A view looking south on Main Street at Market Street in Baltimore in July 2007. (Credit: Ken Drenten)

By Ken Drenten

Baltimore, Ohio, located in Fairfield County about halfway between Buckeye Lake and Lancaster, is one of those quiet, peaceful, nondescript towns that is a good place to raise a family but otherwise seems pretty common.

I should know — I bought a home, helped raise a family and lived in the town of about 3,000 for more than 20 years. This town has a special place in my heart since this is where I have lots of memories of being a young father with young kids.

It’s a place where American flags hang serenely from street poles; where many of the homes have front porches; kids ride their bikes down to the pool or over to the library; where the local Rotary and Lions clubs advertise on signs at the village limits; and churches have signs for Vacation Bible School.

Baltimore was once two towns — the towns of New Market and Basil, both founded in 1825. You can still tell this today by noting the two distinct “downtown” sections of Baltimore.

New Market, settled mainly by Virginians, was centered on Main and Market streets, while Swiss emigrants settled further west in Basil, centered on Market and Basil streets. In 1947, townspeople agreed to join the towns together and gave it one name, Baltimore (one of the names rejected for the united town was “Baseball”).

The Ohio and Erie Canal was built through the towns in 1831, which contributed greatly to their economic development. An old canal lock, Bibler Lock, stands just outside of the Basil section of town.

A visitor to Baltimore can learn about these things and more at the Baltimore Community Museum. Among the town’s other sites of interest are the Victoria Opera House and City Hall building, built in 1905; the historic 1920s-era Griley House; a branch of the Fairfield County District Library; a municipal swimming pool; Alt, Basil and Johnson municipal parks; the county’s Smeck Park; a weekly farmer’s market; the annual Baltimore Festival (August 6, 7 and 8 this year); and its popular ice cream shop Schaffner’s Drive In.

Perhaps the most important thing to know about the town is that it is quietly growing. We took a quick trip there recently and saw a number of new homes being built, as well as an entire development under construction just east of town on SR 256.

We visited Schaffner’s Drive In and it was extremely busy. Plus, the number of young parents with small children was noticeable. It was wonderful to see these parents raising their families here.

I moved from Baltimore to Zanesville in 2009, but two years before that occurred, I took a number of photos all around the town as kind of a digital time capsule. I have included many of these pictures in the latest Travel Ohio with Dusty Tires video, and more in a short video, “Baltimore, Ohio.”

Some things have changed in Baltimore since I lived there. The Fairfield Paper mill, founded in 1907, has been owned by many industries over the years and is currently the Greif Baltimore, Ohio Paperboard Mill. A former gasoline station is now a dental office, a former pizzeria is now a pub, a family-owned hardware store is something other than a hardware store, and some new restaurants are in town.

But a lot has stayed the same. Johnson Park and the village swimming pool are still bustling with activity; houses are well-maintained and yards are neat; and Schaffner’s Drive In is still drawing crowds.

View the video “Travel Ohio with Dusty Tires – Baltimore, Ohio” by clicking above. If the video does not appear or does not work, use this link — https://youtu.be/EkGhFa75Hgg

In addition to Schaffner’s, you can find home-cooked food at The Farmhouse Cafe, 201 W. Market St.; local craft beer and food at Baltimore Pint House, 108 N. Main St.; seafood at Papito’s Kitchen, 101 N. Basil St.; authentic Mexican cuisine at Puerto De Vallarta, 1001 S. Main St., and Italian food and pizza at Cristy’s Pizza, Sis & Harold’s Pizza and Creno’s Pizza.

So if you’re ever in the area, Baltimore is a great place to slow down and get a sense of a peaceful, relaxing small-but-growing Ohio town.

Ken Drenten is creator and editor of Dusty-Tires.com, a travel blog for out-of-the-ordinary places in Ohio.

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