Rootstown Township is one of the eighteen civil townships of Portage County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 8,602 people in the township. Geography Located in the southwestern part of the county, it borders the following townships: Ravenna Township - north Charlestown Township - northeast corner Edinburg Township - east Atwater Township - southeast corner Randolph Township - south Suffield Township - southwest corner Brimfield Township - west Franklin Township - northwest corner No municipalities are located in Rootstown Township. Formed from the Connecticut Western Reserve, Rootstown Township covers an area of . Name It is the only Rootstown Township statewide. History Rootstown is named for Ephraim Root, a native of Coventry, Connecticut who was a lawyer and investor in the Connecticut Land Company. He was the proprietor of the township as well as several other properties in the Connecticut Western Reserve. Root first visited the township in 1800 and his brother David was the first settler, moving to Rootstown in 1802. Rootstown was originally surveyed from the Western Reserve as survey township Town 2, Range 8 and was formally organized as a civil township in 1810 after previously having been part of Franklin Township. In 1821 the Rootstown Post Office was established. It continues today under the ZIP Code Rootstown, OH 44272 and serves much of the township. In 1832, many German immigrants came who were farmers, stonemasons and carpenters. A plague in 1845 took 49 victims, including the town's only physician, Dr. Andrew Basset. In 1850 a band of 16 whaling sea captains from Nantucket bought land, built large homes and became farmers. Nelson Converse opened the first general store in 1853 in the center of town. In 1866 the Central and Pacific Railroad was built through the northeastern part of the township. Electricity brought modern conveniences to the area in 1921, and street lights to both Rootstown and New Milford in 1949. 27 men formed the volunteer fire company in 1938. Its equipment was housed in the basement of the town hall until a new building was constructed by volunteer work and community fundraiser carnivals in 1955–1956. The department constructed a new building in 2002 adjacent to the former at the intersection of Tallmadge Road and SR 44. It opened during the bicentennial weekend; the previous fire station was razed. The first religious body established in Rootstown was the Rootstown Congregational Church in 1810 and they