Columbia Township, Lorain County, Ohio
Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "Settlement short description".Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".Expression error: Unexpected < operator. Columbia Township, also known as Columbia Station or just Columbia, is the easternmost of the eighteen townships of Lorain County, Ohio, United States. Columbia Township is the official government name, while Columbia Station is the post office name, and tends to be the town name used by residents. The post office name was chosen to differentiate the township from other Columbia Townships statewide, located in Hamilton and Meigs counties.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
As of the 2020 census, the township had a population of 7,411.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of Script error: No such module "convert"., of which Script error: No such module "convert"., or 0.85%, are water.[1] The west branch of the Rocky River and Plum Creek flow through the township from south to north.
Columbia Township is part of Greater Cleveland.
Located in eastern Lorain County, it borders the following townships and cities:
- Olmsted Township, Cuyahoga County - north
- Olmsted Falls - north
- Berea, Cuyahoga County - northeast corner
- Strongsville, Cuyahoga County - east
- Brunswick Hills Township, Medina County - southeast corner
- Liverpool Township, Medina County - south
- Grafton Township - southwest corner
- Eaton Township - west
- North Ridgeville - northwest corner
No municipalities are located in Columbia Township.
History
Columbia Township was part of the former Connecticut Western Reserve, lands ceded in 1786 by Connecticut after the American Revolution. In 1805, two years after Ohio became a state, the federal government finalized treaties with local Native Americans. The reserve was surveyed and parceled into rough Script error: No such module "convert". blocks (smaller than the typical Script error: No such module "convert". townships in the midwestern United States). The Bronson and Hoadley families of Waterbury, Connecticut, pooled together $20,087 to purchase a township. On April 4, 1807, they drew Township 5 N, Range 15 W from a random selection of townships in the reserve, purchasing the land site-unseen.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Since Columbia Township has been continuously inhabited since 1807, it is the longest inhabited settlement in the former Western Reserve west of the Cuyahoga River.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
The Copopa School was built in 1921. The name originates as follows:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
The first post office in town was established about the year 1817. The first postmaster was Thomas G. Bronson, who kept the office in his house. The name selected was the Indian name for Rocky river, Copokah. In the papers sent from Washington the word was miswritten Copopo, and the error was never corrected.
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Farming has historically been the most significant employer in Columbia Township and the surrounding townships, but in the second half of the 19th century, sandstone from the local quarries was mined and widely distributed.[3][4] Two of the township's quarries were Jaquay Quarry and an area which later became known as Wildwood Lake. Both Jaquay and Wildwood were used as swimming parks in the late 20th century, with Wildwood operating until 2001.
On April 11, 1965, an F4 tornado swept through Columbia Township before dissipating to the east in neighboring Strongsville.[5]
At the 2007 Homecoming, Columbia Township celebrated its bicentenary. For the previous fifty years, the township had not experienced the urban sprawl that developed in neighboring areas, but the number of farms in the township has fallen significantly.[6]
Columbia Township buildings on the National Register of Historic Places include the Columbia Town Hall and the Columbia Baptist Church.
Government
The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer,[7] who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.
Columbia Station has a public library, a branch of the Lorain Public Library.[8]
Parks
The Lorain County Metro Parks opened the Columbia Reservation in 2003, a Script error: No such module "convert". park with Script error: No such module "convert". of high-quality wetlands in the floodplain of the west branch of the Rocky River.[9] The park has Script error: No such module "convert". of trails running through ponds, marshes, wet meadows and swamps.[10] The park is popular with bird watchers,[11] as more than 50 species of birds, including the great blue heron, can be seen there.[12] An additional Script error: No such module "convert". are planned to be added to the park.
Columbia Township Park is also located in Columbia Station. It is home to ten ballfields, tennis courts, a basketball court, a children's playground and a walking path on Script error: No such module "convert".. The park also hosts various festivals year-round.
In 2007, the Columbia VFW completed work on a new veterans' memorial located at Columbia Township Park. The memorial was dedicated on Memorial Day 2007 in front of a crowd of over 1,000.[13]
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
- ↑ History of Lorain County, Ohio (1879)
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ §503.24, §505.01, and §507.01 of the Ohio Revised Code. Accessed 30 April 2009.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
External links
- Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Columbia Chamber of Commerce
- Columbia Local Schools
Script error: No such module "Navbox".