Defiance County, Ohio

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

County Seat: Defiance
Year Organized: 1845
Square Miles: 411

Court House:

500 Court Street, Suite A
County Courthouse
Defiance, OH 43512-2171

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Residents named the county after Fort Defiance, a fortification constructed by General Anthony Wayne’s men prior to the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

On March 4, 1845, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Defiance County. The county was originally parts of Williams, Henry, and Paulding Counties. Residents named the county after Fort Defiance, a fortification constructed by General Anthony Wayne’s men prior to the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Fort Defiance was also important to defending Ohio from invasion by British soldiers and their native allies during the War of 1812.

Defiance County is located in northwestern Ohio. The county’s western boundary helps to form the border between Indiana and Ohio. Defiance County is predominantly rural, with only one percent of the county’s 411 square miles consisting of urban areas. The county seat is Defiance, site of Fort Defiance. With a population of 16,465 people, Defiance was the county’s largest community in 2000. The next largest urban area was Hicksville, with a population of 3,649 people in 2000. Like most of Ohio’s predominantly rural counties, Defiance County experienced a decline in population between 1990 and 2000, reducing the number of residents to 39,500 people down from 40,115. The migrants typically leave the rural areas, seeking more social and economic opportunities in Ohio’s larger cities. The county averages ninety-six people per square mile.

The largest employers in Defiance County are manufacturing businesses, especially a General Motors powertrain assembly plant that hires 2,550 workers. Sales positions, service industries, farming, and government careers rank second, third, fourth and fifth respectively. In 1999, the per capita income in the county was almost twenty-five thousand dollars, with 7.1 percent of the people living in poverty.

Most voters in Defiance County claim to be independents, yet in recent years, they have supported Republican Party candidates at the national level.

Among Defiance County’s more prominent residents was Pontiac, the Ottawa chieftain that led Pontiac’s Rebellion following the French and Indian War. The county also is home to Defiance College

Sources

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

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1920&nm=Defiance-County

Neighboring Counties:

Williams County (north)
Henry County (east)
Putnam County (southeast)
Paulding County (south)
Allen County, Indiana (southwest)
DeKalb County, Indiana (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Adams	township
- Defiance (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Farmer	township
- Hicksville	village	Incorporated Area
- Mark	township
- Ney	village	Incorporated Area
- Richland	township
- Sherwood	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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