The Formation of Summit County, Ohio and Its Townships
Summit County was formed in 1840 from its parent counties were Portage, Medina and Stark Counties. There are 16 historical townships in Summit County - Bath, Boston, Copley, Coventry, Franklin, Green, Hudson, Northampton, Northfield, Norton, Portage, Richfield, Springfield, Stow, Tallmadge and Twinsburg. All of the townships are part of the Connecticut Western Reserve except for Franklin and Green, which are part of the Congress Lands. Prior to 1840 the townships may have belonged to more than one county during its history.
Please check the timelines for each township to find the specific counties you may need to research for records before 1840. The counties of Columbiana, Medina, Portage, Stark or Trumbull had some of our townships within their borders prior to 1840.
Records may be found at the following locations:
Akron Summit Library
County OGS Societies
County Historical Societies
Local Libraries
The timeline date of 1800 has been used as a reference point since it is close to the 1803 date when Ohio became a state.
Note: In 1812, the Ohio State Legislature formed Medina County but attached it to Portage County until the county government was organized in 1818.
Portage Township no longer exists as it was swallowed up by Akron.
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