Middletown is a city in Butler and Warren counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 50,987 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area in southwest Ohio, 29 miles (47 km) northeast of Cincinnati and 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Dayton.
Incorporated in 1833 and designated a city in 1886, Middletown was formed from parts of Lemon, Turtlecreek, and Franklin townships. It was home to AK Steel Holding Corporation, formerly known as Armco and founded in 1900, whose steel factory in Middletown still operates as part of Cleveland Cliffs. The city also features Hook Field Municipal Airport, now serving only general aviation, and a regional campus of Miami University. In 1957, Middletown was named an All America City.
At a Glance
- Counties: Butler County and Warren County
- State: Ohio
History of Middletown
Middletown is mostly part of the 1788 Symmes Purchase of 311,682 acres (487.003 sq mi; 1,261.33 km) purchased by Judge John Cleves Symmes of New Jersey in 1788 from the Continental Congress as part of the Land Ordinance of 1785.
Stephen Vail Jr. purchased land on the eastern bank of the Great Miami River from Symmes and platted 52 lots for the village in 1802. The purchase was complicated when it was discovered that Symmes did not own all the land thought to have been sold to Vail, and eventually, after Vail’s death, the Ohio Supreme Court permitted the transactions to go through.
In 1825, construction of the Miami and Erie Canal occurred, linking Middletown to Toledo, Ohio on Lake Erie and Cincinnati, Ohio on the Ohio River. A 20 miles (32 km) branch called the Warren County Canal operated to Lebanon, Ohio from 1830 to 1852 when flooding on Shaker Run destroyed the branch. The Great Flood of 1913 destroyed most of the Miami and Erie in the area. The canal was paved over and became the Verity Parkway. In 1982, Middletown opened the Canal Museum to commemorate the events.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Middletown, Ohio, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.