Mantua, OH

Mantua, pronounced MAN-a-way, is a Portage County village along the Cuyahoga River, about twenty miles northeast of Akron. Settlers arrived in the late 1790s, but the village grew sharply after the railroad reached Mantua Station in 1857. A post office followed in 1860, and the village incorporated in 1898. State Route 44 runs through the center, with the Ohio Turnpike about two miles south and U.S. Route 422 farther north. The river and the old rail corridor give Mantua its shape.

Potatoes were once a major crop and shipping business here, and the Potato Festival keeps that piece of local memory on the calendar with food, a parade, music, rides, and a road race. The former railroad corridor now carries the Headwaters Trail, while Buchert Park's footbridge and observation deck cross the Cuyahoga River beside local businesses. Crestwood Local School District operates its 7–12 campus and central offices in Mantua, with elementary facilities nearby. Mantua is an Ohio village where river, rail, potatoes, schools, and a September festival still share one map.