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

Strongsville, Ohio

23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Strongsville City. It lies in ZIP code area 44149. The Survey maps it on the Berea quadrangle. 46,491 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 932 feet above sea level.

Strongsville within Cuyahoga County

Population over time

2 figures

Strongsville grew from 44,750 to 46,491 between 2010 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
201044,750
202046,491+1,741 (+4%)

Then and now

1902 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 92 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Strongsville, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Strongsville, surveyed 1902

Topographic sheets covering this place

23 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 county-history sources

6,580 words on this township

History of Cuyahoga County Ohio, published 1870 names this settlement in its chapter on Strongsville City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

To that cabin in the forepart of March, 1816, came John Hilliard, accompanied by his wife (the first white woman who ever resided in Strongsville township), and his young daughter, Eliza. Mrs. Hillard took up her residence in the log mansion and became the housekeeper of the party. A surveyor was obtained from Newburg, and the work of subdividing the township into lots was speedily begun. Whitney, Goodell, Church and Fuller acted as chain-men. The lots were made half a mile square, thus containing a hundred and sixty acres each. Had the townships been just five miles square, as was originally intended, there would have been just a hundred lots of that size. A hundred lots were actually surveyed, but the five miles east and west did not quite hold out, and the lots in the westernmost tier were only about a third of a mile wide. They were numbered, beginning with number one in the southwestern corner, thence running north to number ten, in the north_ western corner, thence baek in the next tier on the east to number twenty, and so on forth and back, closing with number one hundred in the northeastern corner.

Passage source: History of Cuyahoga County Ohio, published 1870.

Not only was there no grain in the new settlement, but it was extremely scarce in the older localities around, owing to the cold summer of 1816. Mr. Abial Haines mentions that in January, 1817, he was compelled to go as far as Harrisville, (now on the south line of Medina county) some thirty miles distant from Strongsville, to. obtain wheat. The road could with difficulty be traveled by a yoke of oxen with a sled; the wolves came in sight after dusk, showing their angry teeth, but declining to come in reach of young Haines stout club, and after he arrived in Harrisville he had to thresh his wheat and winnow it with a "'hand-fan" before he could get it. The price was a dollar a bushel.

Passage source: History of Cuyahoga County Ohio, published 1870.

Such rapid progress incited the principal men to apply to the county commissioners to erect number five. into a separate civil township. 'Their petition was granted, and the name of Strongsville was given to the new township, in honor of its most prominent citizen, John S. Strong. On the 18th day of February, 1818, the first election was held for the purpose of organizing the township. It was presided over by Ephraim Vaughn, Esq., a justice of the peace of Middleburg. The judges of election were James Nichols, David Goodwin, and Chipman Porter. The following officers were elected: Trustees, John Dinsmore, James Nichols, James Smith; clerk, Seth Goodwin; treasurer, Guilford Whitney; fence-viewers, James Bennett, Benjamin G. Barber; constables, Jas. Nichols and G. F. Nichols; supervisors of highways, John Bosworth, John Dinsmore, and B. G. Barber. The last-named official declined, and Abial Haynes was appointed in his place. At a special election the following June, James Nichols and Ahijah Haynes, Sr., were elected the first justices of the peace.

Passage source: History of Cuyahoga County Ohio, published 1870.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Strongsville City - it names this place 18 more 18 times.

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 734 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 734 specimens collected within 10 miles of Strongsville between 1883 and 1975: 675 Animalia, 41 Plantae, 14 Fungi, 4 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. D. Huryn, A. Woolman, Allen, John 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 Osmunda claytoniana L.Osmunda claytoniana L.1894Winkler, H.J.Cleveland.
Specimen of Camptosorus rhizophyllus (L.) LinkCamptosorus rhizophyllus (L.) Link1895Ashcraft, G.B.Berea
Specimen of Irpiciporus lacteus (Fr.) MurrillIrpiciporus lacteus (Fr.) Murrill1895F. D. KelseyBerea.
A photograph of the species Vireo olivaceus, not of this specimenVireo olivaceus olivaceus (Linnaeus, 1766)1883William DoertenbachBrooklyn
A photograph of the species Dendroica petechia, not of this specimenDendroica petechia aestiva (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)1884William DoertenbachBrooklyn
A photograph of the species Empidonax virescens, not of this specimenEmpidonax virescens (Vieillot, 1818)1885William DoertenbachBrooklyn
A photograph of the species Quiscalus quiscula, not of this specimenQuiscalus quiscula versicolor Vieillot, 18191885William DoertenbachBrooklyn
A photograph of the species Tyrannus tyrannus, not of this specimenTyrannus tyrannus (Linnaeus, 1758)1885William DoertenbachBrooklyn
A photograph of the species Zonotrichia melodia, not of this specimenZonotrichia melodia (A.Wilson, 1810)1885William DoertenbachBrooklyn
A photograph of the species Betula populifolia, not of this specimenBetula populifolia Marshall1891Henry C. CowlesKensington, Ct.
A photograph of the species Pteridium aquilinum, not of this specimenPteridium aquilinum subsp. latiusculum (Desv.) Hultén ex R.T.Clausen1891George B. AshcroftOhio, dry hills near Berea
A photograph of the species Erimyzon sucetta, not of this specimenErimyzon sucetta (Lacepède, 1803)1893A. WoolmanRocky River, Olmsted Falls, Ohio

All 734 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Storms near this place

22 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Strongsville in 22 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 13 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood. 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
July 2009HailStrongsville$50,000Hail up to penny size was observed. Several homes on the south side of Strongsville sustained roof damage from the hail.
June 2008HailStrongsville$50,000Golf ball size hail was observed.
June 2008HailStrongsville$50,000Golf ball size hail was observed.
July 2018Thunderstorm WindStrongsville$40,000Thunderstorm winds downed a couple trees and some power lines in Strongsville. A house along Deerfield Drive was damaged by a fallen tree. At least 3000 electric customers in Strongsville lost power during this event.
June 2008HailStrongsville$25,000Half dollar size hail was observed.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindStrongsville$25,000Thunderstorm winds downed several trees and large tree limbs.
May 2010Thunderstorm WindStrongsville$10,000Thunderstorm winds caused minor damage to a building.
May 2004HailStrongsville$5,000Quarter size hail was observed.
May 2004HailStrongsville$5,000Penny to quarter size hail was observed.
September 2015Thunderstorm WindStrongsville$4,000Several reports came in via social media and broadcast media of thunderstorm winds causing several trees down near the Stillbrooke residential development in Strongsville.
July 2003HailStrongsville$4,000Nickel size hail was observed.
July 2003HailStrongsville$2,000Penny to quarter size hail was observed.
September 2018Thunderstorm WindStrongsville$1,000Thunderstorm winds downed a large tree near the intersection of Howe and Boston Roads.
January 2023Thunderstorm WindStrongsville-Light pole blown down near intersection of Royalton and Howe Roads in Strongsville.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindStrongsville-Tree downed in Strongsville.
September 2020Flash FloodStrongsville-Prime Road closed north of Albion and Marks Road south of Johnathan Drive. Big Creek Road was closed in Bonnie Park.
September 2018HailStrongsville-Penny sized hail was reported.
June 2008HailStrongsville-Nickel size hail was observed.
August 2008HailStrongsville-Nickel size hail was observed.
June 2001HailStrongsville-Dime size hail was reported.
September 1997Flash FloodStrongsville-Heavy thunderstorm rain caused flooding along Pearl Road.
April 1996HailStrongsville-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cuyahoga 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
Vigil1.2 miles23
Binola1.3 miles23
Westwood Farms1.5 miles23
Waterford Crossing2.1 miles23
Middleburg Heights3.5 miles23
Berea3.7 miles23
Bennetts Corners3.8 miles23
West View4.8 miles20

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 StrongsvilleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q986314The 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 1065396. 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.

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.