As I am a resident of Canton, I did some research recently into the etymology of the name Canton.

I thought maybe it was named after someone with the name Canton. Turns out, the origin is much different!

In 1805, Canton was first founded by Bezaleel Wells, a surveyor, hailing from Steubenville, Ohio. He named our beloved city out of respect for trader John O'Donnell. O'Donnell was the first to ship goods from Canton, China to Baltimore, Maryland. He even called his property in Baltimore, "The Canton Estates."

Guangzhou, China was called by the Portugese "Cidade de Cantão" which the English ended up pronouncing as Canton. This anglicization was familiar to the English as "canton" is a division of a political unit, formerly for coats of arms and more recently in a geographic sense.

Canton got a slow start at first. In the 1820s, residents of Canton refused both the Ohio and Erie Canals coming through the city, thinking disease would follow. Ironically enough, the canals improved the health in Massillon. The Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad offered to build a track through Canton, but only if the residents would offer ten thousand dollars for the construction. The residents thought they would build the tracks anyway and refused. The railroad built their line east of Canton and to the benefit of Alliance instead.

Canton finally came into its own by 1838 when it was incorporated and became a booming agricultural and industrial center because of the Civil War. Between 1880 and 1890 the population of Canton doubled.

And this was just the beginning. The story of Canton is growing every day and we at Hackenberg Realty will keep offering up tidbits every week for your enjoyment and to stoke your Canton Pride!

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou#Etymology

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/canton

https://cantonohio.gov/?pg=history

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Bezaleel_Wells