Editing Cortland, Ohio (section)

==History==
[[File:"A Beauty Spot," Postcard Cortland, Ohio. - DPLA - fb8227879a001631867946899b3305a4 (page 1) (cropped).jpg|alt=Postcard showing views of houses by a brook with a wooden bridge in Cortland, Ohio.|thumb|Postcard titled "A Beauty Spot" of Cortland, Ohio (1911)|left]]

Samuel Bacon established a settlement in what is now Cortland by acquiring land along the Mahoning River in 1807.<ref name="cortland hist">{{cite web|url=https://cityofcortland.org/about/cortland-history/ |title=Cortland History |publisher=City of Cortland, Ohio |access-date=May 20, 2025 }}</ref> In 1816, he traded this land for a lumber mill.<ref name="bazetta">{{cite web|url=https://www.cortlandohiohistory.org/copy-of-bazetta |title=Uncle Enos In Cortland |author=Johnson, H. U. |publisher=Lake Shore Home Magazine |date=December 1884 |website=www.cortlandohiohistory.org |access-date=May 20, 2025 }}</ref> The mill relied on a dam built in 1809, but it was limited to spring use due to water levels. As the area developed, J.H. Post and H.G. Scovill built a larger dam that powered a custom and planning mill and grist mill. The area became known as Baconsburg in the 19th century.<ref name="cortland hist" />

Minister Orrin Gates, who was from [[Cortland, New York]], helped convert the area's oldest church into a Disciple Church in 1832.<ref name="cortland hist" /> Baconsburg officially incorporated as the village of Cortland in 1873, named after the city in New York.<ref name="cortland hist" /> The village grew, with a new town hall built in 1874 and later replaced in 1986.<ref name="cortland hist" /> The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1820, a cheese factory opened in 1875, and the Union School was constructed in 1877.<ref name="bazetta" />

In 1981, Cortland officially became a city after its population surpassed 5,000 and later adopted a charter government.<ref name="cortland hist" />