Middletown is appropriately named because it is halfway between Cincinnati and Dayton on Interstate 75 in southwest Ohio, but there is nothing mid-level about its performance as a business destination. This city of 51,427 people in Butler and Warren counties earns its stripes as an industrial powerhouse in multiple sectors.
“Steel, paper and chemicals are our three big industries,” says Lisha Morlan, assistant economic development director for the City of Middletown. “Cleveland-Cliffs is our biggest manufacturer. They make steel for the automotive industry, the nation’s electric grid, and other critically important markets.”
The I-75 Corridor for decades has served as the automotive manufacturing belt of America — and Middletown sits squarely in the middle of it. “Southwest Ohio has a focus on manufacturing. We have the last available parcels along the I-75 Corridor,” says Morlan. “We are strategically located on I-75 between Cincinnati and Dayton. That gives us a unique, strategic opportunity.”
The Middletown executives we interviewed concur. An example is Fry Steel, which has been in business for 75 years and employs 117 workers. Fry recently invested $6 million into opening its first-ever plant in Middletown. The firm marked its grand opening in April.Matthew Goeree, sales manager for Fry, says the expansion creates 135 jobs. He says Fry is in Middletown for a reason. “About 75 to 80% of our work is aerospace-driven. We are headquartered in Santa Fe Springs, California, where we have 180,000 square feet,” he says. “Now we have a 108,000-square-foot plant in Ohio. We are here for strategic reasons. We were servicing all these customers from California. Shipping costs were driving our raw materials costs higher. Moving here helps us service the East Coast in a more streamlined and efficient manner and lower the costs for our customers.”
Goeree notes that “we looked at a few locations along the East Coast. We chose Middletown because we have our family of companies that owned this building. We stepped in and used the same building that Phoenix Metals was using.”
Other factors that sealed the deal, says Goeree, include workforce and quality of life. “We like the workforce. There are a lot of steel- and industrial-minded individuals here,” he says. “Reaching out to find candidates to fill roles is not a problem.”.
Fueling an Entire Country
Fry has lots of company, including Hightowers Petroleum Co. Stephen L. Hightower founded the firm in 1982, continuing a family legacy of entrepreneurism that began in 1957 with the establishment of the family’s cornerstone business. Today, the firm delivers fuel to customers throughout the country.
COO, Hightowers Petroleum Co
“I stand on the backs of three generations of business entrepreneurs in Middletown, starting with my grandfather, who was headed to Detroit to work for Chrysler to get out of Jim Crow, Mississippi,” Steve Hightower says. “He never made it there. He stopped in Middletown and got a job at Armco Steel. That is why we are here today.”
Today, HPC does business in all 50 states, Canada and Mexico with a staff of 40 people. “We do $450 million in revenue a year. Fuel is all about volume, and this is a small-margin business,” Hightower says. “Being in Middletown has helped us. It has always been important that we stay in Middletown. There have been efforts to move us to Cincinnati, Dayton or Houston. Our stance has always been to stay here. It has helped us in attracting talent to Middletown from both Cincinnati and Dayton. I don’t think this region gets enough recognition for how many Fortune 500 companies are based here.”
Local resources enable the company to grow, says Hightower. “Within the past 10 years, we have had tremendous growth. The property we are on now, we bought it and built a new building. We recently added fuel trucks. We bought four new semi-tractor-trailers and started HT Transport; and we expanded into other lines of business. We have expanded into renewable fuels and EV charging stations.”
CEO, PTG
Another innovator is Phillips Tube Group, a welded steel tube manufacturer in Middletown since 1993. “We make steel tubes for applications like fuel filler systems,” says Angela Phillips, CEO of PTG. She notes that “there are benefits to being in this location. A lot of our business is south and west of here. Our customers run from Mexico to Canada. The infrastructure is here. The support is here. Rail is available. And there is dynamic support of trucking companies capable of hauling steel. The automotive corridor runs through here up to Michigan. We are right off I-75. So, a lot of supply base and customers are here.”
Educational System Equips Workers
Location is everything in her business, says Phillips. “This location makes a dramatic difference. We are three miles to I-75. To downtown Cincinati is 35 minutes, and it is 35 minutes to downtown Dayton. It is just 90 minutes to Columbus and two hours to Indy.”
President, Atrium Medical Center
PTG employs 100 people at its headquarters and factory. “We hire locally from the tech schools and high schools and from local career schools like Butler Tech,” says Phillips. “We recruit within a 30-mile radius. The school system knows what we need.”
PTG is growing, she adds. “Last year, we opened our new $2 million corporate headquarters here. We have another plant in Shelby in Northern Ohio and one in Indiana. We also added a fabrication operation in Middletown in 2020.”
Another local asset is quality healthcare. Atrium Medical Center fills that need with a 340-bed hospital, 633 physicians and 41 specialty areas. Kevin Harlan, president of Atrium Medical Center, says that people who live and work in Middletown can enjoy “the benefit of good schools, low crime, low cost of living, and a world-class medical center.”
