From the 1880s into the twentieth century, Garrettsville stood at the center of Ohio’s maple industry. In 1881, it hosted the first professional association of maple syrup and sugar producers, beginning a tradition that continued annually into the early 1900s. Within its one square mile were several maple syrup canneries in the 1880s as well as manufacturers of syrup evaporators. Garrettsville was also home to Lifesavers candy, originally a maple sugar based company. In 1893, maple syrup and sugar producers from Garrettsville went to the Columbian Exhibition at the Worlds Fair in Chicago, and that same year a Garrettsville area farmer won the first place medal for the best maple sugar in the world.