Brighton Township, Lorain County

How Brighton Township, Lorain County began

Brighton Township, an 'equalizing township' assembled from tract seven and parts of tracts six and eight in range nineteen of the Western Reserve, lies on the extreme west edge of Lorain County. Its name was bestowed by Abner Loveland at organization, and Wikipedia says it is named for the English city of Brighton. His son, Abner Loveland Jr., was the first settler, entering the forest alone in fall 1830 and carrying the poles for his cabin in on his back; his father and family joined him in July 1831. Seneca and Wyandot people camped nearby on 'the big bottom' before and during early settlement, trading venison for bread and pork. Only tract seven was for sale until 1833, which kept settlers away at first. The township was a dairy and cheese country (four factories by 1876), with Methodist and Congregational churches at its center and a temperance society from 1836. It remains entirely rural, with no incorporated municipality; the township hall sits at Brighton Center, and 855 people lived in it in 2020.

Settled Fall 1830 (Abner Loveland Jr., alone; family follows July 1831); the Kingsburys, Halls and Whitlocks follow, by Abner Loveland Jr.; original proprietors included Root & Ross (tract seven), Lemuel Storrs and others; township organized at a spring election with twelve electors (year garbled in the scan).

Where the name comes from

The 1879 county history says plainly that 'its name was bestowed by Abner Loveland at the time of organization,' without giving his reason; Wikipedia says the township is named for the English city of Brighton, a plausible but unconfirmed explanation for Loveland's choice. It is the only Brighton Township in Ohio.

Before the town

The 1879 county history records that Seneca and Wyandot people were 'quite numerous' when the first settlers arrived, generally friendly and fair in their dealings, and had camped before settlement on what they called 'the big bottom' (later the Leonard H. Loveland farm), though they rarely camped within the township's bounds after settlers arrived. They traded venison for bread and pork. Early settler Leonard Loveland recalled seeing among them a man reputed by the Indians to be 145 years old, whose recollections of events from his youth, the source notes, matched events already more than a century old.

Nations recorded here: Seneca, Wyandot.

• 'The big bottom' encampment ground (camp) — Leonard H. Loveland farm, Brighton Township, Pre-settlement through early 1830s (archive.org)

Timeline

1. Fall 1830 — Abner Loveland Jr. enters the forest alone and builds the first human habitation in what becomes Brighton township (aside from Native huts and wigwams), on lot one, tract seven, carrying the cabin poles on his back.
2. 1830s — The township is organized at a spring election at which twelve electors choose Joseph Kingsbury, Avery Hall and Calvin Roice trustees, Leonard H. Loveland clerk and Abner Loveland Jr. justice of the peace.
3. July 1831 — Loveland's father and the rest of the family arrive to join him, after he prepared a log house for their coming.
4. 1833 — Land in tracts six and eight is put on the market; until then only tract seven was for sale, and many were deterred from settling. In the next few years James Whipple (May 24, 1833), Erasmus Judd, Isaac Everson, Henry Converse and Elijah Fox arrive.
5. 1833-34 — The Black River circuit is laid out and Rev. Mr. Coston rides through the townships preaching wherever a dozen listeners can be gathered; the first religious service in Brighton had been held at the grave of the Lovelands' infant son.
6. 1836 — The Congregational church is organized with Justice Battle, the Kingsburys, Selden Hall and Philip L. Goss among its first members; the same year Brighton forms a temperance society with Goss as president, which gathers 437 signatures to the pledge.
7. 1840 — The Congregational society builds a church at the center; the Methodist class, begun in the Loveland home, will not have its own building until 1850.
8. 1845 — Austin Kingsbury donates the land for the township cemetery, a few rods south of the center.
9. 1848 — Dr. Holcomb, the township's first physician, arrives and practices five or six years.
10. 1853-11-06 — The Methodist Episcopal church at the center, its frame raised in 1850 and not enclosed until the next spring for lack of means, is dedicated free of debt.
11. 1867 — Goss & Co. project the first cheese factory in the township; the present Brighton factory is built in 1874-75, Horr & Warner's in 1872 and the Centennial cheese factory in 1876.
12. 1876 — Jefferson Whipple is appointed postmaster at Brighton; the township then has one steam sawmill and no resident physician.
13. 2020 — Census records 855 residents; the township contains no incorporated municipality and its government seat is Brighton Center.

Stories

A cabin carried in on one man's back

Abner Loveland Jr. walked into the unbroken forest of what became Brighton township alone in the fall of 1830, meaning to settle there for good, and built the township's first cabin -- other than Native huts and wigwams -- on lot one of tract seven, carrying the poles for it in on his own back. The following spring he set out to travel east, but a heavy snowstorm stopped him in Grafton, where he stayed through the fall working for local settlers. Just as he prepared to finally head home, a letter arrived from his father: he had bought land in Brighton and wanted his son to start clearing it. Loveland turned around, went back to the spot he had already chosen, and built a log house to be ready for his family. They joined him that July. The Seneca and Wyandot people who had long camped nearby on what they called 'the big bottom' were, by every account the historian collected, friendly toward the new arrivals, trading venison hams for bread and pork; one elderly man among them was said by his own people to have seen 145 summers.

A funeral that began a church

Whitlock Loveland, the nine-month-old son of Leonard H. and Margaret Loveland, was the first person to die in Brighton Township, and he was buried in the clearing a few rods south of the family's log house. Only two or three people besides the family came to the funeral, and the Rev. Mr. Parmele, a Baptist minister from Sullivan, spoke the few words and offered the prayer at the grave. The historian wrote that the death made the parents think they were 'not good enough to follow him into the future world'; they became the first people in Brighton to experience religion, and the first religious service in the township had been held at that grave. In the fall of 1827 a Methodist class was organized with Leonard Loveland as leader, meeting at the Lovelands' and at the center, and the Loveland family's apple trees, started from seed brought from Massachusetts, were still bearing in 1878.

Smutty wheat and black bread

The first years in Brighton were lean. Only a small variety of food could be had, and when the first wheat was harvested it was full of smut; with no machine to clean it, the smut went into the bread and made it so black that the Seneca and Wyandot who traded at the clearings often refused to eat it. The nearest mill was at Clarksfield, and Leonard Loveland was once chased by wolves while walking home from there. Wolves would surround a cabin and howl all night, but they were more nuisance than danger; deer, which came in herds of fifty, were so common that venison was looked on with 'no more favor than pork.' When Albert Niles married Sophia Loveland in the Lovelands' log cabin, the wedding was witnessed by twenty or twenty-five people, 'the entire population of the township,' and the supper was steaming meats, home-made bread and wholesome vegetables, with none of the cakes and ices of later marriage feasts.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · archive.org · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org

Lake Erie, drawn through two separate offshore intakes serving the Lake Road filtration plant The water here

• Rural Lorain Co. Water A50% of residentsMostly Lake Erie (bought from Avon Lake); some New London Reservoir and Ashland wells
• Wellington Village42% of residentsCharlemont Creek, via Wellington Upground Reservoir
• New London Village6% of residentsBuck Creek, impounded in New London's upground reservoir
• Wakeman Village1% of residentsLake Erie
• Pheasant Run Association1% of residentsLake Erie
• Northern Ohio Rural Water0% of residentsLake Erie
• Firelands Manor MHP0% of residentsLake Erie via Avon Lake Regional Water (blended with Rural Lorain Co. Water Authority supply)
• Erie Co. Vermilion District0% of residentsLake Erie

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked. The county's results on file run through 2026-05-05; later elections are not loaded yet.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Basic Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-09-09

Statewide question: State Issue 3: Voter ID

Local questions for Brighton Township, Lorain County, Lorain County and its school district:

• Brighton Township: Renews a 1-mill property tax levy for the roads of Brighton Township for 5 years, beginning in 2026.
• Lorain County: Authorizes an additional 0.45-mill property tax levy for the care & placement of children & children services of Lorain County for 5 years, beginning in 2026.

Races, candidates and every question for an address: your ballot. County offices and judges are on your county board's sample ballot.

Cite this page