Quaker Square

Last updated
Quaker Square
Quaker Square, 2019.jpg
Quaker Square
General information
TypeStudent Residence
Location135 South Broadway Street, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, United States
Completed1932
Opening1975
Closed2022
Quaker Oats Cereal Factory
USA Ohio location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location135 South Broadway Street, Akron, Ohio
Coordinates 41°4′52″N81°30′54″W / 41.08111°N 81.51500°W / 41.08111; -81.51500
Area4 acres (2 ha)
Built1886
NRHP reference No. 78002195 [1]
Added to NRHPDecember 8, 1978

Quaker Square was a shopping and dining complex located in downtown Akron, Ohio which is now used by the University of Akron. Quaker Square was the original Quaker Oats factory; the complex consists of the former mill, factory, and silos. The buildings were bought in the early 1970s by developers who sought to create a unique, useful home for shops and restaurants. The buildings were bought by the University of Akron in 2007. The hotel has been converted to a residence hall. The retail space consisted of dozens of small shops and restaurants, and there were large areas of historic exhibits on such areas as the local Quaker industry and history of radio in Akron, while offices were on the floors above. Quaker Square was open to the general public until September 18, 2015. After that, the hotel no longer accepted reservations as the former hotel rooms and the entire complex began to be operated exclusively for student and university use. [2] The University fully vacated the facility by 2022.

Contents

History

The Quaker Oats company was formed by the merger of several businesses, one was the Akron-based German Mills American Oatmeal Company founded by Ferdinand Schumacher. Schumacher's facility, first built in 1872, was destroyed by fire in 1886, then was rebuilt at the same location. Those buildings formed the basis of the Quaker Oats Cereal Factory. The complex consisted of cereal production facilities, warehouses, and rail-siding sheds. [3] Quaker Oats built 36 grain silos on the site in 1932. Each silo was 120 feet tall and 24 feet in diameter, and together they housed 1,500,000 US bushels (53,000,000 L) of grain. [4]

The complex is now the only remaining visual reminder of what was once Akron's largest single employer. Quaker Oats terminated production in Akron in 1970. The entire complex was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. [3]

Mall

The facility was repurposed in March 1973, and reopened 1 April 1975 with four shops and an ice cream parlor. [4]

The silos were converted into a Hilton Hotel which opened in 1980. [5] Later it became a Crowne Plaza hotel. The hotel is built into the suite of silos and is famed for its 196 completely round rooms. (Source: "Quaker Chronicle" promotional sheet available at the hotel.)

The Trackside Grille & Ice Cream Parlor, a restaurant themed with railroads which run parallel to the building, also provided a narrative of Akron's history. The Trackside Dining Room was constructed with the beams and columns of the factory building. (Source: "Quaker Chronicle" promotional sheet available at the hotel.)

The Quaker Square General Store offered oatmeal cookies, pie-baking classes for children, and "nostalgic" candy. (Source: "Quaker Chronicle" promotional sheet available at the hotel.)

Purchase by University of Akron

In mid-June 2007 the University of Akron bought the complex for $22,679,000 with plans to convert it into student housing and office space. [5] The university planned to house more than 400 students in the converted hotel starting with the 2008 spring semester. [6] In January 2008, the university began to use the upper floors of the hotel as a residence hall.

Under contract with UA, RDA Management of Fairlawn operated 95 hotel rooms on the four bottom floors of the silos for the following two years. The university agreed to keep those rooms available to the public for that period to give the city an opportunity to secure more hotel space for downtown visitors and tourists. On June 30, 2013 the hotel was closed and converted entirely into student housing. The last of the shops at Quaker Square, as well as Trackside, closed in 2016. The only remaining store was a Zee's store which is a convenience store for students to buy groceries and snacks. [7] In August 2018, Zee's moved to the lobby of UA's Quaker Hall, leaving the retail portion empty. That side of the complex housed offices on the second, third, and fourth floors. After the 2018 spring semester, the dorimtory was closed after it was discovered that the rooms had fallen into significant disrepair. At the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic in March 2020, the former dormitory was used to quarantine students that were unable to leave campus if infected. By the end of the pandemic in 2022, the remaining rooms were no longer used, leaving the facility empty. [8]

Former Amtrak station

Akron, OH
Akron - Amtrak.jpg
Former Akron Amtrak station.
General information
Location96 East Bowery Street, Akron, Ohio
Coordinates 41°04′48″N81°30′56″W / 41.08000°N 81.51556°W / 41.08000; -81.51556
Owned by Amtrak
Platforms1 (former)
Tracks2
Other information
Station codeAKO
History
OpenedNovember 10, 1990
August 10, 1998
ClosedSeptember 10, 1995
March 7, 2005
Former services
Preceding station BSicon LOGO Amtrak2.svg Amtrak Following station
Fostoria
toward Chicago
Three Rivers
1998–2005
 Youngstown
toward New York
Broadway Limited
1990–1995

Akron station, located at Quaker Square, was served by Amtrak passenger trains during the 1990s and 2000s.

Former passenger platform Akron - Amtrak (2).jpg
Former passenger platform

The former Akron Union Station, slightly to the south, was closed in 1971 when Amtrak did not include a Washington-Chicago train on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) as part of its initial route structure. [9] On November 10, 1990, the Broadway Limited was rerouted from the ex-Pennsylvania Railroad Fort Wayne Line to the ex-B&O. Union Station had been reused by the University of Akron; Amtrak used part of the former platform and constructed a modular station building at Quaker Square. [10]

The New York-Chicago Broadway Limited was replaced with the New York-Pittsburgh Three Rivers on September 10, 1995, ending service to Akron. [9] The Three Rivers was extended to Chicago through Akron on November 10, 1996; however, Amtrak and the city disagreed over who would pay for necessary repairs to the station. [10] Akron station reopened on August 10, 1998 – the last of several ex-Broadway stops to be restored. [11] : 35  The Three Rivers was cut back to Pittsburgh as the Pennsylvanian on March 7, 2005, ending service to Akron again. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akron, Ohio</span> City in Ohio, United States

Akron is a city in and the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, United States. At the 2020 census, the city proper had a total population of 190,469, making it the fifth-most populous city in Ohio and 136th-most populous city in the United States. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had a population of 702,219. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau in Northeast Ohio about 40 miles (64 km) south of downtown Cleveland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tower City Center</span> Mixed-use facility in Cleveland, Ohio

Tower City Center is a large mixed-use facility in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, on its Public Square. The facility is composed of a number of interconnected office buildings, including Terminal Tower, the Skylight Park mixed-use shopping center, Jack Cleveland Casino, Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, Chase Financial Plaza, and Tower City station, the main hub of Cleveland's four RTA Rapid Transit lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltimore Penn Station</span> Intercity rail station in Maryland

Baltimore Penn Station, formally named Baltimore Pennsylvania Station in full, is the main inter-city passenger rail hub in Baltimore, Maryland. Designed by New York City architect Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison (1872–1938), it was constructed in 1911 in the Beaux-Arts style of architecture for the Pennsylvania Railroad. It is located at 1515 N. Charles Street, about a mile and a half north of downtown and the Inner Harbor, between the Mount Vernon neighborhood to the south, and Station North to the north. Originally called Union Station because it served the Pennsylvania Railroad and Western Maryland Railway, it was renamed to match other Pennsylvania Stations in 1928.

<i>Broadway Limited</i> Former Pennsylvania Railroad and Amtrak passenger train

The Broadway Limited was a passenger train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) between New York City and Chicago. It operated from 1912 to 1995. It was the Pennsylvania's premier train, competing directly with the New York Central Railroad's 20th Century Limited. The Broadway Limited continued operating after the formation of Penn Central (PC) in February 1968, one of the few long-distance trains to do so. PC conveyed the train to Amtrak in 1971, who operated it until 1995. The train's name referred not to Broadway in Manhattan, but rather to the "broad way" of PRR's four-track right-of-way along the majority of its route.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downtown Louisville</span> Central business district of Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.

Downtown Louisville is the largest central business district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the urban hub of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Area. Its boundaries are the Ohio River to the north, Hancock Street to the east, York and Jacob Streets to the south, and 9th Street to the west. As of 2015, the population of downtown Louisville was 4,700, although this does not include directly surrounding areas such as Old Louisville, Butchertown, NuLu, and Phoenix Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Station Square</span> Shopping mall in South Shore, Pittsburgh

Station Square is a 52-acre (210,000 m2) entertainment complex located in the South Shore neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States across the Monongahela River from the Golden Triangle of downtown Pittsburgh. Station Square occupies the buildings and land formerly occupied by the historic Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Complex, including the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Station, which are separately listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvarado Transportation Center</span> Transit hub in the United States

The Alvarado Transportation Center (ATC) is a multimodal transit hub located at 100 1st Street SW in Downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. The complex was built as a hub for Albuquerque's regional transit system and as a replacement for Albuquerque's previous bus depot and train station. The center serves ABQ RIDE, Amtrak, Greyhound Lines, and the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Louis Union Station</span> Former railroad station in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis Union Station is a National Historic Landmark and former train station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. At its 1894 opening, the station was the largest in the world that had tracks and passenger service areas all on one level. Traffic peaked at 100,000 people a day in the 1940s. The last Amtrak passenger train left the station in 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln station (Illinois)</span>

Lincoln station is an Amtrak train station in Lincoln, Illinois, United States, at Broadway and Chicago Streets. Service is provided by Lincoln Service and the Texas Eagle. The current station is the rail line's former freight depot, renovated in 2017. Adjacent to the current station structure is a brick Spanish Mission-style depot building, constructed in 1911 by the former Chicago and Alton Railroad and later used by the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Although no longer used by Amtrak, the historic 1911 depot has been renovated for commercial use. During the 1980s and 1990s it served dually as a railroad station and restaurant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indianapolis Union Station</span> Historic train station in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

The Indianapolis Union Station is an intercity train station in the Wholesale District of Indianapolis, Indiana. The terminal is served by Amtrak's Cardinal line, passing through Indianapolis three times weekly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Station (Meridian, Mississippi)</span> Train station in Meridian, Mississippi, U.S.

Union Station, also called the Meridian Multi-Modal Transportation Center, is an intermodal transportation center in Meridian, Mississippi. The station is located at 1901 Front Street in the Union Station Historic District within the larger Meridian Downtown Historic District, both of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Consisting of a new addition and renovated surviving wing of the 1906 building, Union Station was officially dedicated on December 11, 1997. It is a center of several modes of passenger transportation, including Amtrak train service on the Norfolk Southern rail corridor, Greyhound, and other providers of bus services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterloo station (Indiana)</span> Train station in Waterloo, Indiana served by Amtrak

Waterloo station is an Amtrak train station in Waterloo, Indiana. Waterloo is a small town of under 2,500 people; the station primarily serves the vastly larger population of Fort Wayne, which is some 25 miles (40 km) to the south. The station opened in 1990; in 2016, the former New York Central Railroad station building was moved and reopened for passenger use. The station has a waiting room and restroom facilities; it is open for only short periods before trains arrive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martinsburg station</span> MARC and Amtrak rail station in Martinsburg, West Virginia, US

Martinsburg station is a railway station in Martinsburg, West Virginia, United States, served by MARC Brunswick Line commuter rail service and Amtrak Capitol Limited intercity rail service. The station has one side platform serving a siding track of the CSX Cumberland Subdivision, with a footbridge crossing the siding and the two main tracks to provide access to the preserved Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Martinsburg Shops complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">InfoCision Stadium–Summa Field</span> Football stadium in Akron, Ohio, United States

InfoCision Stadium–Summa Field is a college American football stadium in Akron, Ohio and the home field of the Akron Zips football team at the University of Akron. New for the 2009 football season, the official ground-breaking ceremony for the stadium was held on April 4, 2008, and it opened on September 12, 2009, for a sold-out game between the Akron Zips and the Morgan State Bears. The stadium was constructed to replace the Rubber Bowl, which was the prior home of the University of Akron Zips football team. Four companies hold naming rights to various parts of the stadium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Garces Intermodal Transportation Facility</span> Railway station in Needles, California

El Garces Intermodal Transportation Facility is an Amtrak intercity rail station and bus depot in downtown Needles, California. The structure was originally built in 1908 as El Garces, a Harvey House and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) station. It is named for Francisco Garcés, a Spanish missionary who surveyed the area in the 1770s. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quaker Oats Company</span> American food conglomerate

The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. As Quaker Mill Company, the company was founded in 1877 in Ravenna, Ohio. In 1881, Henry Crowell bought the company and launched a national advertising campaign for Quaker Oats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akron Union Station</span>

Akron Union Station was a series of three union stations serving several passenger railroads in Akron, Ohio from 1852 to 1971. The station's tenants included the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad and Erie Railroad. It was a hub, serving train companies serving destinations in different directions, west, north, south and east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canton station (Ohio)</span>

Canton station, or Canton–Akron station, is a former train station in Canton, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quaker Oats Plant</span> Industrial building in Iowa, United States

The Quaker Oats Plant is the largest cereal mill in the world, located in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. The tallest section of the complex rises 13 floors and 190 feet (58 m) in height. It is currently the 4th-tallest building in Cedar rapids.

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ↑ Biliczky, Carol. "Akron's landmark Quaker Square hotel to close Sunday". ohio.com. Archived from the original on 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
  3. 1 2 Richard C. Foran (January 10, 1978). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form: Quaker Oats Cereal Factory" (PDF). National Park Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-11-22. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
  4. 1 2 "Crown Plaza Quaker Square History". Archived from the original on 2007-09-13. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  5. 1 2 "University of Akron News – UA Buys Quaker Square Complex". Archived from the original on February 7, 2012.
  6. ↑ "About Downtown Akron Partnership". Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved August 19, 2007.
  7. ↑ "UA to close last remaining stores inside Quaker Square, General Store and NewsStand Comics". Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Akron Beacon Journal Subscription Offers, Specials, and Discounts".
  9. 1 2 3 Sanders, Craig (2007). Akron Railroads. Arcadia Publishing. p. 93. ISBN   9780738541419. Archived from the original on 2021-10-08. Retrieved 2018-10-13– via Google Books.
  10. 1 2 Sanders, Craig (December 21, 2016). "Ex-Amtrak Station Frozen in Time in Akron". Amtrak in the Heartland.
  11. ↑ Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN   978-0-253-34705-3.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.