Best Hometowns 2026: Marion

Luke Henry stops on a stairway landing in one of the downtown buildings he has brought back to life and points to a reproduction of vintage newsprint that adorns the wall. One advertisement trumpets Fuller’s Grocery at 172 S. Main St., while another promotes Diamond and Kelly Tires at the same address. The wall of oversize news clippings trace the history of the building that now houses mid- and long-term apartments.   

“If you go into many of our old buildings, you’ll see I’m a sucker for turning things into wallpaper,” Henry says. “These are all newspaper clippings about the building.” 

In 2018, the founder and president of Henry Development Group quietly acquired eight vacant or underused buildings in one block of Marion’s South Main Street, which was 80% vacant at the time. Later that same year, the group announced what it called Main Street Reimagined, an aim to turn that single block in the heart of the city into a center of events, entertainment, dining and shopping. 

Although he had never owned a commercial building, the project was a personal one for Henry. He had grown up in Mount Gilead, about 15 miles to the east. Marion was also his wife’s hometown and where they were raising their family. 

“I wanted to do something meaningful and personal,” he recalls. “We just saw an opportunity and a need in the downtown to do more. We realized there was no big developer from Columbus coming to do the projects here and fix up our town. We had to do it ourselves.”

Downtown Marion streetscape (photo by Rachael Jirousek)

Marion has a rich history as the hometown of President Warren G. Harding, who owned the local Marion Daily Star newspaper for 40 years. Before that, the city had become a manufacturing center after Edward Huber established his farm equipment company there in 1865. Founded in 1884, the Marion Steam Shovel Co. made machinery that was used in building the Panama Canal and Hoover Dam. 

By 1920, the city had gained national prominence due to Harding’s front-porch campaign, which saw hundreds of thousands of people travel to the city over the course of a summer to hear the Republican nominee deliver campaign speeches from the front porch of his home at 380 Mount Vernon Ave. Following World War II, the Marion Pure Milk Co. opened what it called “America’s most modern dairy plant” in 1947, and Whirlpool’s factory arrived in 1955. Reminders of that industrious heritage can be found throughout Marion today.  

On a morning walking tour, Henry, who was formerly on the board of the Marion Palace Theater, points to the historic venue built in 1928 as a mainstay of the community. It serves as a hub of arts and culture in the city, not only hosting nationally touring acts but providing residents a chance to participate in community-theater productions.  

Across the street sits the Harding Centre, which opened as the Harding Hotel in 1925 with more than 100 rooms, a ballroom and a grand lobby. After becoming vacant in the 1990s and falling into disrepair, a group put it back together at the end of that decade. Today, the Harding Centre houses 67 market-rate apartments. It’s ballroom and grand lobby remain, and the Marion of Chamber of Commerce has office space on its first floor. Just to the west of the Harding Centre sits one of Henry’s projects, Flyingfish Lofts.

Cocktail at Kin & Kilt in Marion (photo by Rachael Jirousek)

A local developer named Lois Fisher, whom Henry calls the “godmother of downtown Marion” took on redevelopment projects in Marion beginning in the early 2000s. When Henry got involved, he bought some of her buildings and kept the redevelopment rolling. There are now apartments on the third and second floors of the Flyingfish Lofts, and building and businesses on the street level that include the boutique Foxglove Hollow Home Decor, the pottery-and-painting stop Mimi’s Hollow and the comfort-food restaurant Attaboys. 

In all, Henry Development Group has completed 20 separate projects in Marion over the past eight years, relighting a spark in a city that has a long and proud story that is tied to our nation’s own. 

That history includes not only the home, presidential museum and final resting place of the 29th president of the United States but also deep connections to snack-food history through the local Wyandot Snacks. The company was founded here in 1936 and still calls the city home. (The Marion Popcorn Festival is held each September.) 

A good way to explore the rich history of this 13-square-mile city of over 35,000 residents is with a visit to the Wyandot Popcorn Museum, housed in the city’s former post office building. George K. Brown, the oldest son of the company’s founders opened the museum in 1982 before moving it to the city’s historic post office seven years later. 

Inside, along with a variety of artifacts and exhibits dedicated to Marion County history, visitors are welcomed to step under the canopy of a red-and-blue circus tent that houses a one-of-kind collection of antique popcorn wagons. Nearby exhibitions delve into Wyandot popcorn history, including that the company once produced Cracker Jack for Frito-Lay.

Interior of the Wyandot Popcorn Museum in Marion (photo by Rachael Jirousek)

History buffs will also want to be sure to carve out time to tour the Harding Home Presidential Site. The house looks much as it did when Harding campaigned from its front porch in 1920. It was the last of the front-porch campaigns that had been used by fellow native Ohioans and U.S. Presidents William McKinley and James A. Garfield.  

“Over 600,000 people came to hear Warren that summer — every Wednesday and Saturday for three months … Sometimes twice a day,” says Wendy Petrie, site superintendent of the Harding Home Presidential Site, pointing to the exact spot on the porch where he stood. “He could have had a microphone, but he didn’t want a big podium. He wanted nothing to be between him and the people.”  

The home can be visited on guided tours and is filled with authentic items from when Harding and his wife, Florence, lived there before his presidency. Behind it, a museum that reflects the grandeur of our nation’s capital offers exhibits that delve into Harding’s legacy. A short drive away, Harding and his wife are buried in a memorial that suggests a Greek temple and was built largely with donations from the public following the president’s sudden death in 1923 from a heart attack. 

Left: Harding Memorial, right: Warren G. Harding Presidential Library and Museum in Marion (photos by Rachael Jirousek)

It could be easy to get caught up in the past in a place like Marion, but Mayor Bill Collins has been pushing to improve his residents’ attitude toward the city and its future since before taking office in 2024. Part of that effort has been a “Love Your City” initiative, which is a phrase visitors will see displayed around town but one that goes beyond a mere motto. It was a message the former city police chief began sharing while campaigning for mayor. 

“We wanted something that was fresh, new and easy to get behind,” he recalls. “The ‘Love Your City’ just took off and generated a response from the community.” 

That grew into “Love Your Schools” (Marion City Schools has 4,100 students across six elementary schools, a middle school, a high school and two achievement academies), “Love Your Campus,” “Love Your History” and other iterations to promote local pride. 

As far as local employers go, Whirlpool has 3,000 workers in Marion who make dryers. Other prominent employers in the community include Ohio Health System, Nucor steel and Wyandot Snacks.  

Downtown has, understandably, been a focal point, as Collins looks at the city center as the living room of Marion. He says the change that private investment has made in recent years is remarkable. 

“Downtown is vitally important to have a place for all of the community to go and gather and socialize,” Collins says. “It certainly has grown by leaps and bounds over the last two to three years. We like to say we have a small-town feel … but we have big-city amenities.” 

For more Ohio travel inspiration, sign up for our Ohio Magazine newsletters.

Ohio Magazine is available in a beautifully designed print issue that is published 7 times a year, along with Spring-Summer and Fall-Winter editions of LongWeekends magazine. Subscribe to Ohio Magazine and stay connected to beauty, adventure and fun across our state.