BLOG – Yellow Springs: A Primer
- Published: April 21, 2010
Welcome to all of you who are new and not-so-new to our lovely little village of Yellow Springs (I’m somewhere in between, I think, probably closer to new by most standards). Welcome also to everyone else, visitors and would-be visitors, former Springers, friends and strangers.
I would like to introduce you to Yellow Springs. And even if you’ve lived here all your life, you may not have been properly introduced. This is also a thinly-veiled introduction to me, your new blogger and friend, and a sneak peak at what this blogging adventure might bring…
Yellow Springs, Ohio - a satellite image from Google Maps
• Yellow Springs is in the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area, in Greene County, in Ohio, in the United States of America, in North America, in the Americas, in the northern/western hemispheres, on the Earth, in the Solar System, in the Milky Way Galaxy, in the observable universe.
• Total land area: 1.9 square miles.
• 2000 population: 3,761. What will the 2010 census bring? Predictions, anyone? Has everyone filled out their forms?
• Population density based on 2000 census: 1,981.3 people per square mile. Let’s compare that with Central Falls, Rhode Island (home of 19th-century activist Elizabeth Buffum Chace), which, at 1.29 square miles, is one of the smallest, densely populated cities in the country. Central Falls’ population density is 15,834 people per square mile.
• Yellow Springs was founded in 1825 by about 100 families who wanted to emulate the utopian/communitarian community of New Harmony, Indiana. It didn’t work. (New Harmony didn’t work either.)
• Yellow Springs was one of the final stops on the Underground Railroad. Elizabeth Buffum Chace, remember her, from Central Falls, was also an operator, but up in Rhode Island, not in Yellow Springs.
• Rod Serling, creator of “The Twilight Zone”, went to Antioch College (class of ’50). Antioch is where he became interested in theater and broadcasting and, some say that Yellow Springs itself was the inspiration of “The Twilight Zone”.
• Horace Mann, the first president of Antioch College, is buried in Providence, Rhode Island.
• Home of Antioch College, founded in 1852 and Antioch University, founded in 1978.
• Home of the Yellow Springs News (founded in 1880) and NPR-affiliate WYSO (founded in 1957).
• Home of 3 cafes, 3 bars, 3 restaurants (that are sit-down-wait-staffed and that are not also bars), 3 parks (of significant size), and 3 real estate agents (one of which is the home of my favorite villager, Coconut).*
• Home of lots of other places to get good food and an increasing number of small CSA (community-supported agriculture) farms and farmers’ markets.
• Home of Tom’s Market, where I found a pearl in an oyster (which they occasionally sell, mainly during Thanksgiving).
• Tomorrow is my birthday.
• Home of 4,792 import/gift shops.
• I miss Molladoor’s, remember that place? And the novelty shop with the Hershey’s ice cream and retro lunchboxes!
(*These numbers may be up for debate. Discuss.)
I realize this primer is perhaps inadequate for a lot of you, but I don’t want to bore/overwhelm you with the first post. I would like to invite you to post your fun facts and trivia and history about Yellow Springs, as it relates to you or your fancy. And stay tuned for more tidbits and the occasional in-depth exploration.
6 Responses to “BLOG – Yellow Springs: A Primer”
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Yes, you’re about 40 years too late. The bakery was where Dumphy real estate is now. You could go there late at night when the doughnuts came out of the oven. If you happened to be distracted by interesting visual patterns appearing in the sky around you the nice ladies who worked there would help you count out your change. Tied with Records and Fresh Vegetables for best store we ever had.
I agree about the Wikipedia job! Love the slipped-in birthday fact. The timing and cadence was perfect. Nice job.
Little added YS history. One of the most famous donut shops in the areaaccording to my mom was actually in YS. I don’t remember it (way before my time) but my mom used to take my sisters there when they were little when they opened up at mindnight. Lines out the door……..
You should try and get the Emporium to start making organic donuts. Everyone would go nuts.
home to 3 restaurants, 3 bars, etc., but home to ZERO donut shops. the perfect town? not quite.
as a fellow lover of statistical data, i enjoyed and appreciated this post. your fourth (fifth? sixth?) job should be for wikipedia.
I am loving this new news site, and now a blog YES!!!!!!!!!! oh and happy birthday! Mine is today.