Brunswick Hills Township, Medina County

How Brunswick Hills Township, Medina County began

Brunswick Hills Township was established in 1818 as Brunswick Township -- one township, named either by a random draw from a hat or deliberately for Brunswick, Germany, depending on which local tradition is believed -- and remained a single farming township for nearly a century and a half. In 1960, as Cleveland's suburban growth reached Medina County, the old township split: the developed center and northeast became the separate city of Brunswick, while the surrounding rural remainder kept the township government and took the name Brunswick Hills Township to distinguish it, the only township of that name in Ohio. It has grown rapidly since, from roughly 1,085 residents in 1960 to over 11,000 by 2020.

Settled 1815 (as Brunswick Township), incorporated 1818 (Brunswick Township organized); 1960 (renamed Brunswick Hills Township upon the city of Brunswick's separate incorporation), by organized within the Connecticut Western Reserve.

Where the name comes from

The township carries the same disputed name as the city that split from it in 1960: either drawn at random from a hat during an 1815 organizational meeting, or chosen deliberately for Brunswick, Germany, for its pleasant sound. "Hills" was appended in 1960 to distinguish the remaining township from the newly separate city of Brunswick; it is the only Brunswick Hills Township in Ohio.

Before the town

The 1881 county history opens its chapter by picturing the township as wilderness 'wherein were found the rude deer-skin wigwams of the Indians and the winding trails' before settlement, and says bands of hostile Indians in war paint were seen gliding through the woods during the War of 1812; after the war the Indians 'retired farther into the fastnesses of the forest'. It records that a settler's wife answered an Indian who demanded an article of hers, in a story of the early years. No named village, mound or trail is recorded for the township. The township was opened to settlement by the Treaty of Fort Industry (1805); elsewhere in the county, a Potawatomi encounter is recorded in Liverpool Township in 1810.

Timeline

1. 1815-01-01 — Brunswick Township organizes within the Connecticut Western Reserve, according to Wikipedia; the 1881 county history puts the first township election on April 6, 1818.
2. 1815-03-04 — Solomon and Frederick Demming arrive in the township, build log cabins and begin to clear ground; John Hulet, Seymour Chapin, John Stearns and Henry Bogue follow that summer.
3. 1815 — Land in the western half, bought long before by a Connecticut man named Williams who lost it when he failed to pay, passes to Berkshire County, Massachusetts, farm owners who exchange improved farms for it through Connecticut's agent.
4. 1817 — John and B. W. Freese, Dr. Seth Blood, Rev. Jacob Ward, Harvey Stebbins and the Berdan family arrive.
5. 1818 — Township population is recorded at 167.
6. 1818-04-06 — The first township election chooses John Stearns and Jacob Ward justices of the peace and Hulet, Stearns and Solomon Demming trustees; nineteen men are legal voters.
7. c. 1820 — Nathan Clark runs a sawmill on Plum Creek, the first in the township; a post office is later petitioned for and Dr. Seth Blood is its first postmaster.
8. c. 1824 — A man named Entiton builds a plank-shanty sawmill on Plum Creek, called the thunder mill because it ran only when storms filled its dam.
9. c. 1830 — Horace Root opens a small store nearly a mile north of Brunswick Center on the Cleveland and Columbus turnpike; Col. John Stearns's tavern at the Center serves turnpike travelers.
10. c. 1834 — Archibald Miles opens the first store of note at Brunswick Center with about $1,500 of goods, trading largely with turnpike travelers.
11. 1850 — Township population peaks at 1,417 before declining through the later 1800s.
12. c. 1854 — The Sons of Temperance organize a lodge at Brunswick Center; the charter is returned within a few years.
13. 1960 — The developed center and northeast of the old Brunswick Township incorporate separately as the city of Brunswick; the remaining rural township is renamed Brunswick Hills Township, its 1960 population recorded at 1,085.
14. 2020 — Brunswick Hills Township's population reaches 11,196, roughly a tenfold increase since the 1960 split.

Stories

One Township, Split in Two

For nearly a century and a half, Brunswick was a single township of farms on the Connecticut Western Reserve, its name possibly drawn from a hat in 1815 and its population barely changing decade to decade -- 167 residents in 1818, still under 1,500 by the Civil War era. Cleveland's postwar suburban expansion changed that almost overnight. In 1960 the built-up center and northeast corner of the township, already filling with new subdivisions, split off and incorporated on its own as the city of Brunswick. What remained -- the surrounding farmland and the township government itself -- kept a share of the old name but added "Hills" to tell the two apart, becoming the only Brunswick Hills Township in the state. It did not stay rural for long: the township's own population grew roughly tenfold in the sixty years after the split, from about 1,085 residents in 1960 to more than 11,000 by 2020, as the same suburban wave that created the city of Brunswick simply kept spreading outward around it.

The barn raised without whisky

Raising a barn in the Brunswick settlement of the 1810s normally meant whisky for the crew, but Capt. John Stearns, who had fixed his raising day, found that none could be bought or even borrowed in the township and that the nearest supply was at Tallmadge, two days away. He told his neighbors. They said that, given the circumstances, the barn might go up without it, though they could not approve his neglecting to see to the matter earlier. On the appointed day the settlers assembled, worked, and raised the barn, and made what the county history of 1881 calls the fortunate discovery that a building could be put up safely and quickly without liquor. After that, the history says, it was no uncommon thing to see buildings going up with not a drop used. The story is told there as related by an old settler.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · medinaco.org · archive.org

Lake Erie, through an 8-foot pipe running 2.5 miles offshore from the Westlake shoreline The water here

• Cleveland Public Water System72% of residentsLake Erie
• Medina Co/northwest25% of residentsLake Erie
• Medina City2% of residentsLake Erie
• Rural Lorain Co. Water A0% of residentsMostly Lake Erie (bought from Avon Lake); some New London Reservoir and Ashland wells

Fire and EMS stations (2)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Police stations (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 2 of 3 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 1 of 1.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• OP&F Examination, 2024, released 2026-05-26

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