New Philadelphia is a city in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The county’s largest city, New Philadelphia lies along the Tuscarawas River. Its population was 17,677 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city in the New Philadelphia, Dover micropolitan area, about 70 miles (110 km) south of Cleveland.
In 1772, the Moravian Christians founded the community of Schoenbrunn in the area, which was the first settlement of the Northwest Territory. The pacifist Christian settlement was subsequently abandoned during the American Revolution. After the area was resettled in 1804, because of the presence of coal and clay, early industry in the city centered on mining interests and the manufacture of steel, canned goods, roofing tile, sewer pipe, bricks, vacuum cleaners, stovepipes, carriages, flour, brooms, and pressed, stamped, and enameled goods.
At a Glance
- County: Tuscarawas County
- County seat of Tuscarawas County
- State: Ohio
History of New Philadelphia
The Moravian Church, under the leadership of David Zeisberger, founded Schoenbrunn ("beautiful spring"), also known as Welhik Tuppeek ("the best spring"), in 1772 as a Christian mission to the Delaware Indians. Schönbrunn was two miles south east of present day New Philadelphia, Ohio. The settlement grew to include 60 dwellings and more than 300 inhabitants, both Munsee and Germans, who drew up Ohio’s first civil code and built its first Christian church and schoolhouse. Problems associated with the American Revolution prompted Schoenbrunn’s closing in 1777.
John Knisely, who was from Pennsylvania, wanted to settle in a location where game was more plentiful and was welcomed by the Christian Indians of Goshen; he returned to Ohio in 1804 with his family and 33 other pioneers, hiring surveyor John Wells to plot out the modern city of New Philadelphia in the same grid style as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 1833, New Philadelphia contained county buildings, a printing office, several stores, and five taverns.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article New Philadelphia, Ohio, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.