Parma, Ohio | |
|---|---|
 Cleveland's skyline from State Road | |
 Flag  Seal | |
| Nickname: The Garden City | |
| Motto: "Progress Through Partnerships" | |
 Location in Cuyahoga County, Ohio | |
  Parma  Parma | |
| Coordinates:41°23′31″N081°43′43″W / 41.39194°N 81.72861°W /41.39194; -81.72861 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Ohio |
| County | Cuyahoga |
| Founded | 1816 |
| Township | March 7, 1826 |
| Incorporated | December 15, 1924 (village) & January 1, 1931 (city) |
| Named after | Parma, Italy Parma translated refers to around shield, such as the one used byRoman legionaries |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor–council |
| • Mayor | Timothy J. DeGeeter (D) |
| Area | |
• City | 20.07 sq mi (51.98 km2) |
| • Land | 20.02 sq mi (51.86 km2) |
| • Water | 0.046 sq mi (0.12 km2) |
| Elevation | 863 ft (263 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• City | 81,146 |
| • Density | 4,052.7/sq mi (1,564.74/km2) |
| • Metro | 2,064,725 (US:29th) |
| Demonym(s) | Parmesan, Parmanian |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| ZIP Code | 44129, 44130, 44134 |
| Area code(s) | 440 &216 |
| FIPS code | 39-61000 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1049063[2] |
| Website | www |
Parma is a city inCuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is asuburb south ofCleveland. The population was 81,146 at the2020 census. Parma is theseventh-most populous city in Ohio, the largest suburb in the state, and the second-largest city in Cuyahoga County.[3]
In 1806, the area that would eventually become Parma andParma Heights was originally surveyed byAbraham Tappan, a surveyor for theConnecticut Land Company, and was known as Township 6 - Range 13. This designation gave the town its first identity in theWestern Reserve. Soon after, Township 6 - Range 13 was commonly referred to as "Greenbriar", supposedly for the rambling bush that grew there. Benajah Fay, his wife Ruth Wilcox Fay, and their ten children, arrivals fromLewis County,New York, were the first settlers in 1816. It was then that Greenbriar, under a newly organized government seat underBrooklyn Township, began attending to its own governmental needs.[4]
Self-government started to gain in popularity by the time the new Greenbriar settlement contained twenty householders. However, prior to the establishment of the new township, the name Greenbriar was replaced by the name Parma. This was largely due to Dr. David Long who had recently returned fromItaly and "impressed with the grandeur and beauty...was reminded ofParma, Italy and...persuaded the early townspeople that the territory deserved a better name than Greenbriar."[5]
Thus, on March 7, 1826, a resolution was passed ordering the construction of the new township. It stated,
On the petition of sundry inhabitants for a new township to be organized and erected comprising No. 6 in the 13th Range. Ordered that said Township No. 6 in the 13th Range be set off and erected into a new Township by the name of Parma, to be bounded by the original lines of said Township.[4]
On the same day, a public notice was issued to qualified electors by the County Commissioners. They met at theSamuel Freeman House on April 3, 1826, to elect township officers according to the law. It was then that the first eleven officers were elected to lead the new government.[4]
During this time, Parma Township remained largely agricultural. The first schoolhouse was a log structure built on the hill at the northern corner of what is now Parma Heights Cemetery. A memorial plate on a stone marks the spot. In 1827, the township was divided into road districts. TheBroadview Road of today was then known as Town Line Road as well as Independence Road. Ridge Road was known then as Center Road as it cut through the center of town. York Road was then known as York Street as arrivals from the state of New York settled there. Pearl Road then had many names which included Medina Wooster Pike, Wooster Pike, the Cleveland Columbus Road, and the Brighton and Parma Plank Road.[6]
A stone house, built in 1849 and known as the Henninger House, was occupied by several generations of Henningers and is still standing today. The house rests on one of the higher points in Cuyahoga County, which provided visibility for the entire northeastern part of Parma Township. This was also the same site where the Erie Indians, centuries before, stood to read and send fire signals as well as pray to their spirits.[7]
By 1850, the US census listed Parma Township's population at 1,329.[8] However, the rising population of the township had slowed over the decades. The Civil War affected Parma much as it did other towns and villages in the nation. Three out of four homes sent a father, sons, or sometimes both, to fight in the war. By 1910, the population of the township had increased to 1,631.[9]
In 1911,Parma Heights, due to the temperance mood of the day, separated itself from the Parma Township after by a vote of 42 to 32 and was incorporated as a village comprising 4.13 square miles.[10]
By 1920, the US census showed Parma Township had a population of just 2,345, but the following decade proved to be a time of significant growth and development for Parma. It was in the 1920s that Parma Township transformed from a farming community into a village. On December 15, 1924, Parma was incorporated as a village.
The largest and fastest growing development of that time was H. A. Stahl's Ridgewood Gardens development, which started in 1919, continued through the 1920s, and into the 1930s.[12][13] A resident ofShaker Heights, Ohio's firstGarden City, H. A. Stahl developed Ridgewood as an ambitious "model village" project patterned along the lines of and rivaling the earlier Shaker Heights project with "churches, schools, motion picture theater, community house, and other features forming a part of all well-developed residence communities".[14][15] Ridgewood was designed and marketed as aGarden City on 1,000 acres of land to accommodate about 40,000 residents "325 feet above Lake Erie, in the healthiest section of the South Side, free from the smoke of industries, or the congestion and noises of sections nearer the Public Square."[16][17]
On January 1, 1931, Parma became a city with a population of 13,899. Whereas the incorporation of the village of Parma was met with much optimism, the newly established city of Parma faced the uncertainty of the Great Depression which had almost entirely stopped its growth.[18] Money was scarce, tax income was limited, and some began to talk of annexation of both the city and school district to Cleveland. Both annexation issues, however, were soundly defeated as Parma voters overwhelmingly voted against them and silenced proponents of annexation.[19] Not long after this, Parma was once again solvent due in large part to the newly createdGallagher Act, a 1936 Ohio law that aided cities threatened with bankruptcy[20] and the determination of Parma's Auditor, Sam Nowlin.[21] By 1941, a building boom appeared to be underway in Parma just as the United States was about to enterWorld War II.[22]
AfterWorld War II, Parma once again began to experience tremendous growth as young families began moving from Cleveland into the suburbs. Between 1950 and 1960, Parma's population soared from 28,897 to 82,845. By 1956, Parma was unchallenged as the fastest growing city in the United States.[23] The population peaked in 1970 at 100,216.[24]
In 2016, Parma's population had declined to 81,601, though it remains one of the Cleveland area's top three destinations young adults (aged 22 to 34) are increasingly choosing as a place to live, along with Lakewood and downtown Cleveland[25] and in 2016 was recognized by Businessweek as one of the best places to raise kids in Ohio.[26]
Parma is southwest ofCleveland; it is bounded byCleveland andBrooklyn on the north,Brooklyn Heights, andSeven Hills on the east,North Royalton andBroadview Heights on the south, andBrook Park,Middleburg Heights, andParma Heights on the west.
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 20.07 square miles (51.98 km2), of which 20.02 square miles (51.85 km2) is land and 0.05 square miles (0.13 km2) is water.[27]
Two major changes and developments have recently occurred regarding two principal sites within the city:
Parma is bounded byCleveland andBrooklyn on the north,Brooklyn Heights, andSeven Hills on the east,North Royalton andBroadview Heights on the south, andBrook Park,Middleburg Heights, andParma Heights on the west.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | 13,899 | — | |
| 1940 | 16,365 | 17.7% | |
| 1950 | 28,897 | 76.6% | |
| 1960 | 82,845 | 186.7% | |
| 1970 | 100,216 | 21.0% | |
| 1980 | 92,548 | −7.7% | |
| 1990 | 87,876 | −5.0% | |
| 2000 | 85,655 | −2.5% | |
| 2010 | 81,601 | −4.7% | |
| 2020 | 81,146 | −0.6% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[30] | |||
In 2013, Parma formed a sister-city relationship withLviv, Ukraine[31] and is home to Ohio's largest Ukrainian community, the majority of whom are foreign born, with more than twice the number of any other city.[32]
Parma is the seat of theUkrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saint Josaphat in Parma, which was established byPope John Paul II in 1983.
According to the2020 United States census, Parma had a population of 81,146. Of which, 82.3% were non-Hispanic White, 6.8% were Hispanic/Latino, 4.0% were non-Hispanic Black, 2.5% were Asian, 4.4% were mixed or other.[33]
| Race / Ethnicity(NH = Non-Hispanic) | Pop 2000[34] | Pop 2010[35] | Pop 2020[36] | % 2000 | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 81,102 | 74,186 | 66,785 | 94.68% | 90.91% | 82.30% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 901 | 1,797 | 3,271 | 1.05% | 2.20% | 4.03% |
| Native American orAlaska Native alone (NH) | 110 | 121 | 140 | 0.13% | 0.15% | 0.17% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 1,346 | 1,497 | 2,027 | 1.57% | 1.83% | 2.50% |
| Pacific Islander alone (NH) | 13 | 11 | 8 | 0.02% | 0.01% | 0.01% |
| Some Other Race alone (NH) | 50 | 54 | 257 | 0.06% | 0.07% | 0.32% |
| Mixed Race or Multi-Racial (NH) | 810 | 1,020 | 3,094 | 0.95% | 1.25% | 3.81% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1,323 | 2,915 | 5,564 | 1.54% | 3.57% | 6.86% |
| Total | 85,655 | 81,601 | 81,146 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
The most reported detailed ancestries were:[37]
As of the2010 United States census,[38] there were 81,601 people, 34,489 households, and 21,646 families residing in the city. Thepopulation density was 4,076.0 inhabitants per square mile (1,573.8/km2). There were 36,608 housing units at an average density of 1,828.6 per square mile (706.0/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 93.0%White, 2.3%African American, 0.2%Native American, 1.9%Asian, 1.0% fromother races, and 1.6% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 3.6% of the population. According to the2010 census,[39][40] 22.5% were ofGerman ancestry, 17.6%Polish, 14.8%Italian, 13.8%Irish, 7.4%Slovak, 6.7%English, 5.3%Ukrainian, 2.6%French, 2.2%Serbian, 1.9%Czech, 1.4%Arab, and 1.2% ofCroatian,Lithuanian, orRussian ancestries. In regard to languages spoken, 87.03% spokeEnglish, 2.26%Ukrainian, 1.68%Polish, 1.27%Spanish, 1.24%German, and 1.18%Italian as their first language.[41]
There were 34,489 households, of which 27.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% weremarried couples living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.2% were non-families. 31.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.95.
The median age in the city was 41.5 years. 20.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.7% were from 25 to 44; 27.7% were from 45 to 64; and 17.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.1% male and 51.9% female.
The median income for a household in the city was $50,198, the median income for a family was $60,696 and the mean income for a family was $68,828. Theper capita income for the city was $25,064. The poverty rate in the city was 10.2%. This was low in comparison to other large Ohio cities as well as the state's individual poverty rate of 15.4%.[42][43]
In 2014, Parma ranked as the third safest city in the United States with a population of 25,000 or more by Neighborhood Scout.[44] In 2014, Parma had a crime index of 90 meaning it was safer than 90% of cities in the United States.[45]
During the population boom between 1950 and 1980, Parma's commercial sector grew to match its residential sector. Since the 1950s, Parma has fostered the growth of many small businesses and been an operating hub for companies includingGeneral Motors,Cox Cable, and formerly, theUnion Carbide Research Center.[46]
The Shoppes at Parma, formerly Parmatown Mall, is a commercial shopping district that totals approximately 800,000 square feet. It is located approximately 3 miles south of Cleveland's southern border at the southwest corner of Ridge Road and West Ridgewood Drive in central Cuyahoga County. It is anchored byJCPenney,Dick's Sporting Goods,Marc's andWalmart. The mall opened as a shopping plaza in 1956 and was enclosed in the mid-1960s.[47]
The Ukrainian Village commercial district is located along State Road between Tuxedo Avenue and Grantwood Drive. This district was designated Ukrainian Village in September 2009.[48] It hosts the Ukrainian Independence Day parade (August).[49]
The Polish Village commercial district is located along Ridge Road between Pearl Road and Thornton Avenue. This district was designated Polish Village on May 1, 2011.[50] It features a large number of small, family-owned businesses and medical offices.[51] This area also hosts the Polish Constitution Day parade (May), St. Charles Carnival parade (July), Independence Day parade (July), and Christmas parade (December).[52][53][54][55]
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TheParma City School District serves Parma,Parma Heights andSeven Hills. The District's sports stadium is Byers Field. All three high schools play golf at Ridgewood for their home course. The rivalry that exists between these schools is well documented.[56] The school district has six elementary schools, three middle schools, and two high schools:Normandy High School andValley Forge High School. The formerParma Senior High School operated from 1953 to 2023.[57]
Constellation Schools: Parma Community public charter schools includes two elementary schools, one middle school and one high school.[58][59][60]
Parma has eight private primary schools and the privatePadua Franciscan High School.
Bryant & Stratton College andCuyahoga Community College have campuses in Parma.
Parma's major north–south roads, in order from west to east, are:
Its major east–west roads, in order from north to south, are:
Also, Pearl Road (U.S. Route 42) runs from southwest to northeast through northern Parma for less than two miles (3 km).
The speed limit is 35 mph on most major thoroughfares in Parma. The exception is in business zones which have 25 mph speed limit.
Public transportation in Parma includes bus routes operated by theGreater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, which serves the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County suburbs.[61]
Local musician Bob "Mad Dog" McGuire penned a song entitled "Moon Over Parma" about an eccentric courtship that traverses the various suburbs of Cleveland. The song first received wide exposure onBig Chuck and Lil' John during its "New Talent Time" segment in 1983.[65] Though McGuire was given theshepherd's crook, his song'ssheet music was offered for free to those who wrote to the show requesting a copy.[66]
The Drew Carey Show’s opening credits of its first season consisted of a caricature ofDrew Carey — consisting of his face and a yellow tie — singing "Moon Over Parma" with an abridgment and some minor lyrical changes.[67]
Occasionally, during the 1960s and 1970s, Parma was the target of light-hearted jabs by local movie show hostsGhoulardi,Hoolihan,Big Chuck and Lil’ John, andThe Ghoul, due to its central European image promoted by the friendly rivalry between Ernie "Ghoulardi" Anderson and "Big Chuck" Schodowski and contrary to actual demographics. Ghoulardi, the horror host of late night Shock Theater at WJW-TV, Channel 8, in Cleveland from January 13, 1963, through December 16, 1966, made a series of shorts called "Parma Place" and focused on an alleged love of white socks,pink flamingos,chrome balls,kielbasa,pierogi and thepolka.[68]
In March 2016, Anthony Novak, a resident of Parma, created a parody Facebook page superficially resembling the local police department's official page, with outlandish, satirical posts easily distinguished from actual police public-affairs content.[69] Despite the page being voluntarily removed after 12 hours, the Parma Police subsequently obtained warrants and raided Novak's apartment in the middle of the night three weeks later, seizing electronic devices belonging Novak and his roommate, and arresting and jailing Novak for four days until he could make bail. Novak was charged with felony disruption of police operations, but was acquitted at trial; a subsequent lawsuit against the police for civil rights violations was rebuffed by the Sixth Circuit, citing qualified immunity.[70] Novak's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court garnered legal briefs from theACLU andCato Institute, but gained notoriety because of a supporting brief filed by satirical websiteThe Onion.[71]
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Normandy was upsetted [sic] last week against Parma. Over the years, a second rivalry has formed between Valley Forge & Normandy, the battle of Parma, a battle that would determine the better team
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Municipalities and communities ofCuyahoga County, Ohio,United States | ||
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| Townships | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
Great Lakes megalopolis as defined by theRPA | ||
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Includes all metropolitan areas that have a population of 150,000 or greater according to the most recent national census. | ||
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| Cities of states south of region | ||
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| Other | |
