Portage County, Ohio

History

The name "Portage" comes from an old Native American path called "Portage Path", which ran between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas rivers, where travelers portaged their canoes. The location of the trail today is within the boundaries of neighboring Summit County.

As of 1600, the area was likely almost entirely home to the Whittlesey culture, a presumably Algonquian people who lived along the southern shore of Lake Erie, to the west of the Erie Nation. They were a mixed culture people and also exhibited signs of picking up traits from both Fort Ancients and Iroquoians. The Erie may have also held a bit of the area, but this is unclear. During the Beaver Wars, approximately 1632–1701, the Whittlesey and Erie were already at war when the Erie decided to also declare war on the Iroquois for the atrocities being committed against allied tribes in Canada. The Erie lost around 1650 and the Whittlesey were likely similarly subjugated afterwards, as the Iroquois conquered all the way to the shores of Lake Michigan by the 1670s.

The Iroquois placed a vassal tribe of captured Huron in the area who became known as the Wyandot, while they conquered further west. Later, the French made it to the Mississippi River and volunteered to aid the Natives in that region to push the Iroquois back to New York. By the end of the Beaver Wars, the Wyandot had broken free of Iroquois control and reabsorbed surviving Hurons taking refuge all over the Great Lakes, but set aside the area roughly between the Cuyahoga River, the Mahoning River and the Ohio-Pennsylvania border as a collective hunting ground, to be enjoyed by all the tribes of the region. The Lenape had a village around modern day Youngstown, possibly established during the 1690s, from which they and the Seneca and Shawnee from further south staged ventures into the region and up in Ashtabula County, the Ottawas, or Mississaugas, from the western end of Lake Erie were allowed to maintain a village at Conneaut. Ashtabula itself seems to come from the Algonquian name for the area and roughly translates to "Place with Enough for everyone." The Lenape later lost rights to the eastern extremes of their territory between the Potomac River and the Mahoning River by a government proclamation in 1763, but sources say they began relocating into Tuscarawas and Holmes Counties in 1758 in preparation for such an event.

The region continued being used as such until around 1785, when the newly formed United States tried issuing a treaty stripping the vast majority of what is now Ohio from Native control and began offering subsidies for people to move into the region, sparking the Northwest Indian War from 1785-1795. In the aftermath, the government issued the Treaty of Greenville, which stripped even more land from the Natives than originally planned and opened up northeast Ohio for white settlement for the first time. Most Natives did not leave and mixed tribal communities still existed all over the state for some time afterwards, with permanent Ottawa, Seneca, and Wyandot villages still existing in what is now Portage and Geauga Counties, but all written accounts of Natives seems to have ceased sometime around the War of 1812, which is also when the Shawnee War (1811-1813) was occurring. The local government had its own land arrangements with the Natives for a time. It is unclear where the Natives went, after that, but this may coincide with the 1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes, one of the most massive earthquakes to ever hit the east coast in recorded history, and was interpreted by many Ohio Natives that they should throw their support behind Shawnee cult leader, Tenskwatawa, at the Prophettown stronghold, which also coincides with the outbreak of the Shawnee War, later that year. Most of the Eastern nations got sucked up into his cult and many Natives relocated to live near him.

Portage County is also home to a burial mound—Towner's Mound, in Franklin Township—which outdates all the above mentioned cultures. It was unique in structure to other types of burial mounds from the Adena, Hopewell, and Fort Ancient cultures, but identical to two other excavated mounds in North Benton, Ohio, and Warren, Pennsylvania.

After the discovery of the New World, the land that became Portage County was originally part of the French colony of Canada (New France), which was ceded in 1763 to Great Britain and renamed the Province of Quebec. In the late 18th century the land became part of the Connecticut Western Reserve in the Northwest Territory, then was purchased by the Connecticut Land Company in 1795.

The first European settler in what is now Portage County was Abraham Honey in 1798 in the area now known as Mantua Township, followed by Asa Hall in what is now Atwater Township in April 1799. In June 1799, Benjamin Tappan, Jr. arrived and founded Ravenna, David Daniels came to what is now Palmyra Township, and Ebenezer Sheldon settled in what is now Aurora. A family group of Huguenot refugees also eventually migrated to Portage County by 1804.

When first settled, the area that presently constitutes Portage County was part of the original Jefferson County, which had been organized in 1797. In 1800, the area was made part of Trumbull County, which followed the boundaries of the Connecticut Western Reserve. In 1802, all of what is now Portage County was organized under the name of Franklin Township with other townships being formed later. On February 10, 1807, the Ohio state legislature passed the act to create Portage County from Trumbull County and it took effect June 7, 1807. Portage County remained attached to Trumbull County until June 8, 1808, when the first elections were held. Initially, the county included a large area of the Western Reserve that encompassed most of present-day Summit County, all of Medina and Huron counties, and parts of Lorain and Ashland counties. There were six organized townships in 1808: Franklin, Deerfield, Aurora, Hiram, Springfield, and Hudson with new townships organized later, reaching a maximum of 30. The present-day boundaries of Portage County were established in 1840 following the 1812 creation of Medina County, a slight boundary adjustment in 1827 with Cuyahoga County, and finally the creation of Summit County in 1840, which took 10 townships from Portage County along with 3 townships from Medina County and two from Stark County.

What is referred to as the last great train robbery in US history occurred in Garrettsville in 1935. The government sent in a massive team to investigate, whom the locals called the G-Men. Today, the James A. Garfield schools in Garrettsville have the G-Men as their team mascot.

Portage County was also the site of the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 504 sqmi, of which 487 sqmi is land and 17 sqmi (3.3%) is water.

West Branch State Park is a very large state park in central Portage County, consisting of a large green surrounding the Michael J. Kirwan Dam and Reservoir. There are a number of smaller state and local parks.

Adjacent counties

• Geauga County (north)
• Trumbull County (east)
• Mahoning County (southeast)
• Stark County (south)
• Summit County (west)
• Cuyahoga County (northwest)

Major highways

Demographics

|align-fn=center 1790-1960 1900-1990 1990-2000 2020

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 161,791. The median age was 39.8 years. 18.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.9% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 92.9 males age 18 and over.

The racial makeup of the county was 86.4% White, 5.0% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.1% Asian,

62.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 38.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 65,624 households in the county, of which 24.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 46.5% were married-couple households, 19.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.1% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 70,672 housing units, of which 7.1% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 68.9% were owner-occupied and 31.1% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 8.1%.

Racial and ethnic composition

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 161,419 people, 62,222 households, and 40,757 families living in the county.{{cite web |access-date=December 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213014751/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/0500000US39133 |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |url-status=dead |access-date=December 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213184534/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/GCTPH1.CY07/0500000US39133 |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |url-status=dead |access-date=December 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213015143/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_5YR/DP02/0500000US39133 |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |url-status=dead

Of the 62,222 households, 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.1% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 34.5% were non-families, and 25.4% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.96. The median age was 37.4 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $50,447 and the median income for a family was $65,306. Males had a median income of $46,014 versus $34,250 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,097. About 8.1% of families and 13.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.2% of those under age 18 and 4.4% of those age 65 or over.{{cite web |access-date=December 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213020447/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_5YR/DP03/0500000US39133 |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |url-status=dead

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 152,061 people, 56,449 households, and 39,175 families living in the county. The population density was 309 PD/sqmi. There were 60,096 housing units at an average density of 122 /mi2. The racial makeup of the county was 94.40% White, 3.18% Black or African American, 0.18% Native American, 0.82% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.22% from other races, and 1.19% from two or more races. 0.72% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 23.5% were of German, 11.0% Irish, 9.9% Italian, 9.7% English, 9.7% American and 5.2% Polish ancestry according to Census 2000. 96.1% spoke English and 1.2% Spanish as their first language.

There were 56,449 households, out of which 32.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.60% were married couples living together, 10.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.60% were non-families. 23.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.70% under the age of 18, 14.30% from 18 to 24, 28.60% from 25 to 44, 22.30% from 45 to 64, and 11.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 95.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.40 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $44,347, and the median income for a family was $52,820. Males had a median income of $37,434 versus $26,232 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,428. About 5.90% of families and 9.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.90% of those under age 18 and 5.70% of those age 65 or over.

Using the Gini coefficient to measure household inequality, Portage County received a .43 in 2012. In 2013 16.1% of the population, or 25,196 people, were poor or impoverished. The county saw an increase in its poor population, as this can be compared to a 9.3% poverty rate (13,395 people) in 1999.

Government

As of January 2025, the following officials are in county-wide elected office:

Politics

From 1992 to 2012, Portage County had been reliably Democratic but following a trend seen throughout large parts of Ohio, in 2016 Donald Trump won Portage County by 9.87 points and then again in 2020 by 12.44 points, becoming the first Republican in almost three decades to win the county, the last time being George H. W. Bush in 1988.

Education

The county is served by multiple public school districts, private schools, and public libraries, and is home to two institutions of higher education.

Libraries

The Portage County Library Consortium is a library consortium consisting of Kent Free Library in Kent, Reed Memorial Library in Ravenna, and the six branches of the Portage County Library District, which are located in Aurora, Brimfield, Garrettsville, Randolph, Streetsboro, and Windham. The consortium allows patrons of any member library to use their library card at another consortium location or request materials housed at another library. Through the SearchOhio database, the consortium is connected to OhioLINK, which provides local access to the State Library of Ohio and dozens of university and college libraries across the state.

The county is also home to the Kent State University Libraries in Kent, an academic library system with a collection of over 2.5 million volumes. The KSU system, one of three members of the Association of Research Libraries in Ohio, includes the 12-story main library and individual libraries for architecture, fashion, performing arts, and maps, on the main campus in Kent. It also includes individual libraries at each of the university's seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio.

Public school districts

Portage County is home to eleven public school districts.

In addition, there are parts of five neighboring districts which serve portions of Portage County residents.

Portage County also has two public schools that serve students from multiple districts:

• Maplewood Career Center in Ravenna, a joint vocational school for students in grades 11 and 12 from nine of the county's school districts (all but Kent and Aurora) and Mogadore.
• Bio-Med Science Academy, a year-round public science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEM+M) high school located on the campus of Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown with campuses in Ravenna and Shalersville. The academy has students enrolled from Portage County and adjacent counties.

Private schools

• Crossroads Christian Academy, a Christian school for grades K4–12 operated by and housed at First Baptist Church in Streetsboro
• St. Joseph School, a Roman Catholic school for grades PK–8 in St. Joseph, affiliated with the Diocese of Youngstown
• St. Patrick School, a Roman Catholic school for grades K–8 in Kent, affiliated with the Diocese of Youngstown
• Valley Christian Academy, a Christian school for grades PK–8 in Aurora

Higher education

Portage County is home to three institutions of higher learning:

• Kent State University, located in Kent; a large regional public research university with around 40,000 students. It serves as the county's largest employer.
• Hiram College, located in Hiram in northeastern Portage County; a small liberal arts college of around 1,200 students.
• Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), located in Rootstown, in the south-central part of the county. It is a public medical school and a consortium of Kent State University, the University of Akron, Youngstown State University, and Cleveland State University, with colleges of medicine, pharmacy, and graduate studies.

Culture

Theater

• Kent Stage

Museums

• Kelso House Museum, Brimfield
• Kent Historical Society Museum, Kent
• Kent State University Museum, Kent
• Kent State School of Art Galleries, Kent
• Cowrie-Lowrie-Beatty Portage County Historical Society Museum, Ravenna

Media

• Record-Courier, a newspaper based in Ravenna that covers news for the entire county online and in print
• The Portager, an online news source based in Randolph that covers the entire county
• KentStater, an online news source from Kent State University independent student media outlets The Kent Stater and TV2
• Weekly Villager, online news source based in Garrettsville with news from Portage, Geauga, and Trumbull counties

Communities

Portage County is arranged as a 4 x 5 grid of 20 rectangles and contains 18 unincorporated townships, and all or part of five cities and six villages. Under Ohio law, there are two types of incorporated municipal jurisdictions: cities and villages; and any territory within a county that is not part of an incorporated municipality is part of a township. Townships have limited local government and services.

In addition to the cities, village, and townships, the United States Census Bureau has four census-designated places (CDP) in Portage County. These CDPs are for statistical purposes only and have no government or official boundaries separate from the township they are located in. There are also 17 additional named places in the county. All 17 places are considered part of whatever jurisdiction they are located in (township or municipality) and have no formal boundaries or additional government of their own.

Camp James A. Garfield, formerly known as the Ravenna Training and Logistics Site and commonly known as the Ravenna Arsenal, occupies much of the land in Charlestown, Paris, and Windham townships, as well as a small part of Freedom Township. While the portions of Camp Garfield are still considered part of the various townships they cover, the land is under the jurisdiction of the US federal government.

Cities

• Aurora
• Kent
• Ravenna (county seat)
• Streetsboro
• Tallmadge

Villages

• Garrettsville
• Hiram
• Mantua
• Mogadore
• Sugar Bush Knolls
• Windham

Townships

• Atwater
• Brimfield
• Charlestown
• Deerfield
• Edinburg
• Franklin
• Freedom
• Hiram
• Mantua
• Nelson
• Palmyra
• Paris
• Randolph
• Ravenna
• Rootstown
• Shalersville
• Suffield
• Windham

Census-designated places

• Atwater in Atwater Township
• Brady Lake in Franklin Township
• Brimfield in Brimfield Township
• Suffield in Suffield Township

Unincorporated communities

• Black Horse
• Campbellsport
• Cobbs Corners
• Diamond
• Drakesburg
• Earlville
• Freedom Station
• Hiram Rapids
• Lloyd
• Mahoning
• Mishler
• Moran
• New Milford
• St. Joseph
• Twin Lakes
• Wayland
• Yale

Notable people

• Nettie Sanford Chapin (1830–1901), teacher, historian, author, newspaper publisher, suffragist
• Peter J. Barber (1830-1905), architect, known for his work in Santa Barbara, California

Notes

References

References

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40. included in the Asian category in the 1980 Census
41. included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census
42. not an option in the 1980 Census
43. not an option in the 1990 Census
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