Government Schools Hospitals|Library Parks|Trash Statistics

But something happened. The largest of the three splinters of the old Olmsted Township, North Olmsted has gone on to become the area's key center of development. Shying away from the old country feel of its smaller, like-named neighbors, North Olmsted has gone on to become (arguably) the most rampant and accelerated commercial areas in Cuyahoga County. It's no longer the early 20th Century village it once was, despite its quiet and serene spots like North Olmsted Park and the broad expanse of greenery in the Metroparks system along Mastick Road.

United as a city in 1950, North Olmsted's growth is still a lot more geometric than Aaron Olmstead probably would have figured it to be. Subdivisions grew like weeds from the ground, sprouting from Lorain Road's many intersections: Clague, Columbia, Canterbury, Dover Center, Porter and MacKenzie roads. And with the subdivisions and other residential development came a large and highly-acclaimed school system, a municipal bus company (since assimilated to an extent by Greater Cleveland's RTA) and a mile-wide stretch of restaurants acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records for area concentration. No joke!

Due to the construction of the I-480 thoroughfare, however, traffic has become a bit of a joke in North Olmsted. Much of it has to do with the West Side looking to North Olmsted -- and the Great Northern Mall spread, in particular -- as something of a shopping Mecca. Unproven North Olmsted lore indicates that there's 12 square feet of commercial/ sales space per person. Could be. Westbound traffic at the Great Northern exit of I-480 during the holiday season has been known to be backed up for miles.