| Official Name: | Copley Township, Ohio |
| Settlement Type: | Township |
| Image Blank Emblem: | Logo of Copley Township, Ohio.png |
| Blank Emblem Type: | Logo |
| Mapsize: | 260px |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Ohio |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Summit |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Area Total Km2: | 53.8 |
| Area Land Km2: | 52.9 |
| Area Water Km2: | 0.9 |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | 20.8 |
| Area Land Sq Mi: | 20.4 |
| Area Water Sq Mi: | 0.3 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 18403 |
| Population Density Km2: | 347.9 |
| Population Density Sq Mi: | 902.1 |
| Timezone: | Eastern (EST) |
| Utc Offset: | -5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -4 |
| Elevation Footnotes: | [2] |
| Elevation M: | 306 |
| Elevation Ft: | 1004 |
| Coordinates: | 41.1°N -119°W |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP code |
| Postal Code: | 44321 |
| Area Code: | 330 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank Info: | [3] |
| Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
| Website: | Township website |
Copley Township is one of the nine townships of Summit County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 18,403 people in the township.
Located in the western part of the county, it borders the following townships and cities:
Several populated places are located in Copley Township:
Parts of the original Copley Township are now in Akron or Fairlawn.
A formerly rural township located west of the county seat of Akron, Copley Township has become increasingly suburban over the last few decades.
It is the only Copley Township statewide.[4]
Copley was originally called Greenfield, after Gardiner Green (son-in-law of painter John Singleton Copley[5]), who owned a large portion of the township. Later on he changed the name to Copley, the maiden name of his wife.[6]
Fairlawn was founded as a hamlet in Copley in 1891 when the Northern Ohio Railway was built. As of 1908 it had a mill, general store, a blacksmith, and other businesses.[7]
On August 7, 2011, a series of shootings occurred in Copley Township which resulted in the deaths of 7 people, and the injury of another. The perpetrator, Michael E. Hance, was shot and killed by rifle by Copley Township police officer Ben Campbell, who received the call while off-duty.
Copley Township's economy is based on several strip malls, chemical plants, and agricultural businesses. The rest of the township is dotted with farms and subdivisions.
The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer,[8] who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.
The school system in the township is shared with Fairlawn and has a set of three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school, Copley High School.
In 1990, Copley Square Plaza was designated a superfund site after tetrachloroethylene and other contaminates from a dry cleaners were found in the soil.[9]