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Ohio Counties

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Ohio Counties

There is eighty-eight counties in the state of Ohio. The Ohio Constitution allows counties to set up a charter government as many cities and villages do, but only Summit County has done so.

Licking County, Ohio

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

County Seat: Newark
Year Organized: 1808
Square Miles: 686

Court House:

20 South Second Street
County Administration Building
Newark, OH 43055-5663

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Residents named the county after the Licking River, which flows through the region.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

On January 30, 1808, the State of Ohio authorized the creation of Licking County. Residents named the county after the Licking River, which flows through the region. Licking County was originally part of Fairfield County. Before the arrival of Europeans, Indians lived here. The most notable group of prehistoric people was the Hopewell Indians, who built elaborate earthworks. Whites destroyed many of these earthworks, as they converted the countryside into farm fields and communities during the nineteenth century. Remnants still remain at the Great Circle Earthworks, Octagon Earthworks, and Wright Earthworks. The Ohio Historical Society has preserved these three sites, known collectively as the Newark Earthworks. Other important native sites in Licking County include Blackhand Gorge and Flint Ridge.

Licking County is located in central Ohio. It is predominantly rural, with less than two percent of the county’s 687 square miles consisting of urban areas. The county seat is Newark, with a population of 46,279 people. It was the county’s largest community in 2000. Licking County experienced a significant increase in population—roughly 13.4 percent—between 1990 and 2000, raising the total number of residents to 145,491 people. The county averages 212 people per square mile.

Retail positions and service industries are Licking County’s two largest employers, with manufacturing businesses and government a distant third and fourth. Farming ranks fifth. Some of the counties larger employers include Denison University, The Ohio State University at Newark, Kaiser Aluminum, Owens-Corning, and State Farm Insurance. The county was once home to the Heisey Glass Company and the American Bottle Company, which was the world’s largest beer bottle manufacturer during the early part of the twentieth century. In 1999, the per capita income in the county was 26,891 dollars. Just over nine percent of the people in the county were living in poverty.

American Civil War soldier Johnny Clem, also known as John Joseph Klem and as the “Drummer Boy of Shiloh,” is among the county's more prominent residents.

Sources
Licking County, Ohio History Central, July 24, 2008,
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1958&nm=Licking-County

Neighboring Counties:

Knox County (north)
Coshocton County (northeast)
Muskingum County (east)
Perry County (southeast)
Fairfield County (southwest)
Franklin County (west)
Delaware County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Alexandria	village	Incorporated Area
- Bennington	township
- Buckeye Lake	village	Incorporated Area
- Burlington	township
- Eden	township
- Etna	township
- Fallsbury	township
- Granville	village	Incorporated Area
- Gratiot	village	Incorporated Area
- Hanover	village	Incorporated Area
- Heath	city	Incorporated Area
- Hebron	village	Incorporated Area
- Homer	township
- Jersey	township
- Johnstown	village	Incorporated Area
- Kirkersville	village	Incorporated Area
- Liberty	township
- Licking	township
- Mary Ann	township
- McKean	township
- Newark (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Newton	township
- Pataskala	city	Incorporated Area
- St. Albans	township
- St. Louisville	village	Incorporated Area
- Utica	village	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this 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."