Northfield

• Ronald M. Sega1952-Cleveland-born physicist and Air Force officer who flew on the first U.S.-Russia...

• Cyrus S. EatonPerson · 1883-1979

How Northfield began

Northfield's first settler was Isaac Bacon, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, who bought 160 acres in 1806 and moved his family there in April 1807; with no neighbor closer than Tinker's Creek for three years, Bacon raised his own cabin alone using oxen and skids, and his wife later recalled seeing no other white woman's face for six months except her own reflection in a pool. A small Native encampment of three wigwams stood on the Bacon farm for years, and the 1881 county history records an episode in which a group of Native visitors searched the cabin, found and drank the family's whisky, and left peacefully. Sources disagree on whether the town's name came from a transfer of Northfield, Massachusetts (Bacon's home state), or simply from the site's position in the northern part of Summit County; the surrounding Olde Northfield Township, of which this village is the modern remnant, organized in 1819, twelve years after Bacon's arrival. A greyhound-racing track called Sportsman Park opened in 1934 under Mayor Max Klein, later hosted midget car racing, and was demolished in 1956 to make way for Northfield Park, the harness-racing facility that grew into today's MGM Northfield Park casino and racino, sold by its Hard Rock-era owners to MGM Growth Properties for $1.02 billion in 2018.

Settled April 1807 (Isaac Bacon, first settler, per the 1881 county history).

Where the name comes from

Sources disagree: some attribute the name to a transfer from Northfield, Massachusetts, while others hold it simply describes the site's location in the northern part of Summit County. Notably, first settler Isaac Bacon was himself a native of Boston, Massachusetts, though no source directly ties his origin to the township's name.

Before the town

The 1881 county history records that a small Native encampment of three wigwams stood on first settler Isaac Bacon's farm for years, occupied seasonally until its residents departed west for good; nearly every stream feeding the Cuyahoga River in this area held Native encampments ranging from single-family wigwams to camps of several hundred people. In one recorded incident, while Bacon was away, six or seven Native visitors entered his cabin uninvited, searched it over his wife's protests (drawing knives and miming scalping gestures to keep her back), found and drank a gallon bottle of whisky, and departed without further harm. The area lies within the Connecticut Western Reserve, land opened to settlement by the 1785 Treaty of Fort McIntosh and confirmed by the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware).

• Bacon farm encampment (camp) — Isaac Bacon's farm, Lot 63, Northfield Township, 1807 onward (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1806 — Isaac Bacon, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, purchases 160 acres (Lot 63) in what becomes Northfield Township.
2. 1807 — Bacon moves his family to the land in April, becoming the township's first settler; with no neighbor within six to eight miles, he raises his own log cabin alone over five days using skids and a yoke of oxen, the family living in their wagon meanwhile.
3. 1819 — Olde Northfield Township, of which this village is the surviving remnant after later splits, organizes.
4. 1837 — Northfield's post office is established.
5. 1934 — Sportsman Park, a greyhound-racing venue, opens under Mayor Max Klein (in office 1934-1938).
6. 1956 — Sportsman Park, by then used for midget car racing, is demolished to make way for the harness-racing Northfield Park.
7. 2013 — Hard Rock Entertainment opens the Hard Rock Rocksino at the Northfield Park site in December.
8. 2018 — MGM Growth Properties buys the Rocksino for $1.02 billion.
9. 2019 — MGM Resorts International rebrands the property MGM Northfield Park.

Stories

From greyhounds to a billion-dollar racino

Northfield's most famous stretch of ground has changed sports and owners more times than the small village itself. In 1934, under Mayor Max Klein, the town opened Sportsman Park as a greyhound-racing venue, a form of gambling entertainment then still legal and popular across Ohio; the track later switched over to midget car racing before being torn down in 1956 to make room for a harness-racing facility, Northfield Park. That track's evolution accelerated in the 21st century as Ohio legalized casino-style gaming at racetracks: Hard Rock Entertainment opened a Rocksino there in December 2013, MGM Growth Properties bought the whole operation for $1.02 billion in 2018, and MGM Resorts International renamed it MGM Northfield Park in 2019, turning a Depression-era dog track into one of the largest gaming venues in northeastern Ohio.

Alone in the woods, and a house raised without help

When Isaac Bacon brought his family to Northfield in April 1807, he had no neighbor within six or eight miles and no way to know where to find one, since he was, as the 1881 county history puts it, 'a total stranger' to the area. Rather than search for help he could not find, Bacon solved the problem of raising heavy cabin logs alone: he braced large skids against the half-built wall and used a long rope run over the top so a single yoke of oxen could haul each log into place. It took five days to finish the cabin and its bark roof, during which the family lived out of their wagon. The isolation that followed was severe enough that Bacon's wife later told others she saw no white woman's face for six months after their arrival, save her own reflection in a clear pool of water; the family's nearest neighbor for three years was at Tinker's Creek, several miles off. A small Native encampment of three wigwams occupied a corner of the Bacon farm itself for years afterward, its residents camping there seasonally until they finally moved west for good, a reminder of how thoroughly Bacon's isolated homestead sat inside a landscape still actively used and traveled by Native people even as white settlement began around it.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · nordoniahills.news · archive.org

The Five Mile Crib, a small structure about 5 miles out in Lake Erie north of Cleveland's Edgewater Park The water here

• Cleveland Public Water System96% of residentsLake Erie
• Aqua Ohio - Shepard Hills4% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)

Nursing homes (1)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public schools (1)

Police stations (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

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.
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2025-09-16

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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