Defiance (Ohio)

Defiance
	Defiance
	Defiance
Basic data
State :	United States
State :	Ohio
County :	Defiance County
Coordinates :	41 ° 17 ′ N , 84 ° 22 ′ W Coordinates: 41 ° 17 ′ N , 84 ° 22 ′ W
Time zone :	Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Residents :	16,465 (as of: 2000)
Population density :	603.1 inhabitants per km 2
Area :	28.6 km 2 (approx. 11 mi 2 ) of; which 27.3 km 2 (approx. 11 mi 2 ) are land
Height :	206 m
Postal code :	43512
Area code :	+1 419
FIPS :	39-21308
GNIS ID :	1064519
Website :	www.cityofdefiance.com
Mayor :	Joseph Robert (Bob) Armstrong

Defiance is a city in the northwestern part of the US state Ohio in Defiance County . At the 2000 census, Defiance County's county seat had 16,465 residents.

Geography and traffic

Defiance is located at the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee Rivers , approximately 55 miles southwest of Toledo and 45 miles east of Fort Wayne , Indiana. US Highway 24 , which connects Defiance with the two cities, runs through the town . The railway line is maintained by CSX Transportation . Defiance County Airport is close to the city .

history

In the area on the edge of the Great Black Swamp , the former large swamp area in northwest Ohio, there was a large Indian settlement and a French trading post in the 18th century. The French called the place AuGlaize or Grand Glaize . During the Indian Wars , General "Mad" Anthony Wayne had a fort built here in August 1794, which he named Fort Defiance . After the Battle of Fallen Timbers (August 20, 1794), Wayne chose the fort as the base for his operations in the surrounding area. Although the Greenville Treaty of 1795 gave Defiance to the indigenous people, the Indians tolerated the fort and a trading post. The fortification was in ruins at the beginning of the British-American War in 1812. General William H. Harrison therefore built a new, larger fort nearby on Auglaize and named it Fort Winchester . In 1817, the local tribes finally ceded the surrounding land to the white settlers.

Benjamin Level and Horatio G. Philips founded the town of Defiance on the site of the former fort in 1822. The town grew slowly at first: in 1854 only about 700 people lived here. The turning point came with the cultivation of the marshland and the connection of the city to the rail network. In 1880 there were already 5907 residents in Defiance, in 1886 there were four newspaper publishers, 13 churches and two banks.

Infrastructure

The public school system includes 3200 places up to high school. There are also four church primary schools and the Defiance College , which is operated by the United Church of Christ and offers around 1,000 study places. Medical care is provided by the Defiance Hospital . The local religious communities maintain 21 Protestant and 2 Catholic churches. The city has a public library, seven cinemas and a theater company, a golf course, and several public swimming pools and parks.

Attractions

In place of the former Fort Defiance there is now a park with a view of the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers.
Three miles west of the city is the museum village AuGlaize Village with restored houses and workshops from the years 1860-1920.
The National Register of Historic Places lists 10 entries for Defiance, including the Holgate Avenue Historic District with townhouses from 1825-1949.

Personalities

Don Miller (1902–1979), lawyer, American football player and coach
Katherine Squire (1903-1995), actress
Wild Bill Davison (1906-1989), jazz musician
Alene B. Duerk (1920–2018), first female flag officer in the United States Navy
Terry Ryan (1946–2007), writer, wrote an autobiography about her childhood in the city with The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
Chad Billingsley (born 1984), baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Michelle Burke (born 1970), actress
Sam Hornish junior (* 1979), racing driver