Portage Lakes is a Census area, not a town
Portage Lakes has no mayor, council or village hall. It is a census-designated place, an area the Census Bureau counts as a community even though it is unincorporated. At the 2000 census it took in parts of Coventry and Franklin townships. Since Franklin Township merged into New Franklin on January 1, 2005, the Portage Lakes CDP sits entirely within Coventry Township.
The lake chain itself spreads wider. Portage Lakes State Park is in New Franklin, and some of the 1827 canal reservoirs were built in what were then Green and Franklin townships.
For a seller, that means:
- Township zoning and services come from Coventry Township, and the Summit County Sheriff provides police protection. The Coventry Township page covers those details.
- A lakeside house just across a line may be in New Franklin or Green instead, with different rules.
- Your 44319 mailing address says Akron, but the house is not in the City of Akron.
The CDP counted 6,407 people in 2020, down from 9,870 in 2000. The 2000 count included parts of Franklin Township, so the two figures are not directly comparable.
Lakes built to feed the Ohio and Erie Canal
The Portage Lakes are a mix of glacial kettle lakes and reservoirs dug for the canal. Their name comes from the old portage path that linked the north-flowing Cuyahoga River and the south-flowing Tuscarawas, an eight-mile carry between Lake Erie and the Ohio River.
When the Ohio and Erie Canal opened in the 1820s, it needed a steady water supply at its summit. Several lakes were built or modified as feeder reservoirs to keep the canal about 4 feet deep. After the canal closed to traffic following the 1913 flood, the lakes supplied water to local industry.
The chain includes Turkeyfoot Lake, Rex Lake, Long Lake, Mud Lake, North Reservoir, East and West Reservoirs and Nimisila Reservoir, among others. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources took them over in 1949, and Portage Lakes State Park now covers 411 acres beside 2,034 acres of water.
From summer cottages to year-round homes
Many Portage Lakes houses did not start as houses. The area began as a vacation spot with summer cottages, canoes and resorts, and prominent families from nearby cities built summer homes along the water. During the Great Depression, many of those cottages were converted to year-round homes.
The Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 figures reflect that history:
- The median build year is 1962, and about 21% of homes date from 1939 or earlier.
- About 39% of occupied homes are rented, a high share for suburban Summit County.
- Single-family detached houses make up about 69% of the housing.
- The median home value, as owners estimate it, is about $167,000.
A converted cottage can have a shallow foundation, additions built in stages, or plumbing that was once seasonal. If a buyer’s inspection has turned up structural issues, our page on selling a house with foundation problems covers your options.
What waterfront buyers ask about
A lakefront or lake-view sale comes with questions an inland house doesn’t. Gather what you can before you talk to buyers:
- Any permits, surveys or receipts for a dock, seawall or boathouse
- Your flood insurance history, if the lot has needed coverage
- Whether lake access is private frontage, a shared easement or public access only
A waterfront home in good shape can do well on the open market, and listing may make more sense there. Cottages that need major work, rentals with tired interiors, and inherited lake houses full of decades of belongings are where a direct sale tends to help most. For a rough sense of value first, see how much is my house worth.
County-level steps such as probate are on the Summit County page. Our office at 445 E. Turkeyfoot Lake Rd. is close by, and you can request a written offer on your Portage Lakes home.