Burton is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

Geauga County, Ohio Geauga County ( ) is a county located in the northeast portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 95,397. The county seat and largest city is Chardon. The county is named for an Onondaga or Seneca languag ...

, United States. The population was 1,407 at the 2020 census. It is part of the

Cleveland metropolitan area The Cleveland metropolitan area, or Greater Cleveland as it is more commonly known, is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, United States. According to the 2020 census results, the six-county Cleveland, OH ...

. Burton is the location of Century Village, run by the Geauga Historical Society. The museum village is composed of 19th-century buildings moved there from other locations. Many special events are held there each year, as well as at the Geauga County Fairgrounds, also in Burton.

History

Burton was founded in 1798 and is Geauga County's oldest settlement. Like many other early settlements 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 ...

, Burton has a

town square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

patterned after the

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

s of

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

In 1972, an incident in Burton lead to a U.S. Supreme Court case.

Hugo Zacchini Hugo Zacchini (20 October 1898 – 20 October 1975), one of the Zacchini Brothers, was the first human cannonball to use a compressed-air cannon. His father Ildebrando Zacchini invented the compressed-air cannon used to propel humans in ci ...

performed a human cannonball act at Burton's annual Geauga County Fair, and

WEWS-TV WEWS-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of three stations that have been built and signed on ...

recorded and aired the entire act against his wishes and without compensating him, as was required by

Ohio law The law of Ohio consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory, local and common law. The ''Ohio Revised Code'' forms the general statutory law. Sources The Constitution of Ohio is the foremost source of state ...

. In ''

Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co. ''Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co.'', 433 U.S. 562 (1977), was an important Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court case concerning Personality rights#United States, rights of publicity. The Court held that the First Ame ...

'', the high court ruled in 1977 that the First Amendment did not shield the broadcaster from liability from

common law copyright Common law copyright is the legal doctrine that grants copyright protection based on common law of various jurisdictions, rather than through protection of statutory law. In part, it is based on the contention that copyright is a natural right, ...

claims. A historical marker is placed at 41° 28.25′ N, 81° 8.692′ W indicating the location for the first telephone station in the state of Ohio (1877).

Geography

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 village has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 1,452 people, 581 households, and 362 families living in the village. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 640 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.2%

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 ...

, 1.2%

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 ...

, 0.1% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.3% from other races, and 0.4% 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 1.3% of the population. There were 581 households, of which 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.4% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 12.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.7% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.92. The median age in the village was 42.8 years. 21.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.2% were from 25 to 44; 26.1% were from 45 to 64; and 21.1% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 48.4% male and 51.6% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 1,450 people, 585 households, and 373 families living in the village. The population density was . There were 610 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.45%

, 0.69%

, 0.21% Asian, 0.07%

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 ...

, 0.14% from other races, and 1.45% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.90% of the population. There were 585 households, out of which 32.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.1% were

living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.1% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.94. In the village, the population was spread out, with 23.3% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 88.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.6 males. The median income for a household in the village was $41,830, and the median income for a family was $51,250. Males had a median income of $35,417 versus $24,519 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the village was $19,516. About 5.4% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 9.4% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

State highways

* ,

Ohio State Route 87 State Route 87 (SR 87) is an east–west highway in northeastern Ohio, a U.S. state. Its western terminus is at Public Square, Cleveland, Public Square in Downtown Cleveland, downtown Cleveland. It is one of 9 other routes to enter downtow ...

traverses the village and encircles the town square. * , Ohio State Routes

168 Year 168 ( CLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Apronianus and Paullus (or, less frequently, year 921 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 168 for thi ...

and 700 become concurrent just south of the village and terminate at the junction of Ohio State Route 87 at the southern end of the town square.

Education

Local elementary and secondary public education is provided by the Berkshire Local School District, which also serves the surrounding communities of Burton Township, Claridon Township and Troy Township, Montville, and Thompson Township. The school district's one high school, Berkshire High School, is located just north of Burton's town square. The district's only elementary school is located in Burton. The Claridon Elementary School was closed in 2005, and the Troy Elementary School was closed in 2009.

Notable people

* Emily Pomona Edson Briggs, 19th-century journalist * Marion Howard Dunham, teacher, activist, suffragist * Henry Lawrence Hitchcock, sixth President of

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

* Harry Smith, professional ten-pin bowler

References

External links

Village website

Berkshire Local School District

Burton Public Library

Historical museum
{{Authority control Villages in Geauga County, Ohio Amish in Ohio Populated places established in 1798 1798 establishments in the Northwest Territory Western Reserve, Ohio Villages in Ohio