Bucyrus, Ohio
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Bucyrus is the county seat of Crawford County, Ohio. The first resident to arrive in what would eventually become Bucyrus was Samuel Norton, who settled in the area in 1819. Norton and James Kilbourne established the village in 1822. It is located on the Sandusky River. The community grew relatively quickly, having approximately one thousand residents in 1840. By 1846, Bucyrus consisted of five churches, one grist mill, one saw mill, two woolen factories, a newspaper office, and fourteen retail stores. Many of the town's earliest residents were of German ancestry.
Over the next forty years, Bucyrus' population increased four-fold. This was primarily due to the two railroads that passed through the community, making the town a center of trade. Five newspapers served the residents, and the town boasted nine churches and three banks. The railroads and the Bucyrus Foundry and Manufacturing Company each employed more than one hundred residents. Most other businesses either processed the crops of farmers in the neighboring countryside or manufactured agricultural implements for the farmers to use. Throughout the nineteenth century, residents discovered the full and partial remains of several mastodons.
During the twentieth century, Bucyrus continued to grow. In 2000, just over thirteen thousand residents lived in the town. The community is home to an annual Bratwurst Festival, in celebration of the town's early German settlers. Nine percent of Bucyrus' residents twenty-five years of age or older had a four-year college degree in 2005. Many residents find employment producing machinery, steel vaults, rubber hose, and heavy road equipment.