Oxford Township is one of the nine townships of Erie 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. It is part of the

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in Erie County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( west) and Cleveland ( east). At the 2020 United Stat ...

micropolitan statistical area and the Cleveland-Akron-Canton Combined Statistical Area. The 2020 census recorded 1,140 residents. A small section of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Glenn Research Center NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is a NASA center within the cities of Brook Park, Ohio, Brook Park and Cleveland between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Rocky River Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks, with a s ...

's Plum Brook Station facility is located in Oxford Township. Most notably, the Space Power Facility (SPF)---the world's largest thermal vacuum chamber---is located in the northeastern corner of the township.

Geography

Located in the southwestern part of Erie County, it borders the following townships: * Perkins Township - north * Huron Township - northeast * Milan Township - east * Norwalk Township, Huron County - southeast * Ridgefield Township, Huron County - south * Lyme Township, Huron County - southwest * Groton Township - west * Margaretta Township - northwest No municipalities are located in Oxford Township, although 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 Bloomingville lies in the northern part of the township. Oxford Township is part of the Firelands, which in turn is part 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. Warren, Ohio was the Historic Capital in Trumbull County. T ...

Topography

Oxford Township lies within two river watersheds, both flowing into

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 ...

. The majority of the township is within the

Huron River The Huron River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed November 7, 2011 river in southeast Michigan, southeastern Michigan, rising out of the Huron Swamp in Springfie ...

watershed while the northwestern area of the township is within the Sandusky Bay watershed. The majority of the topography of the township includes extremely flat to slightly rolling land; farm fields and small woodlots are in abundance. In the far southeast portion of the township, however, the topography becomes rugged with steep cliffs and dense woods near the west branch of the

. Some of the cliffs are over high. There are even some small waterfalls near Peru Center Road and Schaffer Road that are approximately high. Two state natural areas are located within this township. Erie Sand Barrens State Nature Preserve, a park in the northwest part of the township, can be accessed from Mason Road and Taylor Road. The Milan State Wildlife Area in the southeast part of the township can be accessed from State Route 113 and Lovers Lane.

Name and history

Oxford Township is one of only thirty townships located in a unique subregion of the

, known as the Firelands. Established in 1792, this half-million-acre tract of land (originally known as the Fire Sufferers Land) was given by the

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

Legislature to the citizens of towns which were invaded and damaged by British troops during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. It is one of six Oxford Townships statewide.

Government

Regional and national government

*All of Oxford Township is located within the .

Marcy Kaptur Marcia Carolyn Kaptur ( ; born June 17, 1946) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from Ohio's 9th congressional district. Currently in her 22nd term, she has been a member of Congress since 1983. A member of the Democr ...

( D- Toledo) is the elected official for this district, which spans the Lake Erie shoreline from Toledo to the western suburbs of

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

. *All of Oxford Township is located within the Ohio State 2nd Senate District. Mark Wagoner ( R- Ottawa Hills) is the elected official for this district (and also serves as the Senate Majority Whip). *All of Oxford Township is located within the Ohio State 80th House District. Dennis Murray ( D- Sandusky) is the representative for this district.

Local 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.

Public services

Transportation

The Ohio Turnpike passes through Oxford Township, as does Ohio State Routes 99 and

113 113 may refer to: *113 (number), a natural number *AD 113, a year *113 BC, a year *113 (band), a French hip hop group *113 (MBTA bus), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route *113 (New Jersey bus), Ironbound Garage in Newark and run to ...

. Other important county and township highways include Mason Road, Patten Tract Road, Ransom Road, Strecker Road, and Thomas Road.

Communication

Addresses in Oxford Township have several different ZIP codes: *44846 (

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

), in the east *44847 ( Monroeville), in the southwest *44857 ( Norwalk), in the far southeast *44870 ( Sandusky), in the north Telephone numbers in Oxford Townships have one of two

area codes A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, reach ...

, either 419 or 567.

Education

Children from Oxford Townships attend one of three different public school districts: *The Berlin-Milan Local School District, in the east *The Monroeville Local School District, in the south *The Perkins Local School District, in the northwest Parochial schools are located in the nearby towns of Monroeville, Norwalk, and Sandusky.

Safety

Residents are protected by the Erie County Sheriff's Department, North Central EMS, and one of two

volunteer fire department A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respo ...

s: the Groton Township fire department, for residents in the western part of the township;Groton Township Volunteer Fire Department - History Page
Accessed 04 December 2009. and the Milan Township fire department, for residents in the eastern part of the township.

References

External links

County website
{{authority control Townships in Erie County, Ohio Townships in Ohio Populated places established in 1792