Highland County, Ohio

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

County Seat: Hillsboro
Year Organized: 1805
Square Miles: 553

Court House:

114 Governor Foraker Place
County Courthouse
Hillsboro, OH 45133-1055

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Residents chose the name Highland because the county is situated on high land between the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

On February 18, 1805, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Highland County. The county was originally parts of Ross, Adams, and Clermont Counties. Residents chose the name Highland because the county is situated on high land between the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers.

Highland County is located in southeastern Ohio. It is predominantly rural, with less than one percent of the county's 553 square miles consisting of urban areas. The county seat is Hillsboro, which, with a population of 6,368 people, was the county's largest city in 2000. Unlike many of Ohio's more rural counties, Highland County experienced a sizable increase in population -- roughly 14.4 percent -- between 1990 and 2000, raising the total number of residents to 40,875 people. The county averages seventy-four people per square mile.

The largest employers in Highland County are manufacturing businesses. Retail positions and government are the second and third largest employers respectively. The county does have a tourist industry, with Fort Hill State Memorial, Rocky Fork State Park, and Paint Creek State Park being the primary attractions. In 1999, the per capita income in the county was approximately 19,200 dollars, with 12.5 percent of the people living in poverty.

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

Cartoonist Milton Caniff and temperance advocate Eliza Jane Thompson, who founded the Women's Christian Temperance Union, rank among the counties more prominent residents. Ohio Governors Allen Trimble and Joseph B. Foraker also resided in the county.

Sources

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

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1943&nm=Highland-County

Neighboring Counties:

Fayette County (north)
Ross County (northeast)
Pike County (east)
Adams County (southeast)
Brown County (southwest)
Clinton County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Boston	township
- Brushcreek	township
- Clay	township
- Danville	village	Incorporated Area
- Dodson	township
- Fairfax	village	Incorporated Area
- Fairview	village	Incorporated Area
- Greenfield	city	Incorporated Area
- Hamer	township
- Highland	village	Incorporated Area
- Hillsboro (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Leesburg	village	Incorporated Area
- Liberty	township
- Lynchburg	village	Incorporated Area
- Marshall	township
- Mowrystown	village	Incorporated Area
- New Market	township
- Paint	township
- Penn	township
- Sinking Spring	village	Incorporated Area
- Whiteoak	township

County Resources:

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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