We regularly feature an Ohio city as part of our Ohio Community Spotlight series.
For 2026 we are expanding the series to focus not only on Ohio’s cities but the counties where they are located.
This month, Central Ohio’s Knox County and it’s seat, Mount Vernon, are the feature of our community spotlight.
Welcome to Knox County and Mount Vernon, a county seat on the Kokosing River about 40 miles northeast of Columbus
The Kokosing River in Mount Vernon, Ohio by Tim Kiser via Wikimedia
Long before the county existed, Indigenous people lived and built earthworks along local waterways. Archaeological surveys document Adena mounds near the Kokosing and rarer Hopewell-era habitation sites.
Cemetery Mound, also known as McLaughlin Mound in Mount Vernon. Public Domain image.
In the late 1700s and early 1800s, county histories connect the area with Lenape/Delaware, Wyandot and Shawnee people. Evidence for exact village sites is limited, so it is safer to describe these as documented regional and county connections than fixed tribal boundaries.
Lenape Tribe in Ohio. Public Domain image.
Mount Vernon was platted in 1805 and named for George Washington's estate. Knox County was formed in 1808, named for Henry Knox, the nation’s first Secretary of War, with Mount Vernon as its seat.
George Washington and Henry Knox at Yorktown by Rembrandt Peale.
The new seat grew with farms, shops and the railroad, which arrived in 1851. A favorite local footnote: John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, owned lots in Mount Vernon and voted in Knox County's first election.
An etching of John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed, from Harper's New Monthly Magazine (1871), Public Domain.
Mount Vernon's industrial story runs deep. The Cooper brothers opened a foundry in 1833; its lineage later passed through Cooper-Bessemer and Siemens Energy. PPG's Mount Vernon glass works opened in 1907 and closed in 1976.
The C. & G. Cooper company of Mount Vernon, as pictured in 1914. Credit: Courtesy of Knox Time Collection
Manufacturing still anchors the economy, led by Ariel, an internationally recognized natural gas compressor manufacturer, and firms such as FT Precision, JELD-WEN, Sanoh and Mauser. Health care, education and construction matter too: Knox Community Hospital, Kenyon College, MVNU and Kokosing are other major employers.
Mount Vernon is home to Mount Vernon Nazarene University with 1,300 students. Kenyon College, with 1,800 students, is a notable liberal arts college, just down the road in Gambier. Kenyon College is Ohio’s oldest private liberal arts college, established in 1824.
Old industrial ground now doubles as community space: Ariel-Foundation Park occupies the former PPG site, while downtown's Woodward Opera House reopened in 2019 after a long restoration. Summer brings the Knox County Fair and Mount Vernon Music and Arts Festival.
Ariel-Foundation Park, image via Ariel-Foundation Park.
Woodward Opera House, image via Woodward Opera House.
A former newspaper building became Founders Food Hall in June 2026, backed by a $1 million JobsOhio Vibrant Communities grant. That completed reuse joins the city's growth strategy, which calls for walkable commercial nodes and shovel-ready industrial land near U.S. 36.
In 2024 , Mount Vernon updates its zoning code to now permits attached and detached ADUs, an important change that will permit more housing development and opportunity to create housing density within the city.
An ADU in Columbus.
Knox County Transit expanded mobility in 2026 with fare-free Mount Vernon Flex routes, a fare-free Night Bus serving workforce zones, and a Kenyon route open to the public. Countywide demand-response service also runs weekdays and Saturdays
For walking and biking, the 14-mile Kokosing Gap Trail links Mount Vernon with Gambier, Howard and Danville. GOPC profiled the Knox County Active Transportation Plan as part of our 2025 Active Transportation Guide, showcasing how communities can plan for more AT infrastructure.
One last Knox County twist: a restored 1940s steam locomotive sits beside the Kokosing Gap Trail, and Johnny Appleseed once owned downtown land. The county's next chapter will depend on how carefully it links growth, housing choices, mobility and reuse.
The Kokosing Gap Trail with a restored locomotive in Gambier. Image by Mx. Granger via Wikimedia.
Well that’s a wrap on our visit to Knox County and Mount Vernon. Be sure to check out the sights when you are pedaling through along the Kokosing Trail, and we will see you next time for another Ohio Community Spotlight.
