Bergholz

How Bergholz began

Bergholz began as Nebo, a small Springfield Township settlement laid out by M. Allman consisting, as of 1880, of little more than a store and a flouring mill. In 1831 William Kelly -- son of an Irish immigrant, a self-taught teacher after a crippling accident, and later an Underground Railroad conductor -- partnered with Judge Thomas George and his son Robert of Ross Township to start salt works on his own land near Nebo; Kelly bought out his partners and ran the works until about 1850. Confederate raiders under John Hunt Morgan camped at Nebo overnight in 1863 during their retreat down Yellow Creek toward Salineville. Modern development began in 1883 when a railroad was built to reach a coal mine, and the growing settlement was renamed Bergholz -- German for 'mountain timber' -- honoring one of the mine's owners; it incorporated as a village in 1906. The village's population peaked at 1,215 in 1920 and had fallen to 544 by the 2020 census; it drew brief national attention in 2012 when members of an Amish community there were federally convicted of hate crimes, convictions later overturned on appeal in 2014.

Settled by 1831 (as Nebo, laid out by John C. Allman; William Kelly's salt works began that year), platted 1883-10-24, incorporated 1906-08-06, by James Kelly, Morin J. Hess and Christiana Hess platted Bergholz on the opposite side of the creek from old Nebo.

Where the name comes from

The 1910 county history says a large coal mine opened on the opposite side of Yellow Creek from Nebo was named after Mrs. Bergholz, one of its owners, and that the town platted nearby in 1883 took the name Bergholz.

Before the town

No source reviewed names a specific Native American village, mound or documented encounter within Bergholz/Nebo. The settlement lies within Springfield Township, whose earliest settler arrived in 1800, five years after the Treaty of Greenville (1795) opened the area 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; its first election is held at David Lyon's house in East Springfield.
2. 1831 — William Kelly, with Judge Thomas George and George's son Robert of Ross Township, starts salt works on Kelly's own premises near Nebo; Kelly later buys out his partners and continues manufacturing salt until about 1850.
3. 1863 — Confederate General John Hunt Morgan's raiders enter Springfield Township at East Springfield, march down Yellow Creek, and camp overnight at Nebo before resuming their retreat toward Salineville the next morning, molesting no one and destroying no property.
4. 1876 — The post office at Nebo, where John C. Allman had located the hamlet with a flour mill, a small store and three or four dwellings, has disappeared, leaving only the mill and the store.
5. 1883-10-24 — James Kelly, Morin J. Hess and Christiana Hess plat Bergholz on October 24 with 156 lots of 60 by 100 feet, after the Lake Erie, Alliance & Southern Railroad is extended down Yellow Creek past a large new mine named for Mrs. Bergholz.
6. 1906-08-06 — Forty more lots are added and Bergholz is incorporated on August 6, absorbing old Nebo; the petitioners count 1,200 inhabitants.
7. 1909 — The Bergholz State Bank, capitalized at $15,000, reports resources of $121,563 on September 1; a four-room school costing $4,000 serves the village and a wagon maker's shop has opened.
8. 1910 — The census counts 1,011 residents, rising to 1,215 in 1920 before dropping to 918 in 1930.
9. 1920 — Village population peaks at 1,215.
10. 1990 — The census counts 713 residents; by 2020 the village has 544, down from 914 in 1980.
11. 2012-2015 — Sixteen members of an Amish community based near Bergholz, are federally convicted in September 2012 of hate crimes and conspiracy over beard- and hair-cutting attacks; the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturns the convictions in August 2014 and sentences are reduced in March 2015.

Stories

William Kelly of Nebo

William Kelly, the man behind Nebo's salt works, was more than a businessman. Twice crippled by accidental bone fractures that left him unfit for farm labor for roughly four years, he turned first to teaching the neighborhood's children by subscription (there being no free school system yet), then to raising cattle and, with notable success, fine wool for eastern markets -- and in 1831 partnered with Judge Thomas George and George's son Robert, of neighboring Ross Township, to open salt works on his own land near Nebo, which he soon bought outright and ran until about 1850. In 1840 Kelly broke with the Democratic Party over slavery and joined the Abolition Party when, the 1880 county history notes, it counted only seventy members in the whole county. He treated the federal fugitive slave law as contrary to the law of God, and the same history records that he 'harbored and assisted the fleeing fugitive in their struggles for freedom,' driving escaped enslaved people by closed carriage under cover of night to the next link in the chain toward Canada.

Nebo, the mill hamlet that the coal passed over

Up at the northern end of the county on Yellow Creek, John C. Allman located the hamlet of Nebo, where a flour mill was built, a small store was kept later by William Ruddicks, and a post office was opened alongside three or four dwellings. By 1876 the post office had disappeared and only the mill and store kept a semblance of life. Then the Lake Erie, Alliance & Southern railroad crept down the valley while coal operators and speculators were at work, and a large mine was opened on the opposite side of the creek and named for Mrs. Bergholz, one of its owners. The railroad, after passing through financial stringencies, was extended to Amsterdam and Dillonvale, and on October 24, 1883, James Kelly, Morin J. Hess and Christiana Hess platted a town of 156 lots on the other side of the creek and called it Bergholz. In 1906 forty lots were added, the town was incorporated on August 6 with 1,200 inhabitants given in the petition, and old Nebo was absorbed.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

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

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 4 of 4 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.
• Basic Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-10-02

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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