Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Cuyahoga County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Cleveland
Year Organized: 1808
Square Miles: 458

Court House:

1219 Ontario Street
County Administration Building
Cleveland, OH 44113-1603

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Residents took the county's name from the Indian word "Cuyahoga" or "crooked river."

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

On January 16, 1810, the Ohio government established Cuyahoga County. Residents took the county's name from the Indian word "Cuyahoga" or "crooked river." The state made Cuyahoga County from part of Geauga County. Cuyahoga County was originally part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, and Moses Cleaveland brought the first white settlers to the area in 1796. He established the city of Cleveland that same year. With completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal and its location on Lake Erie, Cleveland prospered as a trade center, and the city also became a major industrial site in the late 1800s.

Cuyahoga County is located in the northern portion of Ohio and covers 458 square miles. Its northern border is Lake Erie. The county has experienced a small decline in population, losing 1.3 percent of its 1,398,169 residents between 1995 and 2000. As of 2000, Cuyahoga County still ranked as Ohio's most heavily populated county, averaging almost 3,044 residents per square mile. Cleveland is the county seat and is also the county's largest city, with a population of 447,459 people in 2000. Cleveland is unusual in comparison to Ohio's other large cities, as it has lost population, nearly thirty thousand people between 1990 and 2000. This decline has principally resulted from the loss of industrial jobs in recent years. The next largest city in Cuyahoga County is Parma, a suburb of Cleveland. The county is ethnically diverse, as people from all around the world came to Cleveland during the late 1800s and the early 1900s looking for work in the city's industries.

Approximately forty-five percent of Cuyahoga County's residents earn their livings by working in service industries, including in health care and in communications. Manufacturing and sales combine for almost fifty percent of the county's employment opportunities. Some residents work in the shipping industry, transferring coal, iron ore, and steel across the Great Lakes. A new tourism industry has blossomed in the county, especially with the construction of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland. The county also has three Major League professional sports franchises, the Cleveland Browns, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Cleveland Indians, encouraging tourism. The county's average income was approximately 32,200 dollars per person in 1999, with almost fourteen percent of the population living in poverty. In Cleveland, the poverty rate was much higher. Until 2005, a greater percentage of Clevelanders lived in poverty than residents of any other city.

Most voters in Cuyahoga County claim to be independents, yet in recent years, they have overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates at the national level.

Among the county's more famous residents were comedian Bob Hope and President of the United States James Garfield. Cuyahoga County also was the home of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil, as well as several important inventors, scientists, and business owners, including Charles F. Brush, Alexander Winton, Marcus Hanna, Jeptha H. Wade, and Thomas A. White. Several Ohio governors also lived in the county, including Reuben Wood, John Brough, Myron T. Herrick, Harry L. Davis, Frank J. Lausche, Thomas J. Herbert, Richard F. Celeste, and George Voinovich.

Sources

Cuyahoga County, Ohio History Central, July 23, 2008,

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1918&nm=Cuyahoga-County

Neighboring Counties:

Across Lake Erie lies Chatham-Kent and Elgin County, Ontario,
Canada (north)
Lake County (northeast)
Geauga County (east)
Summit County (southeast)
Medina County (southwest)
Lorain County (west)
Portage County (southeast corner)

Cities and Towns:

- Bay Village	city	Incorporated Area
- Beachwood	city	Incorporated Area
- Bedford	city	Incorporated Area
- Bedford Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Bentleyville	village	Incorporated Area
- Berea	city	Incorporated Area
- Bratenahl	village	Incorporated Area
- Brecksville	city	Incorporated Area
- Broadview Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Brook Park	city	Incorporated Area
- Brooklyn	city	Incorporated Area
- Brooklyn Heights	village	Incorporated Area
- Chagrin Falls	village	Incorporated Area
- Cleveland (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Cleveland Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Cuyahoga Heights	village	Incorporated Area
- East Cleveland	city	Incorporated Area
- Euclid	city	Incorporated Area
- Fairview Park	city	Incorporated Area
- Garfield Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Gates Mills	village	Incorporated Area
- Glenwillow	village	Incorporated Area
- Highland Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Highland Hills	village	Incorporated Area
- Hunting Valley	village	Incorporated Area
- Independence	city	Incorporated Area
- Lakewood	city	Incorporated Area
- Linndale	village	Incorporated Area
- Lyndhurst	city	Incorporated Area
- Maple Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Mayfield	village	Incorporated Area
- Mayfield Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Middleburg Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Moreland Hills	village	Incorporated Area
- Newburgh Heights	village	Incorporated Area
- Noble	township
- North Olmsted	city	Incorporated Area
- North Randall	village	Incorporated Area
- North Royalton	city	Incorporated Area
- Olmsted	township
- Olmsted Falls	city	Incorporated Area
- Orange	village	Incorporated Area
- Parma	city	Incorporated Area
- Parma Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Pepper Pike	city	Incorporated Area
- Richmond Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Rocky River	city	Incorporated Area
- Seven Hills	city	Incorporated Area
- Shaker Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Solon	city	Incorporated Area
- South Euclid	city	Incorporated Area
- South Russell	village	Incorporated Area
- Strongsville	city	Incorporated Area
- University Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Valley View	village	Incorporated Area
- Walton Hills	village	Incorporated Area
- Warrensville Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Westlake	city	Incorporated Area
- Woodmere	village	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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