Utica 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 Knox and

Licking Licking is the action (philosophy), action of passing the tongue over a surface, typically either to deposit saliva onto the surface, or to collect liquid, food or minerals onto the tongue for ingestion, or to animal communication, communicate w ...

counties in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

, along the North Fork of the Licking River. The population was 2,064 at the 2020 census.

History

Utica was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted in 1815. The village was named after

Utica, New York Utica () is the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adiro ...

. Utica was the largest hand blown window glass factory city in the US at the turn of the 20th century due to natural occurring silica and natural gas. The glass would be gathered in a molten ball and blown into a long tube. The ends would be cut off, the tube re-heated, cut, and laid flat creating the window glass. The glass companies closed with the 1929 crash and development of new glass. Prior to the Civil War, Utica was an important stop on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. However, some local residents and a village historian claim that Utica was later a

sundown town Sundown towns, also known as sunset towns, gray towns, or sundowner towns, were all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States. They were towns that practiced a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combinati ...

and recall

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

activity in the area in the 1920s.

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 is land and is water.

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 2,132 people, 841 households, and 564 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 937 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.7%

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 ...

, 0.5%

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, 0.2% Asian, 0.1%

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 ...

, 0.1% from other races, and 1.2% 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 0.9% of the population. There were 841 households, of which 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.1% 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, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 32.9% were non-families. 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.04. The median age in the village was 37.4 years. 27.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.4% were from 25 to 44; 25.3% were from 45 to 64; and 15.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 46.6% male and 53.4% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 2,130 people, 822 households, and 569 families living in the village. The population density was . There were 888 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village is 98.59% White, 0.09% African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.14% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.47% from other races, and 0.61% from two or more races. 0.94% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 822 households, out of which 35.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.8% were

living together, 12.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.7% were non-families. 27.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.05. In the village, the population was spread out, with 26.8% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 29.1% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 95.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.9 males. The median income for a household in the village was $34,238, and the median income for a family was $40,750. Males had a median income of $31,281 versus $23,243 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 $16,811. About 4.7% of families and 6.2% 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 7.0% of those under age 18 and 5.1% of those age 65 or over.

Education

North Fork Local Schools operates two elementary schools, one middle school, and Utica High School. Utica has a public library, a branch of the Licking County Library System.

Public Safety

* Law Enforcement: Utica Police Department * Fire & EMS: County Line Joint Fire District

Notable people

* Todd Londot, professional football player, New York Giants *

Patt Morrison Patt Morrison is a journalist, author, and radio-television personality based in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles and Southern California. Media Morrison is a writer for the ''Los Angeles Times'', with the weekly '' 'Patt Morrison Asks' '' ...

, author

References

{{Authority control Villages in Knox County, Ohio Villages in Licking County, Ohio 1815 establishments in Ohio Populated places established in 1815 Sundown towns in Ohio Villages in Ohio