North Canton is a city in Stark County, Ohio, United States. The population was 17,842 at the 2020 census, and was estimated at 17,677 in 2024. It is a suburb in the Canton, Massillon metropolitan area.
At a Glance
- County: Stark County
- State: Ohio
History of North Canton
North Canton was established by "German settlers" February 19, 1831, as the Village of New Berlin; the first village platted in Plain Township in Stark County. Residents were primarily of German descent. During World War I, it became unfashionable to be associated with German culture via namesakes, so in 1918, the community changed the name of the town to North Canton.
William H. "Boss" Hoover moved his tannery business from his family farm to the center of the New Berlin village in 1873. The first upright vacuum cleaner was invented in June 1908 in North Canton by department store janitor James M. Spangler. Hoover bought the patent, and The Hoover Company became the world’s largest manufacturer of vacuum cleaners by the 1930s. In 2007, Hoover officially shut down its production facility in North Canton due to a financial incentive to outsource work.
In 2008, North Canton withdrew from Plain Township by forming a paper township named Hoover Township.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article North Canton, Ohio, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.