Harrison County, Ohio

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

County Seat: Cadiz
Year Organized: 1813
Square Miles: 404

Court House:

100 West Market Street
County Courthouse
Cadiz, OH 43907-1132

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Residents named the county after William Henry Harrison.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

On January 2, 1813, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Harrison County. Residents named the county after William Henry Harrison.

Harrison County is located in eastern Ohio, in the heart of Appalachia. It is predominantly rural, with less than one percent of the county's 404 square miles consisting of urban areas. The county seat is Cadiz, which, in 2000, was the county's largest urban center with a population of 3,308 people. Many residents of Ohio's rural communities are seeking better lives and more opportunities in the state's cities. This holds true for Harrison County. Its population decreased by 1.4 percent between 1990 and 2000, reducing the county's population to 15,856 people. The county averages just thirty-nine people per square mile, making it one of Ohio's least populated counties.

Farming is the largest employer in Harrison County, with residents ranking second in sheep raising in Ohio. Many other residents work in the mining industry, with the county enjoying large deposits of sandstone and limestone. The county used to have large coal deposits, but coal companies mined most of this resource during the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. In 1999, the per capita income in the county was 23,833 dollars, with 14.6 percent of the people living in poverty.

Most voters in Harrison County claim to be independents, yet in recent years, they have supported Republican Party candidates at the national level by very small margins.

Among Harrison County's more prominent residents were United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, actor Clark Gable, and General George A. Custer. The Ohio Historical Society maintains a memorial to General Custer in New Rumley.

Sources

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

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1941&nm=Harrison-County

Neighboring Counties:

Carroll County (north)
Jefferson County (east)
Belmont County (south)
Guernsey County (southwest)
Tuscarawas County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Archer	township
- Bowerston	village	Incorporated Area
- Cadiz (County Seat)	village	Incorporated Area
- Deersville	village	Incorporated Area
- Freeport	village	Incorporated Area
- German	township
- Harrisville	village	Incorporated Area
- Hopedale	village	Incorporated Area
- Jewett	village	Incorporated Area
- Moorefield	township
- New Athens	village	Incorporated Area
- North	township
- Nottingham	township
- Rumley	township
- Scio	village	Incorporated Area
- Short Creek	township
- Stock	township

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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