Bath Township is one of the nine

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

of Summit County, Ohio, United States. A suburb of

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

, the 2020 census found 10,024 people in the township.

History

The township was originally known as Wheatfield when it was surveyed in 1808. The name was later changed to Hammondsburgh after Jason Hammond, who settled there in 1810. The name was changed to Bath when it fully separated from Richfield Township in 1818. The origin of the name Bath is obscure; it is said to have been so named for its brevity. In 1998, Bath Township formed a Joint Economic Development District (JEDD) with

and Fairlawn. The JEDD area comprises approximately and is in the business district at the southern end of the township.

Counties

Bath Township's land has been in the following counties:

Name

Statewide, other Bath Townships are located in Allen and Greene counties.

Geography

Located in the western part of the county, it borders the following townships and cities: * Richfield Township – north * Boston Township -– northeast * Cuyahoga Falls – east *

– southeast * Copley Township – south * Sharon Township, Medina County – southwest corner * Granger Township, Medina County – west * Hinckley Township, Medina County – northwest corner Several populated places are located in Bath Township: *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 Montrose-Ghent, occupying the remainder of the southern part of the township, composed of the unincorporated communities of

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

(in the center of the township) and Montrose (on the southern border with Copley Township) *The unincorporated area of Hammond's Corners, in the north Parts of the original Bath Township are now in Akron and Fairlawn. It occupies most of survey Town 3, Range 12 in 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 ...

and is about 23 square miles (60 km²) in area. Bath Township contains part of the

Cuyahoga Valley National Park Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in Ohio that reclaims and preserves the industrial, commercial, and rural landscape along the Cuyahoga River between Akron, Ohio, ...

, whose main attraction within the township is the Hale Farm & Village, a historical community set in the 1800s.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 9,635 people, 3,506 households, and 2,814 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 3,648 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 95.41%

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 ...

, 1.59%

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 ...

, 0.04% Native American, 1.90% Asian, 0.11% from other races, and 0.94% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.80% of the population. There were 3,506 households, out of which 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.4% were married couples living together, 4.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.7% were non-families. 17.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.93% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.06. In the township the population was spread out, with 25.5% under the age of 18, 2.5% from 20 to 24, 20.5% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 17.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44.7 years. For every 100 females there were 89.95 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.6 males. The median income for a household in the township was $88,899, and the median income for a family was $99,202. Males had a median income of $74,464 versus $43,529 for females. The per capita income for the township was $49,032. About 0.6% of families and 1.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.8% of those under age 18 and 2.7% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The township is governed by a non-partisan 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, 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. In 2024, the board was composed of president Elaina Goodrich and members Sharon Troike and Sean Gaffney, and the fiscal officer was Laura Tuttle. Vito Sinopoli was named Township Administrator on October 23, 2012. Major court cases are handled by the Summit County court system and minor ones by the Akron Municipal Court. Bath Township is served by its own police and fire departments.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Bath Township has access to

Interstate 77 Interstate 77 (I-77) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. It traverses diverse terrain, from the mountainous state of West Virginia to the rolling farmlands of North Carolina and Ohio. It largely supplants the ...

at two points. There is a full cloverleaf that the township shares with Copley Township at the intersection with State Route 18. There is also an exit at Ghent Road. I-77 has rest areas on both sides in the northern part of the township. Interstate 271 passes through the township's northwest corner without providing access. Bath Township is served by two state highways: State Route 18 follows the western part of the original southern edge of the township, while State Route 21 shares

on a mostly north–south path through the township.

Education

Most of Bath Township is in the Revere Local School District, with part of the township being in the Copley-Fairlawn City School District. The portion that is in the Revere district is also in the Cuyahoga Valley Joint Vocational School District. (Summit County Fiscal Officer, 2005). Old Trail School, an independent co-ed day school is situated in

Arts and Culture

Bath Nature Preserve

In 1997 and 1998, a former Firestone property was purchased by Bath Township and named Bath Nature Preserve. It contains grasslands, wetlands, ponds, streams, and

mesophytic Mesophytes are terrestrial plants which are adapted to neither particularly dry nor particularly wet environments. An example of a mesophytic habitat would be a rural temperate meadow, which might contain goldenrod, clover, oxeye daisy, and '' Ros ...

and

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

deciduous forests, which has through an agreement been used by The University of Akron as a research station.Bath Nature Preserve
It is used in ecology and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

research, and field trips are taken there by many biology classes to observe animals and collect samples for

herbaria A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

. A map of the habitats in Bath Nature Preserve can be foun
here
and a list of species found and identified in the preserve can be foun
here

Hale Farm and Village

Hale Farm and Village is a historic property of the

Western Reserve Historical Society The Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) is a historical society in Cleveland, Ohio. The society operates the Cleveland History Center, a collection of museums in University Circle. The society was founded in 1867, making it the oldest ...

in Bath Township,

Summit County, Ohio Summit County is an urban county located in the northeast region of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 540,428, making it the fourth-most populous county in Ohio. Its county seat and largest city is Akron. The c ...

, United States. It is within the boundaries of the

. Hale Farm was the original homestead of Jonathan Hale, a Connecticut farmer who migrated to the Western Reserve in 1810.Hale Farm
''Western Reserve Historical Society''. In 1973 Hale Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Jonathan Hale Homestead. The Hale House was built in 1825.

Notable residents

Jeffrey Dahmer Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (; May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994), also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismemberment, dismembered seventeen men and boys b ...

, serial killer (1960–1994) * Lionel Dahmer, research chemist and author, who's also the father of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. *

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

(1984), basketball player for the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

References

External links

Township websiteCounty website
{{authority control Townships in Summit County, Ohio Populated places established in 1818 English-American culture in Ohio Townships in Ohio