first time Perry Local Schools offered secondary education. The growth of the school system continued with the construction of Edison Junior High in 1962 and a vocational wing on the High School in 1964. Perry Township as a community experienced rapid growth. The agricultural farms from the early days have been reborn as housing developments, commercial and industrial sites, medical facilities, and municipal structures. In the 1970s, housing developments in the township were advertised as "the convenience of the city and the charm of the country". Affinity Medical Center (Formerly named, and locally referred to as Doctors' Hospital) was built, constructed, and opened in 1963. The hospital contains 272,000 square feet and is built upon 9.27 acres of land, which is situated on Austin Avenue, south of Watson Elementary (whose playground contained a helicopter pad that served for emergency flights to the hospital). It served as Massillon's first emergency medical center and hospital besides nearby Mercy Medical Center, and in the mid 80's, Aultman Hospital, both located in nearby Canton. It operated for more than 40 years until closing its doors in 2008 due to rapidly lowering business and structural decay. The property was later sold in 2010, merely for $1 due to the staggering costs of maintenance and taxes, which was estimated to be about $1,000,000. The parent company, Community Health Systems of Nashville, Tennessee, originally planned to have the building demolished, but decided against it due to the demolition fees which amounted around $700,000. The land is currently for sale again at an undisclosed price. The hospital has been victim to recent vandalism and neglect and was demolished in March 2020. The building is also locally rumored to be haunted, so much so that the Ohio Exploration Society made a documented visit to the building in 2010. The hospital contained the Stark County Morgue until it was shut down. The morgue was speculated to be heavily understaffed and overflowing with bodies at peak times, which fed the accusations of being haunted. In 2022, construction broke ground on the plot of the demolished Affinity building for the new Perry school buildings, this being the new Watson Elementary built right beside the old school. Today, Perry Township is a stable, united community with a population of nearly 30,000 residents. Even though most of the land has been developed, there is still a hint of the agricultural history in some sections