Brady Lake, OH

Brady Lake is an unincorporated census-designated place in Portage County on the southern and eastern shores of its namesake lake, between Kent and Ravenna. The 2020 census counted 1,222 residents. The area began as a summer resort and amusement park in 1891, with cottages, rowboats, a roller coaster, trolleys, and visitors arriving from across northeastern Ohio. The resort history makes clear why the lake’s edge still feels like the community’s center. The water, roads, and park still meet in the same small triangle of land today. Those old lake routes still matter.

The former village dissolved in 2017 and is now part of Franklin Township, but Brady Lake Park keeps the recreation story alive. The park has a paved walking path, bocce and cornhole courts, soccer fields, a baseball field, pavilion, and Special Olympics teams. Kent City School District serves local students. Captain Samuel Brady’s 1780 escape legend supplies the lake’s name, while the park, cottages, roads, and water give the place its present-day shape.