Milan ( ) 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 ...
in
Erie and
Huron counties in the
U.S. state of
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 ...
. The population was 1,371 at the
2020 census. It is best known as the birthplace and childhood home of
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
.
The Erie County portion of Milan is part of the
Sandusky metropolitan area, while the Huron County portion is part of the
Norwalk Micropolitan Statistical Area.
History and culture
Milan village was platted by Ebenezer Merry in 1817 on the site of a previously abandoned
Moravian Indian mission village, named "
Petquotting", (1805-1809). Merry dammed the
Huron River below the village and established "Merrys Mills", a gristmill and sawmill in the river valley. Milan village, originally named 'Beatty', was incorporated as 'Milan' in 1833, named after
Milan, Italy. Prior to the advent of railroads, regional farmers had to bring their harvests to
Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...
ports by wagon. The sandy and wet prairies north and west of Milan were not easily crossed by a wagon with a heavy harvest load. Beginning in 1826, local investors proposed a ship
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...
that would make Milan a lake port that could conveniently connect to the new Erie Canal, allowing direct regional commerce with New York City.
1800s and the Milan Canal
Construction of the Milan Canal began in 1833 and it opened to lake navigation on July 4, 1839. The peak year of commerce was 1847. For 15 years or more, the village prospered as one of the busiest ports on the Great Lakes. Large numbers of wagons bringing agricultural products to Milan would often line up for miles to the south.

During the canal era, Milan became the birthplace of businessman and inventor
Thomas Alva Edison, and the small hillside brick home where he was born on February 11, 1847, is open to the public as a museum. He lived in Milan until he was 7 years of age, when his family moved to
Port Huron, Michigan
Port Huron is a city in and seat of government of St. Clair County, Michigan, United States. The population was 28,983 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the west by Port Huron Township, but the two are administered autonomously.
Po ...
.
Local brokerages and trading houses exchanged the agricultural commodities of farmers for currency, hardware, and trade goods brought in across Lake Erie from the East by way of the Erie Canal. The Milan Canal was deep and directly connected to Lake Erie, allowing Lake Erie schooners to transport goods to and from Milan without the use of small, shallow-draft canal boats required on other canals. The confluence the deep ship-bearing canal, the great agricultural fertility of the regional Ohio soils, and the direct access to New York markets by way of the Erie Canal made Milan a retail center from the 1830s to the early 1850s.
However, with the advent of railroads in the 1850s, the canal-borne prosperity terminated. In 1868, the canal's feeder dam failed due to a flood, permanently ending Milan's direct connection to the lake. The original canal route can be observed and followed today along the
Erie MetroParks "Huron River Greenway."
The deep canal and inland harbor also served as a ship building center, in part because of extensive local stands of
white oak timber used in ship building. Approximately 60 ships were built in Milan between 1840 and 1867.
During the period, the canal-based prosperity allowed the construction of a large number of buildings of architectural note. Today, Milan retains a significant number of both residences and commercial buildings from the 19th century, representing typical architectural styles of the time.

From the late 1820s and into the 1830s, Federal Style buildings were constructed, many of which survive. In the 1840s and 50s, the Greek Revival style predominated in Milan, as it did in the rest of the Connecticut Western Reserve (the northeastern counties of Ohio). Today, Milan’s neighborhoods abound with original Greek Revival houses, along with a number of other later, Victorian architectural styles.
With the threat of proliferating railroads, mid-century canal interests were able to prevent their incursion into Milan. This effectively isolated the village from the flourishing post-Civil War economy that occurred in other Midwestern towns. Consequently, Milan’s development and expansion essentially terminated in the 1850s and 60s. Today, the majority of the canal-era mansions and other buildings remain intact, making Milan one of the finest sites for 19th-century architectural history in the Midwest. The Kelley Block on the village square, along with the impressive great houses on all of the village’s streets are remarkably preserved. In 2002, Milan was selected by The National Trust for Historic Preservation as a Distinctive Destination.
Melon farming prospered in the area due to sandy, fertile soil, and Milan hosts the "Milan Melon Festival" annually on Labor Day weekend. Although many residents commute to other cities for employment, the general culture of the area is decidedly rural, agricultural, and historic. Because of its limited development after the closure of the canal, Milan retains the ambiance of a 19th-century village with New England cultural and architectural affinities.
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 , of which are land and are water.
The
Huron River flows just north of the village square.
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 1,367 people, 509 households, and 370 families residing 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 551 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.5%
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 ...
, 0.7%
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, 0.6%
Asian, 0.2% from
other races, and 0.9% 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 1.8% of the population.
There were 509 households, of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.6% 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, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 27.3% were non-families. 22.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.95.
The median age in the village was 44.5 years. 23.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 21.2% were from 25 to 44; 32.6% were from 45 to 64; and 16.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 49.5% male and 50.5% female.
2000 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 2000, there were 1,445 people, 540 households, and 406 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 574 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 98.13%
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 ...
, 0.55%
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 ...
, 0.21%
Native American, 0.35%
Asian, 0.28% from
other races, and 0.48% 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 0.90% of the population.
There were 540 households, out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.2% 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, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.8% were non-families. 22.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the village, the population was spread out, with 24.9% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 25.4% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 92.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.1 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $51,204, and the median income for a family was $57,986. Males had a median income of $42,426 versus $26,027 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 $23,143. About 3.20% of families and 4.6% 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 7.0% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over.
Public schools
Milan shares its school system with nearby
Berlin Heights; the combined school district is known as the Edison Local Schools, and the high school teams are the "Edison Chargers." Edison High School offers college courses from Kenyon College and Findlay University. Contained within the school district are Edison Elementary, Edison Middle School, and
Edison High School.
Notable people
*
Augustus L. Armstrong, lawyer, Minnesota state legislator
*
Moses K. Armstrong, businessman, Dakota Territorial Legislator
*
Thomas H. Armstrong, former
Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota
*
Thomas J. Bowles, former member of the
Wisconsin State Assembly
The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...
*
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
, businessman, inventor
*
Daniel McBride Graham, Freewill Baptist pastor, inventor, first president of
Hillsdale College
Sister cities
The village of Milan currently has one international
sister city
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inte ...
.
[ List of sister cities in Ohio#Sister cities of Ohio cities and counties]
*
Yawata, Kyoto (
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
)
References
External links
Village websiteThomas A. Edison Birthplace Museum
{{Authority control
Populated places established in 1817
Villages in Erie County, Ohio
Villages in Huron County, Ohio
Villages in Ohio