Adams Township, Washington County

How Adams Township, Washington County began

Adams Township lies in northern Washington County along the Muskingum River, one of ten Adams Townships in Ohio, bordering Noble County. Jonathan Sprague, who had come to Marietta in 1788 with his brothers less than a year after the settlement's founding, built the first stone house in Washington County here in 1800, on a bluff above the river near present-day Lowell; his 1803 barn is among the county's oldest surviving barns. The village of Lowell, documented separately, sits in the township's southeast. The 2020 census recorded 1,516 residents.

Settled 1788 (Sprague brothers arrive in the area), by Jonathan, Joshua and William Sprague.

Where the name comes from

The township was constituted as Adams by the court of quarter sessions at Marietta in March 1797; the 1881 county history gives no reason for the name.

Before the town

No Native village, mound, trail or treaty site specific to Adams Township is recorded. The 1881 county history, however, says there is 'an extensive group of well defined ancient works on the plain above Lowell', and refers readers to its chapter on that topic; it gives no description of them in the township chapter. It also says the Indian war delayed improvement of the township by about four years, and that the Adams settlers lived in a garrison on the Muskingum bank in the summer of 1795.

• Ancient works on the plain above Lowell (earthwork) — plain above Lowell, Adams Township, prehistoric, undated (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1788 — Jonathan Sprague and his brothers Joshua and William arrive at Marietta, less than a year after its founding; Jonathan later settles near present-day Waterford and Lowell.
2. 1789 — Donation lots are drawn in the future Adams Township, but the Northwest Indian War holds back improvement for about four years while most owners shelter at Waterford or Marietta.
3. 1795 — Four families and four single men, the Coburns, Robert Allison, Nathan Kinney and William Davis among them, live in a garrison of cabins on the Muskingum bank opposite Lowell; when peace comes the pickets are pulled down and each man goes to his own clearing.
4. 1797 — Adams is constituted a corporate town by the court of quarter sessions at Marietta in March, and the first Baptist church in the county, the second religious society of any kind, is organized in the township; Enoch Wing keeps the first school in his cabin about this time.
5. 1800 — Jonathan Sprague, then 33, builds a three-and-a-half-story sandstone house on a Muskingum River bluff -- the first stone house built anywhere in Washington County.
6. 1803 — Sprague completes a barn beside his house, among the oldest barns surviving in the county.
7. 1803 — Jonathan Sprague settles on the bottom opposite Coal Run, where he builds a stone house, a distillery and the Island mill (Wikipedia dates the stone house to 1800).
8. 1832 — The Rainbow Baptist church is reorganized with 57 members and builds a meeting house near the site of Upper Lowell.
9. 1840 — German immigration begins about this year to the hill terraces; by 1880 more than eighty per cent of the hill districts are German, and Adams and Fearing are called the German townships of the county.
10. 1851 — A post office known as Buell's Lowell operates in the township, near the site that becomes the village of Lowell.
11. 1867 — Lowell Lodge No. 436, F. & A.M., is chartered on October 21, followed by Lowell Lodge No. 438, I.O.O.F., on August 23, 1869 and Lowell Grange No. 1035 on September 30, 1874.
12. 1875 — A colony of eight Black families from Virginia, by way of Belmont County, settles near the line of Adams and Muskingum townships and organizes a church in 1880.
13. 1878 — The Union Grange Fair Association is formed by Lowell, Liberty Hill and Adams granges, and holds its first fair at Lowell in September.
14. 1983 — The Jonathan Sprague House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
15. 2020 — The census records 1,516 residents.

Stories

The first stone house on the river

Jonathan Sprague and his brothers reached Marietta in 1788, less than a year after the Ohio Company's first landing. In 1800, at age 33, Sprague built a three-and-a-half-story sandstone house in the Federal style on a bluff overlooking the Muskingum, the first stone house built in Washington County. He added a barn in 1803, and the Jonathan Sprague House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The garrison on the Muskingum bank

Adams Township was surveyed and its donation lots drawn in 1789, but the Indian war kept settlers away for about four years. In the first summer of peace, 1795, four families and four single men who owned land near the future Lowell went onto their lots together. Their cabins stood close together on the river bank behind a picket fence: Nicholas Coburn, with his brother Asa boarding; Robert Allison, with Oliver Dodge; Nathan Kinney, with Joseph Simons; and William Davis, with Daniel Davis. They spent the summer clearing and building. By the end of it each man had a clearing and, for those with families, a cabin on his own farm, and permanent peace with the Indians, the county historian says, broke the pickets from the garrison fence. Three of the eight had been at Marietta during the war and five at Waterford. The Coburns, whose father Major Asa Coburn had served in the Revolution, were among the leading families of the township.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · washogs.org · archive.org

Every historic place in Washington County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Lowell Village88% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Beverly Village8% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Putnam Community Water Association3% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Tri-county Rural W and S District1% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Bridges rated poor (4)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Shale and injection wells (3)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• Fiscal emergency: declared 2026-06-11, still in effect. source
• Fiscal Analysis, 2025 to 2026, released 2026-06-11
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2025-08-26

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