Logan County

On December 30, 1817, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Logan County. Residents named the county in honor of Benjamin Logan, a hero of the American Revolution and wars with Ohio’s Indian population. Previously, the county had been part of land reserved to Ohio’s Indian people, under the Treaty of Greeneville.

Logan County is located in northwestern Ohio. It is predominantly rural, with less than one percent of the county’s 458 square miles consisting of urban areas. The county seat is Bellefontaine. With a population of 13,069 people, Bellefontaine was the county’s largest community in 2000. Many residents of Ohio’s rural communities are seeking better lives and more opportunities in the state’s cities, but Logan County’s population grew between 1990 and 2000. The county experienced an 8.7 percent population growth rate between 1990 and 2000, bringing the total number of residents up to 46,005. The county averages just over one hundred people per square mile.

Manufacturing businesses and service industries, such as health care and tourism, are Logan County’s largest employers. Retail positions and farming rank third and fourth, respectively. Among the county’s tourist attractions are Lake State Park, the Zane Caverns, and the Ohio Caverns. In 1999, the per capita income in the county was almost twenty-five thousand dollars, with 9.5 percent of the people living in poverty.

Most voters in Logan County claim to be independents, yet in recent years, they have overwhelmingly supported Republican Party candidates at the national level.

Logan County’s Campbell Hill, 1,548.81 feet above sea level, is the highest point in the United States between the Rocky Mountains and the Allegheny Mountains.