Editing Munroe Falls, Ohio (section)

== History ==
Like much of the [[Connecticut Western Reserve]], the area that makes up present-day Munroe Falls was previously inhabited by various tribes of [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indians]].<ref>{{cite book |title= History of Summit County|url= https://archive.org/details/historyofsummitc00perr|editor1-first= William Henry|editor1-last= Perrin|year= 1881|edition= 1972|publisher= Baskin & Balley (1881); Unigraphic (1972)|location= [[Chicago, Illinois]] (1881); [[Indianapolis, Indiana]] (1972)|pages= [https://archive.org/details/historyofsummitc00perr/page/207 207]–225}}</ref>  When the Western Reserve began being surveyed in 1796, what is now Munroe Falls was mostly in the southern part of the [[survey township]] Town 3, Range 10 (later to be Stow Township), then a part of [[Washington County, Ohio|Washington County]] before being placed in the new [[Jefferson County, Ohio|Jefferson County]] the following year.  In 1800, it was made part of [[Trumbull County, Ohio|Trumbull County]], which followed the boundaries of the Western Reserve, and in 1808, the area was made part of [[Portage County, Ohio|Portage County]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Ohio County Formation Maps|url= http://www.genealogyinc.com/ohio/maps/|work= genealogyinc.com|publisher= Genealogy Inc.|year= 2008|access-date= September 28, 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120619051107/http://www.genealogyinc.com/ohio/maps/|archive-date= June 19, 2012|url-status= dead}}</ref>  The first settlers in present-day Munroe Falls, a group of around 40 people including Francis Kelsey and William Stow, came in 1809.<ref name=smfpl>{{cite web |title= Early History Munroe Falls |url= http://www.smfpl.org/node/78|work= SMFPL.org|publisher= Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library|access-date=October 12, 2009}} Adapted from ''Fifty Years and Over Of Akron and Summit County'' by Samuel A. Lane (1892)</ref> William Stow built a log house to serve as his residence at what is now the northwest corner of [[Ohio State Route 91]] and Munroe Falls Avenue.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Myers |first1=Katheryn|last2=Peterson |first2=Renée |first3=Carl |last3=Donaldson|editor-last1=Bishop |editor-first1=Dawn |date=1980 |title=History of the Village of Munroe Falls, Ohio |url= |location=Munroe Falls, Ohio |publisher=Munroe Falls Historical Society |page=31}}</ref>  Kelsey built a [[sawmill]] on the south side of the [[Cuyahoga River]] and a [[gristmill]] was built on the north side.<ref name=summit>Perrin, pp 516-518</ref>  The initial name of the new village was '''Kelsey's Mills''' (also '''Kelsey Mills''').   The first school in Munroe Falls was built in 1816.<ref name=images>{{cite book |last=Daugherty |first=Beth E. |date=2010 |title=Images of America: Stow and Munroe Falls |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |pages=7–8 |isbn=978-0-7385-8388-4}}</ref> In 1817 a wooden dam was built to provide power for both mills and the name of the village was changed to '''Florence'''.<ref name=history>{{cite web|title= History|url= http://www.co.summit.oh.us/executive/mfd/mfdhistory.htm|work= Munroe Falls Dam: Changing a Dam, Restoring a River|publisher= [[Summit County, Ohio|County of Summit]]|year= 2008|access-date= September 27, 2009|quote= In 1809, an estimated 40 people traveled from Connecticut and settled next to a river called the Cuyahoga. The settlers called their new village Kelsey's Mills. ... The first report of a dam in Munroe Falls was 1817, the same year that the name of the village was changed to Florence.|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081224034257/http://www.co.summit.oh.us/executive/mfd/mfdhistory.htm|archive-date= December 24, 2008|url-status= dead}}</ref>  Around 1836, William and Edmund Munroe (also spelled Monroe) from [[Boston]] arrived and purchased the two mills and approximately {{convert|250|acre|ha|0}} of land around them to lay out a new village, which they named Munroe Falls.<ref name=summit/> The village was incorporated October 26, 1838.<ref>{{cite web|title= Sights to See in Monroe Falls|url= http://www.summithistory.org/Community/museum_munfalls.html|work= SummitHistory.org|publisher= Summit County Historical Society|year= 2007|access-date= September 28, 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090628195052/http://summithistory.org/Community/museum_munfalls.html|archive-date= June 28, 2009|url-status= dead}}</ref>  The Munroes had great plans for the village to become a center of commerce and an important city, but these plans never worked out.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Myers |first1=Katheryn|last2=Peterson |first2=Renée |first3=Carl |last3=Donaldson|editor-last1=Bishop |editor-first1=Dawn |date=1980 |title=History of the Village of Munroe Falls, Ohio |url= |location=Munroe Falls, Ohio |publisher=Munroe Falls Historical Society |page=12}}</ref>  The "Munroe Falls Manufacturing Co." was granted a charter by the Ohio Legislature in April 1837 in order to cultivate and manufacture cotton, flour, paper, silk, sugar and wool, including machinery and tools towards these purposes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Myers |first1=Katheryn|last2=Peterson |first2=Renée |first3=Carl |last3=Donaldson|editor-last1=Bishop |editor-first1=Dawn |date=1980 |title=History of the Village of Munroe Falls, Ohio |url= |location=Munroe Falls, Ohio |publisher=Munroe Falls Historical Society |pages=12–14}}</ref> The keys to their plans were to found a silk industry, which involved cultivating mulberry trees and silkworms.<ref name=mfhs14>{{cite book |last1=Myers |first1=Katheryn|last2=Peterson |first2=Renée |first3=Carl |last3=Donaldson|editor-last1=Bishop |editor-first1=Dawn |date=1980 |title=History of the Village of Munroe Falls, Ohio |url= |location=Munroe Falls, Ohio |publisher=Munroe Falls Historical Society |page=14}}</ref>  The trees thrived, the worms did not.<ref name=mfhs14 />  Shortly after its founding the Munroe Falls Manufacturing Co. founded a bank, which issued various, unbacked currency.<ref name=mfhs15>{{cite book |last1=Myers |first1=Katheryn|last2=Peterson |first2=Renée |first3=Carl |last3=Donaldson|editor-last1=Bishop |editor-first1=Dawn |date=1980 |title=History of the Village of Munroe Falls, Ohio |url= |location=Munroe Falls, Ohio |publisher=Munroe Falls Historical Society |pages=15–16}}</ref> For the next few years the local economy thrived under the nearly unlimited credit afforded to its customers by the Company and its Bank, but ultimately the macroeconomics of the period prevailed, and both the Company and Bank failed, leaving many local residents holding worthless currency.<ref name=mfhs15 />  After about 10 years, which included the economic instability of the [[Panic of 1837]],<ref name=smfpl/> the Munroes, who had arrived wealthy, defaulted to many of the creditors and the properties they owned were taken over by other individuals.<ref name=summit/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Myers |first1=Katheryn|last2=Peterson |first2=Renée |first3=Carl |last3=Donaldson|editor-last1=Bishop |editor-first1=Dawn |date=1980 |title=History of the Village of Munroe Falls, Ohio |url= |location=Munroe Falls, Ohio |publisher=Munroe Falls Historical Society |page=11}}</ref>

The [[Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal]] opened in 1840 and passed through Munroe Falls, the first boats landing on August 6 of that year arriving from [[New Castle, Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Daugherty |first=Beth E. |date=2010 |title=Images of America: Stow and Munroe Falls |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |page=14 |isbn=978-0-7385-8388-4}}</ref>  It closed around 1870.<ref>{{cite web |author= Adkins, Wendy J.|title= Penn & Ohio|url= http://www.geocities.com/heartland/prairie/6687/pennohio.htm|year= 1997|access-date=September 28, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091020104626/http://geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/6687/pennohio.htm|url-status= dead|archive-date=October 20, 2009}}</ref>  Also in 1840, Munroe Falls was made part of the new [[Summit County, Ohio|Summit County]].<ref>Perrin, p. 229</ref>  In 1866, the old gristmill was purchased by the Cleveland Paper Company and refitted for paper manufacturing.  The building burned down approximately 1–2 years later and the present factory - today owned by [[Sonoco Products]] - was built on the same site.<ref name=summit/>  In 1884 railroad tracks were laid in the former canal bed as part of a single line owned by the [[Pittsburgh and Western Railroad]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Timeline|url= http://www.stow.oh.us/community/history/historyTimeline.shtml|work= Stow.Oh.Us|publisher= [[Stow, Ohio|City of Stow]]|year= 2008|access-date= September 28, 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090220130613/http://stow.oh.us/community/history/historyTimeline.shtml|archive-date= February 20, 2009|url-status= dead|df= dmy-all}}</ref> These tracks were doubled in 1900 following the purchase of the railroad by [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Myers |first1=Katheryn|last2=Peterson |first2=Renée |first3=Carl |last3=Donaldson|editor-last1=Bishop |editor-first1=Dawn |date=1980 |title=History of the Village of Munroe Falls, Ohio |url= |location=Munroe Falls, Ohio |publisher=Munroe Falls Historical Society |page=21}}</ref>

In 1921 the community applied for and was granted village status.  This action was taken in order to avoid becoming a part of neighboring [[Stow, Ohio|Stow]], which was applying for similar status and had included sections of Munroe Falls in its application.  Finding that as a village there was not enough population to maintain self-sufficiency, the village held city officer elections for the first time in 1925 in order to revoke the village charter and receive county services.<ref>{{cite news |date=September 13, 1925 |title=They'll Be First and Last Officials at Munroe Falls |newspaper=The Akron Sunday Times |location=Akron, Ohio|page=3}}</ref>

The village got a new town hall in the 1960s.  This building, which continues to serve as City Hall, was constructed in 1885 to serve as the Munroe Falls Schoolhouse, serving its original purpose until 1916.<ref>{{cite book |last=Daugherty |first=Beth E. |date=2010 |title=Images of America: Stow and Munroe Falls |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |page=119 |isbn=978-0-7385-8388-4}}</ref>

Munroe Falls converted to city status in 1991.<ref name=images />

In the early 2000s, the Ohio [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA) and Summit County determined that the oxygen levels were too low in the [[Cuyahoga River]], due mostly to the stagnant pool behind the Munroe Falls dam.<ref>{{cite web|title= Problem and Solution|url= http://www.co.summit.oh.us/executive/mfd/mfdproblemsolution.htm|work= Munroe Falls Dam: Changing a Dam, Restoring a River|publisher= [[Summit County, Ohio|County of Summit]]|year= 2008|access-date= September 28, 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090323060446/http://co.summit.oh.us/executive/mfd/mfdproblemsolution.htm|archive-date= March 23, 2009|url-status= dead}}</ref>  The solution was to lower the dam, which dated to 1903.<ref name=history/>  Eventually, the entire dam was removed after workers discovered a natural ledge underneath the existing dam.  This project, begun in August 2005 and completed in October 2006, was part of a larger project along much of the river in the city that included cleanup and restoration.<ref>{{cite web|title= Removing the Munroe Falls Dam|url= http://www.co.summit.oh.us/executive/mfd/mfdRemoveDam.htm|work= Munroe Falls Dam: Changing a Dam, Restoring a River|publisher= [[Summit County, Ohio|County of Summit]]|year= 2008|access-date= September 28, 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091001185046/http://www.co.summit.oh.us/executive/mfd/mfdRemoveDam.htm|archive-date= October 1, 2009|url-status= dead}}</ref>

Munroe Falls is also home to SGS Tool Company, the worlds’ largest manufacturer of round solid carbide cutting tools.  SGS Tool Company's corporate headquarters and R&D centers are located in Munroe Falls, while their manufacturing operations are located in Cuyahoga Falls.  SGS is the largest employer in Munroe Falls, and is the largest percentage of the corporate tax base.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}