Ravenna was founded by Benjamin Tappan, who arrived there on June 11, 1799, to lay claim in his father's name to land purchased in the Connecticut Western Reserve.

Tappan did not stay in the area for long, however, but built a settlement of log cabins before returning to Connecticut during the summer of 1800.

[7][8] Later in 1800, Tappan, newly married, returned to the area where the couple built a log cabin of their own.

It was his new wife, Nancy Wright, who suggested that the settlement be named after the city of Ravenna, Italy.

[8] Ravenna was initially included in Franklin Township, which was part of Trumbull County at the time.

With the highly acclaimed reputation of the Riddle Hearse, two U.S. Presidents from Ohio, William McKinley and Warren G. Harding, would later make them their coach of choice for carrying their remains after their deaths.

[9] On May 25, 1853, the Ohio Woman's Rights Association, founded in 1852 in Massillon, held its first statewide meeting in Ravenna.

The attendees helped draft a petition to the Ohio General Assembly, requesting legislation that would grant women more rights.

[10] On February 15, 1861, en route to his inauguration in Washington, DC, President-elect Abraham Lincoln traveled by train through Ravenna.

He didn’t plan on speaking but, due to the enthusiastic supporters of the community and a stunning cannon salute, he stepped out of the train and addressed the crowd.

Usually held around mid-September, the event attracts hot air balloonists and enthusiasts to Sunbeau Valley Farm in Ravenna Township, just west of the city limits.

[7] In the late 1990s, the downtown area received a $3 million facelift to restore and preserve the city’s architecture, history, and heritage.

The major focus of the city's investigation involved the Mayor's son, Paul Jones Jr., who was paid more than $274,900 over eight years for a questionable mowing contract.

[21][22][23] In March 2007, Jones was sentenced to sixteen months in a federal prison for various fraud charges.

The district's preschool program and child care center are located in the former Carlin Elementary School building.

[25] Ravenna is also home to the Maplewood Career Center, a vocational school which serves high school-aged students from ten high schools in Portage and Summit counties and offers adult education programs.

[26] The Bio-Med Science Academy, a public STEM school for grades 2–12, has a campus in Ravenna at the former Fortis College location that houses the program's 5th and 6th graders.

A campus of Fortis College, a small, private for-profit school, was located in northern Ravenna near State Route 14.