The town was named Rootstown in his honor. This area was a dense forest with five distinct ridges which were later named Sugar Ridge (for the sugar maples there) Chestnut Ridge (For the chestnut trees there), Butternut Ridge (for the Butternut trees there), Stoney Ridge (the only north /south ridge; named for the endless stones and rocks present) and Center Ridge which became the main road through town and to other settlements to the west. For these ridges the town was renamed Ridgeville Township in 1813.
The pioneers lived in constant fear of the Seneca and Wyandot Indians, which were still living in the area. Stories of friendly trading were common, but during the war of 1812 concerns were prevalent of an uprising. Following Perry’s victory at the Battle of Lake Erie, settlers came in greater numbers with most of them settling on Center Ridge and a few on Chestnut and Butternut Ridge.
Center Ridge Road
The first post office was established in 1820 with Moses Eldred as the first postmaster. The name of “Ridgeville” was changed to “North Ridgeville” in 1829 due to another town of the same name in the western part of Ohio. Churches services were held the first night by the 1810 pioneers and schools were quickly established as well. The city fathers built the Old Town Hall in 1882 as a permanent place to conduct business and with a second floor to host various events for the area.
By the mid-1800s there were sawmills, blacksmiths and cheese factories prevalent throughout town. The first mode of public transportation was a six passenger stage coach operated by Artemus Beebe beginning in 1827. It was used to transport mail from Cleveland to Fremont. Later other stage lines came into existence. In 1853 the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad was opened, passing through town south of Center Ridge. A station was built on Avon Belden known as Shawville, named for a local man who assisted the railroad men in removing a tree that was felled during a storm. In 1895 the Cleveland Southwestern (Greenline Trolley) came into existence and transportation between Cleveland , Elyria, Oberlin and Norwalk was offered. In following years buses and personal autos came along and in 1931 this service was discontinued.
The Ohio Turnpike opened in 1956, passing through the city and this helped greatly in growing businesses throughout town, and in July of 1960, 150 years after our founding, we had a population in excess of 8000, which made us a city. Developers started planning housing developments which increased the population by leaps and bounds and new schools were built to accommodate children from the new families. In the last fifty years the population has increased exponentially and in 2018, when the population reached about 34,000 North Ridgeville was dubbed the fastest growing city in the State of Ohio.