mound,
Hopewell culture, 100 AD-500 AD Cultures of
indigenous peoples lived along the river valleys for thousands of years before
European contact. From more than two thousand years ago, 100 AD to 500 AD, people of the
Hopewell culture transformed the area of Newark and Heath. They built many
earthen mounds and
enclosures, creating the single largest
earthwork complex in the
Ohio River Valley. The
Newark Earthworks, designated a
National Historic Landmark, have been preserved to document and interpret the area's significant ancient history. The earthworks cover several square miles and about 206 acres. This is operated as a state park by the
Ohio History Connection. The Observatory Mound, Observatory Circle, and the interconnected Octagon earthworks span nearly in length. The Octagon alone is large enough to contain four Roman
Coliseums. The
Great Pyramid of Giza in
Egypt would fit precisely within Observatory Circle. The even larger -diameter Newark Great Circle, located in Heath, is the largest circular earthwork in the
Americas. The -high walls surround a -deep moat. At the entrance, the walls and moat are of greater and more impressive dimensions. Contemporary
archaeogeodesy and
archaeoastronomy researchers have demonstrated that the Hopewell and other
prehistoric cultures had advanced scientific understandings which they used to create their earthworks for
astronomical observations, markings and celebrations. Researchers analyzed the placements, alignments, dimensions, and site-to-site interrelationships of the Hopewell earthworks to understand what had been done. Today, the Ohio Historical Society preserves the Great Circle Earthworks in a public park near downtown Newark, called Mound Builders Park (or the
Newark Earthworks) located at 99 Cooper Ave, Newark, Ohio. The area of the Octagon Earthworks had been leased to a country club, but new arrangements in 1997 provided for more public access to it. Beginning in January 2025, the Octagon Earthworks have now been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is open to full public access. Later
American Indian tribes inhabiting the area at the time of European contact were distant descendants of the Hopewell peoples.
European-American settlement station After exploration by traders and trappers in earlier centuries, the first European-American settlers arrived in 1802, led by Gen.
William C. Schenck. He named the new village after his
New Jersey hometown. Nineteenth-century investment in infrastructure resulted in growth in the town after it was linked to major transportation and trade networks. On July 4, 1825, Governors
Clinton of New York and
Morrow of Ohio dug the first shovelfuls of dirt for the
Ohio and Erie Canal project, at the Licking Summit near Newark, Ohio. On April 11, 1855, Newark became a stop along the
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad that was built to connect
Pittsburgh to
Chicago and
St. Louis. On April 16, 1857, the
Central Ohio Railroad connected Newark west to
Columbus, and later Newark maintained a station on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The
Heisey Glass Company started in Newark in 1895. The factory operated there for 62 years, until the company's demise in 1957 due to changing tastes. The
National Heisey Glass Museum, operated by the Heisey Collectors of America, Inc., is located on Sixth Street in Newark. In 1909, the Arcade was opened. Modeled after innovative European retail buildings, it became one of Newark's first successful retail emporiums. Later versions of buildings that contained a variety of shops indoors became known as shopping malls. At , the Arcade is one-third the size of an average modern
Wal-Mart. ==Geography==