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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.

Perry County, Ohio

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

County Seat: New Lexington
Year Organized: 1817
Square Miles: 410

Court House:

PO Box 248
County Courthouse
New Lexington, OH 43764-0248

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Residents named the county after Oliver Perry, a hero of the War of 1812.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

On December 26, 1817, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Perry County. Residents named the county after Oliver Perry, a hero of the War of 1812. Many of the county’s earliest white residents were German migrants from Pennsylvania. Perry County is located in eastern Ohio. It is predominantly rural, with less 1.5 percent of the county’s 410 square miles consisting of urban areas. With a population of 4,689 people, New Lexington, the county seat, was the county’s largest community in 2000. Perry County experienced a sizable increase in population—roughly eight percent—between 1990 and 2000, raising the total number of residents to 34,078 people. Many residents of Ohio’s rural communities are seeking better lives and more opportunities in the state’s cities, but Perry County is growing in population. The county averages eighty-three people per square miles.

The largest employer in Perry County is the government, with manufacturing businesses a close second. During the late nineteenth century, coal mining was a major business in the county. In 1884, miners, who were unhappy with their poor wages and working conditions, went on strike. Some of these men set fire to a mine at New Straitsville, in the southern part of Perry County. This fire is still raging today. It caused the coal mining industry in Perry County to flounder. In 1999, the per capita income in the county was 16,313 dollars. Over fifteen percent of the people lived in poverty.

Most voters in Perry County claim to be independents, yet in recent years, they have supported Republican Party candidates by small margins at the national level.

Philip Sheridan, a Northern general during the American Civil War, ranks among Perry County’s more prominent residents. He grew up in the town of Somerset. The county was also home to Father Edward Fenwick, the first Roman Catholic bishop in Ohio

Sources

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

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1997&nm=Perry-County

Neighboring Counties:

Licking County (north)
Muskingum County (northeast)
Morgan County (southeast)
Athens County (south)
Hocking County (southwest)
Fairfield County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Bearfield	township
- Coal	township
- Corning	village	Incorporated Area
- Crooksville	village	Incorporated Area
- Glenford	village	Incorporated Area
- Hemlock	village	Incorporated Area
- Junction City	village	Incorporated Area
- Monday Creek	township
- New Lexington (County Seat)	village	Incorporated Area
- New Straitsville	village	Incorporated Area
- Pike	township
- Pleasant	township
- Rendville	village	Incorporated Area
- Salt Lick	township
- Shawnee	village	Incorporated Area
- Somerset	village	Incorporated Area
- Thorn	township
- Thornville	village	Incorporated Area

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."

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