Sidney, Ohio
Sidney downtown, with the municipal courts in the Monumental Building.
Location of Sidney, Ohio
Coordinates: 40°17′23″N 84°9′40″W / 40.28972, -84.16111
Country	United States
State	Ohio
County	Shelby
Area
- City	sq mi (km²)
- Land	sq mi ( km²)
- Water	sq mi ( km²)
Elevation 3	ft ( m)
Population (2000)
- City
- Density	/sq mi (/km²)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP codes	45365, 45367
Area code(s)	937
FIPS code	39-724242
GNIS feature ID	10653213

Sidney is a city in Shelby County, Ohio, United States. The population was 20,211 at the 2000 census. It is named after English explorer Sir Phillip Sidney and is the county seat of Shelby County⁶.

Sidney was the recipient of the 1964 All-America City Award.

Geography

Sidney is located at 40°17′23″N, 84°9′40″W (40.289683, -84.161040)¹.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 27.2 km² (10.5 mi²). 27.0 km² (10.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.67%) is water.

The Great Miami River flows through Sidney and is the main water source of the city. Sidney uses the river for fishing, outdoor recreation, and drinking water. The river begins at Indian lake and acts as a tributary for the Ohio River in Cincinnati.

Sidney is built on flat land with rich, fertile soil. Shelby County holds a plethera of corn, soybean, and dairy farms in the area due to such an abundance of fertile land. While agriculture is rich in this area, such industries as Copeland, Ross Aluminum, Hexa Americas, Kirk National Lease, Cargill, Sidney Truck, and Lear are located within the city. Sidney for its size of approximately 20,000 people holds a rich blend of agriculture and industry for its resident work force.

Sidney has a small municipal airport located south of the city limits. The airport is used mostly for hobbyists and private airplanes.

Architecture

Shelby County courthouse.

Sidney features some unusual architecture for a small town, including the 1883 Italianate courthouse, the 1877 Gothic revival Monumental Building, dedicated to the county's Civil War dead, the 1918 early-modern Thrift Building,which is the home of Peoples Federal Savings and Loan Association was designed by Louis Sullivan, a National Historic Landmark, and the "smallest house in Sidney" on Shelby Street.

The Big Four Bridge is a local landmark that has carried rail traffic since 1923. CSX Transportation currently uses the rail line and bridge as part of the "NYC" division of Conrail, a direct descendant of the New York Central Railroad and Penn Central Transportation CSX also operates the north-south rail line which was better known in earlier years as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad later the Chessie System.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 20,211 people, 7,981 households, and 5,371 families residing in the city. The population density was 748.2/km² (1,938.5/mi²). There were 8,557 housing units at an average density of 316.8/km² (820.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 92.61% White, 3.06% African American, 0.24% Native American, 1.87% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 0.40% from other races, and 1.73% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.30% of the population.

There were 7,981 households out of which 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.8% were married couples living together, 12.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% were non-families. 27.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the city the population was spread out with 28.1% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $38,663, and the median income for a family was $45,672. Males had a median income of $35,127 versus $22,497 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,075. About 9.4% of families and 11.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.5% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The government of the city of Sidney is a city council system, equipped with a city manager who "runs the city." The City Council consists of a Mayor and six members. Three council members are elected at-large by all City voters, while the remaining four are elected from each of the four wards. All council members serve terms of four years. The Mayor and Vice-Mayor are elected by the Council by a majority vote and serve terms of two years. The Council meets the second and fourth Mondays of each month at 6:30 P.M. In addition to their bi-weekly meetings, Council also meets the first Monday of each month in workshop sessions. Most meetings are held in the Municipal Building's Council Chambers.

Council members include Pat Echemann (Second Ward), Tom Miller (Third Ward), Mardie Milligan (First Ward), Mayor Frank Mariano (At Large), Vice- Mayor Rick Sims (At Large), Terry Pellman (At Large), Steve Hamby (Fourth Ward.)

History

Unusual architecture of the 1918 Thrift Building, home to the People's Federal Savings and Loan.

From the 1840s to 1913, canal boats carried Shelby County's products to Cincinnati or Toledo. Sidney was crossed by the Miami and Erie Canal's Sidney or Port Jefferson Feeder Branch. Before railroads came to Sidney, it was the only alternative to muddy unpaved roads. Part of the canal remains south of Water Street.

The City of Sidney, named after Sir Philip Sidney, a well-known poet and member of British Parliament, was originally a 70-acre parcel of land located along the west side of the Great Miami River. This land was donated by Charles Starrett to be used as the site of a new town which was to become the county seat of Shelby County. The area around Sidney was once the richly-forested hunting ground of the Shawnee and Miami Indian nations. This fertile area was developed as agricultural lands over time

The construction of the Miami-Erie Canal between 1825 and 1837 connected Sidney in a north/south direction with the major trade centers in Ohio. In addition to opening the first significant "outside" trade for Sidney, the construction of the canal also attracted an influx of settlers to the area.

As the influence of the canal declined, another transportation element, railroads, began to develop in Sidney. East-west rail began to be laid in 1851, followed by north-south rail in 1856. Sidney is still served by these railroad lines today.

In the 1950's, another transportation element, the Interstate Highway, would play a significant role in the development of Sidney which later helped earn its title "All-America City" in 1964. Today, Interstate 75 connects Sidney with Canada to the north, and Florida to the south. Sidney has four interchanges with Interstate 75, providing access for both commercial and industrial users.

Sidney located 40 miles north of Dayton, 85 miles west of Columbus, 100 miles south of Toledo, and 120 miles east of Indianapolis. Sidney offers an historic downtown featuring the famous Louis Sullivan designed People's Savings & Loan building, the Monumental Building (erected as a monument to those Shelby Countians who died in the Civil War), and the Shelby County Courthouse. The Courthouse, which occupies one city-block known as Court Square, was recently named as one of the "Great American Public Places".

Another characteristic of Sidney is its parks and recreation system. When the City's first comprehensive plan was being developed in the mid-1950s, the City decided to have a park or recreation area within a half-mile of every residence. This goal has resulted in a system of 14 neighborhood parks, a baseball complex, softball complex, soccer complex, municipal swimming pool, and the 180-acre Tawawa Park, a nature and picnic area.

Sidney is the hometown of renowned scientist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Lauterbur, who was involved in the invention of the MRI.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan visited the city of Sidney on a train (the same train that President Roosevelt traveled on during his visit to Sidney in 1944) whilst touring the country. Sidney again saw another President enter the limits of the city when President Bush visited the town in 2003, eating at the Spot Restaurant in downtown Sidney.

The town of Buckeye, Arizona was originally named after Sidney. Malin M. Jackson, who built Arizona's Buckeye Canal, was from Sidney.^[1]

Entertainment

Sidney, Ohio has a drive-in movie theatre, the Auto-Vue, located on the corner of 4th Street and Russell Road. The drive-in opens in May and closes in September. During the fall season Sidney also has a large corn maze on the south side of town.

Yellow Jackets

Sidney High School sports teams are Yellow Jackets (see External links below). The Yellow Jackets football team went 10-0 three straight seasons from 1968-1970 for a 30-0 record. When the school built a new stadium in 2004, it was named Sidney Memorial Stadium at 30 & O Field. The stadium is located on Campbell Road across from Emerson Climate Technologies: Copeland Corporation in Sidney and also hosts home games for Lehman Catholic High School's Cavaliers.

Railroad History

Sidney has two railroad lines. Both were built independently in the 1850s.

Until the 1960s you could board the Knickerbocker Limited in Sidney and then step down in Grand Central Terminal in New York City. This east-west line was built as the Bellefontaine and Indiana Railroad which ran from Galion, Ohio to Union City on the Ohio-Indiana border. It was built in conjunction with the Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Railroad thus providing a route from Cleveland and the East to Indianapolis, and later St. Louis. In 1864, the two were merged into the "Bee" Line: the Bellefontaine Railway, in 1869, into the first "Big Four": the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway, and in 1889, into the second "Big Four": the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway. In the early 1920s, this railroad relocated its tracks from downtown Sidney to the south edge of the city over the then new Big Four concrete arch bridge. Early in the twentieth century, it was leased by the New York Central System. Later the Big Four was taken over by the Penn Central, then Conrail, and finally CSX Transportation.

In the 1950's you could board a train in Sidney and step down in Cincinnati or New Orleans. This north-south line was built as the Dayton and Michigan Railroad. In the 1860's it was leased by the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad. It was taken over by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad early in the twentieth century. Later the line was taken over by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, then by CSX Transportation.

References

1. ^ Buckeye Valley History. Official website of the Town of Buckeye, retrieved June 29, 2006.

External links

• City of Sidney
• Sidney City Schools
• http://www.sidneyyellowjackets.com

Coordinates: 40.289683° N 84.16104° W

Municipalities and communities of Shelby County, Ohio
County seat: Sidney
City	Sidney
Villages	Anna | Botkins | Ft. Loramie | Jackson Center | Kettlersville | Lockington | Port Jefferson | Russia
Townships	Clinton | Cynthian | Dinsmore | Franklin | Green | Jackson | Loramie | McLean | Orange | Perry | Salem | Turtle Creek | Van Buren | Washington
Other localities	Houston | Kirkwood | Maplewood | Pemberton | Swanders | Tawawa

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