Arlington

How Arlington began

Arlington began as 'Hurdtown,' a log cabin built in 1834 by the sons of Robert Hurd on rich farmland along Eagle Creek in southern Hancock County. Robert Hurd formally laid out and surveyed the village in November 1844 (the 1881 county history gives November 1854), and it was renamed Arlington after Arlington, Virginia. A post office opened in 1846, and the settlement grew first as a farming community and later as a railroad crossroads. Gen. William Hull had passed through the area during the War of 1812, cutting a trail across Buck Run at Eagle Creek on his way to the Blanchard River to build Fort Findlay,.

Settled 1834 (log cabin built by sons of Robert Hurd), platted November 1844 (16 lots; plat acknowledged November 2, 1844; the 1881 county history gives November 1854 and 17 lots), incorporated February 10, 1892, by Robert Hurd.

Where the name comes from

The settlement was first called 'Hurdtown' for the Hurd family who founded it. When Robert Hurd formally surveyed the village in November 1844, it was renamed Arlington, after Arlington, Virginia.

Before the town

No named Native American village, mound, or site specific to Arlington has been identified in the sources checked. The clearest documented connection is General William Hull's War of 1812 military trail, which crossed Buck Run at Eagle Creek in the Arlington vicinity as Hull moved his army toward the Blanchard River to build Fort Findlay. Beyond the Hull trail reference, nothing site-specific to Arlington (villages, burial grounds, encounters) was found; this is a real gap, and the county-level Native history file should be consulted for anything more. The 1881 county history places Abel Tanner's farm of 1825 on the West Branch of Eagle Creek 'near the camping ground of Gen. Hull, as he passed through in 1813', while the roadside marker dates Hull's passage to 1812.

• Hull's trail crossing at Buck Run / Eagle Creek (trail) — Near Arlington, southern Hancock County, 1812 (hmdb.org)

Timeline

1. 1812 — Gen. William Hull's army crosses Buck Run at Eagle Creek near the future site of Arlington en route to build Fort Findlay on the Blanchard River.
2. 1834 — Sons of Robert Hurd build the first log cabin at the site, founding 'Hurdtown.'
3. 1834 — Robert Hurd and Robert Shaw, both of Portage County, enter lands in Section 7 in October; Hurd also makes extensive entries about the future town, and his son-in-law Joseph Fitche settles on part of them.
4. 1840 — Madison Township is erected in June from parts of Van Buren and Delaware townships; Arlington stands in it.
5. 1844 — Robert Hurd formally surveys and lays out the village in November, renaming it Arlington after Arlington, Virginia.
6. 1846 — A post office opens in Arlington.
7. 1858 — The Methodist Episcopal congregation builds the first church building in Madison Township, at Arlington.
8. 1861 — Robert Hurd dies at Arlington.
9. 1880 — Arlington's population stands at 136.
10. 1881 — Arlington has a wagon shop, blacksmith, steam saw and planing mill, pump factory, tile factory, two dry goods stores, a drug store and two saloons, and a doctor, J. S. Lafferty.
11. 1892 — Arlington is incorporated as a village on February 10.
12. 1900 — Arlington's population has grown to 738.
13. 1910 — The population is 798, a high for the early century before a drop to 606 in 1920.
14. 1970 — The population passes 1,000 for the first time, at 1,066.
15. 2020 — The census counts 1,492 residents; Arlington High School serves the village and it has a branch of the Findlay-Hancock County Public Library.

Stories

From Hurdtown to Arlington

The village that became Arlington started as a single log cabin, raised in 1834 by the sons of Robert Hurd on farmland whose good soil and plentiful water drew more settlers to the vicinity of Hurdtown. The name was changed to Arlington when the village was formally surveyed in November 1844. The Arlington Heritage marker calls it first a farming community and later a railroad crossroads in southern Hancock County.

The agent for the Twinsburg twins

Robert Hurd, the man who laid out Arlington, was born at East Haddam, Connecticut, on March 16, 1785, and in 1820 went to Portage County, Ohio, as agent for the brothers Aaron and Moses Wilcox, twins, from whom Twinsburg takes its name. In 1834 he made large entries of land around the future town in southern Hancock County, and his sons William and Lorenzo and his son-in-law Joseph Fitche settled on the land while it was still wilderness. He came to live in the township himself in 1839, took a leading part in forming Madison Township out of parts of Delaware and Van Buren in 1840, laid out Arlington, and served for years as justice of the peace, often appearing in the justices' courts as an attorney. He died at Arlington in 1861.

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

Groundwater wells (3 wells) The water here

• Arlington Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Nursing homes (1)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public schools (2)

Public libraries (1)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026 edition (Directory of Officials): county board of elections.

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 6 of 6 passed.

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.
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-12-04

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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