Holmes County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 44,223. Its county seat is Millersburg. The county was formed in 1824 from portions of Coshocton, Tuscarawas and Wayne counties and organized the following year. It was named after Andrew Holmes, an officer killed in the War of 1812.
Holmes County, which was about 42% Amish in 2010, and 48% in 2020, has the highest concentration of Amish in the world, which draws many visitors to the county. The Holmes Amish settlement, which also includes Amish from neighboring counties, is the second-largest in the world after Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and numbered 37,770 people in 2021.
History
left|thumb|[[Amish couple in a horse-drawn buggy in rural Holmes County]]
Holmes County was formed on January 20, 1824, from portions of Coshocton, Tuscarawas and Wayne counties. It was named after Major Andrew Holmes, who was killed in action at the Battle of Mackinac Island.
In 1863, during the Civil War, numerous small anti-draft riots took place, mainly in the German-speaking areas. Holmes County at the time was a Democratic stronghold, dominated by its Pennsylvania Dutch settlers, along with many recent German immigrants. With the passage of the Conscription Act in March 1863, Holmes County politicians denounced both Congress and President Lincoln as despotic, saying that forced military service was little different from slavery. Conscription had been common in their former German homelands, and it was one of the reasons they had moved to America. Violent protests broke out in June, and they continued until the Union Army marched into the county and declared martial law. Stephen E. Towne in 2019, using archival records, argues that many of the resisters belonged to secret organizations that opposed Union tactics to defeat the Confederacy.
In the spring of 1892, a Black man from Mt. Vernon or Wooster, Ohio, whose name remains unknown, was walking through the county. After he had been in town for a few days, a group of white people decided to lynch him because he “lingered about people’s doorsteps and angered them in various ways.” On April 1, 1892, a mob gathered after nightfall, abducted the man, and hanged him from a tree in the public square in front of the county courthouse.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.3%) is water.
Adjacent counties
- Wayne County (north)
- Stark County (northeast)
- Tuscarawas County (southeast)
- Coshocton County (south)
- Knox County (southwest)
- Ashland County (northwest)
Demographics
<!-- PresRow should be -->
<!-- U.S. SenRow should be -->
Communities
thumb|300 px|Map of Holmes County, Ohio, with municipal and township labels
{| class="wikitable"
|- class="hintergrundfarbe6"
!Township
!Village
!Other places in township
|-
||Berlin||||Berlin (CDP)
|-
||Clark||Baltic (north part)||Charm (UIC)<br />Farmerstown (UIC)<br />Unionville (UIC)
|-
||Hardy||Millersburg (county seat)||Holmes County Airport
|-
||Killbuck||Killbuck||
|-
||Knox||Nashville (south part)||
|-
||Mechanic||||Lake Buckhorn (CDP)<br />Becks Mills<br />Saltillo
|-
||Monroe||||Welcome (UIC)<br />West Holmes High School
|-
||Paint||||Winesburg (CDP)
|-
||Prairie||Holmesville||
|-
||Richland||Glenmont||Stillwell
|-
||Ripley||||Big Prairie (UIC)
|-
||Salt Creek||||Mt. Hope (CDP)
|-
||Walnut Creek||||Walnut Creek (CDP)<br />Trail (UIC)
|-
||Washington||Loudonville (east part)<br />Nashville (north part)||Lakeville (UIC)
|}
CDP = Census-designated place<br />
UIC = Unincorporated community
Transportation
Holmes County Airport is located two miles southwest of Millersburg.
Amish community
A large Amish community of about 36,000 exists in Northeast-Central Ohio, centered on Holmes County and extending into surrounding counties. Holmes County houses the highest percentage of Amish of any U.S. county, currently 42 percent of the population, and experts speculate that by 2027, Holmes County could become the first county in the US where more than half the residents are Amish.
The Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center in Berlin explains traditional ways of the Amish and provides an illustrated history for visitors in its 10-foot-by-265-foot mural.
The overall Amish population of the area, centered on Holmes County, is the largest Amish community in the world. Called locally "Amish Country", it draws many visitors to the county, thus making tourism an important sector of the local economy.
In Holmes County Amish Settlements there are several Old Order Amish affiliations. The Holmes Old Order Amish affiliation is the main and original affiliation, the Swartzentruber Amish with three subgroups, that originated in 1917 in Holmes County, are the most conservative Amish in Holmes county. There are also Andy Weaver Amish (formed 1952), Stutzman-Troyer Amish, Old Order Tobe Amish and Roman Amish on the conservative side, whereas the New Order Amish (formed in the early 1960s), the New Order Tobe Amish the New Order Amish Christian Fellowship are on the more progressive side. Holmes County is home of more Amish affiliations than any other place in the world.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Holmes County, Ohio
- USS Holmes County (LST-836)
References
External links
- Holmes County official site
- Visit Amish Country (Holmes Co. Tourism Bureau)