Pittsfield Township is one of the eighteen
townships
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...
of
Lorain County
Lorain County is a County (United States), county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 312,964. Its county seat is Elyria, Ohio, Elyria. The county was physicall ...
,
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. As of the
2010 census the population was 1,581.
Geography
The township is a rectangle measuring east to west and north to south. According to the
U.S. Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the total area is , of which are land and , or 0.54%, are water.
A portion of the city of
Oberlin cuts into the northern part of the township but is a separate municipality. At the center of Pittsfield Township is the intersection of State Routes
58 and
303
__NOTOC__
Year 303 ( CCCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Maximian (or, less frequently, y ...
.
Located in central Lorain County, it borders the following townships and city:
*
New Russia Township - north
*
Oberlin - north
*
Carlisle Township - northeast corner
*
LaGrange Township - east
*
Penfield Township - southeast corner
*
Wellington Township - south
*
Brighton Township - southwest corner
*
Camden Township - west
*
Henrietta Township - northwest corner
Demographics
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, in 2000 Pittsfield had 1,549 residents with an average age of 39.33 years. The population density was 22.77 per square kilometer (58.96 per square mile). There were 576 housing units. The median household income was $54,750 and the per capita income was $22,470.
Name and history
It is the only Pittsfield Township statewide.
Pittsfield Township was part of 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. The Reserve had been granted to the Colony under the terms of ...
. There were white settlers before 1813 but they left. Milton Whitney, one of the large landowners in the area, arranged for settlers to move in in 1821. In 1831, the township was separated from
Wellington Township and named Pittsfield after
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield†...
, Milton Whitney's original home. The township government was organized in 1832.
On April 11, 1965, one of the tornadoes in the
Palm Sunday tornado outbreak passed through Pittsfield, killing seven people and destroying every building in the town.
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,
§503.24
§505.01
an
§507.01
of the Ohio Revised Code
The ''Ohio Revised Code'' contains all current statutes of the Ohio General Assembly of a permanent and general nature, consolidated into provisions, titles, chapters and sections. However, the only official publication of the enactments of the G ...
. Accessed 4/30/2009. 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.
References
Further reading
*Wright, G. Frederick. ''A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio''. Chicago: Lewis, 1916.
External links
*
County website
Pittsfield Township Historical Society
The 1965 tornado
{{authority control
Townships in Lorain County, Ohio
Townships in Ohio