Louisville

History

On October 8, 1834, Louisville was formally settled by Henry Lautzenheiser, from Germany, and Frederick Fainot, a French Huguenot. The city was named after Lautzenheiser's son, Lewis, and called Lewisville, Ohio. The name of the town was also considered appropriate because it was initially surveyed by the similar-sounding name of Lewis Vail. When the post office was established in 1837, with Sam Petree as its first postmaster, it was discovered Ohio already had a Lewisville, so the spelling was changed to Louisville. Within Louisville's early days, the town competed with the fellow Nimishillen Township community of Harrisburg (also known as Barryville) for growth. Harrisburg initially flourished due to its accessibility as a stagecoach stop between Canton, Alliance, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, Louisville also grew, due to its location upon the east branch of the Nimishillen Creek, which flows toward Canton. However, when the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway was laid through Louisville in 1852, Louisville began to grow more quickly than Harrisburg, which struggled with the difficulty of hauling its main product, wheat, by barge. Today, Harrisburg is now an unincorporated community, marked only by a handful of businesses and a Roman Catholic parish. On April 1, 1872, Louisville was officially incorporated as a village, with George Violand elected as Louisville's first mayor. By the late 19th Century, Louisville contained many quickly growing businesses, including: a plow manufacturing company, a wooden mill, a brewery, a basket factory, flour mills, tanneries, a brick yard, two hotels, a shoe factory, and a number of taverns/saloons (Louisville had twenty saloons at one point, giving the town a rather notorious reputation). Two of these businesses,…

Geography

The east branch of Nimishillen Creek flows through the city. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.

Largest nearby schools

• McKinley High School
  High · Canton · 2,154 students · 15.1:1 ratio
• GlenOak High School
  High · Canton · 2,067 students · 22.7:1 ratio
• Lake Middle / High School
  High · Uniontown · 1,629 students · 17.1:1 ratio
• Hoover High School
  High · North Canton · 1,543 students
• Lake Elementary School
  Elementary · Hartville · 1,287 students · 22.2:1 ratio
• Alliance High School
  High · Alliance · 973 students · 19.5:1 ratio
• Oakwood Middle School
  Middle · Canton · 940 students · 22.9:1 ratio
• North Canton Middle School
  Middle · North Canton · 932 students