 Long before settlers moved into
the Western Reserve, the Seneca Indians roamed the land now known as Streetsboro. They
used Old Portage
Trail, which crosses the southwest corner of the city, to go from Lake Erie to the
Ohio River basin. The founder of Streetsboro
Township was Titus Street from Connecticut, in 1798. He was born in Wallingford,
Connecticut, on June 4, 1758. Titus married Amaryllis Atwater. Titus and Amaryllis had a
son together, named Augustus Russell Street in 1792. Titus died on December 4, 1842.
Augustus founded Yale School of Fine Arts, the first art school connected to a University
in America. Augustus died in 1866, before the school was completed.
Streetsboro Township contained 15,279 acres. The land was
surveyed by Ralph Cowles and Lemuel Punderson in the summer of 1822 and divided into lots
of 100 acres. They were appointed agents by Titus Street. Street had fixed the price of $6
an acre, higher then the average price for wild land. Lemuel Punderson died in September
1823. Amzi Atwater was appointed in November 1824 to be the new agent. The price of the
land was lowered to $2.00 - $5.00 an acre. |
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| The first settler in Streetsboro was Stephen
Myers, Jr. Myers was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania in1798. He married
Rebecca Walker. They moved to Streetsboro in 1822 where he built a log cabin in the
southwest corner of Lot 82 for himself, his wife and their first child, Lucinda. In the
fall of 1822, Myers and George Walker purchased 60 acres in the Southwest corner of Lot 82
for a distillery. |
Jack Burger Estate
Historical Farm House |
The following summer, they erected a
building to distill whiskey. Myers and Walker conducted it for 5-6 years and then
converted it to an ashery. Rebecca Myers died at the age of 83. Stephen Myers, Jr. died at
the age of 90. Both are buried at Darrowville Cemetery. They had 6 children together;
Lucinda, Belinda, Catherine, Elizabeth, John and Hannah.
In 1823, the second settler in Streetsboro
was Samuel Walker and his wife, Sarah, who moved from Hudson and settled in Lot 82. In the
fall of 1823, Samuel and Sarah, had a child, whom only lived a few hours and then died.
This was the first birth and death in Streetsboro township. Sarah Walker died on March 2,
1856 and Samuel died on February 21, 1874.
In 1825, a turnpike from Cleveland to
Wellsville (better known as State Route 14) was laid by Frederick Wadsworth, Samuel
Cowles, John Strauyhen and Titus Street. Street agreed to give enough land to make it
through the township. In 1827, the turnpike was completed.
In 1825, Street gave an acre from the
corner of each center lot, exclusively for a public square. In the center square is a
stone, deeply set in the ground, with a hole drilled in the top, to designate the exact
center of the township. Street also gave 2 acres - 8 rods south of the center as a burial
ground and donated $60 for clearing off the public square and cemetery. The first person
buried in the cemetery was Mrs. Carlton, wife of Solomon Carlton, who came to town in
1824.
In the summer of 1825, the first log cabin
house was built at the center by Levi M. Cochran, in the Southeast center Lot 55. Cochran
sold it to David Lane in 1828.
Colonel John C. Singletary built the first
frame house at center square, in February 1828. Singletary's frame house was completed and
moved into it and commenced keeping tavern. Singletary lived there until he died in 1851,
at the age of 65. The first frame house built in the township was by David Johnson at
Johnson's Corners in Spring 1827.
Benjamin Doolittle moved into the township
in the fall of 1825, built a log cabin on Lot 50. He is originally from Connecticut.
Doolittle was elected Justice of the Peace in 1827. Doolittle and his sons cleared several
farms to lay out many of the early roads. Doolittle died in September 1849, at the age of
78.
The first couple married in the Southwest
part of the township was Parmelia Van and Frederick Nighman both from Streetsboro by
Squire Mills of Hudson on November 9, 1826.
The first couple married in the Northern part of the township was Susan Streator of
Streetsboro and Alonzo Root of Shalersville on February 1, 1826.
The first school in the township was taught
in the summer of 1826 by Clarinda Case in the Northwest corner. David Johnson owned a
saw-mill, he put up a slab school house, which taught 8 scholars, 5 Johnsons and 3 Cases.
In the winter of 1829, the first district school at the center of town was by
Almira Taylor of Aurora and was kept in Singletary's cabin, which composed of 12 scholars.
The first school house at center was called "The Village School". Fred Thomas
and Miss Laura Barton were the teachers. Rev. Ithamar Chapman was the teacher of a select
school conducted in the old Baptist church. In the early 1860's the school room financed
by Ladies Aid Society call Progress Hall was built. It was a two-story, two-room school
house on public square. The first teacher was Mr. Chester. In 1902 the first high school
commencement was held in the Presbyterian Church. In 1905 a three-room school house was
built on the old Alden Pease residence, the first high school got too small.
The regular Baptist church was formed on
January 24, 1833 at the home of Noah W. Cole, 13 delegates assisted in its
organization.
The first stage coach passed through the
township on the turnpike in 1829.
The first lawsuit in the township was
between George Powers (plaintiff) and Alvin Loomis (defendant). Powers took a job on the
turnpike on Loomis and didn't do it according to contract and Loomis would not accept it.
Powers sued for his pay before Esquire Doolittle and got beaten. He appealed to the common
pleas and got beaten again.
The first election was held on April 2,
1827. Elected Judges of Election: Levi M. Cochran, Chancey Case, Jr., and Alvin Loomis.
Elected Clerks: Ephram Wood, Jr., and George Powers. Elected Justices: Benjamin Doolittle
and Daniel H. Johnson. Elected Town Clerk: Alpheus Streeter. Elected Treasurer: Chancey
Case, Jr.. Elected as the Overseers of the Poor: Alvin Loomis and Levi Cochran. Elected as
the Constables were Gideon H. Mills and Heman Thomas. Elected as the Fence Viewers were
Riley Miller and Alonzo Root.
Major growth occurred in Streetsboro with
the opening of the Ohio Turnpike on October 1, 1955, with Exit 13 being the only
interchange in Portage County. By 1957, with the growth of the automobile industry,
Streetsboro experienced a population explosion.
The principle industry of Streetsboro was
cheese. Cheese houses dotted Streetsboro, putting it on the map in 1873 as being one of
the major cheese producers in the United States. In 1873 there was six hundred
thirty-six thousand, one hundred fifty pounds of cheese produced in Streetsboro. In 1885,
five factories were in operation, producing over 600,000 pounds of cheese.
In 1968, voters decided to merge the township and the village to become one city
consisting of 25 square miles. Streetsboro was primarily a farming community until 1970.
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