Coitsville Township, Ohio

"Coitsville" redirects here. For the unincorporated community, see Coitsville Center, Ohio.

Coitsville Township, Ohio
Township
Fields at the McGuffey Homesite in northwestern Coitsville Township
Location of Coitsville Township in Mahoning County
Coordinates: 41°4′56″N80°33′21″W / 41.08222°N 80.55583°W / 41.08222; -80.55583
Country	United States
State	Ohio
County	Mahoning
Area
• Total	12.9 sq mi (33.4 km2)
• Land	12.8 sq mi (33.2 km2)
• Water	0.08 sq mi (0.2 km2)
Elevation [1]	1,112 ft (339 m)
Population  (2020) [2]
• Total	1,264
• Density	98/sq mi (38/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	44436
Area code(s)	234/330
FIPS code	39-16476 [3]
GNIS feature ID	1086561 [1]

Coitsville Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mahoning County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 1,264 people in the township.

Geography

Located in the northeastern corner of the county along the Pennsylvania border, it borders the following townships:

• Hubbard Township, Trumbull County - north
• Shenango Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania - northeast
• Pulaski Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania - east
• Poland Township - south
• Youngstown - west

The western half of what was originally Coitsville Township is now occupied by three cities:

• The city of Campbell, in the west
• Part of the city of Struthers, in the southwest
• Part of Youngstown, in the northwest

Name and history

Coitsville Township is named for Daniel Coit of the Connecticut Land Company. ^[4] There is no evidence he ever lived in Coitsville, but in 1798 he sent a survey party and a land agent to Coitsville. The first Euro-American settler, Amos Loveland, came in 1798 and by 1801 settlers started coming in large numbers. ^[5] Alexander McGuffey, one of the early settlers in Coitsville, moved there with his family from Washington County, Pennsylvania around 1800. His son, William Holmes McGuffey, received his common school education in Coitsville and later wrote the popular McGuffey Readers . ^[6]

With excellent soil for farming in Coitsville Township, agriculture was the main occupation for many of the early settlers. In 1807 or 1808, the settlers built the first school house, a little log building in the northeastern part of Coitsville Township. In the early years, there were several sawmills and a gristmill in Coitsville; two stores, a tannery, and two blacksmith shops were eventually added to the township. ^[7]

It is the only Coitsville Township statewide. ^[8]

Government

The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer, ^[9] who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.

Media

Coitsville Township is served by the Hometown Journal , a local weekly newspaper.

References

1. "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
2. "Coitsville township, Mahoning County, Ohio - Census Bureau Profile". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
3. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved January 31, 2008.
4. Overman, William Daniel (1958). Ohio Town Names. Akron, OH: Atlantic Press. p. 31.
5. Sanderson, Thomas W. (1907). Twentieth Century History of Youngstown and Mahoning County. Biographical Publishing Company. pp.  196–97.
6. History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties: with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Volume 2. (Cleveland: H.Z. Williams & Bro, 1882), 166.
7. History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties, 164-72.
8. "Detailed map of Ohio" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 2000. Retrieved February 16, 2007.
9. §503.24, §505.01, and §507.01 of the Ohio Revised Code. Accessed April 30, 2009.

External links

• County website
• Hometown Journal