Though established in 1891, Barberton’s history stretches far beyond the city’s founding. Before O.C. Barber chose the site for his new industrial town, several farms and settlements populated the region and thrived along the banks of the Tuscarawas River. Among the oldest of these settlements was the village of New Portage. Located where north Barberton lies today, New Portage was a prosperous community of 200 when Barberton was founded; but by the early 1900s, the village’s success was waning. In 1910, the city of Barberton annexed the remainder of New Portage and with it a history that predated Barberton by more than 200 years.
The settlement of New Portage took place in three distinct phases. The first of these phases began around 1765 with the arrival of Delaware Indians who established camp on portage paths between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas Rivers. Though perhaps not an actual settlement, and arguably not yet designated New Portage, these residents remain the first known inhabitants of the land that would later come under the New Portage name. Throughout the latter part of the eighteenth century, the region remained a main thoroughfare for Native Americans who periodically set up camp nearby. After the American government claimed rights to the region, recognizing the land’s potential for farming and mining, American Indians continued to pass through the area, although by the early 1800s, most native peoples had left the region and New Portage was virtually uninhabited.
The second phase of New Portage came on the heels of the first, as settlers slowly began to populate the region near where Wooster Rd. and State St. intersect today. Though historical accounts disagree as to the actual date of resettlement, plans for the town were laid out around 1814 and New Portage officially became a village in 1817. At this time, New Portage occupied an important point along the Tuscarawas River, drawing in businesses with a ready means of shipping goods along the river. Boat building soon became a lucrative business, but the arrival of the Ohio Canal system, which brought prosperity for much of the surrounding area, proved detrimental to New Portage’s shipping industry. No longer located on the region’s primary shipping route, the village lost an essential element of its success. Soon after, an epidemic, likely typhus, all but wiped out the village’s population. Mormons who had settled in New Portage in the early 1830s left the region by 1838, leaving only a few townspeople and little activity to speak of in the failed village.
Around 1850 the third and final phase of New Portage began as the town was resettled further downriver. With access to the Ohio Canal, New Portage again attracted businesses and created a stable economic base, leading to the construction of several churches, a school and the Edwards Hotel. By the early 1860s, two important railroads crossed New Portage bringing a new, preferred means of transporting goods. In 1882,
O.C. Barber built a strawboard company in New Portage, eventually employing more than 10% of the village’s population. Despite a seemingly ideal location along the canal and railroads, New Portage’s prosperity dwindled alongside the success of newly-founded Barberton. In 1910, the ever-growing “Magic City” annexed the last piece of New Portage. One year later, city residents recognized New Portage’s early history by erecting a statue in Barberton’s oldest park. The “Indian Chief,” as it is commonly known, still stands in New Portage Park at the intersection of Wooster Rd. N. and Hopocan Ave., a lasting tribute to the history of New Portage.