Clinton County Takes Flight

To the casual observer, Wilmington, in southwest Ohio's Clinton County, is a quiet community surrounded by farms and bucolic scenery. And that's what it is -- in the daytime.

At night, it's another story, one that bespeaks strongly of Ohio's superior transportation advantages. In the wee hours, Wilmington becomes a fast track. More than 100 cargo planes take off each night for destinations around the world.

Wilmington is the site of one of the most impressive logistics projects in the nation -- the 7,000-employee central sorting facility and aircraft maintenance complex for Airborne, plus its Commerce Park for companies with time-sensitive deliveries.

Among companies at the 2,400-acre airport/Commerce Park are Technicolor, which cleans, repairs and distributes films, Fort Dodge Labs, PC Connections and Rentrack, a supplier of videos to Blockbuster.

When turnaround time is important, businesses find a location at the Commerce Center a superior advantage. For example, Micro Warehouse can accept an order for a computer as late as 9 p.m. for delivery the next morning

Clinton County is also home base for one of the nation's largest over-the-road carriers. Larry Roberts parlayed a $300 investment in a truck in the early 1970s into R&L Trucking, today a huge multi-carrier operation, with companies in Florida, North Carolina and elsewhere. R&L Trucking has just completed a mammoth new transfer center on I-71 and U.S. 68 in Clinton County.

Clinton County is the kind of place that nurtures such businesses, "The nice thing about Clinton County is the creativity in helping companies reduce the cost of doing business," says Greg Newcomer, county operations manager. "That means a lot when you're trying to get a business up and running." Clinton County (pop. 35,000) markets itself on its locational assets. Wilmington is about equidistant from Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus. I-71 from Cincinnati to Columbus crosses the northwest corner of the county.

Airborne's 400-acre Commerce Park is popular with companies with time-sensitive shipping needs.

It also has the advantage of exceptional quality of life. A bustling college town, Wilmington is one of the top 100 small towns to live in, according to USA Today.