Hocking County, Ohio

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

County Seat: Logan
Year Organized: 1818
Square Miles: 423

Court House:

1 East Main Street
County Courthouse
Logan, OH 43138-12

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Residents took the county's name from the Indian word "Hockhocking," which means bottle. The Hocking River, which flows through Hocking County, resembles the shape of a bottle.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

On January 3, 1818, the State of Ohio authorized the creation of Hocking County. Residents took the county's name from the Indian word "Hockhocking," which means bottle. The Hocking River, which flows through Hocking County, resembles the shape of a bottle.

Hocking County is located in southeastern Ohio. It is predominantly rural, with less than two percent of the county's 423 square miles consisting of urban areas. The county seat is Logan. With a population of 6,704 people, Logan was the county's largest community in 2000. Hocking County experienced a significant increase in population -- roughly 10.6 percent -- between 1990 and 2000, raising the total number of residents to 28,241 people. Most of these new people were former residents of Columbus, hoping to escape the busy life of the larger city.

The largest employers in Hocking County are manufacturing businesses, with service industries, such as health care and communications, sales jobs, and government positions, all close behind. Tourism is a major industry in the county, with numerous bed and breakfasts in operation to meet the needs of tourists visiting the Hocking Hills State Park. Numerous natural wonders exist in the county and in the park, including the Cantwell Cliffs, Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, Ash Cave, and Rock House, drawing tens of thousands of tourists every year. During the late nineteenth century, coal mining was also an important source of income for county residents. In 1999, the per capita income in the county was approximately 19,200 dollars, with almost thirteen percent of the people living in poverty.

Sources

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

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1945&nm=Hocking-County

Neighboring Counties:

Perry County (northeast)
Athens County (southeast)
Vinton County (south)
Ross County (southwest)
Pickaway County (west)
Fairfield County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Falls	township
- Good Hope	township
- Laurelville	village	Incorporated Area
- Logan (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Murray City	village	Incorporated Area
- Starr	township
- Ward	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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