Portage Township, Summit County, Ohio
Portage Township was one of the sixteen original townships in Summit County, Ohio. It was located in the middle of Summit County. It included the cities/towns of Akron and Cuyahoga Falls as well as an earlier part of Middlebury. Eventually, the township was absorbed by Akron and Cuyahoga Falls and ceased to exist. When created, it was in area and included Survey Town 2, Range 11 in Western Reserve. The township derived its name from the Portage Path, which extends north to south through the middle of the township.[1]
Portage Township | |
|---|---|
Former township | |
  Portage Township Location within the state of Ohio | |
| Coordinates: 41°5′58″N 81°32′23″W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Ohio |
| County | Summit |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
Geography
Portage Township lays between the other original townships of Copley, Northampton, Tallmadge, and Coventry. In time, several villages were established within Portage, including the village of Middlebury in the southeast, Akron in the south and Cuyahoga Falls in the northeast.
History
The first white settler who settled in Portage was Major Miner Spicer in 1810, in "Spicertown", now located at the corner of Spicer and Carroll streets Ohio. The township was formally organized at a meeting held in the house of Warren H. Clark in 1838 with first offer:[1]
- Trustees: Wm. B. Mitchell, Simon Perkins, Jr., George Babcock; Clerk, Horace K. Smith
- Treasurer, Samuel A. Wheeler.
In the early days, Portage Township was sparsely populated. Most of the land was titled to one landholder, Simon Perkins, and the land was not easily arable due to variable terrain.[2]
The history of Portage Township is challenging to reconstruct, since it is often considered as an appendage to the town of Akron.
References
- Grant, C.R.; Findley, A.I. (1891). Illustrated Summit County, Ohio (1992 reprint ed.). Ohio: Hudson Genealogical Study Group.
- Knepper, George W. (1994). Akron: City at the Summit. Virginia Beach: The Donning Company. ISBN 0-89865-893-4.
- "Ohio State and County Maps and Atlases :: Genealogy Inc". 2012-06-19. Archived from the original on 2012-06-19. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
- Author unknown, (1999-2005). County Formation Maps. Retrieved May 2, 2005.
- Grant, C.R., Findley, A.I.; (1891). Illustrated Summit County, Ohio (1992 reprint). Hudson, Ohio: Hudson Genealogical Study Group.
- Knepper, George W. (1994). Akron: City at the Summit. Virginia Beach: The Donning Company. ISBN 0-89865-893-4.
- McGovern, Frances (1996). Written on the Hills: The Making of the Akron Landscape. Akron: The University of Akron Press. ISBN 1-884836-21-6.