Perry Township is one of the seventeen townships of Stark County, Ohio, United States. It is an urban township; the 2010 census found 28,328 people in the township. Geography Located in the western part of the county, it borders the following townships: Jackson Township - north Plain Township - northeast corner Canton Township - east Pike Township - southeast corner Bethlehem Township - south Sugar Creek Township - southwest corner Tuscarawas Township - west Lawrence Township - northwest corner Several populated places are located in Perry Township: Most of the city of Massillon is located in the western half of Perry Township A small part of the village of Navarre, in the southwest The census-designated places of Perry Heights and Reedurban, in the northeast The unincorporated community of Richville, in the south Name and history On December 7, 1813, Stark County Commissioners named Township 10, Range 9, Perry Township. It was named in honor of Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of the War of 1812. Commander Perry was the victor of a battle on Lake Erie on September 10, 1812. The first formal settlement in the township was Kendal, founded in 1812 by Thomas Rotch and his wife who were Quakers from Massachusetts. Other settlers arriving with the Rotch Family were Arvine Wales and Charles Skinner. They utilized Sippo Creek and operated a woolen factory and saw mill. In 1826, James Duncan founded Massillon. The Ohio/Erie Canal was opened to Massillon in 1828 and the entire area and surrounding communities grew exponentially. Johnny Appleseed (Jonathan Chapman) planted the first orchard in Perry Township on the south side of the Canton–Massillon Road on the Daum Farm. Dr. William Gardner was believed to have been the first physician to settle in Perry Township. He came from New York in 1814. The first religious society was the Religious Society of Friends in Kendal about 1813. Methodists soon populated the area. In 1833, Perry Township contained three gristmills, seven saw mills, one fulling mill, two tanneries, and sixteen stores. The first school in the township was established in Kendal. Public schools or common schools came into existence in Perry Township in 1825. By 1875, Perry Township had seven one-room schools. The construction of Reedurban, Genoa, and Richville Schools brought the one-room era to an end. In the 1950s, Whipple, Watson, Lohr, and Perry High were built. The 1956 opening of Perry High School signifies the