Akron, is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately 39 miles south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city proper had a total population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area, covers both, Summit and Portage counties. In 2010, the area had a population of 703,200. Akron is also part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area, which in 2010 had a population of 2,780,440.Co-founded by Paul Williams and surveyor of the Connecticut Western Reserve General Simon Perkins, Akron was settled in 1825 as a strategic point at the summit of the developing Ohio and Erie Canal. Williams arrived in the area during 1811 and suggested the settlement to Perkins who had been in Ohio since 1807. Due to Eliakim Crosby founding "North Akron"(Cascade) in 1833, "South" was added to Akron's name until they unified in 1836 becoming incorporated later that year. In 1840 Summit County formed from portions of Portage, Medina, and Stark counties. Akron replaced Cuyahoga Falls as its county seat a year later and opened a canal connecting to Beaver, Pennsylvania helping to birth the stoneware, sewer pipe, fishing tackle, and farming equipment industries. In 1844 Abolitionist John Brown moved into the John Brown House across the street from business partner Colonel Simon Perkins whom lived in the Perkins Stone Mansion. Numerous Congregational, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches erected between the 1870s and World War I were built using the Akron Plan.

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