MASSILLON

city, Stark county, northeastern Ohio, U.S., just west of Canton, on the Tuscarawas River. Settled (1811) by New Englanders, it developed from two villages named Kendal and Brookfield and was named (1826), after its founding by James Duncan, for Bishop Jean-Baptiste Massillon, preacher and writer at the French court of Louis XIV. The Ohio and Erie Canal (completed 1832) led to the community's early development as the wheat-shipping capital of the state. Although now industrialized, it remains a shipping centre for a wide agricultural region. Manufactures include surgical equipment, wire products, housewares, steel castings and roller bearings, cans, and meat products. The Massillon Museum, connected with the public library, is housed in Duncan's home (1830). Inc. town, 1853; city, 1868. Pop. (1990) 31,007.