Marion's Comeback: How This Rust Belt Town Is Rebuilding Itself From the Ground Up
- Humbly observe where people in the community struggle.
- Ask the question: What is the next smallest thing we can do right now to address that struggle?
- Do that thing. Do it right now.
- Repeat.
This four-step process is the ethos of Strong Towns—and it’s exactly how Marion, Ohio, has rebuilt itself.
When Marion’s main playground needed to be replaced, a group of parents of kids with disabilities built a new, accessible playground—at no cost to taxpayers. When they were worried about local kids going hungry, Brock and Amy Parker created the Peanut Butter Jelly Truck, a nonprofit organization that provides free meals. These are just some of the examples that Marion native Wendy Weichenthal included in an op-ed that doubled as a love letter to her hometown. “These efforts to make Marion better, one swing, one warm coat, and one peanut butter and jelly sandwich at a time,” she adds. It’s also why she was proud to vote for Marion in the 2025 Strongest Town Contest.
The resilience of this Ohio city of 35,000 didn’t come easy. "Marion is at the geographic center of the Rust Belt," Brian Haviland, a Marion native who took on a branding campaign for the community called “Marion Made!”, told the Marion Star. "I don't know that any community was as hard-hit as Marion."
Marion Power Shovel, which produced the steam shovels used to build the Panama Canal and once employed 3,200 workers, closed in 1978. Armco Steel shuttered its plant in 1981, followed by Quaker Oats' pet food plant in 1989 and ConAgra Popcorn in 2014. Each closure scarred the city’s economic foundations.
By the mid-2010s, Marion had more boarded-up storefronts than nearby Cleveland, the Marion Area Chamber of Commerce noted in a newsletter. The opioid epidemic only devastated the city and county further. A study by the Economic Innovation Group said that, in 2019, the county’s poverty rate exceeded 15%, and the median income per person hovered around $36,000 annually. For comparison, adjacent Delaware County’s poverty rate was below 5% and the average income was nearly double.
But, as local business owner Bradley Belcher puts it, “The real story of Marion isn’t about decline—it’s about response.”
For years, Marion relied on the same economic development strategies that many other Midwestern cities adopted. The focus was on luring large employers, expanding infrastructure, and waiting for outside investment. In the process, the community fabric—tight-knit neighborhoods, local businesses, and strong civic organizations—began to fray. With stagnant policies and lingering stigma deepening the struggles, it became clear that something had to change.
It’s Up To Us
At the heart of Marion’s transformation is a fundamental principle: Strong communities are built from the bottom up, not the top down. “Businesses, organizations, nonprofits, schools and faith communities started reinvesting in residents across all age, education and economic levels,” said Evie Warr-Cummings, director of the Marion County Regional Planning Commission. Local groups were determined to “meet people where they were and create an environment where everyone can thrive.”
Whether intentional or not, Marion’s path to recovery aligned with the Strong Towns approach. Rather than chasing megaprojects, the city prioritized small, incremental investments in people and places. Instead of waiting for a new factory to save the town, residents focused on rebuilding social infrastructure, strengthening local organizations, and fostering deep, lasting relationships. As Belcher put it: “Instead of waiting for leaders to do something, local residents became the leaders we needed.”
In turn, the city helped those local leaders succeed. The Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Program has helped over 600 participants improve their leadership skills. It’s also led to the creation of programs and partnerships with local businesses to support and train entrepreneurs. In this way, Marion residents, organizations and officials build on each other’s efforts to benefit the entire city.
Marion’s fight has not been easy, and it isn’t over. But the city has proven that real economic strength isn’t measured by the size of a factory or the value of a tax incentive package. It’s measured in the resilience of its people, the support systems they build, and the way they lift each other up. Every day, people in Marion are finding recovery, reclaiming their neighborhoods, and proving that a city’s strength lies in its capacity to care for its own.
“And we’re just getting started,” Belcher wrote. “In Marion, hope isn’t just a feeling—it’s the foundation of the economy itself.”
In Weichenthal words, “This is an exciting time to be a part of Marion.”
Feeling Inspired? Vote for Marion in the Strongest Town Contest!
Marion is competing for the title of Strongest Town 2025. They’re only one round away from the championship match, up against three other cities:
Asia (pronounced “ah-sha”) Mieleszko serves as a Staff Writer for Strong Towns. A dilettante urbanist since adolescence, she's excited to convert a lifetime of ad-hoc volunteerism into a career. Her unconventional background includes directing a Ukrainian folk choir, pioneering synaesthetic performances, photographing festivals, designing websites, teaching, and ghostwriting. She can be found wherever Wi-Fi is reliable, typically along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.