Copley 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 Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, United States. The 2020 census found 18,403 people in the township.

Geography

Located in the western part of the county, it borders the following townships and cities: * Bath Township - north * Fairlawn - northeast *

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 ...

- east * Norton - south * Wadsworth Township, Medina County - southwest corner * Sharon Township, Medina County - west * Granger Township, Medina County - northwest corner Several populated places are located in Copley 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 Pigeon Creek, in the northwest *The

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

of Montrose, on the northern boundary with Bath Township Parts of the original Copley Township are now in Akron or Fairlawn. A formerly rural township located west of the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, Copley Township has become increasingly

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

over the last few decades.

Name and history

It is the only Copley Township statewide. Copley was originally called Greenfield, after Gardiner Green (son-in-law of painter

John Singleton Copley John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was believed to be born in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley ...

), who owned a large portion of the township. Later on he changed the name to Copley, the maiden name of his wife. Fairlawn was founded as a hamlet in Copley in 1891 when the Northern Ohio Railway was built. As of 1908 it had a mill, general store, a blacksmith, and other businesses. On August 7, 2011, a series of shootings occurred in Copley Township which resulted in the deaths of 7 people, and the injury of another. The perpetrator, Michael E. Hance, was shot and killed by rifle by Copley Township police officer Ben Campbell, who received the call while off-duty.

Economy

Copley Township's economy is based on several

strip mall A strip mall, strip center, strip plaza or simply plaza is a type of shopping mall, shopping center common in North America and Australia where the stores are arranged in a row, with a footpath in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a ...

chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

plants, and

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

businesses. The rest of the township is dotted with farms and subdivisions.

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, 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.

Notable natives and residents

* John F. Seiberling,

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from Ohio *

Betty Sutton Betty Sue Sutton (born July 31, 1963) is an American politician who currently serves as a Judge of Ohio's 9th District Court of Appeals. She previously served as a U.S. Representative for from 2007 to 2013. She is a member of the Democratic Par ...

from Ohio *

Carrie Coon Carrie Alexandra Coon (born January 24, 1981) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complex characters on stage and screen, she has received a Critics' Choice Television Award, as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards a ...

, actress * Frank LaRose, Ohio Secretary of State * Josh Williams, defender for the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

Education

The school system in the township is shared with Fairlawn and has a set of three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school, Copley High School.

Superfund

In 1990, Copley Square Plaza was designated a superfund site after

tetrachloroethylene Tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene or under the systematic name tetrachloroethene, and abbreviations such as perc (or PERC), and PCE, is a chlorocarbon with the formula . It is a non-flammable, stable, colorless and heavy liqu ...

and other contaminates from a dry cleaners were found in the soil.
PL Site Narrative for Copley Square Plaza, NPL, Superfund, US EPA:

References

External links

Township websiteCounty websiteSchool district website
{{authority control Townships in Summit County, Ohio Townships in Ohio