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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.

Summit County, Ohio

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

County Seat: Akron
Year Organized: 1840
Square Miles: 413

Court House:

175 S Main Street, 8th Floor
County Administration Building
Akron, OH 44308-1306

Etymology - Origin of County Name

The county was named for the Portage Summit, the highest point along the Ohio and Erie Canal.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

On March 3, 1840, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Summit County. It originally was a portion of the Connecticut Western Reserve. The county was named for the Portage Summit, the highest point along the Ohio and Erie Canal. The county grew very quickly, especially following the completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal. Due to its proximity to transportation systems and an abundant supply of coal, iron ore, and steel, the county seat of Akron became a major site for the production of cereal, rubber, and numerous other products during the latter portion of the nineteenth century. Because B.F. Goodrich Company, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company were all located in Akron, the city became known as the "Rubber Capital of the World."

Summit County is located in northeastern Ohio and covers 413 square miles. The county has grown in recent years. Between 1990 and 2000, Summit County's population increased by 5.4 percent to a total of 542,899 residents in 2000. Akron is the largest community in the county, with 217,074 residents in 2000. The county averages 1,315 residents per square mile.

Summit County is overwhelmingly rural, with only fourteen percent of the county deemed to be urban. Still, only just over three hundred farms exist in the county. Most of the county is now covered with subdivisions. These areas are not populated enough to qualify as urban areas, but they are definitely not devoted to agriculture. Most residents earn their livings by working in service, sales, or manufacturing positions. The county's average income was just over twenty-nine thousand dollars per person in 1999, with 10.9 percent of the population living in poverty.

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

Industrialists Benjamin Franklin Goodrich, Ohio Columbus Barber, Ferdinand Schumacher, Frank Seiberling, and Harvey Samuel Firestone, as well as abolitionist John Brown, were all residents of the county.

Sources
Summit County, Ohio History Central, July 24, 2008,
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=2016&nm=Summit-County

Neighboring Counties:

Cuyahoga County, Ohio - north
Geauga County, Ohio - northeast corner
Portage County, Ohio - east
Stark County, Ohio - south
Wayne County, Ohio - southwest
Medina County, Ohio - west

Cities and Towns:

- Akron (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Barberton	city	Incorporated Area
- Bath	township
- Boston Heights	village	Incorporated Area
- Clinton	village	Incorporated Area
- Copley	township
- Coventry	township
- Cuyahoga Falls	city	Incorporated Area
- Fairlawn	city	Incorporated Area
- Green	city	Incorporated Area
- Hudson	city	Incorporated Area
- Lakemore	village	Incorporated Area
- Macedonia	city	Incorporated Area
- Mogadore	village	Incorporated Area
- Munroe Falls	city	Incorporated Area
- Northfield	village	Incorporated Area
- Northfield Center	township
- Norton	city	Incorporated Area
- Peninsula	village	Incorporated Area
- Richfield	village	Incorporated Area
- Sagamore Hills	township
- Silver Lake	village	Incorporated Area
- Stow	city	Incorporated Area
- Suffield	township
- Tallmadge	city	Incorporated Area
- Twinsburg	city	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."