Richland County's great constant: Location

From the very beginning, location has played a key factor in the development of Richland County. Now, 202 years later, that hasn't really changed.

Of course, everything imaginable has changed since the first residents of this county were building blockhouses to protect themselves from marauding Indians and utilizing rivers to get around. Marauders are no longer an issue, and for most of us watercourses are just something we drive over today, but the viability of Mansfield and Richland County as a place to live, work and play is still hugely dependent on its location.

Even before a tourist opts to stop here and pay us a visit, or someone else decides to buy a house and live in this area, a business has to establish itself here, bringing with it the jobs that will make the rest possible.

"In today's economy, you need to be closer to your customers. If you can cut down on delivery time, that's money in the door that much faster," said Jodie Perry, president of the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce.

"We're in a position in the northeast part of the state where we're within a huge percentage of the population."

And that has been the case for not just years, but centuries. Not only is Mansfield halfway between the larger population centers of Cleveland and Columbus, both an hour away via Interstate 71, but points to the east and west have become more readily accessible via U.S. 30, which became a limited-access highway about a decade ago.

"I was working in Van Wert when U.S. 30 was finished, and that's become a huge asset to this area," said Perry, who has been leading the chamber here for seven months.

"Trucking is still huge; it's the primary form of transportation for most smaller manufacturers. It's still the backbone of America," she said. "The chamber industry has been moving toward an upgrade of our transportation system, i.e. roads."

Construction is scheduled to begin next year on a major rehab project for U.S. 30 in Mansfield, on which the Ohio Department of Transportation is slated to spend $68 million.

With very few exceptions, most of the companies now doing business in Richland County weren't here 100 years ago, and the majority of today's companies won't be around a century from now. But one constant in drawing business here throughout our history has been rail, and even today when manufacturing isn't the force it was in its heyday, that hasn't really changed either.

Both Ashland Railway and Norfolk Southern serve Mansfield, with CSX running through Shelby and Crestline, Rail America in Crestline and the Wheeling & Lake Railway in Plymouth.

"I think it's become more important. We're seeing a revitalization of rail," Perry said.

"When gas prices were higher over the last several years, people were looking for alternative forms of transportation. It's happening a lot now because of expansions."

Last summer, Ashland Railway, which operates 56 miles of track from its base in Mansfield, began work on a new bulk materials transload yard north of the city off Ohio 13 that will enable the railway to better accommodate Lexington's Next Generation Films, a manufacturer of plastic film and bags that is expanding, adding 100 jobs.

Ashland Railway is bringing 14,000 feet of new track and a capacity for 200 rail cars to Richland County, with the work expected to be finished later this year.

"It allows them to bring raw materials closer to the final destination by rail," Don Cleland, the railway's managing director, said of NextGen. "Materials will be transported out of the site by truck."

Also last year, StarTek, a business process outsourcing company at 850 W. 4th St., Ontario, announced an expansion, while ArcelorMittal, the tubular products facility in Shelby, released plans to hire 45 new workers.

Although School Specialty Inc., a national distributor of school supplies that's been in Mansfield for 20 years, recently closed two distribution centers, it has increased its presence here.

The company put more than $7 million in new machinery and process improvement into its distribution center here, leased another 162,000-square-foot facility off-site for stocking of supplies, and worked with the Richland Community Development Group to secure a $75,000 workforce development grant from the state.

"I think we have a tremendous opportunity here," Rick Smith, director of operations for School Specialty in Mansfield, said. "We have the space we need. If we need it for future expansion, we have the space here on the footprint existing. We have an excellent associate base."

Finally, work on the exterior of a new, 165,000-square-foot distribution center being built by FedEx in Ontario is mostly finished, according to Perry, with interior construction, particularly of a large conveyor system, expected to last through the summer.

When opened, the FedEx center will replace another half its size in Shelby, and serve as the base for 150 workers serving north central Ohio, from Ashland to Kenton, Upper Sandusky to Centerburg.

"Anecdotally, I've talked to several other business owners who had a strong 2014. Other expansions may involve one or two or five people," Perry said.

While most of this region's business expansions owe a lot to Richland County's place on the map and its infrastructure network, the digital revolution, now a couple of decades old, has altered the landscape for many companies.

"If you're a small business that was formerly marketing to a certain geographic area, it's opened some doors. Some have gotten on board with that. There's a whole generation out there where if you don't pop up with a website they'll go elsewhere, but there are a lot of ways to do that that are not expensive," Perry said.

Ultimately, however, the digital highway depends on real highways to get goods to customers, and Richland County, now as throughout its long history, is well situated to handle the task.

thill3@nncogannett.com

419-563-9225

Twitter: @ToddHillMNJ