Mills. The arrival of the Atlantic and Great Western in the township in 1863 and the establishment of Franklin Mills as the site of the railroad's maintenance yards and shops the next year fueled a new spurt of prolonged economic and population growth in the village, culminating in it being renamed Kent in 1864 and formally incorporating in 1867. Geography Franklin Township is located in west-central Portage County in Northeast Ohio approximately northeast of Akron and southeast of Cleveland. It is bordered by Kent on the south and west, Brimfield Township on the south, Stow on the west, Streetsboro and Sugar Bush Knolls to the north, and Ravenna Township on the east. Franklin Township also touches the city of Hudson on the northwest corner, Shalersville Township on the northeast corner, and Rootstown Township on the southeast corner. Within the boundaries of the township is the unincorporated community of Twin Lakes, a residential area on either side of State Route 43 just south of Sugar Bush Knolls. Immediately south of Twin Lakes is the location of the historical town of Earlville which existed primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries as a stop on the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. The census-designated place of Brady Lake, which is part of the township and includes the former village of Brady Lake and its surrounding area, is in the eastern part of the township. Originally, Franklin Township covered approximately . Most of the city of Kent and a small part of Sugar Bush Knolls occupy land that was once part of the township. Sugar Bush Knolls withdrew in 1965 and both Kent and Brady Lake formally separated from the township in 1993. Brady Lake returned to the township after it was dissolved as a municipality and a paper township in 2017. Franklin Township is included in the Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area and the larger Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area. Located on the western end of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, the topography of Franklin Township includes rolling hills and varied terrain. Lake Rockwell, the main drinking water source for the city of Akron, is in the northeastern part of the township. It was created in 1913 and impounds water from the Cuyahoga River, covering approximately . In addition to Lake Rockwell, there are seven natural kettle lakes in the township. The largest, Lake Pippen, is owned by the city of Akron as an unused part