Avon Lake is located between Cleveland and Lorain, and is part of the Lorain Elyria metropolitan area. Its geographical limits are formed by Lake Erie to the north, the Norfolk Southern Corporation Railroad tracks to the south, the city of Bay Village to the east and the city of Sheffield Lake to the west. These boundaries have been constant since 1915 when the County Commissioners separated Avon Lake and Avon. The city stretches for five miles along Lake Erie forming a northward arch into the lake. From north to south, its widest point measures about two and a half miles. The total area of Avon Lake is about 12 square miles (11.64 square miles). The land is predominately flat, sloping slightly downward toward the lake and the west. Much of the land is clay, under which lie oil shale, sandstone, limestone and salt. The composition of the land evolved from the geological eons during which the land was under Lake Erie, and the shore line was Butternut Ridge. When the waters receded, the area was the eastern end of the Black Swamp, which stretched from Avon Lake to Toledo. The city now lies on a part of Tract Seven of the Connecticut Western Reserve, lands reserved for families whose farms had been destroyed or who lost their belongings during the Revolutionary War. Originally known as Troy, the township was renamed Avon Township in 1824. In 1805 Indians gave up all claim to the land that is now Avon and Avon Lake. The first known settler of the Avon Lake area arrived in 1812 or 1813, but remained only a year before moving on. The location of his three-sided cabin was on the lake shore just east of the Saddle Inn shopping area