Editing Brimfield Township, Ohio (section)

==Name and history==
{{stack|[[File:Portage County 1826.jpg|300px|thumb|right|1826 map of Portage County with Brimfield labeled by its former name "Thorndike."]]}}
The township is named after the [[New England town|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.<ref>{{cite book |title= History of Portage County Ohio|last= Brown|first= R.C |author2=Norris, J.E.|orig-year= 1885|year= 1972|publisher= Warner, Beers, and Company|location= [[Chicago, Illinois]]|pages= 405–406}}</ref> A post office called Brimfield was established in 1834 and remained in operation until 1907.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=OH&county=Portage | title=Portage County | publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | access-date=13 January 2016}}</ref>