On July 11, 1779, Norwalk, Connecticut, was burned by the British Tories under Lieutenant General Tryon. A committee of the General Assembly estimated the losses to the inhabitants at $116,238.66. Later, the federal government gave an area in the Western Reserve of Ohio as compensation for those established losses. On May 30, 1800, the United States ceded the land titles to the "fire sufferers" and the representatives of the Reserve transferred the political jurisdiction to the general government.

The Indian title was extinguished by treaty on July 4, 1805, on payment of $18,916.67; and in 1806, 13 men arrived to make the first survey of the Firelands.On November 9, 1808, a group of prominent citizens from Ridgefield, Norwalk, New Haven, Greenwich, and Fairfield met at the courthouse in New Haven, Connecticut, as the Board of Directors of the Proprietors of the 500,000 acres (2,000 km2) of land lying south of Lake Erie, called the "Sufferers Land".

They passed a resolution naming many of the townships in this area known as the "Firelands of Ohio". Between 1806 and 1810, many families made the trip to look over land they had purchased in 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. He returned to Danbury and purchased 1,300 acres (5.3 km2) of land with an eye toward establishing a town. In July 1817, Benedict returned to Norwalk with his family and immediately built a house.

This was the first permanent residence established within the limits of Norwalk Village. In May 1818, the county seat was successfully removed from Avery, Ohio, to Norwalk, and by 1819 a census showed a population of 109 residents. Platt Benedict, the founder of Norwalk and its first mayor, died in 1866 at the age of 91.

He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. Benedict was the first white permanent settler in Norwalk, when he came with his wife, Sarah DeForest (1777-1852) and their children Clarissa, David, Daniel, Jonas, and Eliza. His descendants remained prominent in the area. On January 19, 1936, the Sandusky Daily Register published the obituary of John L.

Severance, the multi-millionaire businessman and Standard Oil founding member. In the obituary, he is listed as "a great grandson of Platt Benedict, one of the founders of [Norwalk, Ohio]". Among the earliest settlers of Norwalk were other men of wealth and education. They brought with them not only the customs, but also the architecture of New England.

Many of their homes are still standing today. In 1881, Norwalk's population reached the required minimum to incorporate as a city, and the City of Norwalk dates from April 12, 1881.