Book excerpt: The Village of Sheffield was founded on the Lake Erie plain and a sandy ridge of glacial Lake Warren. Black River and French Creek course through rich farmlands, once home to Archaic and Woodland Indians. Originally surveyed as Township 7 of Range 17 in the Connecticut Western Reserve, hearty pioneers arrived here in 1815 from the Berkshire Mountains of New England, naming their settlement Sheffield after their Massachusetts town. In the mid-1800s, another wave of immigrants arrived from Bavaria, adding cultural richness to the community. In 1894, industrialist Tom Johnson constructed giant steel mills on the west side of the river, and Sheffield Village eventually broke away, choosing to retain its agrarian identity. Today Sheffield Village is in transition to a modern residential/commercial community but keeps much of its natural character by virtue of parklands along stream valleys. Fortunately, fine examples of homestead architecture have been preserved throughout the village.