AKRON
1854 U.S. Gazetteer, A, p.24

A beautiful and flourishing town of Portage township, and capital of Summit county, Ohio, on the Ohio and Erie canal, at its junction with the Pennsylvania and Ohio canal, 110 miles in a direct line N. E. from Columbus, and 36 miles S. from Cleveland. It occupies the highest ground on the line of the canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio river, and is 400 feet above the lake. By means of the canal and little Cuyahoga river, the town is amply supplied with water-power, which is employed in a variety of manufactures; and its mercantile business is extensive. Immense quantities of wheat are shipped here. Akron was laid out in 1825. In 1827 the Ohio and Erie canal was constructed to this point, and in 1841 Akron was chosen as the county seat. The canal was finished in 1832; cost $5,000,000. The same year the canal which connects it with Beaver, Pennsylvania, was opened, and a new impetus given to its improvement. It has several churches, 1 bank, 2 woolen factories, 5 large figuring mills, a steam-engine factory, 1 blast-furnace, and 1 mineral-paint mill, 1 extensive stove manufactory, and 1 card manufactory, besides various other manufactories; all of which are propelled by water-power. Immense beds of Ohio mineral fireproof paint are found in the vicinity, and the article is exported to all parts of the Union. Population in 1850, 3266; in 1853, about 4500.