LOVELAND, Ohio — Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber has presented the City of Loveland with a certificate honoring the city’s 150th anniversary, the city said in a Facebook post.
The certificate recognizes Loveland’s sesquicentennial, marking a century and a half since the city’s founding in 1876, and credits the community’s “continued reinvention and growth,” including the conversion of former railroad tracks into the Little Miami Scenic Trail, according to the city. The document also calls Loveland the “Sweetheart of Ohio,” a nickname that appears on the city’s official seal.
Loveland’s history traces to 1795, when Col. Thomas Paxton established the area’s first settlement along the Little Miami River. The community grew around a railroad depot and general store run by James Loveland, for whom the city was later named, and was incorporated as a village on May 16, 1876.
The city’s early growth was driven by its location at the junction of the Little Miami Railroad, built in 1853, and the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad, which together carried dozens of passenger and freight trains through town each day and made Loveland a popular stop for Cincinnati commuters. Rail service through Loveland ended in 1974 after more than a century of operation.
Local governments later converted the abandoned rail corridor into the Little Miami Scenic Trail, with the first 13-mile stretch between Loveland and Morrow opening in 1984. The trail, which now draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year and anchors Loveland’s downtown business district, was inducted into the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s Hall of Fame in 2009.
Faber, a Republican, has served as Ohio’s 33rd auditor of state since 2019. He previously represented Ohio’s 12th District in the state Senate, where he served as Senate president from 2013 to 2016.
Loveland plans to mark its sesquicentennial throughout 2026, the city said in its post.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the City of Loveland.