Hiram College and the village around it
Hiram village is built around Hiram College, a small private liberal arts college. It was founded in 1850 as the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute and took the Hiram College name in 1867. James A. Garfield studied there, taught there and served as principal from 1857 to 1861, and the village was his home from 1863 to 1876.
The college is large for the village. It enrolled 1,061 students in fall 2024, on a 110-acre campus, and its James H. Barrow Field Station has grown to more than 500 acres. The Census ACS counts only about 247 housing units in the village itself.
Village houses: few, old and close together
Hiram village housing is small in number and old:
- The median build year is 1943, and about half of homes were built in 1939 or earlier.
- About 54% are owner-occupied, so a large share are rented.
- The median home value (owner estimate) is about $223,400.
An old village house near campus can be a good home or a tired rental. If it’s the second, think about roof age, the electrical service, and whether the basement takes water. We price those as-is. If it’s a well-kept house in the village, it may sell well on the market, and we’ll say so.
If the house is rented, our page on selling a house with tenants covers notice and leases.
Hiram Township: rural lots and long history
Outside the village, Hiram Township covers 23 square miles of the Connecticut Western Reserve. It’s named for Hiram I, the biblical king of Tyre, and it’s the only Hiram Township in Ohio. The hamlet of Hiram Rapids in the northwest had a post office from 1840 to 1912.
The township has a place in Latter Day Saint history. Joseph Smith lived at the John and Elsa Johnson farm from September 1831 to March 1832, and the LDS Church bought the property in 1956 and runs it as a historic site.
The housing is almost all owner-occupied houses. In the Census ACS, about 96% of township homes are owner-occupied and about 99% are single-family detached, with a median home value (owner estimate) of $291,600. On a rural lot, a seller should expect questions about the well, the septic system and the land itself. See selling a house with septic problems if that’s your situation.
Hiram’s two school districts
Hiram straddles a school line:
- Crestwood Local covers the villages of Mantua and Hiram plus Mantua and Shalersville townships and much of Hiram Township, about 75 square miles in all.
- James A. Garfield Local, based in Garrettsville, serves the eastern part of Hiram Township.
Buyers with children will ask which side a house is on, so it helps to know before you list or take an offer. The Portage County Auditor’s parcel record lists the school district for each property.
From our Akron office to Hiram
Hiram is in northern Portage County, a longer drive from our Akron office than Kent, but Bob Donahue still walks every house in person. It takes 15 to 20 minutes, and the written offer shows how we got to the price. An estate sale here runs through the probate court in Ravenna, explained on our Portage County page. Ready for a number? Request an offer on your Hiram house.