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Granville, Ohio facts for kids

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Granville, Ohio
Village
Granville streetscape
Granville streetscape
Motto(s): 
"One of Ohio's Best Hometowns"
Location of Granville, Ohio
Location of Granville, Ohio
Location within Licking County
Location within Licking County
Country United States
State Ohio
County Licking
Area
 • Total 4.83 sq mi (12.50 km2)
 • Land 4.78 sq mi (12.38 km2)
 • Water 0.05 sq mi (0.12 km2)
Elevation
958 ft (292 m)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total 5,646
 • Estimate 
(2019)
5,916
 • Density 1,237.92/sq mi (477.96/km2)
Time zone UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
43023
Area code(s) 740
FIPS code 39-31402
GNIS feature ID 1061369

Granville is a village in Licking County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,646 at the 2010 census. The village is located in a rural area of rolling hills in central Ohio. It is 35 miles (56 km) east of Columbus, the state capital, and 7 miles (11 km) west of Newark, the county seat.

Granville is home to Denison University. The village has a number of historic buildings, including Greek Revival structures like the Avery Downer House, St. Luke's Episcopal Church (1837) and others. The Buxton Inn (1812), the Granville Inn (1924), Bancroft House (1834) and Bryn Du Mansion are local landmarks.

History

Pioneer settlers

Granville was founded in 1805 by a colony of settlers from Granville, Massachusetts, who named the new village after their former home. The area was first surveyed in 1797, as land set aside for those who had served in the Revolutionary War. Among the earliest settlers were Theophilus Rees and Thomas Philipps who were born in Wales and left in 1795 for a new life on the American frontier. The village's Welsh heritage is still evident in numerous place names.

Early schools

Education was a pillar of early civic life. The village's pioneer settlers had built a three story brick school house by 1820. By the 1830s there were five schools in the village. As those educational institutions continued to develop through the mid and late 19th century, they began to serve students from throughout the region as well as from the village. Among those institutions were the Granville Literary and Theological Institution, the Granville Female Seminary, the Granville Episcopal Female Seminary, the Young Ladies’ Institute, the Granville Female Academy, Doane Academy, and Shepardson College for Women. As several of the institution's names indicate, the education of young women was highly valued by the village's early settlers. Several of these institutions evolved into what is today Denison University.

Pre-Columbian culture

Granville is the location of the prehistoric Alligator Effigy Mound, built by the indigenous people of the Fort Ancient culture, between 800 and 1200 AD, more than four hundred years before European contact. It may be an effigy of the underwater panther featured in Native American mythology. The mound is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The area is rich in evidence of indigenous cultures. Barely five miles from the Alligator Effigy Mound are the impressive Newark Earthworks, associated with the Hopewell culture.

Geography

Granville is located at 40°4′3″N 82°30′44″W / 40.06750°N 82.51222°W / 40.06750; -82.51222 (40.067520, -82.512316). According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 4.71 square miles (12.20 km2), of which 4.68 square miles (12.12 km2) is land and 0.03 square miles (0.08 km2) is water.

The central village is situated among three prominent hills. College Hill is to the north. Sugarloaf is a prominent hill and park at the west end of Broadway. Mt. Parnassus is another prominent hill and residential area at the east end of Broadway. A short distance south of the village center is the Raccoon Greek flood plain with the creek running from the west to east.

Religion

Churches occupy prominent positions at the center of the village and in the life of the community. At the intersection of Broadway and Main Street are located the First Presbyterian Church, Centenary United Methodist Church, St. Luke's Episcopal Church and the United Church of Granville (UCC). Nearby are Pilgrim Lutheran Church and St. Edward's Catholic Church. Also, located in the village are Spring Hills Baptist Church, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, Union Station Community Church and Bethel Apostolic Church.

Granville has a long history of being home to the administrative center of the American Baptist Church in Ohio. Formerly known as the Ohio Baptist Convention, the American Baptist Churches of Ohio's office remains located in the village. Denison University was founded as a Baptist college and had a long association with the church. Like other Ohio independent colleges founded in the nineteenth century by religious denominations, the significance of Denison's church affiliation faded and today the university is a non-sectarian institution.

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1820 199
1830 362 81.9%
1840 727 100.8%
1850 771 6.1%
1860 801 3.9%
1870 1,109 38.5%
1880 1,127 1.6%
1890 1,366 21.2%
1900 1,425 4.3%
1910 1,394 −2.2%
1920 1,440 3.3%
1930 1,467 1.9%
1940 1,502 2.4%
1950 2,653 76.6%
1960 2,868 8.1%
1970 3,963 38.2%
1980 3,851 −2.8%
1990 4,244 10.2%
2000 3,167 −25.4%
2010 5,646 78.3%
2020 5,946 5.3%
Sources:

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 5,646 people, 1,441 households, and 1,017 families living in the village. The population density was 1,206.4 inhabitants per square mile (465.8/km2). There were 1,554 housing units at an average density of 332.1 per square mile (128.2/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 91.9% White, 2.1% African American, 0.1% Native American, 3.6% Asian, 0.6% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.7% of the population.

There were 1,441 households, of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.3% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 29.4% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.05.

The median age in the village was 22 years. 18.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 38.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 12.1% were from 25 to 44; 21.4% were from 45 to 64; and 9.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 46.3% male and 53.7% female.

Points of Interest

  • Granville: The Story of an Ohio Village, William T. Utter, 1956
  • Wild Turkeys and Tallow Candles, Ellen Amanda Hayes, 1920
  • Denison: The Story of an Ohio College, G. Wallace Chessman, 1957
  • The Historical Times, newsletter of the Granville Historical Society


Education

Village schools

Granville's public schools are operated by the Granville Exempted Village School District. The system includes, Granville High School, Granville Middle School, Granville Intermediate School and Granville Elementary School. The high school's graduating class of 2014 included 220 students. The district receives strong performance rankings from the Ohio Department of Education Located in the village is the Granville Christian Academy serving K-12 students. Also, there are several private preschools.

Denison univ
Swasey Chapel at Denison University

Denison University

On a hill overlooking the village is the campus of Denison University, founded in 1831 as the Granville Theological and Literary Seminary, originally a northern Baptist institution. Today, Denison is a private, residential, non-sectarian liberal arts college with a student body of about 2,100 and a faculty of 200. The school is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is certified by the Ohio Board of Regents to grant Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees. 74% of the student body comes from out of state, including representatives from forty countries. The Homestead at Denison University is a residential student intentional community focusing on environmental sustainability. Swasey Chapel is the iconic campus structure. Completed in 1924, the chapel is named in honor of Ambrose Swasey, a benefactor to the college and prominent Cleveland inventor and businessman.

The history of Granville has been interwoven with that of the college for nearly two centuries. Denison faculty and staff make up an important segment of the village's population, and student patronage is central to many village businesses. Granville residents may take advantage of many university facilities, such as the athletic center, free of charge. The college has recently embarked on a number of in-town purchases, including the Granville Golf Club and the Granville Inn.

Notable people

  • Hubert Howe Bancroft, an American historian and ethnologist
  • Ernest DeWitt Burton, an American biblical scholar and president of the University of Chicago
  • Paul Carpenter, a minor league baseball player
  • Edward Andrew Deeds, inventor and industrialist
  • Edmund Burke Fairfield, American minister, educator and politician in the U.S. state of Michigan.
  • Lottie Estelle Granger, educator
  • Marie Harf, political commentator for Fox News, former Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications to U.S. Secretary of State
  • Ellen Hayes, astronomer and mathematician
  • Woody Hayes, a graduate of and football coach for Denison University, before leaving to coach at Ohio State University
  • George Jones, co-founder of the New York Times
  • Rob Mounsey, composer and arranger
  • Lea Ann Parsley, Olympic silver medalist in the women's skeleton at the 2002 Winter Olympics
  • Alan Schaaf, founder of Imgur, an image sharing website and 2006 graduate of Granville High School
  • Brian Unger, named one of Entertainment Weekly's "100 Most Creative People in Entertainment" in 1998 and host of the show How the States Got Their Shapes appearing on The History Channel.
  • Willard Warner, a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War
  • Lee Wells, contemporary fine artist and curator
  • Scott Wiper, writer and director

Images for kids

See also

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