Elyria, Ohio<\/h3>
Elyria (\/\u0259\u02c8l\u026a\u0259ri\u0259\/ \u0259-LEER-ee-\u0259) is a city in the Greater Cleveland metropolitan statistical area and the county seat of Lorain County, Ohio, United States,[6] located at the forks of the Black River in Northeast Ohio 23 miles southwest of Cleveland. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 54,533.[7] The city is home to Lorain County Community College.\n<\/p>
The village of Elyria was officially founded in 1817 by Heman Ely, who built a log house, dam, gristmill and sawmill on the village's site along the Black River. Ely began to build more houses to accommodate European-American settlers migrating to what was, at that time, within Huron County, Ohio. By the time Ely died in 1852, Elyria had five churches, three grocery stores, three flour mills, a newspaper, and a population of more than 1,500. Early postal service from Cleveland was provided by Artemis Beebe, a rider who held the first contract to deliver mail across this section of the Black River.\n<\/p><\/div>\n