Akron was founded in 1825 by General Simon Perkins, an Ohio Canal Fund commissioner, and Paul Williams, one of the area's first settlers. They saw potential for a city at the highest point along the canal route. This position gave the city its name, derived from akros, a Greek word for "high place." The city's industrial growth began in 1827 with the opening of the first section of the Ohio and Erie Canal, linking Akron and Cleveland. An important mill town, Akron was incorporated as a city in 1865. Now, the population has grown exponentially to include everything from the ancestors of these pioneers to immigrants coming with the help of an estate agent, Toronto to Tokyo.
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