Electricity in Cuyahoga Falls, OH

History of Cuyahoga Falls

Cuyahoga Falls was formed in 1812 near the junction of what was then Northampton, Stow, Tallmadge, and Portage townships. The focus was the series of Cuyahoga River waterfalls that provided power for manufacturing.In 1812, Kelsey and Wilcox built a dam on the Cuyahoga River at a place where a railroad bridge crossed it in 1876. They then built a flour mill, an oil mill, and a saw mill. This led to the construction of a number of houses. This area was known as the old village. Development moved downstream, though, when the power was discovered to be better there. The old village was eventually destroyed in 1826, when a dam built by William Wetmore flooded the dam at the old village and its mills were torn down.The earliest settlers of Cuyahoga Falls included Joshua Stow and William Wetmore. In 1815, a saw mill was operating near Gaylord's Grove, using power generated by a dam on the Cuyahoga River there.The town was initially called Manchester, but was renamed Cuyahoga Falls at the request of the Post Office since several other Manchesters were already in Ohio.The village proper was first laid out in 1826 by Judge Richardson.The town was incorporated in 1836, occupying 240 rods from Stow and Tallmadge townships. In 1853, seeing that the village and township of Cuyahoga Falls occupied the same territory, the village council disbanded and the community was only a township until 1868.In 1841, the Summit County Board of Commissioners named Cuyahoga Falls the county seat.

Cuyahoga Falls by the Numbers

Population

29,342

Median Age

36.1 yrs

Median Household Income

$61,893/yr

Median Home Value

$160,400

Homeownership Rate

59%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates (2023)