Lorain County Timeline

Timeline Showing Significant Facts In The Development Of Lorain County As It Is Today

By Karis Lyon, Librarian/Researcher at the Gerald Hicks Memorial Library, located in The Hickories museum of the Lorain County Historical Society, Elyria, Ohio.

I. 1655 Erie Indians

ca. 1750 Native Tribes: Delaware, Shawnee, Miami, Wyandot

1787 Moravian Mission

1795 Treaty of Greenville opens Ohio lands

II. Immigration and Colonization

1800 -- 1820 Settlers from New England, Irish Protestants, Scotch

1803 Ohio becomes 17th state in Union

1805 Ft. Industry Treaty -- Indian claims to fertile farmland extinguished

1804 -- 1821 Napoleon rules, many leave oppressive rule

1807 Columbia Twp. -- Hoadley, Bronson

1807 Nathan Perry, Indian trader, Black River

1808 1st School Columbia Twp. 1st Mail through County, Lake Route

1809 1st Church, Episcopal, Columbia Twp.

1810 Ridgeville -- Terrell, Beebe

Eaton -- Morgan, Wilmot

1811 Amherst (Corners) -- Shupe

1812 - 1815 War with England concludes, opens west to immigrants

1814 Avon (Xeuma) -- Cahoon, Austin

1814 1st Post Office, ``Mouth of Black River'' John Reid, P.M.

1815 Sheffield -- Burrell, Root, Day

1816 Brownhelm -- Brown, Pease

1816 Carlise Twp. -- Brooks, Johnson

1816 -- 1818 New England very cold; many emigrate west

1817 Henrietta Twp. -- Holcomb

1817 -- 1824 Erie Canal spurs immigration

• Black River -- Shupe, Quigley

• Elyria -- Ely, Beebe

1818 Post Office ``Elyria'', Heman Ely P.M.

• Huntington Twp. -- Sage, Laborie

• Russia Twp. -- Waite

1820 Lorain Co. Population is 1694

1820 -- 1900 4 million Irish to U.S., many to Lorain County

1820 Penfield Twp. -- Penfield, Spencer

• Brighton Twp. -- Loveman, Kingsbury

1822 Lorain County formed from Medina, Huron, & Cuyahoga Counties

1824 Lorain County legally organized

1825 LaGrange Twp. -- Clarke, Holcomb

1827 Stagecoach to Elyria -- Beebe

• Myron Herrick, Wellington, governor of Ohio, appointed Ambassador to France,

1830 Lorain Co. Population is 5696

1829 1st Newspaper -- ``Lorain Gazette''

1830 1st High School West of the Alleghenies in Elyria -- Rev. Monteith, Superintendent

1830 Germans arrive

1830 -- 1861 Underground Railroad era -- many ``lines''

• Farmers, skilled craftsmen, quarries in Lorain County

• Board of Health organized as a result of worldwide cholera epidemic

1836 Black River becomes Charleston

• Elyrians Shepherd and Stewart make Oberlin College the first college to enroll women, later blacks

• Aluminum -- practical refining process invented by Oberliner, Charles Hall

• ``Stewart Stove'' invented in Elyria revolutionized cooking

1837 Economic & financial panic in U.S.

• Steamboat Association formed -- Black River

1845 Lorain Co. Agricultural Society formed

1846 -- 1847 Mexican War, males enlisted from Lor. Co.

1847 1st Bank of Lorain Co. ``Lorain Bank of Elyria''

1848 Gold discovered ``Sutter's Mill''

1849 Many Lorain men ``go west for gold''

1849 Quincy Gillmore of Lorain graduates West Point, Civil War general

1850 Lorain Co. Population is 26,086

• 1st Pontoon Bridge over Black River

1850 -- 1870 Berea Sandstone comes into use as a building material

1857 Economic crisis in U.S. and Europe, many emigrate

1852 1st Railroad to Elyria

1858 Oberlin-Wellington Slave Rescue Incident

III. Industrialization

1860 Lorain Co. Population is 29,744

1860's Lorain becomes ``Industrial City''

1860 -- 1870 Lorain Co. 1st in Ohio Wool Production, 6th in cheese

1864 1st Public Library -- Elyria

1867 1st street lights -- Elyria -- kerosene

1860 -- 1880 Many Blacks to Oberlin from N.C., Va., Oh., and Ky.

1871 Quarries send sandstone to rebuild Chicago after fire

1870 Lorain Co. Population is 30,308

1872 1st Railroad to Lorain City Lakeshore & Tuscarawas

1873 Swing Bridge replaces Pontoon Bridge over Black River, Lorain

1874 Charleston City Incorporated

1874 1st Load of coal to Steel Mills in Lorain, Conrad Reid, 1st Mayor

1875 Lorain Stove Co. -- ``Magic Chef''

1877 1st Public Telephone in U.S.

1879 1st class graduates Lorain High School

1880 Lorain Co. Population is 35,526

1880 Avon develops grape vineyards

1883 Lorain Chamber of Commerce organized

1886 Cleveland Stone Co. Incorporated

1889 1st Commercial Fishing Companies

• Lorain Co. Historical Society organized

1890 Lorain Co. Population is 54,857

1890's Cars a ``curiosity''

1890 -- 1900 Lorain's population increases 230%

1903 -- Ford Motor Co. founded

• Many ethnic groups come due to economic & political unrest in Europe

1891 1st Electric Power & Light Co.

1892 1st Hospital in Lorain City

• Garford Mfg. Co., Elyria produces improved bicycle saddle

1895 Johnson Steel Co. -- Lorain, T.L. Johnson

• Thew shovel -- Lorain

1897 -- 1938 LakeShore Electric Interurban Railroad,

1898 1st steel ship ``Superior City'' launched

1899 American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain

1900 Lorain Co. Population is 54,857

1901 National Tube, subsidiary U.S. Steel

1903 Lake Erie water to Elyria encourages growth

• Wright Brothers airplane

1909 Lorain Lighthouse built

1911 1st Community Chest in U.S. -- Elyria

1913 Lorain County Flood

1914 Many immigrants due to Austria-Hungarian Empire trouble

1914 Elyrian Sharp, Ambassador to France

1916 Lorain High School dedicated

1919 ``Society for Crippled Children'' founded by Rotarians, goes national in 1921, now Easter Seal Society

1920 Lorain Co. Population is 90,612

1920 20 million cars in U.S.

V. Depression to Prosperity

1923 1300 Mexicans recruited by National Tube

1920 New immigration laws to restrict immigrants

• Cleveland Stone Co. & Ohio Quarries Co. merge to form Cleveland Quarries Co. nationally known

• Depression Years: New Deal Social Security, Unemployment Comp.

1940 Lorain Co. Population is 112,390

1940 Bascule Bridge replaces Swing Bridge over Black River in Lorain

1941 21st Bridge opens in Lorain

• Wellington, site of Lorain Co. Fairgrounds

1947 National Tube recruits 500 from Puerto Rico

1944 ``USS Lorain'' built by American Shipbuilders Co., Lorain

1946 1st electric computer

• ``Baby Boom'' era after W.W. II

1950 Lorain Co. Population is 148,162

1954 O'Neil Sheffield Center opens

1950's Korean War

• 1st Folk Festival

• Ohio Turnpike opens

1957 Sputnik I spurs new age of technology

• Mill Hollow, 1st park, Lorain County Metropolitan Parks

1961 1st man in space -- Alan Shepherd

1960 -- 1973 Vietnam War, 98 die from Lorain County

1962 1st man in orbit -- John Glenn

1963 Lorain County Community College established, Sheffield

1964 1st patient, Lorain Community Hospital,

1965 April -- Pittsfield tornado

• Midway Mall

1969 July 4 rain "storm of the century"

• I-90 is under construction in Avon

• mid-1970's 95 Filipinos, mostly medical professions

1978 Lorain Lighthouse, National Landmark

1980 Lorain Co. Population is 274,904

1980 Stocker Center at LCCC opens

1983 American Shipyards closes

1987 Lorain Breakway built

1989 USS/Kolbe Steel merger

1990 Lorain Co. Population is 271,126

• Loss of jobs, population decreases for first time

• Head Start in Lorain County

1997 Ford closes ``Thunderbird'' line, Lorain

2000 Lorain Co. Population is 284,664

2001 Avon Commons shopping center opens

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF AVON, OHIO, TO 1974

Lorain County Top Home What's New