[5] It is located in the state's northwestern corner, 53 miles (85 km) southwest of Toledo.

Bryan was named the seat for the new county,[6] but not without conflict; the village of Montpelier was considered a more centralized location.

The people of Montpelier petitioned the state legislature, but in the end Bryan was named county seat because of its greater industrial and commercial importance and because of its higher population.

To this day, many people still argue about the state's decision and a rivalry of sorts remains between the two communities.

A strip of Williams County north of Bryan was originally part of a conflict known as the Toledo War, between Ohio and Michigan.

The conflict was eventually resolved in favor of Ohio, with Michigan being compensated with what is now the western Upper Peninsula.

[6] The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, later absorbed into the New York Central Railroad as part of its Chicago mainline, began serving Bryan in 1869.

Due to the New York Central's line between Stryker, Ohio and Butler, Indiana, being both straight and flat, on July 23, 1966, Bryan was a mid-point of a record-setting speed run by a New York Central RDC-3, M-497 Black Beetle, modified with a pair of jet engines.

Dum Dum lollipops, Saf-T-Pops and Marshmallow Circus Peanuts are made by Spangler Candy Company (the largest producer of candy canes in the world), and the Etch A Sketch (now manufactured in China) was developed by the Ohio Art Company.

Allied Moulded Products, premier manufacturer of electrical enclosures, has been located in Bryan for 60 years.

[20] The plant was sold to Kansas City, Missouri-based Nostrum Laboratories in December 2015.

Bryan is served by Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited service at an unmanned station along the former New York Central line.

Norfolk Southern Railway operates the line for high-volume freight service passing through Bryan between the east and Chicago.