Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Barberton, OH

Barberton was founded in 1891 by industrialist Ohio Columbus Barber, known as 'Ohio's Match King,' who planned the town around his vision of industry, progress, and community.

In 1894 Barber moved the Diamond Match Company — which he had formed by merging 11 companies — from Akron to Barberton, anchoring the new city's industrial base.

At the center of Barber's planned city was Lake Anna, a lake he named after his only daughter, Anna Laura Barber; it remains the heart of downtown, ringed by Lake Anna Park.

Barberton earned its nickname, 'The Magic City,' because it grew so fast in its first years that an Akron Beacon Journal reporter wrote in 1893 that it seemed to have grown by magic.

Barber also built the Anna Dean Farm on the east side of town, an experimental model farm with more than 35 buildings in the French Renaissance Revival style, whose surviving red-brick barns are now cared for by the Barberton Historical Society.

Barberton is famous for 'Barberton chicken,' a Serbian-style fried chicken fried in lard and served with hot rice, vinegar coleslaw, and fries, a tradition started in 1933 when Serbian immigrants Manojlo and Smiljka Topalsky opened Belgrade Gardens in their farmhouse.

Barberton's chicken tradition became so celebrated that food writers have dubbed the city the 'Fried Chicken Capital of the World.'

Barberton's population peaked at 33,805 in 1960, and the 2020 census counted 25,191 residents, down from 26,550 in 2010.

Barberton has roughly 10,950 households according to the 2020 census, and Census Bureau figures for 2020–2024 put its owner-occupied housing rate at about 62%.

Barberton lies directly southwest of Akron in Summit County and is part of the Akron metropolitan area, covering about 9.3 square miles.