Canton Discovery Guide
Getting around Canton the Smart Way
Canton has two claims on a visitor’s attention, and both are national.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is here because professional American football was organised here: the league that became the NFL was founded in a Canton car showroom in 1920, and the museum sits on the site. Its induction weekend in August turns the city into the centre of the sport for a week.
And William McKinley, the twenty-fifth president, lived here, campaigned from his own front porch, and is buried under a domed granite memorial on a hill above the city, with a presidential library and museum beside it.
Beyond those, Canton has a serious classical music tradition, a First Friday arts district, and Amish country half an hour south.
How to Experience Canton
The Pro Football Hall of Fame
Exhibits tracing the professional game from the 1920s, the bronze busts of the inductees in a rotunda, a substantial collection of artefacts, and a cinema. Allow two to three hours. It is expanding into a wider campus with a stadium and conference facilities.
The McKinley sites
The McKinley National Memorial, a domed granite mausoleum reached by 108 steps, holding the president and his family; and the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum beside it, with a reconstructed period street, a science centre and a planetarium.
Downtown
The arts district around Fourth Street, with galleries, the Canton Museum of Art and a monthly First Friday evening that closes the street.
Music
The Canton Symphony Orchestra, one of the older regional orchestras in the country, performs at Umstattd Hall.
Nearby
Amish country around Walnut Creek and Millersburg, half an hour south; the Cuyahoga Valley about the same distance north.
Where to Find Authentic Cultural and Historical Character
Canton is a manufacturing city with a strong civic streak and an unusually large claim on American memory.
Football
The sport is not a marketing device here but the city’s identity. The professional league was founded in Canton, the local high school rivalry is among the oldest in the country, and the Hall of Fame’s induction week is the civic event of the year, with a parade that draws around 200,000 people.
McKinley
The city is bound up with a president in a way few American cities are. McKinley ran his 1896 campaign from his Canton porch, receiving delegations who travelled here by train, and after his assassination in 1901 the city raised the money for his memorial by public subscription.
Industry
Timken, founded here in 1899, made roller bearings and remains a significant employer; Hoover vacuum cleaners were made in nearby North Canton.
Neighbourly
Canton is small enough that people know each other, and visitors find it easy to talk to.
Responsible Travel Tips
Canton lost much of its manufacturing and the population has fallen by around a third from its peak. The recovery is concentrated downtown, and spending in the arts district rather than only at the Hall of Fame campus makes a direct difference.
The McKinley memorial and museum are run by a local not-for-profit rather than the federal government, and admission and donations keep them open.
In Amish country south of the city, remember that the communities there are not an attraction. Do not photograph people, drive patiently behind buggies, and note that many businesses close on Sundays.
Induction weekend puts enormous pressure on the city; book far ahead and be patient with traffic and staff.
Buy local: the downtown makers and the Saturday market.
When to Visit Canton
May, September and October are the most comfortable months, with warm days, low humidity and autumn colour in the surrounding hills from mid-October.
Early August is Hall of Fame enshrinement week, which is the busiest and most expensive time by a wide margin and also the most interesting. Accommodation books out across the region.
June to August is warm and humid with frequent thunderstorms.
December to March is cold with substantial snow — Canton sits near the edge of the lake-effect belt and gets more than central Ohio — and the museums and the symphony carry the season.
April is wet and unsettled, and the start of severe weather season.
Travel Cost Levels in Canton
What a day costs, by how you travel
Relative cost across the city
Lowest — the older inner neighbourhoods and the south-east side
Average — downtown, the Hall of Fame corridor and North Canton
Highest — Jackson Township and the western suburbs, and everything during enshrinement week
Canton is inexpensive for most of the year. The exception is the first week of August, when hotel rates across three counties multiply and rooms are booked a year in advance. Sales tax is added at the till and tipping of 18 to 20 per cent is expected.
