1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mansfield (Ohio)

MANSFIELD, a city and the county-seat of Richland county, Ohio, U.S.A., about 65 m. S.W. of Cleveland. Pop. (1890), 13,473; (1900), 17,640, of whom 1781 were foreign-born; (1910 census), 20,768. It is served by the Pennsylvania (Pittsburg, Ft Wayne & Chicago division), the Erie, and the Baltimore & Ohio railways. It is built on an eminence (1150 ft.), and has two public parks, a substantial court-house, a soldiers’ and sailors’ memorial building, a public library, a hospital and many fine residences. It is the seat of the Ohio state reformatory. Mansfield has an extensive trade with the surrounding agricultural country, but its largest interests are in manufactures. The total factory product in 1905 was valued at $7,353,578. There are natural gas wells in the vicinity. The waterworks and the sewage disposal plant are owned and operated by the municipality. Mansfield was laid out in 1808, and was named in honour of Lieut.-Colonel Jared Mansfield (1759–1830), United States surveyor of Ohio and the North-west Territory in 1803–1812, and professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point from 1812 to 1828. Mansfield was incorporated as a village in 1828 and was first chartered as a city in 1857. It was the home of John Sherman from 1840 until his death.