Petersburg is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

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 count ...

in southeastern Springfield Township,

Mahoning County Mahoning County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 228,614. Its county seat and largest city is Youngstown. The county is named for a Lenape word meaning "at the licks" or "there is a lick", refe ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, United States. The population was 405 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area. Petersburg is located at the intersection of Ohio State Routes 170 and

617 __NOTOC__ Year 617 ( DCXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 617 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...

. It is skirted by

Interstate 76 Interstate 76 may refer to: Interstate Highways in the United States * Interstate 76 (Colorado–Nebraska) * Interstate 76 (Ohio–New Jersey), running through Pennsylvania Video gaming * ''Interstate '76 ''Interstate '76'' is a vehicular ...

, the far eastern end of the

Ohio Turnpike The Ohio Turnpike, officially the James W. Shocknessy Ohio Turnpike, is a limited-access toll highway in the U.S. state of Ohio, serving as a primary corridor between Chicago and Pittsburgh. The road runs east–west in the northern section o ...

. The community was founded in the 1790s by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

immigrants from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, which it neighbors.

History

Petersburg was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bea ...

ted around 1805 by Peter Musser, and named for him. The post office was originally called Musser's Mill. The Mussers Mills post office was established in 1807, the name was changed to Petersburgh in 1819, and renamed again Petersburg in 1893. The building that was once used as the Petersburg Inn burned to the ground in 1961 and was believed to have been built around 1800. A few other significant historical buildings in the community were St. John's Lutheran Church and the Petersburg Presbyterian Church that were founded by early settlers of that area including the following families: Wallace, Musser, Smith and Kneasel.

Education

Children in Petersburg are served by the Springfield Local School District. The current schools serving the community are: *Springfield Local Elementary School – grades K-4 *Springfield Local Intermediate School – grades 5-8 *

Springfield Local High School Springfield High School is a public high school located in Holland, Ohio, United States. It has an enrollment of approximately 1200 students in grades 9-12. The students it serves come from Holland, Sylvania Township, Maumee, Spencer Township, ...

– grades 9-12

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Mahoning County, Ohio German-American culture in Ohio 1790s establishments in the Northwest Territory Unincorporated communities in Ohio