Why the Old North End?

We chose to examine the Old North End as the focus of our Technology Learning Circle s Project for several reasons. First, we think that the Old North End offers a significant angle of historical insight for both scholars and history buffs interested in the dynamics of class, ethnicity and urban life in twentieth century America. As the information on this web site will explain, for a variety of reasons the Old North End emerged at the turn of the twentieth century as one of the earliest and most stable working-class neighborhoods in the burgeoning small industrial city of Lima, Ohio. Because of its proximity to early and developing industries like the rail-yards, the cigar works, and the extensive oil processing and locomotive-construction facilities further away in south Lima, working-class immigrants (and especially their adult offspring) were drawn to settle in the Old North End. There they created a stable and enduring neighborhood that would function as home for generations of blue-collar workers across the span of the twentieth century.

The history of the Old North End reveals much about the social history of larger Lima, a story that matters much by itself. Scholars have completed a fair library of historical literature on the development of large cities and metropolitan areas; historians already know much about the growth of places like Chicago, New York City and Pittsburgh. We know less, however, about the historical development of less noticed but still important cities such as Lima, Ohio. In this research, we hoped that we might make a small but significant contribution to urban history on this more local level.

Finally, we offer this work as a contribution to the people of Lima and especially the Old North End. Even our initial forays into the archives and papers at the Allen County Historical Museum and Library quickly convinced us that this area offers a rich and alluring history. This is a story that deserves a careful look by historians and residents alike. In providing this initial exploration of just one of Lima's many coherent and interesting neighborhoods, we hope that we might inspire other such studies and more historical work. In addition, we hope that this effort might contribute to the measurable pride that local residents already and justifiably take in their homes and neighborhoods. In so doing, we hope that this project might reinforce a local determination to maintain and preserve many of Lima's fine neighborhoods.

In sum, we have engaged in this research on the history of Lima's Old North End because of our firm conclusion that history matters.