Norton S. Townshend, a progressive farmer, physician, and legislator, lived in Avon from 1830 until his death and helped transform both local agriculture and public life. Born in England in 1815, he arrived in Avon in 1830, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1836, studied medicine in Ohio and New York, continued his training in Paris and Edinburgh, and returned to Avon in 1841 with medical training that far exceeded that needed for a country doctor. The Townshends were the first farmers in Avon to install tile drains under all their fields, and Townshend's introduction and advocacy of field drainage tile significantly increased the productivity of Avon farming. He married Harriet N. Wood in 1843, later practiced in Elyria, served as a trustee of Oberlin College, and pursued plans for agricultural education. As a Free Soil politician, he won a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives in 1848, served as a U.S. congressman from 1851 to 1853, fought against slavery, urged repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act, then served in the Ohio Senate, where he opposed the extension of slavery and capital punishment, supported prohibitory liquor laws, advocated property rights for women and voting rights for colored citizens, and backed training for disabled youth. After returning to farming in Avon, he promoted the intellectual improvement of farmers, served on and led the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, and focused especially on under-tiles to drain excess water from farmland. During the Civil War he served in the Union Army as a lieutenant colonel and medical inspector from 1863 to 1865. He was instrumental in founding the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College in Columbus, served on its first board of trustees, became its first professor of agriculture in 1873, and when the institution became Ohio State University in 1878, Townshend Hall later stood in honor of his founding role. He died in 1895 and was buried in Avon's Mound Cemetery.