Ohio Real Estate & Relocation Guide

Milan, Ohio

Population: 1,445

Located in Erie County

Welcome to Milan! From magnificent scenery to the excitement of the Melon Festival, you will discover many different places and activities within our beautiful community.

There are reminders of history at every turn in the New England styled community. The birthplace of the famous inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, the Hoover Potato Digger, Ship building, Milan Canal, and architecture. There are museums with working antiques, glass collections, inventions. You'll see one-of-a-kind crafts, rare antiques, and festivals.

Camping, canoeing, hiking are favorite sports in Milan. Take a lazy afternoon paddle in a canoe, fish for bass at Coho Dam, spend the night in a railroad car, hunt deep in the woods of Milan Wildlife Area. Sled down the hill at Edison Park. Or ride your bike down back roads of the Milan Canal Bikeway.

Edison Family History

When the Edison family arrived in town to join Samuel (about 1840), Milan was entering the period of its greatest glory. Due to its location on the Huron River and the canal (built to link Milan to the Great Lakes), the town became a busy grain port. All sorts of commodities from every point in the state were conveyed to Milan in long wagon trains, then loaded aboard ships from warehouses that lined the banks of the canal. (One of the warehouses still stands by the abandoned canal basin.)

In 1847, 917,800 bushels of wheat were shipped from this port, making it the second largest wheat shipping port in the world after the Ukranian city of Odessa. At this time, Milan also became a shipbuilding center, producing 75 lake schooners in 1847.

By 1850, the advent of the railroads and consequent changes in transportation methods had put an end to the town's great prosperity. The canal and the shipyard were eventually abandoned and the warehouses disappeared. Milan's "golden age", which had lasted only about ten years, was over -- though shipments of grain continued until 1865.

Courtesy of Edison Birthplace Association, Inc

Milan, Ohio