About Sharon Township

Sharon Township, part of the “1786 Connecticut Western Reserve Territory”, was organized and officially named Sharon in 1831. Much earlier the area was called Hart and Mathers for two of the owners of the large tract of land. It was briefly called Gask for surveyor Peter More’s Parish in Scotland. However, a number of residents did not like the name “Gask”. Asenath (Mrs. Samuel) Hayden suggested the township be called Sharon after her hometown in Connecticut.

In addition to the difficult task of clearing heavily forested land for farming, the early settlers had to contend with dangerous and destructive animals and snakes. While pioneer life could not possibly have been easy, the inhabitants of Sharon did have access to merchants and services in already established Wadsworth, Medina, and “far-away” Akron and Cleveland.

At the outset, the pioneers were New Englanders who brought with them two cherished concepts-education and religion. A school existed as early as 1822 near the Sharon/Granger border. In 1832 the Methodist had services in their homes, and 1842 built a church which is still used today. In 1852 the Universalists built a church which later became the Town Hall.

The first store- room was erected and replenished with the necessary store goods in the autumn of 1834 by Dr. John Burge. Luther Fitch was the first postmaster, 1833. The first physician was Dr. Andrew Armstrong, who, after a stay of two years, moved, and the place was filled by Dr. Beach.