Zoar, Ohio

:"For the Warren County place of this name, see Zoar."

Zoar is a village in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, United States. The population was 193 at the 2000 census.

History

Zoar was founded by German religious dissenters called the Society of Separatists of Zoar in 1817. It was a communal society, with many German-style structures that have been restored and are part of the Zoar Village State Memorial. There are presently ten restored buildings.

The Separatists, or Zoarites, emigrated from the kingdom of Württemberg in southwestern Germany due to religious oppression from the Lutheran church. Leading among their group were some natives of Rottenacker on the Danube. Having separated from the established church, their theology was based in part on the writings of Jakob Böhme. They did not practice baptism or confirmation and did not celebrate religious holidays except for the Sabbath. A central flower garden in Zoar is based on the Book of Revelation with a towering tree in the middle representing Christ and other elements surrounding it representing other allegorical elements.

The leader of the society was named Joseph Bimeler (also known as Joseph Bäumler or Bäumeler), a pipemaker from Ulm. His charismatic leadership carried the village through a number of crises.

An early event critical to the success of the colony was the digging of the Ohio and Erie Canal. The Zoarites had purchased convert|5000|acre|km2|0 of land sight unseen and used loans to pay for it. The loans were to be paid off by 1830. The Society struggled for many years to determine what products and services they could produce in their village to pay off the loans. The state of Ohio required some of the Zoarite land to be used as a right of way and offered the Zoarites an opportunity to assist in digging the canals for money. The state gave them a choice of digging it themselves for pay or having the state pay others to dig the canal. The Zoarites then spent several years in the 1820s digging the canal and thus were able to pay off their loans on time with much money to spare.

Bimeler's death in the 1850s led to a slow decline in the cohesion of the village. By 1898, the village voted to disband the communal society and the property was divided among the remaining residents.

Geography

Zoar is located at coor dms|40|36|47|N|81|25|18|W|city (40.613102, -81.421686),GR|1 along the Tuscarawas River. [DeLorme (1991). "Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer". Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN 0-89933-233-1.]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.6 square miles (1.7 km²), of which, 0.6 square miles (1.4 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (14.06%) is water.

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 193 people, 79 households, and 62 families residing in the village. The population density was 350.8 people per square mile (135.5/km²). There were 81 housing units at an average density of 147.2/sq mi (56.9/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 97.93% White, 1.04% Asian, and 1.04% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.52% of the population.

There were 79 households out of which 22.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.4% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.3% were non-families. 17.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.73.

In the village the population was spread out with 20.2% under the age of 18, 5.7% from 18 to 24, 18.7% from 25 to 44, 42.5% from 45 to 64, and 13.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48 years. For every 100 females there were 89.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.8 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $46,964, and the median income for a family was $55,625. Males had a median income of $45,417 versus $33,750 for females. The per capita income for the village was $22,828. About 3.^% of families and 3.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.4% of those under the age of 18 and none of those 65 and older.

References

Further reading

*Eberhard, Fritz: "Das Liederbuch des Ulmer Separatisten Michael Baeumler (1778-1853) aus Merklingen. Ein Separatist in Ulm und seine Beziehungen zu Rottenacker."In: Wolfgang Schürle (Hg.): "Bausteine zur Geschichte 1. Kleinode aus vier Jahrhunderten." Ulm 2002. S. 125-145.
*Eberhard, Fritz: "Roots of Zoar, Ohio, in early 19th century Württemberg: The Separatist group of Rottenacker and its Circle". Part one. Communal Societies 22/2002. p. 27-44. - Part two. Communal Societies 23/2003. p. 29-44.

External links

* [http://www.ohiohistory.org/places/zoar/ Ohio History: Zoar]
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/ohioeriecanal/ Ohio and Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary]