page_title: Brimfield Township, Portage County, Ohio
section_title: Name and history
hierarchical_section_title: Brimfield Township, Portage County, Ohio / Name and history
context_page_description: Brimfield Township is one of the eighteen townships of Portage County, Ohio, United States. The 2010 census found 10,376 people in the township.
context_section_description: The township is named after the town of Brimfield, Massachusetts, and is the only Brimfield Township in Ohio.  It was formed from survey township Town 2, Range 9 of the Connecticut Western Reserve. The original proprietors were Israel Thorndike of Boston and John Wyles of Hartford, Connecticut, both of whom came to the area in 1816 to view their land and divide it.  While neither settled in Brimfield, Thorndike sent his nephew Henry Thorndike to act as his agent and settle in the township. Brimfield was known by a succession of different names during the first few years, mostly in reference the swampy land within its borders.  It was first known as "Swamptown", followed by "Beartown", "Greenbriar", and "Wylestown", before town leaders agreed to name it "Thorndike" at the establishment of the township government in 1818 after Thorndike had agreed to donate land for a town square.  Thorndike never followed through on his agreement, so residents petitioned to have the name changed to "Brimfield" in honor of John Wyles, Jr., who had inherited his father's land interests and at the time resided in Brimfield, Massachusetts. A post office called Brimfield was established in 1834, and remained in operation until 1907.
caption: 1826 map of Portage County with Brimfield labeled by its former name "Thorndike."
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