Massillon is a city in
Stark
County
in the U.S. state of
Ohio
. The population was 31,325 at the
2000 census.
Massillon,
along with neighboring Canton
, are
principal cities of the Canton–Massillon Metropolitan Statistical
Area. The metropolitan area includes all of Stark
and Carroll
counties.
The
Friendly Association for Mutual Interests founded Massillon, then
called Kendal, on a estate in response to Robert Owen's success in New Harmony,
Indiana
to create a utopian
society. The group of approximately 150 people, consisting
of farmers, mill workers, and mechanics from the surrounding area,
abandoned their
communitarian
lifestyle.
The town center was eventually located along
the banks of the Tuscarawas River
and the Ohio and Erie
Canal
. Massillon was named after Jean Baptiste Massillon, a French
Catholic
bishop.
Early in the 20th Century, Massillon was home to a
brass era automobile
maker, Forest City Motor Car Company; despite its name, the
Jewel did not shine, and the company went
under.
Stark Area Regional
Transit Authority (SARTA) provides bus service between
Massillon and nearby Canton
.
Little Steel strike
Massillon is the site of one of the most tragic instances of
anti-union violence in the history of the United States. The
Steel Workers
Organizing Committee was attempting to organize workers at
Republic Steel in the spring and
summer of 1937. When the company refused to recognize their union,
the workers
struck.
A crowd of strikers and their families had taken to gathering
nightly for a rally and dance in front of the union's headquarters.
On the night of
July 11,
1937, a citizen of the town failed to dim the
headlights on his car as he approached the rally. City police
assumed the worst and without warning opened fire with rifles and
shotguns on the peaceful crowd. One auxiliary policeman shouted,
'Let them have it boys! Break them down!' Police pumped tear gas
canisters into the fleeing mob; one officer raked the street and
local houses with sub-machine gun fire. Wounded people who
attempted to seek medical attention were shot at. The wounded
sought refuge in the union hall's kitchen, where the walls became
smeared with blood. The police hunted down fleeing families
throughout the night, sporadically firing on anyone they found.
Three men were killed, and a large number of men, women and
children wounded.
Geography
Massillon is located at (40.795270, -81.522896), along the
Tuscarawas River.
According to the
United
States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of
16.9 square miles (43.7
km²), of
which, 16.8 square miles (43.4 km²) of it is land and
0.1 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (0.83%) is water.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 31,325
people, 12,677 households, and 8,328 families residing in the city.
The
population density was
1,870.3 people per square mile (722.1/km²). There were 13,567
housing units at an average density of 810.0/sq mi
(312.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 88.18%
White, 9.39%
African American, 0.23%
Native American, 0.25%
Asian, 0.34% from
other races, and 1.60%
from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 0.96% of the
population.
There were 12,677 households out of which 29.8% had children under
the age of 18 living with them, 47.8% were
married couples living together, 13.8% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 34.3% were non-families.
29.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.6% had
someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.96.
In the city the population was spread out with 25.3% under the age
of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to
64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was
38 years. For every 100 females there were 92.6 males. For every
100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $32,734, and the
median income for a family was $41,058. Males had a median income
of $32,021 versus $22,327 for females. The
per capita income for the city was
$17,633. About 8.3% of families and 10.7% of the population were
below the
poverty line, including 15.5%
of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Public
high school students in Massillon attend either Massillon
Washington High School
, Perry High School,
Tuslaw High School or Jackson High
School
. Most attend Washington High in the
Massillon City School
District. Residents of Perry Township attend Perry High and
residents of a small annexed section of Jackson Township attend
Jackson High.
Football
In Ohio
and elsewhere, the name Massillon is probably most associated with
the Massillon Washington High
School
football team, the Tigers. Distinguished
Massillon alumni include Paul Brown and
Ohio State
University
graduate and former NFL All-Pro linebacker Chris
Spielman. The Tigers are historically one of the
winningest high school football teams in the United States
, second only to the Valdosta High School
Wildcats, in Valdosta, Georgia
. Along with the
Canton McKinley High School
Bulldogs, the Tigers represent one half of what many consider to be
the greatest high school football rivalry in the nation. Both
Massillon and their fierce rivalry with Canton are subjects of the
documentary film
Go
Tigers!.
In July 2008 Massillon was nominated as one of only twenty cities
nationwide as a finalist in ESPN's "Titletown U.S.A" contest. On
July 21, a rally was held at Paul Brown
Tiger Stadium while ESPN filmed a segment that was aired on
SportsCenter.
Massillon finished
fourth in the voting behind Valdosta, Georgia
, Parkersburg, West Virginia
and Green Bay, Wisconsin
.
While the
first players known to be paid to play football are believed to
have played for club teams in the Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
area, perhaps the first great professional football
rivalry was between the Massillon
Tigers and Canton Bulldogs from
1903-1906. This rivalry predates both the NFL and the
aforementioned rivalry between the Massillon and Canton high
schools which continue to use the nicknames of these early
professional teams. The Professional Football Researchers
Association (PFRA) web site includes articles about the early years
of this rivalry, as well as articles about the history of football
through the 1970s.
Notable natives
- John Blackburn,
wrote the lyrics of "Moonlight in Vermont"
- Paul Brown, football player and hall of fame coach
- David Canary, actor
- Jacob S. Coxey Sr., Politician and Activist
- Shawn Crable,
second-team All-American linebacker and defensive team captain at the
University
of Michigan
; selected in the third round of the 2008 NFL draft by the New England Patriots
- Jan DeGaetani, mezzo-soprano
- Lillian Gish, silent film star
- Rod Graber, member of 1958 Cleveland Indians.
- Bobby Grier,
first African-American to play in a
college football bowl game (the 1956
Sugar Bowl)
- Mike Hershberger, MLB player for the Chicago
White Sox, Kansas City/Oakland
Athletics, and the Milwaukee
Brewers
- Jim Houston,
member of College Football Hall of Fame
and Pro Bowl linebacker for
the Cleveland Browns
- Lin Houston, an All-American
guard who played for
Paul Brown in Massillon, at Ohio State and with the
Cleveland Browns
- Don James, college
football coach
- Bob Knight, college basketball coach
- Mark Kozelek,
singer/songwriter
- Matt Lanter, actor and model
- Charles Frederick McDew,
Chairman, Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee, 1961-1964.
- Ed Molinski, member of College
Football Hall of Fame, two-time All-American guard, member of
1938 Tennessee
Volunteers National Championship team
- Robert R. Scott, Machinist's Mate First Class aboard the
USS California posthumously
awarded the Medal of Honor for
heroism during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
.
- Chris Spielman, 1987 Lombardi Award winner at Ohio State and
two-time All-Pro NFL
linebacker
- Joe Sparma,
pitcher for the Detroit Tigers and
quarterback for Ohio State University

- Harry
Stuhldreher, three-time All-American quarterback at Notre
Dame
, one of the Four Horsemen of Notre
Dame
- Bob Vogel, football player
- Stanfield Wells, Massillon's
first All-American football player, selected in 1910
- James
Young White
House
physician to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson
Notes and references
- Clymer, Floyd. Treasury of Early American Automobiles,
1877-1925 (New York: Bonanza Books, 1950), p.63.
- Zieger, Robert H. The CIO, 1935-1955. Chapel Hill, NC:
University of North Carolina Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8078-2182-9 p.
62-63.
- DeLorme (1991).
Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN
0-89933-233-1.
- All Things Considered, NPR, 20 November 2009.
- All Things Considered, NPR, 20 November 2009.
Charles Frederick McDew, Chairman, Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee, 1961-1964
External links