of Akron. West Hill is roughly bounded by West Market Street on the north, West Exchange Street on the south, Downtown on the East, and Rhodes Avenue on the west. It features many stately older homes, particularly in the recently recognized Oakdale Historic District.

Akron's suburbs include Barberton, Cuyahoga Falls, Fairlawn, Green, Hudson, Mogadore, Montrose, Munroe Falls, Norton, Silver Lake, Stow, and Tallmadge. Akron formed Joint Economic Development Districts with Springfield, Coventry, Copley, and Bath (in conjunction with Fairlawn) townships.[53]

Akron has served as the setting for several major studio and independent films. Inducted into the National Film Registry, Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), tells the story of two dancers from Akron who go to New York City.[61][62] My Name is Bill W. (1989) tells the true story of Bill Wilson who co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous, which held its first meetings at the Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens and has over two million members today.[63] The program's connection to the Saint Thomas Hospital is alluded to in an episode of the television series Prison Break (2005), where Michael Scofield talks to Sara Tancredi on the phone while there.[64] The Akron Armory is used as a venue for a female wrestling team in ...All the Marbles (1981).[65] More than a Game (2009) documents National Basketball Association player LeBron James and his St. Vincent – St. Mary High School high school basketball team's journey.[66] In Drake's music video to Forever (2009) off the More than a Game soundtrack (2009), the iconic Goodyear's logo on top the company's theater is shown. The city has been frequently portrayed in media, from "Hell on Earth" in the television series I'm In Hell (2007),[67] to the whereabouts of a holy woman in The Virgin of Akron, Ohio (2007).[68] Henry Spivey of My Own Worst Enemy (2008), travels to Akron through the series many times.[69] George Costanza in an episode of Seinfeld (1989), flies to the city.[70] M.Y.O.B. (2008) is centered on an Akron runaway girl named Riley Veatch.[71] Jake Foley of Jake 2.0 (2003), Pickles family of the Rugrats (1991), and J.Reid of In Too Deep (1999), and Avery Barkley of Nashville (2016) are also from the city. Akron was also in the spotlight on the television show Criminal Minds "Compromising Positions" (2010) Season 6, Episode 4. The 2015 film Room is set in Akron, filmed in Toronto with staging to signify Akron. The film Harvey (1950) mentions Akron multiple times.

In Needful Things, a novel by Stephen King, the character of Leland Gaunt is from Akron. Also, in the musical comedy Glee, Vocal Adrenaline, the New Directions rivals, are from the fictional Carmel High School in Akron. In the dystopian novel Unwind (and its sequels), by Neal Shusterman, one of the main characters, Connor Lassiter, is dubbed the "Akron AWOL" after the city becomes the scene of his notorious escape from the Juvey-cops. An antique store in Akron also plays a key part in the Unwind series.

Thomas and Beulah, a book of poetry written by native and former Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, Rita Dove, tells the story of her grandmother and grandfather, who separately moved from the South to the city, where they lived through the Great Depression and the rest of their lives.[72] The city is also the setting for the novel The Coast of Akron, by former editor of Esquire, Adrienne Miller.[73] To reflect Akron's decline during the 1980s, Akron native Chrissie Hynde wrote the Pretenders song "My City Was Gone".[74] The Black Keys album title Rubber Factory refers to the former Goodrich Corporation rubber factory in which it was recorded.[75] Akron serves as a setting in the first-person-shooter PC platform video game No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way.[76][77]

Akron Art Museum

Dr. Robert Smith House

There are numerous attractions and points of interest in the Akron area. Opened in 1922, the Akron Art Museum has a 20,000-square-foot building and a collection of art produced since 1850. Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens is the estate of F.A. Seiberling, founder of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The manor hosts various attractions and public events throughout the year. In the heart of downtown, the Akron Civic Theatre has provided the community with a venue for entertainment and live performances for over eighty years. Lock 3, a historic Ohio and Erie Canalway landmark, has been transformed into an entertainment amphitheater that hosts festivals, concerts, and community events throughout the year. The Akron Zoo is located just outside downtown, and was an initial gift of property from the city's founding family. In Highland Square, Akron hosts a convergence of art, music, and community annually called Art in the Square, a festival featuring local artists and musicians.[78]

National events hosted annually in Akron cover a wide variety of hobbies and interests. The PGA World Golf Championships travel to Akron each year for the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club. The All-American Soap Box Derby is a youth racing program which has its World Championship finals at Derby Downs. In mid July, the National Hamburger Festival consists of different vendors serving original recipe hamburgers and has a Miss Hamburger contest.[79] Lock 3 Park annually hosts the First Night Akron celebration on New Year's Eve.[80] The park also annually hosts the Italian Festival and the "Rib, White & Blue" food festival in July.[78] Founders Day is celebrated annually because of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous within the city. The Dr. Robert Smith House is located in Akron.[81][82]

Several residents of Akron have played a role in defining American cuisine. Ferdinand Schumacher created the first American oatmeal and is a pioneer of breakfast cereal.[83] He also founded the Empire Barley Mill and German Mills American Oatmeal Company,[84] which would later merge several times with other companies, with the result being the Quaker Oats Company.[85] The Menches Brothers, are the disputed inventors of the waffle ice cream cone,[86] caramel corn,[86] and hamburger.[87] The beer, BORIS The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout, brewed by the Hoppin' Frog Brewing Company located in the city, won 1st place in the Imperial Stout category of the 2008 Great American Beer Festival, and the company was named the 24th best brewer in the world for 2010 by RateBeer.com[88] Notable eateries in Akron are Luigi's Pizzeria (established in 1949) and The Diamond Grille. Other places include Crave, Bricco, Cilantro, Diamond Deli, Urban Eats, Mary Coyle Ice Cream, Swenson's, Skyway, Ken Stewart's, Tangier, Louie's, Duffy's, New Era, Strickland's Frozen Custard, and Hamburger Station.[89] The rivalry between Swenson's and Skyway, aired on Iron Chef Michael Symon's Food Feuds, which Swenson's won.[90]

Although Akron is in northern Ohio, where the Inland North dialect is expected, its settlement history puts it in the North Midland dialect area.[91] Some localisms that have developed include devilstrip, which refers to the grass strip between a sidewalk and street.[92]

InfoCision Stadium – Summa Field

The University of Akron's Akron Zips compete in the NCAA and the Mid-American Conference (MAC) in a variety of sports at the Division I level. The men's basketball team appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1986, 2009, 2011, and 2013. In 2009, the Zips men's soccer team completed the regular-season undefeated, then won the NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship in 2010. Zippy, one of the eight female NCAA mascots, won the National Mascot of the Year contest in 2007.

Former teams of Akron include the Akron Professionals (National Football League), Goodyear Silents (deaf semi-professional football), Akron Black Tyrites (Negro National League), Akron Americans (International Hockey League), Akron Lightning (International Basketball League), the Akron Summit Assault USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, and the Akron Wingfoots (National Basketball League), who won the first NBL Championship and the International Cup three times. The Akron Firestone Non-Skids (National Basketball League), later won the title consecutively, in 1939 and 1940. The historic Rubber Bowl was the home of the 1920 National Football League Championship winners, the Akron Professionals. The Akron Vulcans was a professional football team in Akron, Ohio. The team played in the Continental Football League for part of the 1967 season. Serving as a minor league for the National Football League and the American Football League, the Continental Football League only existed for a short period, from 1964 to 1969.[97]

Northeast Ohio's Polymer Valley is centered in Akron. The area holds forty-five percent of the state's polymer industries, with the oldest dating to the 19th century. During the 1980s and 1990s, an influx of new polymer companies came to the region.[114] In 2001, more than 400 companies manufactured polymer-based materials in the region.[115] Many University of Akron scientists became world-renowned for their research done at the Goodyear Polymer Center. The first College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering was begun by the university. In 2010, the National Polymer Innovation Center opened on campus.

Local hospitals

Akron has designated an area called the Biomedical Corridor, aimed at luring health-related ventures to the region. It encompasses 1,240 acres (5.0 km²) of private and publicly owned land, bounded by Akron General on the west and Akron City on the east, and also includes Akron Children's near the district's center with the former Saint Thomas Hospital to the north of its northern boundaries.[116] Since its start in 2006, the corridor added the headquarters of companies such as Akron Polymer Systems.[117]

Akron's adult hospitals are owned by two health systems, Summa Health System and Akron General Health System. Summa Health System operates Akron City Hospital and the former St. Thomas Hospital, which in 2008 were recognized for the 11th consecutive year as one of "America's Best Hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report.[118][119] Summa is recognized as having one of the best orthopaedics programs in the nation with a ranking of 28th.[120] Akron General Health in affiliation with the Cleveland Clinic operates Akron General Medical Center, which in 2009, was recognized as one of "America's Best Hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report.[121][122] Akron Children's Hospital is an independent entity that specializes in pediatric care and burn care.[123] In 1974, Dr. Howard Igel and Dr. Aaron Freeman successfully grew human skin in a lab to treat burn victims, making Akron Children's Hospital the first hospital in the world to achieve such a feat.[124] Akron City and Akron General hospitals are designated Level I Trauma Centers.

According to the city's 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[125] the principal employers in the city are:

City founder Simon Perkins negotiated a treaty with Native Americans to establish a mail route from the Connecticut Western Reserve to Detroit in 1807, an early example of historic humanitarian affairs in Akron. Aside from being part of the Underground Railroad, when active, John Brown was a resident, today having two landmarks (John Brown House) and the (John Brown Monument) dedicated to him. During the 1851 Women's Rights Convention, Sojourner Truth delivered her speech entitled "Ain't I A Woman?". In 1905, a statue of an Indian named Unk was erected on Portage Path, which was part of the effective western boundary of the White and Native American lands from 1785 to 1805.[136] The Summit County chapter of the Ku Klux Klan reported having 50,000 members, making it the largest local chapter in the country during the 20th century. At some point the sheriff, county officials, mayor of Akron, judges, county commissioners, and most members of Akron's school board were members. The Klan's influence in the city's politics eventually ended after Wendell Willkie arrived and challenged them.[137] Race took part in two of Akron's major riots, the Riot of 1900 and the Wooster Ave. Riots of 1968. Others giving speeches on race in the city include W. E. B. Du Bois (1920)[8] and President Bill Clinton (1997).[9] In 1971, Alpha Phi Alpha Homes Inc. was founded in Akron by the Eta Tau Lambda chapter, with James R. Williams as chairman. The centerpiece, Henry Arthur Callis Tower, is located in the Channelwood Village area of the city. In 2008, 91-year-old Akron native, Addie Polk, became the poster child of the financial crisis of 2007–2010, after shooting herself.[138]

As of the census[2] of 2010, there were 199,110 people, 83,712 households, and 47,084 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,209.9 inhabitants per square mile (1,239.3/km²). There were 96,288 housing units at an average density of 1,552.3 per square mile (599.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 62.2% White, 31.5% African American, 0.2% Native American, 2.1% Asian, 0.8% from other races, and 3.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.1% of the population. Non-Hispanic Whites were 61.2% of the population,[141] down from 81.0% in 1970.[142]

There were 83,712 households, of which 28.8% had children under age 18 living with them, 31.3% were married couples living together, 19.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 43.8% were non-families. 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.98.

The median age in the city was 35.7 years. 22.9% of residents were under age 18; 12.4% were between 18 and 24; 25.9% were from 25 to 44; 25.9% were from 45 to 64; and 12.6% were 65 or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.3% male and 51.7% female.

The former Akron Fulton International Airport administration building

The primary terminal that airline passengers traveling to or from Akron use is the Akron-Canton Regional Airport, serving nearly 2 million passengers a year. The Akron-Canton Airport is a commercial Class C airport located in the city of Green,[149] roughly 10 mi (16 km) southeast of Akron operated jointly by Stark and Summit counties. It serves as an alternative for travelers to or from the Cleveland area as well. Akron Executive Airport is a general aviation airport located in and owned by the City of Akron that serves private planes. It first opened in 1929 and has operated in several different capacities since then. The airport had commercial scheduled airline service until the 1950s and it is now used for both cargo and private planes.[150] It is home of the Lockheed Martin Airdock, where the Goodyear airships, dirigibles, and blimps were originally stored and maintained. The Goodyear blimps are now housed outside of Akron in a facility on the shores of Wingfoot Lake in nearby Suffield Township.

Akron Northside Station

Akron Northside Station is a train station at 27 Ridge Street along the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.[151]

Because of the city's large rubber industry, Akron was once served by a variety of railroads that competed for the city's freight and passenger business. The largest were the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Erie Railroad, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Smaller regional railroads included the Akron, Canton, and Youngstown Railroad, Northern Ohio Railway, and the Akron Barberton Belt Railroad.[152] Today, the city is served by CSX Corporation, the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, and their subsidiary Akron-Barberton-Cluster, which operate out of the W&LE's Akron Yard near Brittain Road on the eastern end of the city.

From 1891 to 1971 passenger service to points throughout the Midwest, as well as Washington and New York City, was provided at Akron Union Station.[153] The last legacy passenger trains were the Erie Lackawanna's Lake Cities (ended, 1970) and the B&O's Shenandoah (ended, 1971).[154] There is currently no passenger rail transportation with the elimination of Amtrak's former Three Rivers service in 2005. The nearest Amtrak service is in Alliance, Ohio or Cleveland.

Robert K. Pfaff Transit Center

Public transportation is available through the METRO Regional Transit Authority system, whose fleet of over 200 buses and trolleys operates local routes and commuter buses into downtown Cleveland. Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA) also has a bus line running between Canton and Akron and the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority (PARTA) runs an express route connecting the University of Akron with Kent State University.[155] Metro RTA operates out of the Robert K. Pfaff Transit Center on South Broadway Street. This facility, which opened in 2009, also houses inter-city bus transportation available through Greyhound Lines.[156]

Akron is served by two major interstate highways that bisect the city. Unlike other cities, the bisection does not occur in the Central Business District, nor do the interstates serve downtown; rather, the Akron Innerbelt and to a lesser extent Ohio State Route 8 serve these functions.

• Interstate 77 connects Marietta and Cleveland, Ohio. In Akron, it has 15 interchanges, four of which permit freeway-to-freeway movements. It runs north–south in the southern part of the city to its intersection with I-76, where it takes a westerly turn as a concurrency with Interstate 76.
• Interstate 76 connects Interstate 71 to Youngstown, Ohio, and farther. It runs east–west and has 18 interchanges in Akron, four of which are freeway-to-freeway. The East Leg was rebuilt in the 1990s to feature six lanes and longer merge lanes. The concurrency with Interstate 77 is eight lanes. The Kenmore Leg is a four-lane leg that is slightly less than two miles (3 km) long and connects to Interstate 277.
• Interstate 277 is an east–west spur that it forms with US 224 after I-76 splits to the north to form the Kenmore Leg. It is six lanes and cosigned with U.S. 224.

View of Akron from the south looking north

• The Akron Innerbelt is a six-lane, 2.24-mile (3.60 km) spur from the I-76/I-77 concurrency and serves the urban core of the city. Its ramps are directional from the interstates, so it only serves west side drivers. ODOT is considering changing this design to attract more traffic to the route. The freeway comes to an abrupt end near the northern boundary of downtown where it becomes Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The freeway itself is officially known as "The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Freeway". The freeway was originally designed to connect directly to State Route 8, but plans were laid to rest in the mid-1970s because of financial troubles.
• Ohio State Route 8 is an original state highway that is a limited access route that connects Akron's northern suburbs with Interstates 76 and 77. State Route 8's southern terminus is at the central interchange, where it meets I-76 and I-77. The second freeway in Akron to be completed, it went through a major overhaul in 2003 with new ramps and access roads. In 2007 ODOT began a project to upgrade the road to interstate highway standards north of Akron from State Route 303 to I-271, providing a high speed alternative to Cleveland.[157]

The distribution of methamphetamine ("meth") in Akron greatly contributed to Summit County becoming known as the "Meth Capital of Ohio". The county ranks third in the nation in the number of registered meth sites.[161] During the 1990s, motorcycle gang the Hells Angels sold the drug from bars frequented by members.[162] Between January 2004 and August 2009, the city had significantly more registered sites than any other city in the state.[163] Authorities believe a disruption of a major Mexican meth operation attributed to the increase of it being made locally.[164] In 2007, APD received a grant to help continue its work with other agencies and jurisdictions to support them in ridding the city of meth labs.[165] The Akron Police Department coordinates with the Summit County Drug Unit and the Drug Enforcement Administration, forming the Clandestine Methamphetamine Laboratory Response Team.[166]