North Ridgeville – 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, and coordinated celebrations and programs will be happening all year long throughout the country. The State of Ohio created America 250-Ohio as a coordinated effort in conjunction with the national program and is working with cities throughout the state on various historical and celebratory programming.
North Ridgeville is one such city designated as an Ohio-250 city and January kicks off North Ridgeville’s participation in America 250-Ohio with the theme “Ohio Firsts and Originals,” celebrating the people, ideas and innovations that have shaped both the state and the community.
Throughout the year, residents are invited to take part in local activities that highlight North Ridgeville’s story alongside Ohio’s rich history.
The North Ridgeville Branch Library will feature a monthly book display aligned with each state theme, offering readers of all ages an opportunity to explore Ohio’s legacy as the 16th state in the Union. Also at the library, along with the North Ridgeville Historical Society, they will be highlighting the rich history of three of North Ridgeville’s most well known and historically significant businesses – Ridge Tool, Amidon Fittings and Dreco.
Secretary of the North Ridgeville Historical Society Kathy Bly said the historical society is creating a display shelf at the library for each of the three companies, showcasing what they did and their overall importance to the backbone of North Ridgeville manufacturing.
She explained that each month, Ohio-250 has a different category on which to focus. An adhoc committee was created that includes folks from the city and various other service organizations to promote the historical significance of North Ridgeville and Ohio in general, although back in 1776, Bly admits that Ohio wasn’t involved in much related to the new country.
“It seems like everybody in town here is working on something and for our part, because we are historically minded, we’re doing more of a history kind of focus,” Bly said. “We do have 14 Revolutionary War veterans that are buried here and I believe that’s more than any other city in Lorain County.
“We’re going to be featuring them on our Facebook page maybe one a month or maybe save them all for veteran’s day. We’re not sure exactly what we’re going to do, but we do know we already have information on them and we know where they’re buried and the important stuff,” Bly said. “It’s kind of hard to get the story sometimes and that’s what people want. They want to know where they lived and what was their life like, and so that’s a lot of research that we need to do to get to that point.”
The historical society is also working closely with the schools to compile the research. They’re also working with the journalism class at the high school to craft several videos that showcase the historical significance of North Ridgeville and these war heroes.
They’ll be doing several more displays at the library over the course of the year, one featuring the Green Line Trolley as well as the old train station that used to run through the burgeoning city. They’re also working on creating a map of past farms and greenhouses, now mostly housing developments, as North Ridgeville was once considered the Greenhouse Capital of Ohio.
Bly encourages residents and other businesses and organizations to also get involved and share their historical stories. She said the best way to get involved is to immerse oneself and simply get involved.
The city website has a specific section now dedicated to the Ohio 250 program where folks will be able to follow along and learn about all the programs that will be going on and all the history being shared throughout the year.
Bly added that the North Ridgeville Historical Society is always looking for folks to come to meetings and learn more. They need the third Wednesday of each month at 4:30 p.m. at the North Ridgeville Library.
