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Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Portage Lakes, Ohio

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Coventry Township. It lies in ZIP code area 44319. It stands on Feeder Race River. The Survey maps it on the Akron West quadrangle. 6,407 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 965 feet above sea level.

Portage Lakes within Summit County

Population over time

3 figures

Portage Lakes fell from 9,870 to 6,407 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20009,870
20106,968-2,902 (-29%)
20206,407-561 (-8%)

Then and now

1903 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 91 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Portage Lakes, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Portage Lakes, surveyed 1903

Topographic sheets covering this place

22 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the 1908 county history

1,608 words on this township

The county history of 1908 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for the smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Coventry Township covers the township.

Read the chapter on Coventry Township - 1,608 words.

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 722 shown

Museums hold 722 specimens collected within 10 miles of Portage Lakes between 1867 and 1975: 615 Animalia, 62 Plantae, 43 Fungi, 1 Unrecorded, 1 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (no collector listed), A. W. Cusick, A. Woolman and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Botrychium virginianum subsp. virginianumBotrychium virginianum subsp. virginianum1888Wright, A.A.Tallmadge.
Specimen of Asclepias quadrifolia Jacq.Asclepias quadrifolia Jacq.1889Foltz, Kent O.Sand Run Park; Akron
Specimen of Asclepias verticillata L.Asclepias verticillata L.1889not recordedAkron
A photograph of the species Accipiter striatus, not of this specimenAccipiter striatus velox (A.Wilson, 1812)1867Collector(s): James Lee PetersAkron
A photograph of the species Dryopteris carthusiana, not of this specimenDryopteris carthusiana (Vill.) H.P.Fuchs1880F. O. PayneAkron
A photograph of the species Geum aleppicum, not of this specimenGeum aleppicum Jacq.1887ElliottGreensburg
A photograph of the species Geum canadense, not of this specimenGeum canadense Jacq.1887ElliottGreensburg
A photograph of the species Hydrastis canadensis, not of this specimenHydrastis canadensis L.1888E.L. Sturtevant II
A photograph of the species Lonicera dioica, not of this specimenLonicera dioica L.1888K. O. Foltz
A photograph of the species Penstemon hirsutus, not of this specimenPenstemon hirsutus (L.) Willd.1888K. O. Foltz
A photograph of the species Agrimonia gryposepala, not of this specimenAgrimonia gryposepala Wallr.1889ElliottGreensburg
A photograph of the species Carex pensylvanica, not of this specimenCarex pensylvanica Lam.1889Foltz, K.O.Akron

All 722 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 13 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Portage Lakes: 6 past producers, 5 producers, 2 plants. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay, Coal, Limestone, General. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Barberton Cement PlantMarble, Dimension, Cement RockProducer
Barberton Limestone MineLimestone, GeneralPast ProducerSedimentary
Carbon Limestone Company QuarryStone, Crushed/Broken, Clay, CoalProducer
Ppg Indus Brine Wells PlantSaltProducer
Barberton Sand Plant & QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPlant
Barberton Sand QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast ProducerSedimentary
Barberton PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Flesher PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Hammond Brothers Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Hammond Brothers Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Summit County

Storms nearby

13 since 1998

The National Weather Service names Portage Lakes in 13 storm reports between 1998 and 2026: 8 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2007Thunderstorm WindPortage Lakes$50,000Numerous trees and large limbs were reported down near the Nimisila Reservoir and throughout Portage Lakes State Park. Reports of trees down extended just north into Coventry Township.
April 2018Tornado (EF1)Portage Lakes$25,000An EF1 tornado briefly touched down along Manchester Road in Coventry Township. The initial touchdown occurred in a restaurant parking lot. Two signs and a light pole at the restaurant were damaged. The tornado then crossed Manchester Road and flipped a parked car at a second restaurant. Another car nearby was spun around several times. Several tree limbs were also snapped. No injuries were reported. This tornado was captured on a security camera video. The tornado appeared to be on the ground for just over a tenth of a mile.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindPortage Lakes$12,000Trained weather spotter reported 6-8 trees down around Manchester Road south of Akron. Several 90 foot trees were also brought down by thunderstorm winds in northwest portions of Green. Extremely heavy rainfall accompanied the storms.
June 2005HailPortage Lakes$10,000Quarter size hail was observed.
March 2026HailPortage Lakes-Hail up to penny-size near Melv Drive and Lockwood Road in the Barberton and Portage Lakes area.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindPortage Lakes-Downed trees caused the closure of Coleman Drive, near Laddie Drive, in New Franklin.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindPortage Lakes-Tree downed along Provens Drive in Green.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindPortage Lakes-OH Route 619, just west of State Street, became impassable due to downed trees in Portage Lakes.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindPortage Lakes-Medium to large tree branches downed at Rose Circle Drive and Akron View Drive in Barberton.
April 2023Thunderstorm WindPortage Lakes-Numerous trees downed near intersection of Christman and East Caston Roads in Green.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindPortage Lakes-Trees downed in Portage Lakes.
May 2019HailPortage Lakes-no account filed
June 1998HailPortage Lakes-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Summit County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Lakeview0.7 miles18
Infant of Prague Villa1.0 miles18
Turkeyfoot Heights1.5 miles18
Swartz Corners1.5 miles22
Cottage Grove1.5 miles18
Lockwood Corners1.7 miles18
Coventry Estates1.9 miles16
Robins Trace2.0 miles18

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Portage LakesAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3313437The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1058169. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.