On July 11, 1779, Norwalk, Connecticut, was burned by British Loyalists under Lieutenant-general William Tryon.

In 1800, the U.S. federal government gave an area in the Connecticut Western Reserve as compensation; and in 1806, 13 men arrived to make the first survey of what would be called the Firelands.

During the War of 1812, because of the fear of British and Indian raids, settlement of the Huron County area came almost to a standstill.

However, in 1815, Platt Benedict of Danbury, Connecticut, visited and examined the present site of Norwalk.

[citation needed] In May 1818, the county seat was successfully removed from Avery, Ohio, to Norwalk.

Benedict was the first white permanent settler in Norwalk,[8] when he came with his wife, Sarah DeForest, and their children.

On January 19, 1936, the Sandusky Daily Register published the obituary of John L. Severance, the multi-millionaire businessman and Standard Oil founding member.

[9] In the obituary, he is listed as "a great grandson of Platt Benedict, one of the founders of [Norwalk, Ohio]".

[11] Norwalk is located at the center of the Firelands, a subregion of the Connecticut Western Reserve.

The subregion's name recalls the founding of the area as one for settlers from cities in Connecticut that were largely destroyed by fire during the Revolutionary War.

Several locations in the Firelands were named in honor of those cities, including Danbury, Greenwich, Groton, New Haven, New London, Norwalk, Norwich, and Ridgefield.

The city is located approximately 12 miles (19 km) south of Lake Erie.

Interstates 80 and 90, also known as the Ohio Turnpike, are approximately 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north of Norwalk's city limits with an interchange at U.S. Route 250.