Columbiana County, Ohio U.S. Census TIGER/Line map

Columbiana County (1950 pop. 83,000; 2000 pop. 112,075), Ohio, lying along the eastern border of the state, was organized in 1803 and early received a large German population, including Mennonites from Bucks County, Pennsylvania (in 1807). During the first 50 years it became one of the four or five leading wool-growing counties in the United States. In the early 1950s a large increase of the urban population in Columbiana and (adjoining) Mahoning counties on account of the growing importance of ceramic and steel manufacturers was directing the agricultural interests of the Mennonites from general farming to poultry raising, dairying, and gardening. With Mahoning County (1950 population 87,000; 2000 pop. 257,555), formed from it in 1846, Columbiana has long been a progressive and influential center of Ohio Mennonitism. The three Mennonite (Mennonite Church) churches in northern Columbiana and southern Mahoning counties in the early 1950s had a combined membership of 471, and a Wisler (Old Order Mennonite) congregation north of Columbiana had 60.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 647. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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