East Canton, OH

East Canton began as Osnaburg, surveyed in 1801 and settled a few years later, when the place sat on the stagecoach route along what is now Route 172. The early town even competed to become Stark County’s seat. Its name changed during World War I, when anti-German feeling made Osnaburg an uncomfortable label, and East Canton became the replacement. Today Osnaburg Local Schools’ K–12 campus is one of the clearest everyday reference points, alongside the village’s library and services. East Canton is a northeastern Ohio village with a German name in the rearview mirror and a school-centered map in the present.