INSIDE AKRON: Akron Documenters are fanning out across the city’s 24 neighborhoods to elevate places, faces, voices and vibes — as shared by the people who live there. Expect a new profile every day through October.
In a 1939 analysis of Akron neighborhoods, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation gushed of the “highly restricted” and “very desirable residential area” of Merriman Hills. The neighborhood’s exclusively white and exclusively American-born population was made up of many business executives and their families who lived in “large estates” near an exclusive country club and park systems and the best schools in the city.
The HOLC, responsible for shameful widespread government-sponsored racial and economic segregation that still impacts the city today, gave Merriman Hills an “A” rating for its desirability.
Neighborhood considered a highly desirable location
While Merriman Hills is now slightly more diverse — nearly a quarter of its residents aren’t white — Akron’s official bicentennial magazine this year described (some of) the elements that made the HOLC view the neighborhood so desirably.
Akron Documenter Gigi Fuhry is the primary contributor for this story. She lives in Medina and works in Akron. She’s been a Documenter since February of 2025. Learn more about Documenters, including how to join.
“In the early decades of the 20th Century, Merriman Hills was the most desired address among the upper-class executives of rubber companies and allied industry,” the magazine wrote, highlighting Goodyear founder F.A. Seiberling’s massive home on North Portage Path, but omitting the segregation part. “A century later, it has stood the test of time. It remains one of Akron’s wealthiest, most desirable neighborhoods.”
The neighborhood’s 2,700 residents live between the east side of North Portage Path, (just east of Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens), the west side of the Little Cuyahoga River, the north side of Highland Square, and south side of Merriman Valley. (Editor’s note: The city’s bicentennial magazine lists Stan Hywet as part of Merriman Hills but the city’s neighborhood map shows the property in Northwest Hills, right on the border with Merriman Hills.)
Akron Documenter Gigi Fuhry talked with a longtime resident and a neighborhood priest to hear their takes on Merriman Hills.
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: Dorothy Shinn
Dorothy, 81, has lived in Merriman Hills since 1990.
What is the most interesting thing about Merriman Hills?
As an art and architecture critic for the Akron Beacon Journal for more than 37 years, Dorothy has the authority and knowledge to speak about the architecture in Merriman Hills. She said it is the most interesting thing about her neighborhood. Merriman Hills is an “idealized slice of Americana,” she said, and people move in because they love the neighborhood and have always wanted to live here.
What is missing from your neighborhood?
She doesn’t know of anything missing, though she said she isn’t as mobile as she used to be.
How has Merriman Hills changed over the time you’ve lived here?
Her neighbors have changed, she said. Many people have moved to other communities. People also don’t socialize like they used to, Dorothy said, since they socialize more online now.
Where is the Merriman Hills neighborhood in Akron?
Merriman Hills is nestled between Northwest Akron and the Merriman Valley. The neighborhood features many houses from the boom days of the rubber industry, along with a mix of residential and recreational areas
What’s the biggest challenge facing Merriman Hills and how do you think it can be solved?
Dorothy said that continuing infrastructure issues are a big challenge for the neighborhood. She didn’t offer a global solution, but noted advancements have been made. She said that blackouts in the neighborhood happen frequently.
Like many older neighborhoods, the electrical lines are run on poles between the homes, and are prone to failure periodically, she said, noting that these electrical lines were advancements in the past but are more problematic now.
She talked about the sewer system and how every season there is brown water that comes up. The city has invested in sewer improvements and Dorothy said that Merriman Hills was one of the first neighborhoods to get the improvements. She noted that while roads are easily damaged, the roads around Merriman Hills are well maintained.
What else do you want people to know about your neighborhood?
Dorothy said that Merriman Hills is an “avatar for America,” meaning the neighborhood is what America aspires to be. In America, she said, everyone has, or should have, equal access to everyone else. She sees her non-gated neighborhood that way. Walkways go from the front door of the house down to the sidewalks and anyone can travel on the sidewalks and streets.
What is your hope for the future of Merriman Hills?
“I want it to stay the same,” Dorothy said. When asked about crime that has affected other neighborhoods, she “knocked on wood.”
NONPROFIT PERSPECTIVE
St. Joseph Melkite Catholic Church, 927 N. Portage Path
The Rt. Rev. Eugene S. Mitchell, BSO
Tell me about the purpose of your church?
Rev. Mitchell said that the purpose of the church is to help and nourish people on their way to heaven.
The Melkite Catholic Church is made up of “present day Catholics who follow the Byzantine worship, theology, and spirituality whose tradition is in the Middle East. The Melkites are not members of the Orthodox Church,” according to the church’s website.
How does your organization fit into or support Merriman Hills?
The church moved to Merriman Hills in 2021 after leaving its historic West Akron location at 600 W. Exchange St. because the church was too big and costly to maintain.
“This was originally a Jehovah Witness Hall and when we moved in here, it looked like a conference room at the Holiday Inn. So we just changed everything,” Mitchell said of the church’s new home on North Portage Path.
And while they have parishioners from all over the area, Mitchell said that the new location has drawn people from the neighborhood because of its location.
“It’s very intimate,” he said about the congregation. “If you need anything, you know, let’s say we had a family come, or someone’s gone through a tough time, all I have to do is pick up the phone and I could get you a bedroom set or help find an apartment. It’s that kind of community. People are very good that way.”
The church offers confession from 4 to 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays, he said, and mass every Sunday from 10 to 11:30 a.m.
What’s missing from Merriman Hills or what’s the biggest need in the neighborhood?
“It’s a nice neighborhood, it’s a clean neighborhood, it seems to be a safe neighborhood,” Mitchell said. To him, the big problem in Merriman Hills and other places, including where he lives in Fairlawn, is that “you don’t see your neighbors. I see my neighbor next door. He’s a very nice old Italian guy, Italian American guy.”
“I certainly grew up where you knew your neighbors,” he continued. “You don’t see children playing, you don’t see kids riding bikes. You know, people don’t know each other, and I think that accounts for a lot of problems I find.”
What do you think will be the challenge for this church going forward?
“The challenge is to keep building it up,” he said. “A lot of people say they’re spiritual and not religious, but to me, that’s a bit of a cop out, because then you’re not responsible to anybody but yourself. And God doesn’t work that way.”
PUBLIC SPACE SHOUTOUT: Towpath Trail
The Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail runs through the northern section of Merriman Hills. The Big Bend Trailhead at 1337 Merriman Road offers access to the 90-mile trail that runs from Cleveland in the north to New Philadelphia in the south.
