Mansfield

Industrial city and administrative headquarters of Richland County, north-central Ohio, USA, 100 km/62 mi northeast of Columbus; population (2000) 49,300. It is situated in a winter-sports area; industries include the manufacture of electrical machinery, car parts, and steel and rubber products. It is the home of Ohio State University Mansfield Branch (1958).

Mansfield was laid out in 1808 and incorporated as a city in 1857. It is named after Jared Mansfield, US Surveyor General. During the War of 1812, the US pioneer and folk hero John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) raced to Mansfield to warn of an American Indian attack. Malabar Farm, the home of novelist Louis Bromfield, who was born here in 1896, is 19 km/12 mi southeast of Mansfield, and is now an ecological centre and experimental farm.