The township that stopped Akron’s annexations
Coventry is what is left of a much larger township after more than a century of annexation. Its original bounds ran from Summit Lake south to the Green and New Franklin lines, and areas now known as Summit Lake and Rolling Acres were once Coventry land. Akron and Barberton annexed large pieces over time.
In 1995, after seven years of negotiations, Coventry voters approved an agreement with Akron. The township says it became the first township in the United States to halt annexation.
Today Coventry covers about 9.2 square miles, about 1 square mile of it water. Akron sits to the north, Springfield Township to the east, Green to the southeast, New Franklin to the southwest and Barberton to the west.
Older, smaller and more affordable houses
Coventry’s housing is about a generation older than Green’s or Copley’s. The Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 estimates put the median build year at 1959, with about 18% of homes built in 1939 or earlier.
Other numbers that shape a Coventry sale:
- Median home value, as owners estimate it, is about $165,700.
- About a third of occupied homes are rented.
- About 75% of homes are single-family detached.
Some of that history is visible in the houses. Prominent families from nearby cities built summer homes along the water, and during the Great Depression many cottages were converted into year-round residences. A converted cottage can have low ceilings, add-on rooms, older wiring or a foundation that was never meant for winter use.
Those are the houses where a cash sale often makes sense, because buyers using FHA or VA financing may need repairs before closing. Our pages on selling a house that needs work and selling a house with old wiring go into the details.
Sheriff patrols, Coventry schools and township rules
Coventry has no police department of its own, which surprises some buyers. The Summit County Sheriff’s Office provides police protection. A three-member board of trustees, a fiscal officer and an administrator run the township.
Schools are part of the Coventry Local School District. Its one high school sits at 1135 Portage Lakes Drive in a building the district bought in 1994: a former bowling and entertainment complex, purchased for $4 million and converted into the school.
Most Coventry addresses use the 44319 ZIP code and an Akron mailing address, even though the property is not in the City of Akron. That matters for listings, insurance quotes and tax bills. Check your parcel on the Summit County records, not the mailing address, to confirm which jurisdiction you are in.
Selling a Coventry rental
With about a third of homes rented, Coventry has many small landlords. Ohio law (R.C. Chapter 5323) requires every rental owner to file contact information with the county auditor, which in Summit County is the Fiscal Office.
If tenants are still in the house, you have choices. Some buyers take the house with the lease in place; others want it vacant. Our page on selling a rental property explains both routes, and the tenant rights guide covers what you owe the people living there.
A settlement history of mills, coal and cranberries
Coventry was Town 1, Range 11 of the Connecticut Western Reserve, and the township calls itself the township of lakes. Daniel Haines settled first, in 1806. In the 19th century the land was mostly farms, with cranberry bogs near the lakes and coal mining as a significant industry.
In 1827, lakes in Coventry, along with reservoirs built in Green and Franklin townships, were used to feed the new Ohio and Erie Canal. The Portage Lakes page covers that history and lakefront selling in more detail, and county-wide steps sit on the Summit County page.
If you want to see what a Coventry house would bring without fixing it first, start with a written offer.