Doylestown is a village located atop the highest point in Wayne County, Ohio, United States. It is surrounded by Chippewa Township and located southwest of Akron. The village was founded in 1827 when William Doyle laid out a 40-lot town site at the crossing of two Native American trails on a hilltop.
The population was 3,051 at the 2020 census.
Geography
Doylestown is at (40.970278, -81.694346).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all of it land.
Doylestown is located atop a hill, with most of the town including the uptown area located at approximately 1,250 feet above sea level.
A handful of small streams begin at springs on the slopes of the hill and flow from the higher elevations into larger creeks surrounding the village. Silver Creek drains the town on the east, Mill Creek on the north and west, while Chippewa Creek drains the south side and collects both Mill and Silver Creeks. Where Silver Creek flows into Chippewa Creek just southeast of town, in Rogues' Hollow, the elevation is 950 feet.
The town is located in the far northeastern corner of Wayne County. The center of Doylestown is located about a mile south of the Medina and Summit County lines and about two miles from the Summit County line to the east as well. The Summit County cities of Norton, Barberton and New Franklin are located directly across the county line to the north, northeast and east, respectively.
Ohio State Route 585 skims the northern and eastern edges of the village as it heads southeast from Norton to Wooster. Ohio State Route 21 runs south–north about a mile east of the village beyond Silver Creek.
History
Initial settlement
In 1813, Thomas Frederick from Lancaster, Pennsylvania became the first settler to establish a homestead in what is now Doylestown. William Doyle, for whom the town was named, arrived in 1827 and purchased 50 acres from Frederick and two other early settlers. Doyle moved his family onto the land with the intent to found a new village. Five friends of Doyle's from Pennsylvania were convinced to bring their families and join Doyle to help settle the new village.
On December 9, 1827 the village was surveyed by Charles Christmas, one of the five men Doyle convinced to move from Pennsylvania. The survey was recorded on Christmas Day. The new village would contain 40 lots in what is now Uptown, the commercial district, of modern Doylestown. Soon after, with the help of another of the five families, Doyle built Doylestown's first building, a log cabin tavern. Franklin continued to own the land north of the platted village, and was unhappy with the development taking place which led to a feud with Doyle. This prevented development from extending in that direction until after Doyle moved from the area.
Also in 1836, the Village of Doylestown established its first Board of Education. The board purchased a tract of land from Frederick at what is now the intersection of Portage and Gates streets with the intention of establishing a school. A decade later the wood-frame school was replaced with a more permanent brick building which would be expanded vertically as the village grew through the 1850s.
Many of these early buildings, as well as those which were constructed later, were built of brick. In 1834, brickmaking became an early industry in the Doylestown area when Abrahamm Franks built a kiln a quarter-mile southwest of the village site. Numerous other temporary brick works were established as needed nearby to construction sites around the village. Longer-lasting brick yards were established around Doylestown in 1867, 1872 and 1886.
Other early industries besides brick making included grain and wool mills, a tannery and a distillery, though primary among these early industries was coal mining which began to take off in the 1840s.