HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
POPULATION
The patterns of outmigration in the Northeast Ohio region were precipitated
in the 1950's when the construction of the Interstate Highway System
began and have been accelerated by the addition of new freeway segments,
interchanges, and the improvement of the arterial road networks. These
public sector investments in roads made outlying areas accessible
and created private sector interest in rezoning farmland and other
open space for low-density residential development, retail centers
and industrial parks. As a result, major shifts in population and
employment began to occur in the Northeast Ohio region.
In 1960, Medina County's population was 65,315 and Cuyahoga Countys
was 1,647,895. By 1996, the population of Medina County had increased
by 112% to 138,847, while Cuyahoga County's decreased by 246,343. These
population changes are based on a number of factors. Graph 2-1 illustrates
how the factors of increased road capacity, the decline of manufacturing,
the Cleveland desegregation suit, and the start of busing in Cleveland
influenced the trends of Cuyahoga and Medina Counties for the past
36 years. The largest increase in Medina County's population (37%)
and largest decrease in Cuyahoga Countys population (13%) occurred
in the ten-year period following the opening of I-71.
Since 1990, Medina County had the fifth highest population growth
rate of the state's eighty-eight counties, increasing 13.6%. Cuyahoga
County had the tenth largest rate of decline, 0.7%, and had the largest
actual population loss of 10,588.
Graph 2-1
Population Trends, 1960-1996
The population of the six counties surrounding Cuyahoga increased by 5.4% during the same period. Based on
surveys, census data, and other sources, it is clear that most of the increase in these counties came at the expense
of the central county (Map 2-1).
Map 2-1
Population Change, Northeast Ohio, 1990-1996
Map 2-2 further illustrates this loss. Thirty-eight (38) of the fifty-nine (59) communities in Cuyahoga County lost
population, while twenty of the twenty-two townships or communities in Medina County gained
population.
Map 2-2
Population Change, 1990-1996
Click for larger image
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