The land on which Coventry Township is situated was ceded in 1785 to the United States by the Delaware, Chippewa, Ottawa, and Wyandot tribes under the Treaty of Fort McIntosh. Because of its abundant bodies of water and its proximity to the Portage Path, a land connection between the Tuscarawas and Cuyahoga rivers and Lake Erie, the area attracted Native Americans, settlers, and fur traders. In 1788, Coventry Township was initially part of Washington County, the first county formed in the Ohio Territory. After Moses Warren completed a survey in 1797, a succession of county splits placed Coventry Township in Jefferson County, Trumbull County, Portage County, and finally Summit County in 1840. The township originally encompassed Summit Lake and the lands south to the southern line of the Western Reserve, or the Green-New Franklin lines, and Daniel Haines became its first resident settler in 1806. The Portage Lakes area of Summit County also shaped trade and early prosperity in the region, as Native Americans, settlers, and fur traders traveled eighteenth-century trade routes by way of lakes, rivers, and both sides of the Portage Path. In 1827, reservoirs were created in Green and Franklin townships and, together with the lakes in Coventry Township, supplied additional water to the newly completed Ohio and Erie Canal. The canal brought industry, commerce, and a new economic base to the Akron and Portage Lakes area. After the Ohio and Erie Canal closed to transportation in 1913, the lakes supplied water for businesses and residents of the Portage Lakes area. Over time, the Portage Lakes shifted from a vacation area of summer cottages, canoes, and resorts to an area of year-round homes and recreational activities such as boating, fishing, swimming, and golfing.