Massillon’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 3 old photos of Massillon. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The original settlement of Kendal was founded in 1812 by Thomas Rotch, a Quaker originally of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connecticut. James Duncan of New Hampshire first settled in Kendal before recording the plot for Massillon on December 6, 1826. Duncan, known as the city's founder, named the town after Jean-Baptiste Massillon, a French Catholic bishop, at the request of his wife. The town plat was established along the east bank of the Tuscarawas River, which was the surveyed route for the Ohio and Erie Canal being constructed to connect Lake Erie with the Ohio River. The canal section spanning from Cleveland to Massillon was completed in 1828. Among the leading merchants were the Wellman brothers Hiram and Marshall. Marshall Wellman was the grandfather of the American author Jack London. Massillon quickly became a major port town along the canal route, known as the Po…
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Massillon’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Massillon’s history is told.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewHigh School, 1905: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Massillon, decade by decade
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as High School (1905) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Historic places
National Register · via Wikidata
From the Library of Congress (3) and the National Register (3). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.