SUMMIT COUNTY
1854 U.S. Gazetteer, S, p.1123
 

A county in the N. E. part of Ohio, has an area of 400 square miles. It is intersected by the Cuyahoga river, and also drained by the head streams of the Tuscarawas river, and by Wolf creek. It comprises the highest land on the line of the Ohio canal, which is about 400 feet above the level of Lake Erie, and is sometimes called the Portage Summit. The name of the county was derived from this circumstance. The surface is undulating, and in some parts level; the soil is excellent, and in good cultivation. Wheat, Indian corn, oats, hay, wool, apples, butter, and live stock are the staples. In 1850 this county produced 365,762 bushels of corn; 325,642 of wheat; 225,998 of oats, and 37,793 tons of hay. It contained 33 churches, 4 newspaper offices, 9614 pupils attending public schools, and 280 attending academies or other schools. Large beds of stone coal and of mineral fireproof paint have been discovered, and are exported extensively. It is copiously supplied with water-power. The Pennsylvania and Ohio canal connects with the Ohio canal at Akron. The county is intersected by the Cleveland and Pittsburg railroad, and by the Cleveland and Zanesville railroad, now in course of construction Capital, Akron. Pop., 27,485.