WOOSTER

city, seat (1811) of Wayne county, north-central Ohio, U.S., on Killbuck Creek, 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Akron. The site was laid out in 1808 by John Bever, William Henry, and Joseph Larwill and named for the American Revolutionary War general David Wooster. The community claims to have had the first Christmas tree in America, introduced (1847) by a German immigrant, August Imgard. The city is the home of the College of Wooster (1866, United Presbyterian) and the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute (1966); the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center is just southeast. The Wayne County Historical Society Museum houses natural-history specimens and pioneer relics. A manufacturing economy (producing paint equipment, steel tubes, rubber and plastic housewares, cooking utensils, automotive parts, hydraulic pumps, and metallurgical items) prevails. Inc. town, 1817; city, 1869. Pop. (1990) 22,427; (1994 est.) 23,421.