Barberton, Ohio tour 44203

Barberton was founded in 1891 by industrialist Ohio Columbus Barber, who planned the town according to his vision of industry, progress and community. In 1894 he moved the manufacturing operations of the Diamond Match Company, which he formed from a merger of 11 companies, from Akron to Barberton. He soon was producing 250 million matches a day.[7] In the valley running parallel to the Tuscarawas River and the Ohio & Erie Canal, he oversaw the construction of factories, residential neighborhoods and a compact commercial downtown. In the center of the new city was Lake Anna, named after Barber's only daughter, Anna Laura Barber.

Barberton became known as the "Magic City" because of its rapid population growth during its formative industrial years, at a time of waves of immigration from eastern and southern Europe. In 1891, when Barberton was incorporated, the scattered farms that had originally characterized the landscape were transformed into a fledgling city of 1,800. When an Akron Beacon Journal reporter revisited Barberton in 1893, he noted that since 1891, it had grown so quickly that it appeared to have grown by magic (hence its nickname). Many new immigrants were attracted to its industrial jobs, which provided a path to assimilation.