Black Horse, also spelled Blackhorse, is an unincorporated community in

Portage County, Ohio Portage County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,791. Located in Northeast Ohio, Portage County is part of the Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Cleveland–Akr ...

, United States, located in western Ravenna Township. It is centered along

Ohio State Route 59 State Route 59 (SR 59) is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of Ohio, serving the Akron metropolitan area. The western terminus of State Route 59 is in downtown Akron at a partial interchange with the Interstate 76/Interstate 77 c ...

at its intersection with Brady Lake Road, just west of the city limits of

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

. The community takes its name from the Black Horse Tavern, which was located on the north side of modern-day State Route 59 for much of the 19th century. During the early settlement 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 ...

, the tavern was a regular stop for stagecoaches heading west towards

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Cuyahoga Falls Cuyahoga Falls ( or ) is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 51,114. The second-largest city in Summit County, it is located directly north of Akron and is a suburb of the Akron metropol ...

, and

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

as it was located at a fork in the trail. The tavern was built by David Greer, an early settler of Ravenna, sometime after his arrival in 1810. He operated it until 1834, when he sold it to a man named Backus, who is responsible to giving the tavern its name. The Black Horse name is believed to originate from one of two taverns of the same name in Massachusetts, either in

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

. The tavern operated until 1894, when township residents voted to outlaw taverns and saloons, and around 1900, the building burned down. A new Black Horse Tavern was built on the south side of the road, a building that stood until 2014. The area was nearly renamed "Five Corners" in 1915, in reference to the intersection of modern-day State Route 59, Brady Lake Road, Wall Street, and Hoover Road, which was then the northern end of Lakewood Road. The change was opposed by several residents and the '' Ravenna Republican''.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Portage County, Ohio Unincorporated communities in Ohio