Boardman Township is one of the fourteen townships of

Mahoning County, Ohio Mahoning County is located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 228,614. Its county seat and largest city is Youngstown, Ohio, Youngstown. The county is List of Ohio county name etymolo ...

, United States. The population was 40,213 at the 2020 census. It is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

directly south of

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

and the second-largest municipality in the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area. Home to

Southern Park Mall Southern Park is a shopping mall in Boardman, Ohio, United States, serving the Mahoning Valley, Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area. It was developed by the Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr., Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation in 1970, and is now owned by ...

, Boardman is a major retail hub in the region and is known for being the location of the first

Arby's Arby's is an American fast-food restaurant, fast food sandwich restaurant chain with more than 3,300 restaurants. The flagship property of Inspire Brands, it ranked third in systemwide sales in the United States in the quick-service and fast-ca ...

restaurant.

History

Boardman was founded by Elijah Boardman, a land agent of the

Connecticut Land Company The Connecticut Company or Connecticut Land Company (est. 1795) was a post-colonial land speculation company formed in the late eighteenth century to survey and encourage settlement in the eastern parts of the newly chartered Connecticut Western ...

and later

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

, in the late 1790s as township 1, range 2 within the

Connecticut Western Reserve The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. Warren, Ohio was the Historic Capital in Trumbull County. T ...

. The township was formally established in 1806, although the township government lists it as 1805 on its seal, documents, and signage. It is the only Boardman Township statewide. Boardman was traditionally an

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

community with grain crops and apple orchards throughout the 19th century. Around the turn of the century, the railroad led to Southern Park, a horse racing facility on Washington Boulevard. Thus, the area was an early draw for

urbanites. Because of its agricultural nature and proximity to Youngstown, Boardman was ripe for strip development starting as early as 1950. Around this time, the northern areas of the township were developed into

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

spillover from Youngstown's south side. Edward J. DeBartolo Sr., a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

developer from Youngstown, began his company in Boardman. Boardman Plaza on

U.S. Route 224 U.S. Route 224 (US 224) is a spur of U.S. Route 24, US 24 that runs through the states of Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. It currently runs for from U.S. Route 24 in Indiana, US 24 in Huntington, Indiana, east to U.S. Route 422 ...

was one of the first

strip mall A strip mall, strip center, strip plaza or simply plaza is a type of shopping mall, shopping center common in North America and Australia where the stores are arranged in a row, with a footpath in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a ...

s in the country. Established in 1950 by DeBartolo, the plaza had three full-service

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday US usage, however, "grocery store" is a synon ...

s within a few hundred feet of each other. In 1970, DeBartolo opened the more contemporary

near the intersection of US 224 and Market Street. Also around 1950, the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, one of the largest

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

manufacturers in the country, opened a headquarters complex in Boardman across from the DeBartolo Corporation. When the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company closed in 1977, a large campus was left for others to develop. Today, the former headquarters is the center of the Southwoods Health medical campus as well as a branch of

Youngstown State University Youngstown State University (YSU or Youngstown State) is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1908 and is the easternmost member of the University System of Ohio. The university is composed of six undergrad ...

and various restaurants. The

fast food Fast food is a type of Mass production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...

chain

opened its first location in Boardman in 1964. Directly owned and operated by the corporation, the restaurant moved to a new building in the 1990s across the street from the original building on US 224. The original building was occupied by a bird shop until 2021 and is now vacant. The township has numerous listings on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, including St. James Episcopal Church, the oldest structure in the township, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Southern Park Stable, the Forest Glen Estates Historic District, the Mill Creek Park Historic District, and the Newport Village Historic District.

Geography

Centered at 41°2'20" North, 80°39'55" West in the central part of the county, it borders the following townships and municipalities: *

– north * Struthers – northeast * Poland Township and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

– east * Springfield Township – southeast * Beaver Township – south * Canfield Township – west * Austintown Township – northwest corner There are no incorporated communities within Boardman Township, although a portion of it was formerly listed as the

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

of Boardman until 2020. Parts of the village of

in the east and the city of

in the northeast occupy areas originally zoned to Boardman Township. Within Boardman, there are numerous neighborhoods, including the Newport Village Historic District. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the township has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.11%, is water.

Neighborhoods

Demographics

According to the 2019

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

and 2020 census, there were 40,213 people, 17,477 households, and 10,171 families residing in the township. The population density was 660.3 people per sq. km. The racial makeup of the township was 83.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 7.51%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.82% Asian, 0.16% American Indian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.23% from other races, and 5.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.76% of the population.

Economy

Boardman is a large, sprawling

. It is a busy community south of Youngstown composed of many businesses, being one of the main

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

hubs of the

Mahoning Valley The Youngstown–Warren, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, typically known as the Mahoning Valley, is a metropolitan area in Northeast Ohio with Youngstown, Ohio, at its center. According to the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau, ...

along with the U.S. Route 422 "Strip" in

Niles, Ohio Niles is a city in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The population was 18,443 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located at the confluence of the Mahoning River and Mosquito Creek Lake, Mosquito Creek, Niles is a suburb in the Ma ...

. The primary corridor of development is along

, with commercial space along almost the entirety of the township's length of the road except a portion zoned to

Mill Creek Park Mill Creek Park is an urban park in Youngstown and Boardman, Ohio. It stretches from the near west side of Youngstown through unincorporated Boardman Township. The park encompasses , including three lakes and of recreational trails. The Tr ...

. Running north-south,

Ohio State Route 7 State Route 7 (SR 7), formerly known as Inter-county Highway 7 until 1921 and State Highway 7 in 1922, is a north–south state highway in the southern and eastern portions of the U.S. state of Ohio. At about in length, it is the longest ...

is also a primary artery of commercial development, with important centers such as the St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital located along this route. At the intersection of Routes 7 and 224 lies

, which is the largest single shopping destination in Mahoning County. Furthermore, new development is located along the South Avenue artery which parallels the southern extension of Interstate 680 between its Midlothian and Western Reserve Road exits. The location of Boardman at the meeting point of several major local roadways allows it to be a center of commercial activity amongst the southern suburbs of the Youngstown–Warren area. Boardman abuts one of the Youngstown area's most popular attractions,

. Within the park grounds, there is an rose garden, several small waterfalls, a lily pond with geese and turtles, marshlands, and Lanterman's Mill, where grain is ground daily. In addition, there is a 36-hole golf course.

Government

The township is governed by a three-member

board of trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

, 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, 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. The board employs a township administrator for day-to-day administration of township services. As of 2025, the members of the board of trustees are Brad Calhoun, Tom Costello, and Larry Moliterno, and the township administrator is Jason Loree.

Education

The Boardman Local School District manages public education within most of the township and some surrounding areas. It consists of Boardman High School (grades 9–12), Boardman Glenwood Junior High School (grades 7–8), Boardman Center Intermediate School (grades 4–6), Robinwood Lane Elementary School, Stadium Drive Elementary School, and West Boulevard Elementary School (all K–3). Certain outlying areas of the township are managed by the Canfield Local School District, the Poland Local School District, and the

Youngstown City School District Youngstown City School District is a Public school (government-funded), public school system headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio. The majority of the school district is in Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County, Text list/ref> while a portion is ...

. Boardman is also home to a

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

, namely the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

St. Charles School (grades K-8), although further private schools exist in neighborhoods of Youngstown that abut Boardman such as Valley Christian School (grades K-12) and the Montessori School of the Mahoning Valley (grades K-8). Boardman has a public library, a branch of the

Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County has 15 branches that serve 10 communities in Mahoning County, Ohio. In 2005, the library loaned more than 1.8 million items to its 122,000 cardholders. Total holdings are over 686,000 volumes ...

. Located in Boardman is also th
Boardman Training Center
a post-secondary education facility that focuses on preparing students for healthcare certifications in months.

Notable people

* Homer C. Blake,

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

flag officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which that officer exercises command. Different countries use the term "flag officer" in different ways: * ...

* Elijah Boardman,

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

and founder of Boardman Township * Ricardo Condori,

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

* Dana DeLorenzo, actress, former radio personality and producer * Terence Dials, former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player * D. J. Durkin,

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach, defensive coordinator at

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

* John Greco, former professional American football

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

Elizabeth Hartman Mary Elizabeth Hartman (December 23, 1943 – June 10, 1987) was an American actress of stage and screen. She debuted in the popular 1965 film ''A Patch of Blue'', playing a blind girl named Selina D'Arcy, opposite Sidney Poitier, a role for wh ...

, actress * Mary Ellen Kay, television and film actress * Bernie Kosar, former professional American football

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

best known for roles with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

Corey Linsley Corey Michael Linsley (born July 27, 1991) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a Center (gridiron football), center in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State B ...

, professional American football center for the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC W ...

Maureen McGovern Maureen Therese McGovern (born July 27, 1949) is an American singer and Broadway actress, well known for her renditions of the songs " The Morning After" from the 1972 film '' The Poseidon Adventure''; " We May Never Love Like This Again" from ' ...

, singer and Broadway actress * Norm Purucker, collegiate American football player * Amy Salerno, member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

from the 23rd district * Joe Schiavoni, judge, former Minority Leader of the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of t ...

* Jason Spitz, former professional American football center * Sue Thomas, first deaf FBI agent, author * Steve Vallos, former professional American football center

References

External links

Township websiteCounty websiteMill Creek MetroParks
{{authority control Townships in Mahoning County, Ohio Urban townships in Ohio 1806 establishments in Ohio Townships in Ohio