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The name is Lima… Ohio
By Marie Ottiker

From the Allen County Historical Society of the state of Ohio, USA, we hear a story about one of its cities that is linked with our own Lima, Peru, by more than its name.

It seems that our namesake city was started by a Mr. James Daniels, who built himself a log cabin on the site in 1828. From that beginning a town grew, was founded in 1831, and incorporated in 1841.

This was an area covered with inhospitable swamps at that time, and during those early days the most common illness was swamp fever, the shakes, the chills malaria. The accepted medication was even then the cinchona bark which provided quinine. Large amounts of the “Peruvian bark” were imported so that the marking “Lima, Peru” on the packing cases became a familiar sight in and around Hawg Creek.

There is no official record, but the accepted version is that when it came time to name the new town, Lima was one of the fifteen names proposed, as a gesture of gratitude to that far-away city somewhere in South America. It is said that the name was drawn out of a hat by Patrick Goode, minister of the gospel, attorney and legislator, who was very disappointed that the Spanish pronunciation was not also adopted. This historical event is said to have taken place in Daniel's cabin on the banks of Hog Creek, today known as the Ottawa River.

By 1885, a man drilling in hopes of finding gas on the site of his paper mill accidentally broke into what turned out to be, at that time, the largest oilfield ever. Soon “Lie-mah” became a city of oil derricks. But in time the oil field was exhausted and the town turned to manufactures of railroad equipment, tanks, automotive engines, buses and the like.

It is considered the prototype of the typical midwestern American town. Leni Bruce had a routine that he called “Lima, Ohio” in which he used the city as a metaphor for small towns across America. Also Phyllis Diller was born there.

Lima, Ohio was named as the nation's most affordable housing market, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index for 2004. Even so the population has fallen some to 40,081 in the last few years. So if anyone wants to move to Lima, Ohio, for sentimental reasons you will be more than welcome.

Note: “Cinchona bark” was named after the Countess of Chinchón (1576-1639), wife of the viceroy of Peru.

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