Massillon

City in Stark County, northeastern Ohio, on the Tuscarawas River, 40 km/25 mi south of Akron; population (1990) 31,000.

Founded in the early 19th century, the city was named in honour of Jean-Baptiste Massillon, a French cleric and author. Massillon was initially a grain-marketing centre on the Ohio and Erie Canal. Industrial development was stimulated in 1855 by the discovery of extensive coal deposits in the vicinity. Today, stainless steel, roller bearings, and hospital supplies are among goods that are made locally. The city is also an agricultural distribution centre. The National Shrine of St Dymphna is situated at the Massillon Psychiatric Center. Jacob Coxey was resident in Massillon when he organized his celebrated mass march of the unemployed on Washington DC in 1894 (see Coxey's Army).