Perry Township, Stark County, Ohio

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Perry Township, Stark County, Ohio
Township
Welcome sign for Perry Township
Welcome sign for Perry Township
Location of Perry Township in Stark County
Location of Perry Township in Stark County
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country United States
State Ohio
County Stark
Area
 • Total 24.3 sq mi (63.0 km2)
 • Land 24.1 sq mi (62.4 km2)
 • Water 0.2 sq mi (0.6 km2)
Elevation[1] 1,079 ft (329 m)
Population (2000)
 • Total 29,167
 • Density 1,211.4/sq mi (467.7/km2)
Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
FIPS code 39-62078[2]
GNIS feature ID 1086986[1]

Perry Township is one of the seventeen townships of Stark County, Ohio, United States. It is an urban township; the 2000 census found 29,167 people in the township.[3]

Geography

Located in the western part of the county, it borders the following townships:

Several populated places are located in Perry Township:

Name and history

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. On December 7, 1813, Stark County Commissioners named Township 10, Range 9, Perry Township. It was named in honor of Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of the War of 1812. Commander Perry was the victor of a battle on Lake Erie on September 10, 1812.

The first formal settlement in the township was Kendal founded in 1812 by Thomas Rotch and his wife who were Quakers from Massachusetts. Other settlers arriving with the Rotch Family were Arvine Wales and Charles Skinner. They utilized Sippo Creek and operated a woolen factory and saw mill.

In 1826, James Duncan founded Massillon. The Ohio/Erie Canal was opened to Massillon in 1828 and the entire area and surrounding communities grew exponentially.[clarification needed]

Johnny Appleseed (Jonathan Chapman) planted the first orchard in Perry Township on the south side of the Canton–Massillon Road on the Daum Farm. Dr. William Gardner was believed to have been the first physician to settle in Perry Township. He came from New York in 1814. The first religious society was the Religious Society of Friends in Kendal about 1813. Methodists soon populated the area.

In 1833, Perry Township contained three gristmills, seven saw mills, one fulling mill, two tanneries, and sixteen stores.[4]

The first school in the township was established in Kendal. Public schools or common schools came into existence in Perry Township in 1825. By 1875, Perry Township had seven one-room schools.

The construction of Reedurban, Genoa, and Richville Schools brought the one-room era to an end. In the 1950s, Whipple, Watson, Lohr, and Perry High were built. The 1956 opening of Perry High School signifies the first time Perry Local Schools offered secondary education. The growth of the school system continued with the construction of Edison Junior High in 1962 and a vocational wing on the High School in 1964.

Perry Township as a community experienced rapid growth. The agricultural farms from the early days have been reborn as housing developments, commercial and industrial sites, medical facilities, and municipal structures. In the 1970s, housing developments in the township were advertised as "the convenience of the city and the charm of the country".[attribution needed]

Today, Perry Township is a stable, united community with a population of nearly 30,000 residents. Even though most of the land has been developed, there is still a hint of the agricultural history in some sections of the township.

It is one of twenty-six Perry Townships statewide.[5]

File:P200Logo noback.gif
Perry Township will celebrate its bicentennial in 2014

Government

The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer,[6] who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Cite error: Invalid <references> tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.

Use <references />, or <references group="..." />

External links

  1. 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Stark County, Ohio — Population by Places Estimates Ohio State University, 2007. Accessed 15 May 2007.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. §503.24, §505.01, and §507.01 of the Ohio Revised Code. Accessed 4/30/2009.