Benton Township, Paulding County

How Benton Township, Paulding County began

Benton Township, 36.5 square miles in the southwest corner of Paulding County on the Indiana line, was Black Swamp forest until the late nineteenth century: Judge A. S. Latta told Henry Howe that when he arrived in 1837 there were probably no settlers in Benton. The land had been ceded by the Treaty of Fort Meigs in 1817, and the township was organized after 1842. A post office named Payne opened in 1858 at the home of Adam Snellenberger; W. C. Hedges laid out Flatrock City in 1872 on the Nickel Plate railroad, and it became Malottville and then Payne, incorporated in 1883. By 1887 Payne's flour, lumber, stave, hoop and wagon shops made it the main place in the township, whose northern part holds half the village. Benton had 798 residents in 1880 and 1,019 in 2020.

Settled after 1837 (Judge Latta reported probably no families in Benton that year); the first settlers came with the 1850s-70s timber and railroad boom, platted Flatrock City (later Payne), 1872, by W. C. Hedges of Tiffin, surveyed by Noah Ely, incorporated organized after 1842 (the exact year was not found); Payne incorporated 1883, by W. C. Hedges laid out the town of Flatrock City; Adam Snellenberger's home held the 1858 post office.

Where the name comes from

The source for the township name Benton was not found; Wikipedia notes only that there are Benton Townships in four other Ohio counties. The township may honor Senator Thomas Hart Benton, as many Ohio townships did, but no source says so. The village of Payne was Flatrock City at its 1872 plat, became Malottville after James Malott and Peter Lehman made additions, and took the name Payne when incorporated in 1883; the 1917 history says the post office had carried the name Payne since 1858, and Wikipedia says the village was renamed for Ohio senator Henry B. Payne. Howe says the Indians called Crooked Creek 'Flat Rock' because its bed is flat limestone near its mouth; whether that is the stream that gave Flatrock City its name is not stated.

Before the town

No Native village, mound or trail specific to Benton Township is recorded in the sources checked. The township lay inside the Great Black Swamp country, set aside for Indian nations by the Treaty of Greenville (1795) and ceded by the Treaty of Fort Meigs, signed September 29, 1817 by the Wyandot, Seneca, Lenape (Delaware), Shawnee, Potawatomi, Odawa and Ojibwe, which gave up some 4.6 million acres of northwestern Ohio while the Odawa kept use of tracts on the Great and Little Auglaize rivers. The Odawa reserve in Paulding County lay in Brown Township, well to the north and east. Judge Latta thought in 1837 that there were 'probably none' in Benton, so no early contact is recorded. Paulding County's wider record includes Charloe and the Odawa removal of the 1840s.

Timeline

1. 1817 — The Treaty of Fort Meigs, signed September 29, cedes about 4.6 million acres of northwestern Ohio, including the Benton Township area, to the United States.
2. 1820 — Paulding County is formed from 'old Indian territory' on April 1 but remains unorganized; the whole county is Black Swamp forest.
3. 1837 — Judge A. S. Latta, who came to the area this year, reports only two families in what is now Emerald, Paulding and Blue Creek townships (108 square miles), three in Jackson, none in Harrison and 'probably none in Benton.'
4. 1842 — The county has only four organized townships (Auglaize, Brown, Crane and Carryall), and Benton is not among them; the 1840 census counted 1,025 people in the whole county.
5. 1858 — A post office named Payne is established at the home of Adam Snellenberger; it is later moved to Malottville but keeps the name Payne.
6. 1872 — W. C. Hedges of Tiffin, who is laying out towns along the Continental (later Nickel Plate) railroad, platts Flatrock City, surveyed by county surveyor Noah Ely; the village then takes the name Malottville after additions by James Malott and Peter Lehman.
7. 1880 — Benton Township records 798 residents; Paulding County has 13,485.
8. 1883 — Payne is incorporated under that name; the Payne Star, the village's first newspaper, appears the same year, followed by the Review (1885).
9. 1887 — Payne's industries include flour (9 hands), lumber and staves (18), hoops (41), staves (24), lumber and flooring (10) and wagons (3); Payne has a school census of 354 in 1888.
10. 1890 — Payne's population is 1,146, rising to 1,336 in 1900.
11. 1920 — Payne's population falls to 984, the lowest in Wikipedia's census table.
12. 2020 — Benton Township records 1,019 residents; Payne has 1,192 and a wind farm stands southeast of the village.

Stories

Probably none in Benton

Henry Howe's 1888 Paulding County chapter records the memories of Judge A. S. Latta, who came to the county in 1837. In that year, he said, there were only two families in the 108 square miles of Emerald, Paulding and Blue Creek townships, only three in Jackson (the families of John R. and William Moss, and Mr. Fox), none in Harrison, and 'probably none in Benton.' By 1842 the county had only four organized townships. Howe himself called Paulding 'about the wildest county in Ohio' when he reached it in December 1886 and wrote that the new county seat looked like a town emerging from forest, with trees 'run up like bare naked poles' from growing in the Black Swamp. The county had doubled in population in eight years, mostly from timber work in hoop and stave factories.

Flatrock City, Malottville and Payne

The town that is now Payne started as a post office. In 1858 the post office named Payne was set up at the home of Adam Snellenberger, later moved to Malottville but kept its name. The town itself was laid out in 1872 by W. C. Hedges of Tiffin, who was grading the Continental railroad and platted several towns on the line, among them Oakwood, Hedges and Payne. The county surveyor Noah Ely made the survey, and the original name was 'the dignified name of Flatrock City.' James Malott and Peter Lehman added to it and the name became Malottville. The place did not grow until the Nickel Plate was built there; Gen. W. H. Gibson of Tiffin made an addition and built several business rooms. It was incorporated in 1883 under the name Payne, and Wikipedia says the name honors Ohio senator Henry B. Payne.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Payne Village97% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Convoy Village2% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Country Inn Enhanced Living Center1% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)

Nursing homes (1)

Power plants (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-09-18: county board of elections.

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 2 of 2 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.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-06-10

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