Stark Parks describes the Hoover Trail as a 5.40-mile path through the middle of North Canton. It runs from shopping and dining at Washington Square to the Hoover District, near the YMCA. The park and trail alerts page, current as of Oct. 27, 2026, shows a gap in the middle of that route. A school construction project has closed several sections near Hoover High School "until further notice." The closed sections run from 10th Street to 7th Street, and from 7th Street south to Taft Avenue.
So the trail is open at both ends and closed in the middle. The closed part won't simply reopen as it was. North Canton City Schools has said on its facilities project page that its construction work includes "a relocation of the Stark Parks Hoover Trail." The middle of the trail is being redrawn around a new campus. A second, separate change to North Canton's walking map is also in front of City Council.
Where the trail still takes you
The closure covers a short stretch. The rest of the route still connects the places Stark Parks lists, from Walsh University's Hoover Park to Sanctuary Grande, which has access to Applegrove Street. The trail surface is mostly limestone, with asphalt in a few spots.
| Point on the trail | Status this fall | Useful detail |
|---|---|---|
| Washington Square | Not in the closure alert | Public parking |
| Walsh University's Hoover Park | Not in the closure alert | On the main route |
| Hoover Community Recreational Complex, East Maple St. ball fields | Not in the closure alert | Public parking |
| Hoover High School, 10th St. to 7th St. | Closed until further notice | Marked sidewalk detour posted |
| South of 7th St. to Taft Ave. | Closed until further notice | Marked sidewalk detour posted |
| Sanctuary Grande | Not in the closure alert | Access to Applegrove St. |
| Hoover District | Not in the closure alert | Close to the YMCA |
| Market Ave. tunnel | Not in the closure alert | Link to the Middle Branch Trail |
Stark Parks lists only two parking areas for the trail: Washington Square and the East Maple Street ball fields. Those two lots now matter more, because they let you start a walk on either side of the closed stretch without crossing it.
If you want to go past the Market Avenue end, the trail joins the Middle Branch Trail through a tunnel under Market Avenue. From there an on-road route follows Stone Crossing Street, then picks up the sidewalk and crosses Easton Street at GlenOak High School. That gives you a longer out-and-back that never touches the construction zone.
If you walk through the middle, Stark Parks has posted a marked detour on neighborhood sidewalks. It hasn't published the turn-by-turn route online, so follow the signs on site.
Why the middle stretch comes back on a different line
The district calls this its Phase II facilities project. It includes a new middle school on 7th Street and improvements at Hoover High School. The trail change comes from one piece of that project: a new campus connection to Chapple Hill.
The district's facilities project update says the Chapple Hill work would start in August with "the installation of a new access drive, traffic gates, and a relocation of the Stark Parks Hoover Trail." A later entry says the connection had been added so students could use it during the school day, easing traffic on the north side of the Hoover campus. The new traffic pattern was set to begin once lighting was installed. The district wrote this about the gates:
"Outside of school hours, gates will remain closed on both sides of the connection to reduce vehicle traffic for nearby residents and ensure a safe environment for pedestrians and bikers using the Hoover Trail."
That sentence shows how the district plans to share the space. The new drive and the trail run near each other, and the gates are meant to keep cars out when people on foot and on bikes are most likely to be there. The relocated trail segment has not been announced as open. Stark Parks still lists the nearby sections as closed with no reopening date.
The talks behind this go back a while. At a March 2024 Stark Parks board meeting, according to the minutes in the board's April 2024 packet, the parks director described discussions with North Canton schools about relocating the trail during school renovations as "very preliminary." Since then the building has gone up next to the trail. The district says crews from Cavanaugh Building Corporation drove aggregate piers to support the footings. Masons then built cinder block gym walls, and steel framing went up over the winter. The most recent update, from May, reports roofing underway, brick veneer going up on the east side, and interior wall studs starting.
The district's timeline sets the new middle school's grand opening for August 2027. That date is for the school building, not the trail. Neither the district nor Stark Parks has said when walkers will get the middle stretch back, or exactly where the new path will run.
Two volunteer groups care for this part of the trail. The William H. Hoover Masonic Lodge has adopted the section between Hoover High School and Marquardt Avenue. Combi Packaging Services has the section from Marquardt Avenue to the Market Avenue tunnel. Both sponsor cleanups along the trail during the year. Once the relocated segment opens, the Masonic Lodge's stretch will follow a different path than the one it has looked after.
The Dec. 21 hike starts right next to the closure
Stark Parks' Winter Solstice Hike-a-Thon lists a Hoover Trail hike on Dec. 21, 2026, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. It starts at the Hoover High School tennis courts, 525 7th St. NE, and covers 3 to 4 miles. The hike is one stop in a day-long event that runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
That start is on 7th Street. Both closed sections touch 7th Street, one coming from 10th Street and one heading south toward Taft Avenue. The event page doesn't mention a route change. If you plan to go, a few checks will help:
- Look at the Stark Parks trail alerts the week of the hike to see whether the closure is still listed.
- Check the Hike-a-Thon page for any update to the Hoover Trail start or distance.
- Expect part of a 3-to-4-mile route from that start to use the posted sidewalk detour if the closure is still in place.
- Leave extra time at the start. The hike begins at 7:30 a.m., and on Dec. 21 that is close to sunrise.
A second change at Maple and Marquardt
Across town, the city is working on a change to its walking map that is meant to be permanent. On Oct. 26, North Canton City Council gave a first reading to Ordinance 53-2026, according to the city's Oct. 27 council bulletin. The ordinance would let the mayor sign agreements with Western Reserve Land Conservancy. The conservancy would buy a perpetual conservation easement over about 60 acres of city-owned land along Maple Street and Marquardt Avenue for $330,000.
The city would keep ownership of the land. The easement would keep the protected acres from being developed in the future. The three parcels total about 79.59 acres, so roughly 20 acres would fall outside the easement. A $33,000 stewardship fee would come out of the sale proceeds at closing to pay for the conservancy's ongoing monitoring.
The draft easement in the council agenda packet says the land would be run as a "Passive Use Public Park." The draft rules out active uses such as sports fields, courts and golf courses. It limits physical changes to the land to "creation and maintenance of trails" and a short list of other allowed improvements. It also allows existing trails to be widened and new ones to be built, as long as they stay limited in scope.
Nothing is final yet. Council approved the first reading unanimously, and the ordinance now goes to a second reading. The bulletin includes a map of the proposed easement area, which shows where the land sits along Maple Street and Marquardt Avenue. The documents describe this as a park meant to stay natural, with trails allowed. That is a different plan from the Hoover Trail relocation, which is moving an existing path to make room for a new building.
The Bartlebaugh Team walks and drives these same streets, so we watch these changes as neighbors. If you have a question about the trail work near Hoover High, the Maple and Marquardt land, or what either means for your part of town, Nancy Bartlebaugh and the team are glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.
