Richland county, formed in 1813 and named from the character of its soil, is located in north central Ohio with Mansfield serving as the county seat. The county population on July 1, 1999, was 129,607, an increase of 3,470 over the 1990 census.

Mansfield, named for Surveyor General of the U.S. Col. Jarred Mansfield who helped lay out the area, was first settled on a ridge close by a large spring that eventually served as a dependable source of water for a brewery. The city’s growth began with the arrival of the first railroads in the 1850’s. After the Civil War, Mansfield became an industrial city producing buggies, steel, steam tractors, stoves, pumps and later, major appliances.

Richland County is the home of many famous people starting with John Chapman, better known as "Johnny Appleseed." Others include Jedediah Smith, Mountain Man and Sen. John Sherman, long-time statesman and father of the Sherman Anti-trust Act and brother of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman.