LIMA

lima, a city and the county-seat of allen county, ohio, u.s.a., on the ottawa river, about 70 m. s.s.w. of toledo, pop. (1890) 15,981; (1900) 21,723, of whom 1457 were foreign-born and 731 were negroes; (1910 census) 30,508. it is served by the pennsylvania (pittsburgh, ft. wayne & chicago division), the erie, the cincinnati, hamilton & dayton, the lake erie & western, the detroit, toledo & ironton railways, and by six interurban electric lines. immediately n. of the city is a state asylum for the insane. lima has a carnegie library, a city hospital and a public park of 100 acres. among the principal buildings are the county court house, a masonic temple, an elks' home and a soldiers' and sailors' memorial building. lima college was conducted here from 1893 to 1908. lima is situated in the centre of the great north-western oil-field (trenton limestone of the ordovician system) of ohio, which was first developed in 1885; the product of the lima district was 20,575,138 barrels in 1896, 15,877,730 barrels in 1902 and 6,748,676 barrels in 1908. the city is a headquarters of the standard oil company, and the refining of petroleum is one of the principal industries. the total value of the factory product in 1905 was $8,155,586, an increase of 31.1% over that in 1900. lima contains railway shops of the cincinnati, hamilton & dayton and the lake erie & western railways. the city has a large wholesale and jobbing trade. the municipality owns and operates the water-works. lima was laid out in 1831, and was first organized as a city under a general state law in 1842.