Medina County, Ohio

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

County Seat: Medina
Year Organized: 1812
Square Miles: 422

Court House:

144 N. Broadway Street
County Administration Building
Medina, OH 44256-1974

Etymology - Origin of County Name

The county was named for the Arabian city of Medina, the former home of the Islamic faith’s prophet Mohammed.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

On February 12, 1812, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Medina County. It originally was a portion of the Connecticut Western Reserve. The county was named for the Arabian city of Medina, the former home of the Islamic faith’s prophet Mohammed. Due to a large number of wild animals, in 1818, county residents participated in what became known as the “Great Hinckley Hunt.” Six hundred men spent Christmas day hunting the local wildlife. The men consumed many of the animals that they killed. The rest froze, and once Spring arrived, the thawing animals attracted buzzards. Since 1819, buzzards return to Hinckley exactly upon March 15.

Medina County is located in northern Ohio and covers 422 square miles. The county has grown in recent years, as residents of nearby Cleveland in Cuyahoga County have moved to Medina and surrounding counties to escape the busyness of the city. Between 1990 and 2000, Medina County’s population increased by 23.5 percent to a total of 151,095 residents in 2000. Medina is the county seat and the largest community in the county, with 33,388 residents in 2000. The county averages 358 residents per square mile.

Medina County is overwhelmingly rural, with only five percent of the county deemed to be urban, but most residents earn their livings by working in sales, service, or manufacturing positions. Farming ranks fifth. Beginning in the late 1860s, bee-keeping became a major industry in the county. The county’s average income was almost twenty-nine thousand dollars per person in 1999, with 4.9 percent of the population living in poverty.

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

Michigan Governor Russell A. Alger and poet Edith Thomas were both residents of the county.

Sources

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

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1974&nm=Medina-County

Neighboring Counties:

Cuyahoga County (northeast)
Summit County (east)
Wayne County (south)
Ashland County (southwest)
Lorain County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Brunswick	city	Incorporated Area
- Brunswick Hills	township
- Chatham	township
- Chippewa Lake	village	Incorporated Area
- Gloria Glens Park	village	Incorporated Area
- Granger	township
- Guilford	township
- Hinckley	township
- Litchfield	township
- Liverpool	township
- Lodi	village	Incorporated Area
- Medina (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Seville	village	Incorporated Area
- Sharon	township
- Spencer	village	Incorporated Area
- Wadsworth	city	Incorporated Area
- Westfield	township
- Westfield Center	village	Incorporated Area
- York	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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