Knox County, Ohio

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

County Seat: Mount Vernon
Year Organized: 1808
Square Miles: 527

Court House:

117 East High Street, Suite 161
County Courthouse
Mount Vernon, OH 43050-3493

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Resident named the county in honor of Henry Knox, a hero from the War of 1812 and the first United States Secretary of War.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

On January 30, 1808, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Knox County. Resident named the county in honor of Henry Knox, a hero from the War of 1812 and the first United States Secretary of War. Knox County was originally part of Fairfield County.

Knox County is located in the northeastern part of central Ohio. It is predominantly rural, with less than one percent of the county’s 527 square miles consisting of urban areas. The county seat is Mount Vernon, which, with a population of 14,375 people, was the county’s largest community in 2000. Knox County experienced a significant increase in population—roughly 14.8 percent—between 1990 and 2000, raising the total number of residents to 54,500 people. Many residents of Ohio’s rural communities are seeking better lives and more opportunities in the state’s cities, but Knox County is increasing in population. The county averages 103 people per square mile.

Farming is the largest employer in Knox County, with sixty percent of the county’s acreage under cultivation. Within Ohio, Knox County farmers rank first in sheep raising. Manufacturing positions and service industries finish a close second and third behind agriculture. In 1999, the per capita income in the county was 20,850 dollars, with just over ten percent of the people living in poverty.

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

Composer Daniel Emmett and Civil War nurse Mary Ann Ball Bickerdyke were among Knox County’s more prominent residents. The county also is home to Kenyon College, established by Episcopalian Philander Chase in 1824.

Sources

Knox County, Ohio History Central, July 24, 2008,

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1954&nm=Knox-County

Neighboring Counties:

Richland County (north)
Ashland County (far northeast)
Holmes County (northeast)
Coshocton County (east)
Licking County (south)
Delaware County (southwest)
Morrow County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Brown	township
- Centerburg	village	Incorporated Area
- Clay	township
- College	township
- Danville	village	Incorporated Area
- Fredericktown	village	Incorporated Area
- Gambier	village	Incorporated Area
- Gann	village	Incorporated Area
- Hilliar	township
- Howard	township
- Liberty	township
- Martinsburg	village	Incorporated Area
- Middlebury	township
- Miller	township
- Morgan	township
- Morris	township
- Mount Vernon (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Pike	township
- Pleasant	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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