Amsterdam

How Amsterdam began

Amsterdam was laid out in 1828 in Springfield Township by Dutch immigrant David Johnson, who named it for the city of Amsterdam in his native Netherlands. A post office opened in 1832, and both the village's Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian congregations organized in 1840. Amsterdam's population peaked at 1,271 in 1920 and has declined steadily since, to 436 by the 2020 census; the village was designated a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation in 1997.

Settled 1828, platted 1828, incorporated 1903-11-20, by David Johnston (Johnson), a Dutch immigrant.

Where the name comes from

Named by founder David Johnson, a Dutch immigrant, for the city of Amsterdam in his native Netherlands.

Before the town

No source reviewed names a specific Native American village, mound or documented encounter within Amsterdam. The village was founded in 1828, more than three decades after the Treaty of Greenville (1795) opened Springfield Township to settlement.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware), Shawnee, Wyandot.

Timeline

1. 1804-12-06 — Springfield Township, the first civil township carved from the original five, is set off by the county commissioners; it takes in Brush Creek, Ross, half of Salem and parts of what became Harrison and Carroll counties, and its first election is held at David Lyon's house in East Springfield.
2. 1828 — Dutch immigrant David Johnson lays out the village and names it for Amsterdam, in his native Netherlands.
3. 1832 — A post office opens under the name Amsterdam.
4. 1840 — Both the Amsterdam Methodist Episcopal Church and the Amsterdam Presbyterian Church are organized.
5. 1850 — Amsterdam has 168 residents, but falls to 89 in 1870 and 106 in 1880, a small fragmentary village at the junction of Lick Run and Yellow Creek.
6. 1863 — Confederate General John Hunt Morgan's raiders pass through the surrounding township during Morgan's Raid.
7. 1903-11-20 — Amsterdam is incorporated on November 20, with petitioners giving a population of 600; the boom came with the Lake Erie, Alliance & Wheeling Railroad and the opening of coal mines.
8. 1909 — The People's Banking Company, organized with $15,000 capital, reports resources of $150,122 on September 1; a $25,000 hotel is begun but runs out of funds, and a fire-brick pavement is planned for the main street.
9. 1910-04-21 — An explosion at 9:30 p.m. in the Youghiogheny and Ohio mine at Amsterdam entombs eighteen night-shift men; three are brought out alive on April 23 and fifteen die, the first serious mine disaster in Jefferson County in over forty years.
10. 1910 — The census counts 1,041 residents.
11. 1920 — Village population peaks at 1,271.
12. 1950 — The census counts 1,048 residents, down from 1,177 in 1940; by 1990 the village has 669 and by 2010 511.
13. 1997 — The National Arbor Day Foundation designates Amsterdam a Tree City USA.
14. 2020 — The census counts 436 residents.

Stories

A Dutch immigrant names Amsterdam

David Johnson, a Dutch immigrant, laid out a village in Springfield Township in 1828 and named it Amsterdam for the city in the Netherlands. Wikipedia records that a post office called Amsterdam has operated there since 1832, that the village's population peaked at 1,271 in 1920 and stood at 436 in 2020, and that the National Arbor Day Foundation designated it a Tree City USA in 1997.

The night the mine blew up

Jefferson County had gone more than forty years without a serious mine disaster when, on the night of Thursday, April 21, 1910, the night shift of the Youghiogheny and Ohio mine at Amsterdam, twenty-five men, had been at work only a short while. About 9:30 an explosion shook the whole countryside. Seven injured men escaped; eighteen were entombed. Rescue parties were organized at once but were driven back by poisonous gas, and as body after body was brought out the belief spread that all had died. The rescuers kept on, and at 1 a.m. on Saturday they reached the back of the mine, where three men were found in a semi-conscious state, brought out and revived. The other fifteen were dead, some of the bodies blown to fragments. The 1910 county history surmised that someone had lit the fire damp with a naked light. Three of the victims were taken to the Catholic church at Dillonvale for services; twelve were buried in one big grave in Amsterdam cemetery on Sunday, with the Presbyterian and Methodist ministers of East Springfield officiating.

A hamlet that became a coal town

For many years after Springfield Township was created in 1804 it had no town at all. In 1828 David Johnston laid out a fragment of a village on the western side, at the junction of Lick Run and Yellow Creek, and called it Amsterdam. In 1850 it had 168 people; by 1870 it had fallen to 80 or so and dropped out of the census. Then the Lake Erie, Alliance & Wheeling Railroad arrived and coal mines opened, and by the time the petitioners asked to incorporate the village on November 20, 1903, they put its population at 600. A bank, a planing mill and machine shop, flour and feed mills, carriage makers, a Masonic lodge and a Red Men's lodge followed; a $25,000 hotel was begun but ran out of money before its foundation was finished.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · ohiogenealogyexpress.com · archive.org · archive.org

Mostly private wells The water here

• HCWSD - Germano Water and Sewer100% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 8 of 8 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 1 of 1.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

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

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Basic Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-06-11
• Basic Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-08-29

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