Canton, Ohio

Canton Ohio, located in Stark County Ohio, has seen a lot of changes in its more than 200 years of history. Once a significant farming and manufacturing center the area eventually transformed into a service oriented economy. The downtown area has become a significant retail and entertainment hub, serving the people who frequent the downtown space with all kinds of enjoyable venues.

Canton is a city known as a major place for culture and the arts. With dozens of art galleries in the area and several museums, including those dedicated to the legacy of William McKinley, this city is dedicated to both preserving the past and keeping the future rolling along at a solid clip. With the city being so dedicated to the enjoyment of the people who live there and visit on a regular basis, this is a town that still has plenty to offer for everyone.

Canton is an attractive city for both local residents as well as tourists. There are intriquing options in entertainment, education, affordable living and many other benefits the city offers its residents. People of any age or any profession will surely find the city exciting and vivacious to their own liking.

Canton History

The city of Canton Ohio was founded in the year 1805. At the time, it was not even a formal village, and did not officially incorporate until the year 1822. In the year 1838, Canton officially became a city. One of the surveyors of the town at the time, Bezaleel Wells, named it after the city in China which is often referred to as Canton, Guangzhou. Wells admired a man named John O'Donnell, who had named his plantation in Maryland after the very same city because he had been the first person to transport goods of any kind from that location to Baltimore. However, this was not all the city of Canton Ohio became known for.

This city also served as the adopted home of President William McKinley. While he was originally born in Niles, the first city where McKinley practiced law was in Canton during 1867, and he also served as the Stark County prosecuting attorney from 1869 to 1871. During his time as a successful Ohio governor, he also used the city of Canton as his political base and home. The front-porch presidential campaign of 1896 and that of 1900 also saw McKinley launching himself from Canton. Today the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum and McKinley National Memorial, both dedicated in 1907, are located in this city.

Time originally cast Canton in an agricultural and manufacturing light, with a large number of different food manufacturers located within the city and employing its local population. However, as time has gone onward, many of these manufacturers have either gone out of businesses entirely or been bought up by other companies and had their production facilities moved into other places. For example, the Timken Company used to produce a large number of steel products within the city. However, they were forced to file for bankruptcy in 2000, and its production amounts have decreased dramatically as a result of this occurrence. Another company which produced in this city for decades was the Hoover Company, a major producer of vacuum and floor cleaners. They were bought up by the Whirlpool Corporation in 2007, which ended up closing the North Canton plant and moving it elsewhere.

As time has marched on, however, Canton has begun to adapt as all cities have been forced to. The downtown area has fought back against the closure of many production facilities, and is in the process of re-imagining itself as a significant retail hub for the local population. All sorts of restaurants and other places of entertainment have located there and in the surrounding suburbs.

About Canton, Ohio

Canton Ohio is a large city just 24 miles south of Akron and 60 miles south of Cleveland. Begun in 1805 on the shores of Nimishellen Creek, this manufacturing powerhouse was originally driven by the use of the railroads. However, as the manufacturing sector began to wane, the service economy culture began to take over, and businesses such as health care, education, finance and retail began to rule the local scene. While Canton did decline slightly as the world began to change, the fact that some other cities declined more actually allowed Canton to move upward in the rankings of Ohio cities.

The address grid is a truly special thing in Canton. Tuscarawas Street is the baseline for every address in the city, and most of the city's addresses are laid out according to the Stark County standard. The four address quadrants, NW, NE, SW and SE, all radiate outward from Tuscarawas Street and typically run both east and west in equal numbers as streets. Avenues run both north and south in the same fashion. However, there are several other cities located within Stark County that do not share this method, since their address grids are individual. Canton is the largest city in Ohio that operates without a charter. The city contains 9 wards, 3 at-large council seats and a council president.

Despite the changes the modern world has brought about, Canton is still an industrial and agricultural type of place at heart. Unfortunately, failures in this sector have driven out much of the production. One major producer was the Timken Company, which manufactures both specialty steel and tapered roller bearings. Of course, other companies also operate in this area, such as the Belden Brick Company and Diebold, which manufactures bank vaults, electronic voting machines and automated teller machines. Regional food production companies are also significant, with the biggest names including Nickles Bakery, the poultry manufacturer Park Farms, and the snack food manufacturer Shearer's Foods. The role of poultry production and farming is still quite large.

The downtown area has been rejuvanated to be a cafe, art gallery and restaurant haven. Much of the heavier retail has also moved outward into the suburbs, including the Westfield Belden Village Mall in Jackson Township. Regardless, the area remains a cultural center with a multitude of museums, galleries and other locations dedicated to keeping up a solid local cultural scene.

About Stark County, Ohio

The city of Canton Ohio is the county seat of Stark County. This county was named for an officer in the American Revolutionary War named John Stark. The population as of the 2010 Census report was significantly over 375,000 people. This county is significant partially because it is adjacent to a rather large number of other counties, despite being composed of a fairly large geographic area unto itself. There simply are not that many counties in the United States that border on eight others.

General John Stark was born in August of 1728, and died in May of 1822. He was a general who served the Continental Army during the American Revolution, and became known as the Hero of Bennington when he served at the Battle of Bennington in the year 1777. His service is said to have been truly exemplary. In 1808, the county of Stark was named in his honor.

The 20th Century has seen Stark County become something of a political bellwether because of its success in ultimately predicting which presidential candidate is going to win the overall election. With this being the case, presidential candidates tend to visit the city several times during the election process and the press pays a lot of attention to the area. After all, Ohio is a significant swing state. For over a decade, the New York Times has paid a lot of attention to the area's inhabitants and the voting concerns they bring to the table in a large number of features.

Stark County is a fairly large place which borders on eight other counties, which is a fairly rare feat for any county in the United States. The population density was measured at 656 people per square mile in the 2000 Census, and this population was divided among over 148,000 households and significantly over 102,000 families. Nine out of ten people at that point were caucasian, with a fairly large African American population and a fairly low hispanic population. For females over the age of 18 counted during that Census, every hundred women equaled roughly eighty-eight men at the time.